Praying Effectively
Praying Effectively
Key verse
James 5:16b (NLT) The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Big Idea
Today, our big Idea comes directly from James 5:16b “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
Now lets ask two questions from this verse…
“Who is a righteous person?”
“What makes prayer effective?”
Who is a righteous person?
In speaking to Job, Eliphaz asks these questions in Job 9.2.
Job 9:2 (ESV) “Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?”
The quick and easy answer is found in Romans 3:10 “None is righteous, no not one.” That’s not encouraging for us at all, so let’s define the word righteous.
The Dictionary defines righteousness as a person being morally correct and justifiable in their actions. When we look to the Old Testament, we see righteousness as being innocent of specific offenses against God. That is righteousness comes through obeying the Law of God. For example the 10 Commandments that says things like don’t have any other gods other than God, no idols, not using the Lord’s name in vain, keep the 7th day holy, honor your parents, don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie and don’t covet the things that aren’t yours. Or what about any of the other 613 laws listed the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. WOW!!! I don’t know about you, but when I look at righteousness in the Old Testament, I feel a huge weight on my shoulders. I feel condemned. Is anyone else feeling that way right now?
Let me share a little secret that very few people are aware of. God has manifested righteousness separately from the law. The Law and even the Prophets of the Old Testament point directly to it.
Romans 3:22 (ESV) The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction.
Righteousness comes to us when we believe in Jesus Christ. Romans 3:25 says that Jesus is our atonement through his blood on the cross that we can receive by faith. Atonement is a big work for turning away the anger and wrath of God through a sacrifice. Jesus is our Atonement!
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus took on all of our sin, all of our wrongdoing, all of our inability to live up to God’s good and righteous standards through the law. Then He died on the Cross in our place as the atonement, as the sacrifice, for all of our sin. Thus creating the New Covenant which fulfilled the Law of the old testament and made the way for us.
The apostle Paul refers to Habakkuk 2:4 where it says, “the righteous shall live by faith.” And in several of his letters he used Abrahams story as the example of righteousness from Genesis 15.
Abraham lived before God gave the law. He was 75 years old when God told him to leave his country. The Lord promised Abraham that he would make him into a great nation, would bless him and make him great, so that he would be a blessing to others (Genesis 12:2). He and Sarai packed up all of their possessions and left Haran. Abrahams nephew Lot went with them as well. A couple of decades later, God came to Abraham in a vision. At this point, he was in his late 90’s and was still childless. He didn’t have an heir. Then in Genesis 15:4 God told him,
Genesis 15:4 (ESV) “your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.
Abraham had an unwavering faith in the promise that God made him. He was fully convinced that God could and would do what He had promised. He continued to grow strong in his faith. It was because of this that God counted Abrahams faith as righteousness for him. (Rom 4:20-22 paraphrased). Listen to what Paul teaches in Romans 4:23-24.
Romans 4:23-24 (ESV) But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,…
So what exactly is the answer to the question, Who is righteous? Well, by ourselves, none of us are. What denotes a righteous person is someone who has faith in God, is committed to doing God’s will, and cultivating a right relationship with Him. So, if we have faith in Jesus Christ that he died on the cross for our sake, was raised from the dead, and we follow what His word says, it will be counted to us as righteousness. God will see us as righteous.
Hopefully I have clearly answered the first question. Now lets look at the second question.
What makes prayer effective?
This question is more difficult to answer. We all want to think that an effective prayer is one that God answers. But this doesn’t happen all the time. Or what do we think if the answer to our prayer isn’t what we think it should be? Do we deem it as ineffective?
I believe that there are five key elements to effective prayer. This list is paraphrased from an article about Effective Praying in my study Bible.
Effective Prayer trusts God will answer.
This is what James was referring to in the 5 chapter and 15th verse of his book, where he says, “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.” In Ch. 1 vs. 6, he says to ask in faith without doubting. He even teaches that the person who doubts is like a wave that is driven and tossed in the wind. In verse 7 he says,
James 1:7-8 (ESV) “such a person (a doubter) should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” 8 “Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”
2. Effective Prayer aligns with God’s will.
Again, going back to James, he teaches us in ch. 4 vs. 3,
James 4:3 (ESV) “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”
He isn’t talking about praying for the things we need. God knows everything we need, and He wants us to ask for those things. Instead he is referring to the worldly things we want.
Here’s an example from my life. For years we waited to meet the requirements to become missionaries. During that time I prayed that God would allow me to open a photography and design studio. Now I was able to justify this by saying, “this will be my career, it will provide for my family, and I can serve God and the church through this business.” I even tried more than a few times to start a business without any success. I wasn’t successful with it because it was outside of God’s will for my life. I had more doors of opportunity shut in my face than what I care to count.
1 John 5:14 (ESV) “and this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us”
The key words here are “asking according to His will.” This verse alone can be used for a whole series of messages. In short asking for things according to God’s will means asking for things that He desires, for His intentions, His plans, and His purposes.
Back to my Illustration. When I started praying about how God wanted me to use the gifts and talents he gave me, He started opening doors for me to work in the industry I wanted to start a business in. But, instead of working for myself, I was working for other people and other businesses. This helped me learn more of the things He wanted me to learn. Then, after working in the creative industry for a long time, we finally were accepted to become missionaries. Now, as a missionary, I get to do all the things that God has called me to do with my gifts and talents. On top of that He has opened the door for me to do things I’v never dreamed possible.
