Faith and Righteousness Recipe that produces Powerful Prayer

James 5:13-18

Introduction

1. Prayer has great power.

 

James 5:13-18

^13‍ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him ‍^o‍pray. Is anyone cheerful? ‍^p‍Let him sing psalms. ^‍14‍ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, ‍^q‍anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ^‍15‍ And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. ‍^r‍And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ^‍16‍ ‍¹‍Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. ‍^s‍The effective, ‍²‍fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ^‍17‍ Elijah was a man ‍^t‍with a nature like ours, and ‍^u‍he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ^‍18‍ And he prayed ‍^v‍again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.^[1]

 

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James was a great man of prayer. He was called “Old Camel Knees” because, having spent so much time on his knees in prayer, his knees were calloused. He speaks now of another great man of prayer, Elijah (Elias is the Greek form of Elijah)^[2]

 

A. Avails much - prayer has the power to accomplish much.
B. God chose to be moved by our prayers.

Psalm 50:14-15

¹⁴          ‍^o‍Offer to God thanksgiving,       And ‍^p‍pay your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵          ‍^q‍Call upon Me in the day of trouble;      I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.‍”^[3]

James 4:2
^‍2‍ You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and ‍²‍war. ‍³‍Yet you do not have because you do not ask.^[4]

 

C. Prayer is the plan God put in place for us to receive from Him.

D. Most of us are in desperate need of prayers that accomplish much.

1. We need wisdom.
2. We need help in our marriages, family, finances and health.
3. We need God to work in the lives of our families and friends for salvation.
4. We need God to give wisdom to our national leaders.

2. Powerful prayer has two qualifiers.  Faith and Rightousness

Message

1. Powerful prayer requires passion.  One cannot have passionate prayer without faith!

A. The principle - God is looking for faith believing, energetic, passionate prayer.

1. Effective, fervent prayer - energetic passionate prayer.
2. Passionate prayer is not an easy going, laid back attitude in prayer. "God it would be nice if…", “Hey, by the way, thanks for everything…”
3. We are only passionate about something we truly believe in.

a. Passionate prayer only comes from people who believe in God.

 

Matthew 21:21-22

^‍21‍ So Jesus answered and said to them, “‍Assuredly, I say to you, ‍^t‍if you have faith and ‍^u‍do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, ‍^v‍but also if you say to this mountain, ‘‍Be removed and be cast into the sea,‍’ it will be done. ^‍22‍ And ‍^w‍whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.‍”^[5]

 

Hebrews 11:6-7
 ^‍6‍ But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

^‍7‍ By faith ‍^f‍Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, ‍^g‍prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of ‍^h‍the righteousness which is according to faith.^[6]

b. Passionate prayer only comes from people who believe and have heart trenching faith in God and believe God responds to prayer.

4. Manufactured, faked passion doesn't count.

5. Routine almost verbatim prayer from yesterday avails nothing. God knows it and He's not impressed.

6. God enjoys answering prayers when you passionately pour out your heart to Him.

B. The example - Elijah's passionate prayers.

1. Elijah was a true hero to Israel. He challenged King Ahab to a life or death battle between God and Baal, he killed 450 prophets of Baal, he raised the dead, ravens brought meals to him every day while he was at the brook Cherith, he multiplied the widows meal, he predicted no rain and it didn't rain, then he said it would rain and it did and when it was time to go to heaven Elijah vanished in a whirlwind.
2. Elijah prayed passionately.

I Kings 18:42
^‍42‍ So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; ‍^h‍then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees,^[7]

a. Passionate prayer is not embarrassed.
b. Passionate prayer does not care who sees or what they think.
c. Passionate prayer focuses on God alone.
d. Passionate prayer is not distracted by anyone or anything.
e. Passionate prayer doesn't have a wondering mind while the lips are praying.

