Prayer Will Still Work

2. Prayer will still work.

James 5:16 (NKJV) 16…The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16 (NLT) 16…The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.
James 5:16 (TMNT) 16…The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.

I look at the NKJV translation of this verse and there are four words that automatically pop out of the page and grab my attention—effective, fervent, righteous and avails. The fourth word appears to be conditional of the first three. In other words you don't gets the "avails much" until you are righteous and are praying effectively and fervently.

How is it that a person prays effectively? I love to pray and sometimes I get lost in my communication with God that people say I should pray next time and not preach. There are times that prayer actually becomes more like worship. In moments like those I think it is better to call that time worship instead of prayer. Our friend Webster defines prayer as 1) an address (as a petition) to God and 2) an earnest request or wish. Neither of those definitions mention praise, worship or flowery language. Nor do they mention tone or length of the prayer. To be effective in prayer you have to know what you are requesting and the basis on which you are requesting it.

James makes a reference to Elijah when he said the heavens were to be sealed up because of Ahab's rebellion. He knew what the word said about worshipping false idols and turning your back on God. It was also that Elijah by the same token was able to call fire down from heaven to consume his offering to God after Ahab and his prophets realized there was no power in Baal. After the prophets had been trying to call down fire from Baal all day, dancing and cutting up there bodies they had no response. Elijah who prayed a prayer to God that was less than 10 seconds in length got an immediate response because he knew he was praying God's word and was praying from a solid foundation.

God tells us to bring Him in remembrance of His word—not that He has forgotten but that we know the basis on which we are asking things of Him. Jesus said "The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply." Matthew 6:7-9 (TMNT) Praying effectively is praying God's word back to him as the basis for your requests. Praying effectively is praying God's will fulfilled in your life and in the lives of others—whether that be healing, prosperity, favor with the people you deal with—if it has a foundation in the word of God then it is fair ground for requesting it from Him.

Fervent prayer is not so difficult to understand either. When Elijah said that the heavens would open up and pour out rain it did not happen immediately. He had just called down fire from heaven and it took less that 10 seconds for him to utter that prayer. He asked for rain and the heavens did not open up right away. He sent his servant and asked him to look for clouds and the servant returned saying the sky was clear. So Elijah put his head between his knees again and prayed a second time. Still the servant reported clear skies. He did this 5 more times until the servant reported that a small cloud was surfacing on the horizon.

It is important to note that even though Elijah was used to prayers that received quick response from God, he did not give up when he did not receive and immediate answer this time. He knew the word of God and he knew the will of God for his people, now that they were reconciled back to Him. It is also important to note the posture that Elijah took when praying—he put his face between his knees. In ancient times this is posture that women used to take when they were giving birth to their babies. It wasn't that God needed Elijah to pray over and over again. It wasn't that He was testing Elijah, God trusted him as His mouthpiece. God was asking Elijah to form a deeper relationship with Him—asking Him to enter into His presence a second, third, fifth and seventh time. When there is no immediate response from God sometimes we need to pray the fervent prayer. We know w to pray effectively, fervently is entering into the presence of God over and over again coming before the almighty and trusting Him. The more we trust Him the more we realize that He has our best interest at heart and the issues we bring before Him fade and the relationship we have with Him becomes the source of everything that we need. We don't pray fervently to get Gods attention, we pray fervently to birth a deeper relationship with him.

Righteousness is another word that cane seem intimidating to someone who reads that praying fervently and effectively is not enough to avail much, but that effective and fervent prayer needs to come from a righteous man. The intimidation that the word righteous brings is simply a misunderstanding of its meaning. People understand righteousness to be a behavior. That is not the case. The righteousness of a man comes from his beliefs. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) If we believe that you have become a new creation like Paul says you have in 2 Corinthians 5:17, then you are a righteous individual. I know that seems way too easy. Let me offer one more example from the bible to confirm my theory. "For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous." When people work, their wages are not a gift. Workers earn what they receive. But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work." Romans 4:3-5 (NLT) Abraham did nothing except believe that God was who He said He was and would do what He said He would do. That is what made him a righteous man. It is not a person's behavior that makes him a righteous person it is his belief.

Knowing the meaning of these three words should help remove the intimidation of praying fervently and effectually, especially in the light of the fact that righteousness is determined by our beliefs and not our behavior. Our prayers can be something that is powerful and that brings about wonderful results—our prayers can be a force to be reckoned with. (James 5:16, NLT, TMNT)

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike