Folks Who Know Jesus Well
March 15, 2023 | Jonathan Pierre SY ‘25
image description: laying hands on someone in prayer
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. – James 5:16
There are seasons of my life when everything feels so spiritual. Walks to class are filled with prayer and faith. Meals alone in the dining hall are full of gratitude. That first sip of a Jitterbus cappuccino is filled with hope. Lately though, it feels like things have been everything but spiritual. Anxiety has felt more real–oftentimes replacing the peace of the Holy Spirit. A sense of hopelessness has tried to dry up my faith. And a deep feeling of irritability has attempted to replace a love for others.
In seasons like this, I’ve found a great sense of comfort in knowing folks who know Jesus well. Folks who, when I’m stuck in a cobweb of thinking and overthinking, can lay hands on me with divine power. [1] You can try and replace ‘folks’ with ‘friends and family’ but I think the relationship we have with other believers is more distinct than that. The bond is divinely ordained and spiritually woven.
Sometimes I mistakenly conceptualize my faith in Jesus as something so ethereal. Like I’m down here and he’s up there. But really, while our faith is inherently personal, it’s necessarily communal. Jesus is living and breathing in the body of believers. He acts and speaks through my sisters and brothers in Christ. Sometimes when we feel far from God and almost paralyzed by the human condition, we should draw closer to those who can remind us of who He is and what He can do.
References:
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 ESV: For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
This piece is a part of a series for Lent 2023. Read more at https://www.yalelogos.com/lent2023