TOPIC:"The Beautiful Bridge of Prayer"
"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (5:16)
The building of a bridge is a daring undertaking and astonishing achievement when finished. One such majestic structure is the Golden Gate Bridge across the treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay. It has been called "the most spectacular bridge in the world." But a century ago it seemed like an impossible task to build. Because of the brutal winds, the heavy fog and the treacherous tide, most engineers were not willing to gamble that such a bridge could be built. But one man by the name of Joseph Strauss was wiling to undertake its construction.
During construction a safety net below the bridge saved the lives of nineteen men. It took five years of labor, pain and patience before it was completed in 1937 at a cost of twenty-seven million dollars. It took more than one million tons of concrete to build the massive blocks that grip the bridges supporting cables. When finished, it had a main span running 4,200 feet without a support and it cleared the water at an incredible height of two hundred and twenty feet. It rises up seven hundred and forty-six feet above the water.
Yes, bridges are indeed something amazing to behold as they enable thousands of vehicles to pass over them. But may I say there is another kind of bridge even more important that needs to be built. It is the beautiful bridge of prayer. Such a bridge spans from the heart of man to the throne of God in Heaven. Its traffic is the longings and needs of the human soul. It expresses itself in adoration, thanksgiving, confession, petition, and intercession.
This is the bridge that the Apostle James is writing about in the verses before us. It is the bridge that every person who professes to belong to Christ must build if they are to have an intimate fellowship with their Heavenly Father. Let's begin our task of building the most beautiful of all bridges - the bridge of prayer.
Consider, to begin with, the MAKING of the . . .