 

C. The application - To have powerful prayers we need to take prayer seriously.

1. Prayer is not a ritual before meals or bed or during a church service.
2. God wants to know our heart is in prayer.

2. Powerful prayer requires righteousness.

A. The principle - God hears the prayers of the righteous.

1. Definition of a righteous man.

a. A Believer

1) When we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior God cloths us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 15:6

^‍6‍ And he ‍^m‍believed in the Lord, and He ‍ⁿ‍accounted it to him for righteousness.^[8]

 

Philippians 3:9
^‍9‍ and be found in Him, not having ‍^o‍my own righteousness, which is from the law, but ‍^p‍that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;^[9]

2 Timothy 2:22

 ^‍22‍ ‍^b‍Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.^[10]

 

II Corinthians 5:21
^‍21‍ For ‍^z‍He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become ‍^a‍the righteousness of God in Him.^[11]

2) In exchange for our sin He gave us His righteousness.

b. A confessing Believer

I John 1:9
 ^‍9‍ If we ‍^q‍confess our sins, He is ‍^r‍faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to ‍^s‍cleanse us from all unrighteousness.^[12]

Isaiah 59:1-2
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not ‍^a‍shortened,

            That it cannot save;

            Nor His ear heavy,

            That it cannot hear.

²           But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

            And your sins have hidden His face from you,

            So that He will ‍^b‍not hear.^[13]

 

            Psalm 66:18-19
¹⁸          ‍ⁿ‍If I regard iniquity in my heart,

            The Lord will not hear.

¹⁹          But certainly God ‍^o‍has heard me;

            He has attended to the voice of my prayer.^[14]
Psalm 34:15
¹⁵          ‍ⁿ‍The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

            And His ears are open to their cry.^[15]

 

            Proverbs 15:29
²⁹          ‍^h‍The Lord is far from the wicked,

            But ‍ⁱ‍He hears the prayer of the righteous.^[16]

c. An obedient Believer

1) Someone conforming to God's laws and goals.
2) Someone who knows what God wants from them and they are doing it.

2. A righteous man will have God-centered prayers.

B. The example - Elijah, a man like us, qualified.

1. Elijah qualified as a righteous man.

a. When we hear the definition of a righteous man we begin to think there is no hope for us.
b. There is hope once we know the whole story of Elijah.

2. Elijah was a person just like us.

a. He had a nature just like we have.
b. Elijah had a wicked heart, was under the attacks of Satan and lived in a corrupt world.
c. Elijah battled depression.

I Kings 19:1-4
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had ‍^a‍executed all the prophets with the sword. ^‍2‍ Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‍^b‍“‍So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.‍” ^‍3‍ And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

^‍4‍ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a ‍¹‍broom tree. And he ‍^c‍prayed that he might die, and said, “‍It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!‍”^[17]

d. The fact that Elijah battled depression did not disqualify him from powerful prayer.

C. The application - to have powerful prayers we must be righteous when we pray.

1. If we want to have powerful prayers we need to make sure we are righteous.

a. A Believer
b. A confessing Believer
c. An obedient Believer

2. When we have been saved, confessed known sin, and living for the Lord, no prayer is off limits.

a. Elijah's success in prayer gives us confidence in prayer.
b. If Elijah can pray for no rain for 3 years we can pray for great things.
c. Where other mortal, fallible, problem-filled people have gone in prayer we can go.
d. The people in the Bible are not used as unattainable examples but models for us to follow.

3. The newest, weakest, humble Christian has just as much power in prayer as anyone else.

 

Luke 17:5

^‍5‍ And the apostles said to the Lord, “‍Increase our faith.‍”^[18]

 

Mark 9:23-24

^‍23‍ Jesus said to him,  ‍^r‍“‍If ‍⁴‍you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.‍”

^‍24‍ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “‍Lord, I believe; ‍^s‍help my unbelief!‍”^[19]

 

The Lord is so gracious, not only does he give us a way to communicate and ask, but he also will fortify the tools necessary for such, all we need to do is ask.

 

4. What have you not prayed about because you thought it was too big to pray about?

 

Conclusion
1. Did you pray last week?  If So, Then
2. Think about your prayers last week.

A. Were they memorized prayers you always pray every day?
B. Were they faithless prayers you really didn't expect God to answer?
C. Were they hidden prayers that no one else saw so you wouldn't be embarrassed?
D. God wants passionate prayer, prayed with our whole heart.

3. Have you prayed and seen no power, no answers?

A. Do a check up

1. Saved?
2. Confessed sin?
3. Living obediently for the Lord?

B. Don't deceive yourself and think these things don't matter.

4. You, your family, your country, your world needs powerful prayer.