16 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).
We are a unit. We are one people. We can’t prosper while in division, but we thrive in solidarity. There is great strength in the power of agreement. Therefore, if we offend someone, go to that person and apologize. Clear the airways, so to speak. The old saying, “No man is an island” is certainly true. God did not intend for us to be hermits, or to exist alone. God created us to be members of a close nit society. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 explains that two are better than one, because they can help each other, and they will have a better reward for their labor. But the drawback with going at it alone is if he or she falls, who will lift them up, but if they had a companion that person would definitely help them back to their feet. Solomon goes on to explain that if two people lie down together they can help keep each other warm, but if one lies down alone, how can he or she keep warm alone? Then there is the power of agreement if any two agree on the earth about anything, it will be done for them.
Therefore, do not limit yourself to you alone because of pride. Do not let little things leave you divided from friends, family, or loved ones. There is more power in company, than in isolation. Do not let your prayers be held up because of pride. Go to the person who is offended, even if it’s not your fault. You do not want hindered prayers. And according to James, the brother of our LORD, we can hold up our own healing. When we are in unity, our prayers are powerful, working miracles and yielding much results.
Sometimes we offend people without us even realizing it. I remember one time years ago, when I was in my twenties, I worked with a woman, whom I liked very much. She was really nice and non-confrontational. She was showing me some pictures of the home she and her husband were building together. I thought it was funny to say, “Wow! What a nice house Robert (not his real name) is building. And it was a nice house. But that offended her and I didn’t even know until years later. I was only teasing her by not including her with her husband. I use to tease her all the time and did not realize that this time I obviously went too far. She never said a word about it for years, then one day she confessed. I never knew and I never meant to hurt her. She was my friend and coworker, I only knew her husband through her.
So, the moral of the story is, our words can hurt people even if we don’t realize it. We must be careful of how we carelessly sling our words around. We never know who will get hit even if we are not aiming at them, or intend to do harm. I apologized to her when I did find out and I’m happy to think that the incident did not strain our relationship, praise the LORD.
Heavenly Father, help me to see those whom I have offended without even knowing. And help me to be quick to confess and apologize. Help me to keep a close inventory on my words and my actions to make sure that I am in complete harmony with those in my circle of influence, in Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.