At least it's a good story...

Open your Bibles to Ruth 1 and read along as we talk through the chapter. (Seriously open your Bible or at least open this in a new tab!)
Read verses 1-2.
Who: a Jewish family of four - Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion
What: they are leaving Bethlehem for Moab to sojourn… Sojourn means a temporary journey.
When: the time of the judges... according to commentaries, it was probably during the same time as when Gideon was judge. Another reason this is important is because when the Jews would read that this story is taking place in the time of the judges they would sense hopelessness.
Where: They start in Israel and end up in Moab. Throughout the Bible, the land is associated with blessing. Jewish readers would see red flags go up as this family decided to leave their land and head to foreign land.
Why: there is a famine in the land of Israel, so rather than waiting for God to provide they decide to go try to find food.

just a little flour

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:16-20 ESV)

This isn't the first time in the book of James that we've read about prayer. In chapter 4, he talked about how our prayers are nonexistent and/or selfish and that's why they seem to go unanswered. In yesterday's passage, James talked about some specific types of prayer requests.
In these last few verses of the book of James, he continues yesterday's discussion of printer. I like for 16 in the New American Standard, it says, "the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."
What does he mean by effective prayers? First that word can also mean continued prayers. So it may not happen as soon as you pray, it may take time! So don't give up. Also in Matthew 17:20 Jesus tells us if we even had the tiniest amount of faith, we could do great things.
What does he mean by a righteous man? A righteous person is someone whose desires are in line with God's desires. Remember, those verses in chapter 4 were all about asking with proper motives.
So what James is saying is if we are seeking to love, honor, and serve God and pray with faith that He will do the things we are asking, it will happen.

James then gives us an example of this. I don't know how much you remember about Elijah, you can read about him in 1 and 2 Kings. He was a prophet of God who showed great faith at times and also hid in fear. He was the guy who challenged the prophets of Baal and miraculously helped the widow have enough flour and oil to provide for her and her son. James says he was a guy just like us – he didn't have special powers. He was a normal guy who struggled and sinned in his attempts to love, honor and serve God, just like we do. And when he prayed for a drought, there was a drought. And then when he prayed for rain, it rained.
Through our prayers, we have access to the same powerful God that Elijah did. 

Pray continually. Pray unselfishly. Pray for others. Pray for spiritual growth and things God desires too. Pray with faith. Pray with confidence that God desires to answer your prayers.


Questions:
1) Do you pray often – continually? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Ever?
2) How does your prayer life (or lack thereof) show what you believe about God?
3) What can you do to make sure that the things you were praying for our things that God desires and not just selfish things?
4) Take some time to journal about this passage, and more specifically about a time that you saw God answer a prayer that you may have been praying about for a long time.

jeep knees

Eating sugar cane in the DR

In 2010, I went to the Philippines; it was an awesome trip. I loved getting to experience a different culture, try new food, meet lots of new people, and have some adventures (scuba diving, ziplining, riding jeepneys).

I’ll be honest, food in a different country is one of my favorite things. In Ecuador we ate popcorn with soup, avocado served with French fries and of course guinea pig. In the Philippines, we had lots of fresh tilapia, pancit and rambutans to name a few. Fresh fruits and veggies in foreign countries are always amazing! I still daydream about walking around a farm in the Dominican Republic trying all sorts of things—sugar cane, cashew fruit, cacao. In the Philippines, the mango was my favorite!

Philippine fruit: mango stein, lansones, pineapple,
 marang, rambutans, bananas and pomelo.

When I came home I looked in all sorts of grocery stores, but could not find it. Maybe two years later, I found some dried Philippine Mango; I was thrilled! I told people about it, bought it and made them try it. Another year or two later, I found fresh Philippine mango in Giant! I again told people and bought it and shared it! (One time when I was in Giant, a lady saw me picking it up and asked me about it. I probably gave her way more info than she wanted, but she ended up buying some to try.)

James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 

Having faith in God saves us. We’ve talked about this a lot throughout our devos on Galatians. Our salvation is about putting our faith and trust in God, not about circumcision or any other work we do. In Ephesians, Paul says “by grace you have been saved by faith, not of works.”

In Luke 23:39-43, we are told about the thief on the cross repenting and believing while hanging there. He wasn’t baptized or able to do any works, but Jesus told him that he’d be in Paradise that day.

So what’s all this James is saying about faith without works being dead??

Philippine Mango!!

It’s like the mango – I know it’s good and want others to enjoy it. So I tell them about it, give them some to try. I’m not going to keep it to myself.

If you have experienced God’s grace and have been saved, you’re not going to keep that to yourself. You’ll want to tell others about it… do things to help them experience the same thing you have experienced.

So God doesn’t require us to do works to be saved, but our salvation and love for Him should compel us to want to do works. In John 14:15, Jesus says “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”

Answer This:

1) Have you put your faith in Christ and been saved by God’s grace? If so, write the story of when/how here. If not, talk to your parents or a youth leader about how to do so!

2) So also ____________ by itself, if it does not have ____________, is ____________.

3) Do you talk about your faith? Do others see your works and therefore your faith?

4) Take some time to journal about this passage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Written  for the youth group devotional book.