James 5:16-18(NKJV)
16bThe effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
Yesterday we looked at the first part of verse 16. James addressed sin and it’s effect upon the process he is describing in this chapter. On the one hand he tells us that the prayer of faith can cut through the sin of the one for whom we are praying. This does not mean that it doesn’t matter if someone is sinning as long as another person prays the prayer of faith for them. It does matter when it comes to their ability to sustain things like healing. However at the point of praying for them the prayer of faith will override those things. The healing or whatever else we are praying for may cause the hold of sin to be broken in their life.
On the other hand he encourages the one who prays to make sure that they are clean. If we are allowing sin to continue we will find it difficult to pray the prayer of faith. We will continually run into the condemnation of the devil and our faith will be hindered. The power of faith is it’s ability to make the connection between God and the earthly need. If our sense of righteousness is compromised this becomes a problem. Confess your sin, James says, so that healing may flow. We need to make ourselves accountable. First to God, but often that is not enough to expose sin to the light of the word. Sometimes we must go to a trusted friend or leader so they can help us overcome the flesh and the devil.
Once our sense of righteousness is secure, what can we accomplish in prayer? He says that the “effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Let’s begin with the result. The term avails much is very poetic sounding, but what does it mean? The amplified bible says that this kind of prayer “makes tremendous power available [dynamic in it’s working].”
When we release the prayer of faith according to this verse’s conditions we make power available. What kind of power and where? The power to solve the problem, God’s power, in the place where we need it. I think that is such a descriptive translation of this verse. When I plug a lamp into an electrical outlet I make power available to that lamp. All I have to do is turn on the switch. The power is there. When I pray the prayer of faith I make the power of God available to the situation. When we turn on the switch by receiving that promise, we will see the answer in due time.
What kind of prayer accomplishes this? As we have been studying, it is the prayer of faith. However in this verse James tells us what the prayer of faith looks like. It is effective and fervent. Once again this sounds good, but what does it mean. The Greek meaning of this word is “for effect.” I like that term. When an army uses artillery, they first send in a few shells to mark the target. Once the target is “zeroed in” they will use the term, “fire for effect.” That means put all you have into that location in order to obliterate the enemy. The effective prayer is one that is “for effect.” We have the target zeroed in and we are firing our prayers of faith in order to destroy the words of the devil.
The amplified bible once again gives us some insight. Fervent is expanded as heartfelt and continual. We must really believe something when we pray. We cannot pray with no actual feeling and expect our prayers to make power available. I believe in praying with other tongues, but as powerful as that can be, alone it is not enough. The bible tells us that when we pray in tongues our understanding is unfruitful. It is hard to feel anything when we have no understanding. We must also pray with our understanding because that is where we will be fervent or “heart felt” in our praying.
There are many ways that fervency can be expressed. It is different for each of us. To some it may be expressing volume, to others tears. It does not really matter as long as something is coming out of your heart. Without that, you will not be very effective. Faith, Galatians tells us, works by love. Fervency is a manifestation born of love.
Finally, the amplified bible says this word also implies continual. This does not mean we have to pray the prayer all the time until we see the result. It does mean we have to keep our faith applied. We have to thank God for the answer. We have to keep our heart open to hear more insight from the Lord as to what else might need to be released in prayer by faith. This is where praying in other tongues can be a powerful aid. Every time we think of the situation we can thank God for the answer and spend some time praying in tongues over the situation. We need to keep this attitude until we see the result or God releases us from the task.
Let’s make some power available this week. Let’s release some heart felt continual prayers over our lives, our loved ones and our world. I believe we will see some real changes around us as we do.
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