The prayer of faith will sustain you! You hear week in and week out the we are saved from the power of sin and death by the grace of the Father through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord who suffered and died for our sins and on the third day was raised from the dead. The power of faith has saved you, faith not of your own working, but faith given freely by the Father. And while you should never tire of hearing this great, Good News, you know the truth of it. You are saved through faith alone. But though you have been saved by faith alone, do you think that this means that you are ONLY saved by faith? Those of us that cling to the cross for our salvation; that live every day by the truth that we are saved through faith alone, can to easily misconstrue the nature of that salvation and put it in away in a box to await our dying day. Like our faith is some kind of totem with no importance for our daily lives, with salvific power only at the end of our mortal coil. But hear that great, Good News again. You are saved by grace of the Father, through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord from the power of sin and death. This Good News is greater than simply the fact that we are saved from death caused by the power of sin. No it is much more than that. We are in truth equally saved from the power of sin that leads to death.
Faith is not just some passive force that we intersect with at the moment of our death, it is active, powerful, and efficacious here and now. We live in a world fallen in sin. Sin that leads to death. In fact, the fallen sinfulness of this world makes it in the words of the Psalmist the valley of the shadow of death. This is the world we live in day after day. But more than this, we live each and every one of those days not just in a fallen sinful world, but in fallen sinful flesh. The old dead Adam is still the shell we inhabit in this fallen world. But God does not abandon us saying I have saved you from death through faith alone and I’ll be waiting for you on that day, until then you’re on your own. No, for the same Jesus Christ that hung on the cross and died for our sins and on the third day rose from the dead raising us up with Him to everlasting life, walked this earth with us; rebuked us in our temptation; comforted us in our trials; fed us in our hunger; and healed us in our sickness. The same Jesus died for us also lived for us. And that same Jesus said to us, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” He didn’t say, I’ll be waiting for you at the end, but that He is with us, walking beside us each and every day from now to our death and beyond “to the end of the age.” In chapter one of James, we read the words, “Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”
You are members of the risen Body of Christ in this place and this time. You are the risen, perfect and complete Body of our Lord and savior existing in a fallen world of sin and inhabiting fallen, dead flesh. How can this be? Through the power of faith. How can we stand steadfast in this world that wants nothing better than our destruction? How can we stand steadfast in this flesh that wants nothing better than our corruption? We stand steadfast, not through our will or power or effort, but through faith alone. We are safe from the power of sin and death, by the grace of the Father, through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. So is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray the prayer of faith. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises of faith. Is anyone among you sick? The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up once again. Have you committed sins, through the prayer of faith, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be forgiven and healed and sustained. The faith that saves you is the same faith that keeps you safe. The prayer of faith will sustain you!