3. Effective Prayer requires righteous living.
We must live according to God’s standards the best we can, and obey Him if our prayers are going to be effective. We just talked about this in the first question we answered. We must do our best to continually live righteously before God and do his will. And when we mess up, we need to confess, turn from our evil ways, and run towards God through our faith in Jesus.
4. Effective Prayer is persistent.
Jesus uses the story of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-7 to teach the disciples about being persistent in prayer. This widow was having problems with someone who was causing her many problems. So she went to the Judge to present her case. Day after day, she went to the judge pleading her case. Finally, because of her persistence, the judge gave her justice against her adversary. Jesus uses this story to encourage the disciples to not lose heart, and to always pray.
Persisting in prayer means that when we think about a situation, and we take it to God instead of worrying about it. We do this because we know that ultimately God is in control and will do what is best.
5. Effective Prayer is made in Jesus’ name
John 14:13-14 (ESV) Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Jesus wasn’t talking about just tacking his name to the end of our prayers. In the bible, if someone does something in the name of someone else, it meant that they were doing what was in the approval and in the authority of the person who’s name they used. AKA doing the WILL of the one who sent them.
Think about it this way. It’s time to eat dinner. Your family is scattered throughout the house. But your youngest child is with you, and you ask them to round up the family for dinner. So your child runs around the house telling everyone, “mom said to go to the table, it’s time for dinner.” Your child does this with your approval and authority.
If my youngest son, Sammy, ran around the house just telling everyone to come to the dinning room without saying “Mom said”, do you think my older son, Caleb, is going to move? Of course not! The “mom said” is what is needed.
The combination of these 5 elements (Trusting God, Aligns with God, Righteous Living, Is Persistent, and Made in Jesus’ name) will result in effective praying. When we combine righteousness with effective prayer, we will see James 5:16b come to life.
James 5:16b (NLT) “The Prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Illustration from Elijah
Now lets look at the example James gives us from Elijas life of how righteousness and effective prayer work together.
Elijah’s story starts in 1 Kings 17. His ministry was centered around a national conflict between God and Baal during the reign of King Ahab. The people of Israel turned to Baal because of the actions of Ahab. He married Jezebel who is described in Revelation 2:20 as a false prophet that turned people from God by seducing them away from Him and into sexual immorality. She was also the leading force that drove Ahab and the people to worship Baal.
Elijah represents an unshakeable faith and commitment to serve the Lord God. In fact Elijah’s name means, “the Lord is my God.” In 1 Kings 17.1 Elijah confronts King Ahab. He said, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
This action of withholding rain was a direct blow against the peoples beliefs of Baal’s power. Baal was believed to be the god of weather and that he was responsible for the abundance of crops. Elijah knew that if it didn’t rain, it would directly mock Baal, and prove that he was a false god. By proving this, it would also prove to the Israelites that Jezebel was false in all of her teachings as well. Which is one of the many reasons why she wanted to kill Elijah.
Elijah stood before the Lord as a righteous man because he did everything possible to keep a right relationship with God, and obeyed God’s calling on his life. He stood in the extremely bold confidence of his faith, that God would do what needed to be done to turn the people back to Him. Because of this, God used Elijah in many ways. My favorite part of Elijah’s story was when he called down the Holy Fire of God to defeat the prophets of Baal. But the miracle with the greatest effect on the people during this time happened 3 and a half years after Elijah told Ahab it wouldn’t rain.
1 Kings 18:41-45 (NLT) Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!” 42 so Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with this face between his knees. 43 Then he said to his servant, “Go and look out toward the sea.” The servant went and looked, then returned to Elijah and said, “I didn’t see anything.” Seven times Elijah told him to go and look. 44 finally the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.” Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him, ‘Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!’” 45 And soon the sky was black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm,…”
James tells us that Elijah was just as human as we are, and that when he earnestly prayed God moved.
James 5:16b (NLT) The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Closing
We can clearly see the 5 keys to effective prayer in Elijah’s story. Now, how many of us want more effective prayers? All of us, Right!? We know none of us are perfect, and that we all struggle with one or more of these key elements. Lets put the 5 points on the screen again, take a moment to think about these, and ask the Lord what do I need to work on the most?
Do you have faith that God even can answer, or that he listens?
Do you have trouble knowing if what you pray for lines up with God’s will or not?
Do you have trouble living a righteous life?
Do you have trouble being persistent or do you pray once and then give up?
Do you pray in the authority of Jesus’ name?
Here in a moment we are going to pray. We are going to ask the Lord our God to help us reflect on what we need to work on. We are going to ask him what we need to do. Maybe the answer is to meet with someone who can encourage you, maybe its to keep a prayer journal, or maybe you need to find an accountability partner. God has better ideas about this than I do, so lets ask him to speak to each of our hearts in how to improve in these areas so that we can pray more effectively and know him more. We will do that in just a moment.
Before we go any further let’s start at the very beginning, maybe you don’t have a prayer life at all, or maybe you pray some but you haven’t given your life to Jesus. You know that you are not being counted as righteous. This is the first step, so while everyone is praying and asking God for help with growth in their prayer life, those of you who want to be counted as righteous and begin living for God today, please come forward.
