An Odd Couple

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. —James 5:16

The book of James offers us a cluster of odd couples: Confession and prayer; healing and power; one anothers and one person.

Confession means to admit our sin, and sin always causes separation. But prayer requires intimacy. The need for healing carries an inherent weakness, yet James links healing with power. James mentions both collective prayer and the prayers of a single believer. Do our prayers have more power when we cry out alone or in a group? The answer is yes.

Crying out to the Lord isn’t a math equation. We can’t plug in A + B and always end up with C. But there are factors we can always depend on, like:

• Confessing our sin.

• Admitting our need and asking for healing.

• Praying for others.

• Backing our prayers with righteous lives.

Prayer and confession are the perfect pairing of our weakness and God’s strength.