Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.    (Revelation 3:3)
 
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.     (James 1:23-24)
 
We are done with the book of James, but we shouldn’t be.  This special edition of the blog is intended to encourage all of us remember important lessons from James by incorporating them into our prayer lives long-term.  Last week, my small group enjoyed tea and cookies as we reflected on what we most want to remember from James and what convicted, or “pinched,” us the most.  I invite you to join us in praying the list, below.  Brew yourself a cup of tea, gaze again into the mirror James holds up, and add your own prayers to the list.
 
Lord …
 
… convict me when I pat myself on the back for just hearing Your word.  Push me to do it, to obey it.    (James 1:22-27, 2:14-26)
 
… help me to count or consider the trial I’m in right now as joy even if it doesn’t feel like joy.  I know that You want to mature my faith through it.   (1:2-4)
 
… correct my thinking when I fall under the illusion that sins I commit with my tongue are minor.  Help me tame my tongue today so that I can be quick to hear and slow to speak and so that, when I open my mouth, I speak blessing unmixed with cursing.  (3:3-12)
 
… fill me with Your pure, peaceable, reasonable wisdom today.  Earthly wisdom seeps in unbidden; I know I must ask You for wisdom from above.  (1:5-8, 3:13-18)
 
… show me what areas of my life I am not submitting to You and graciously help me to lay them down before You.(4:1-7) 
 
… I want to pray more.  Help me to be more faithful in prayer.  Help me to approach You in the right way – humbly, confessing and mourning my sin, purifying my heart.  (4:8-10, 5:13-18)
 
… I confess that I am prideful.  I focus too much on me, what I want, what makes my life pleasant and easy.  I too often have a critical spirit toward others.  I even judge You and Your word.  I claim the blood of Jesus Christ and ask for Your forgiveness and cleansing.  (4:1-5,11-12)
 
… remind me today that faith without works is not just slightly deficient; it is dead and worthless.  When I see a need today, show me what is in my power to do to meet it.  Don’t let me get away with offering only cheap, empty words (Go in peace, be warm and filled).  (2:14-20)
 
… strengthen me to fight against my natural human tendency to show partiality to people I already know or who are like me or who I think can advance me somehow.  Help me to truly love my neighbor as myself. (2:1-8)
 
… You say that the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, but I know of many of Your children whose petitions for healing were not granted.  When a Christian affirms that You sometimes choose to heal in heaven, not in this life, the world calls that a cop-out.  I acknowledge before You that it is not; this life is not all there is.  Help me to always remember that.  (5:14-15)

In Christ,
Carol Gilbert, Prayer Chair
Calvary Community Church of Brea