40 Day Journey with Our Neighbors in Solidarity
Week 2: Companion Synods in Nicaragua and Cameroon
Written By: Nathalie Fida Lassang, SD Synod Companion Synod Coordinator
James 5:13-18
13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.
How are you today? Are you troubled? Pray. Are you happy? Sing songs of praise. Those are not my words. These words originate from the book of James, the 5th chapter beginning from the 13th verse. In this same scripture, we are called to pray for each other. If you are wondering why we ought to pray for our neighbor, I invite you to read and meditate on this passage. It goes on to say in the 16th verse that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Before you start to wonder if you qualify as righteous, let me remind you that you are the righteousness of God in Christ (2Cor5:21).
God takes our petitions very seriously. We have the assurance that the Lord not only hears us when we pray, but that our prayers are powerful and effective. I therefore invite you to pray for our siblings in Cameroon and Nicaragua today. What might you pray about? Even without having a personal connection with our companions, we know that there are basic needs we all have in common. These needs range from spiritual to physical. What are your own needs? I invite you to pray for a need in each of these 2 categories. As you pray for yourself, remember our siblings in Christ. One way to show love towards our neighbor is to lift them up in prayer.
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly father, thank you for the opportunity we have to communicate with you anytime and anywhere. We pray today that our siblings in Cameroon and Nicaragua may enjoy good health and that all may go well with them even as their soul is getting along well (3John1:2). In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Today’s Practical step:
Pray for members of the Lutheran Church of Cameroon and the Lutheran Church of Nicaragua.
