James 5:16
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.“
A great book to look to when you want to learn about “practical Christian living” is the book of James. He talks about many topics, but a big theme is faith and works. He states that having faith without showing evidence of that faith through action is a good indicator that a person doesn’t have faith at all (James 2:14-26).
What are “works” that we are called to do as a Christian friend?
The obvious answer here are physical things like being there for them, taking a friend out to eat and talking, sitting by them at lunch, etc. These are necessary, but an aspect of our faith that we don’t always utilize is prayer. In James 5, it states we should pray when we are happy, sad, or sick. And in our prayer, we need to trust that God is good and is actually working. God might be saying no, but in that, our God is able to understand what we’re going through. He gets it and is helping, so keep asking. Pray for your brother, your sister, your mom, your friend. Pray for your teacher, neighbor, or that lady on the street you just saw. A question I would ask yourself is, “if you believe that God is real, then why don’t you pray like it?”
Prayer: Jesus, show me how to pray. Show me Your love and Your grace and Your heart. Help my heart to be more like Yours and help me to learn to pray like You. I thank You for bringing me this far and I ask that You continue to help me grow. I thank You for when You congratulate me and when You challenge me. Help me to be Your hands and feet. In Your name, Amen.