Pastor John Stasse SYPC pm, 24th January 2010
James (26) The Power of Prayer Unleashed (James 5:16b-18)
James gathers all he has been saying on prayer to declare that prayer has great power, and that this is not the prerogative of a select few believers or ‘super saints’ but for all believers.
Of prayer James says that it “avails much”. There are two things we should notice here.
Firstly, these words are given the place of emphasis in the Greek sentence, that is at the beginning rather than at the end of the sentence. It is this that James is drawing our attention to; to the ‘much effect’ of prayer.
Secondly, this word “avails”, as Motyer points out, speaks of inherent strength or power to accomplish which makes a person or thing sufficient for the task. It is the same word we find in Jesus’ comment about salt which has “lost its strength” (Matt 5:13). In other words there is a power that is waiting to be unleashed; the power of prayer is very strong.
Apparently millions of ounces of gold are still laying under Bendigo waiting to be brought up; not to mention Ballarat and Stawell. This is an ‘Untapped Resource’. This presents a picture of rich deposits hidden under what may even be unattractive tracts of land.
This is the sense here. Prayer ‘looks unimpressive and is easy to despise, but it has great resources waiting to be tapped, a huge potency to release.’ (Motyer)
But when released it is a power that accomplishes its purpose, hence the translation “avails much”. Prayer carries a mighty punch.
But how do we release it? Will I see it released? James goes on to state the two essential elements necessary for unleashing this great power of prayer, and then illustrates its unleashing through a believer just like you and I.
We see its:
1. Intensity
James speaks of prayer as “effective, fervent” – this is actually a single word in the Greek, a word from which we get the word ‘energy’. When we see this we can say that James does not mean:
Prayer Styled with ‘religious’ language. There was a lady who when asked why she was learning Hebrew replied, ‘Well, it will not be long before I die, and when I do I would love to greet my Maker in His native tongue’!
Now this may be an extreme, but many Christians consider prayer to be real or proper when it follows the right styles and forms, that is, has the Prayer Book feel to it or the Authorised form with its Thee’s and Thou’s.
Prayer Stretched with Length. Prayer at times may be long for the amount of issues that need to be covered, but the length is not the criteria of effectiveness. Yet some, despite having but little to say lift up long-winded prayers. But to do so disparages the many ‘short’ prayers in the Bible.
Prayer Stunted with just saying. We must ever be watchful over the differences between “praying constantly” (1 Thess 5:17) and the “vain repetitions” which Jesus condemns. The important thing is not frequency.
The issue, RATHER, is that of fervency. Paul told the Colossians that Epaphras was “always labouring fervently for you in prayers”.
Blanchard points out that it is the kind of word you would use to describe a horse leaping over a high obstacle stretched out to the fullest limit of ability – that’s it: stretched out.
There is an energetic intensity to our praying, regardless of whether the prayer is long, short or in between. It is not concerned with the prayer’s appearance but with God and the thing being prayed about. It is to pray as one consumed with what is seen as vital, knowing only God can act concerning it. As one put it, ‘If the arrow of prayer is to enter heaven, we must draw it from a bow full bent’.
Now there is a definite challenge in that when we consider our prayers! Are we ‘stretched out’? Let us seek the Spirit’s help that there may be intensity in the asking.
2. Integrity
James also speaks of the person so praying as a “righteous man”.
Now we must be careful to understand James correctly here. In the Bible “righteous” is used in a spiritual and a moral sense.
The ‘spiritual’ sense is seen in Rom 3:10 – “There is none righteous. No not one.” In this sense none of us have a righteousness which would enable us to stand before God. It is only through Christ that we have this righteousness (Rom 10:4, 1 Cor 1:30). If you are a Christian you have the status of righteousness in Christ.
And yet, as Blanchard points out, ‘Every prayer of every Christian is not answered in the positive way to which James refers here’. This points us to the reality repeatedly stressed by James that faith cannot be separated from works, but inevitably leads to works.
Or to put it another way, spiritual righteousness produces moral righteousness, positional righteousness results increasingly in practical righteousness.
The Apostle John put it this way, “He who does right is righteous” (1 John 3:7). He is speaking about people who are righteous in Christ (they are Christians), and who through doing right in God’s sight are becoming righteous in practice as well as in principle. This is what James is speaking about.
This is a clear biblical principle: David (Ps 66:18) “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me”; Isaiah (Isa. 59:1-2) “… your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear”; John (1 John 3:22) “And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in His sight”.
If we are to know effective prayer then we must not only be in Christ, but also, walk with Christ.
We may separate spiritual and moral righteousness theologically for ease of consideration, but we cannot and ought not separate the two pastorally.
The spiritual righteousness we have in Christ will always lead to the development of moral righteousness because of Christ. We will never know moral righteousness because of Christ apart from the spiritual righteousness we have in Christ.
Righteousness is essential, moral no less than spiritual: We must, therefore, never be content in comforting ourselves with faith in Christ, we must pursue our life with Christ.
And I suspect this is why James was concerned to use the prayer of forgiveness as a demonstration of the prayer of faith that is universally effective to all who offer it through Christ, and why he will conclude with a call to go after those who have sinned that they may be restored to fellowship with Christ (v.19-20).
But it is right here that many Christians are assailed with doubt. They think, ‘Well then my prayers will never be heard yet alone answered. I’m not going to know such demonstrations of the power of prayer. I doubt my righteousness. In particular I know I’m not sinless. I sin daily in thought, word and deed. I hardly know how to pray. This must be for other people.’
James anticipates this objection. He draws our attention to the great OT prophet Elijah.
3. Illustrated
What do we know about Elijah?
We know that he was a man whose prayers were heard. James identifies two such prayers that were met with miraculous activity from the hand of God. The first resulting in severe and prolonged drought, the other in a breaking of the drought with a great deluge of rain.
Now at this point we might begin to wonder how this illustration helps us. After all how many of us have seen such displays of divine power linked to our prayer? Isn’t the case of Elijah really calculated to cause us to a sense of inevitable uselessness about praying rather than its encouragement?
But don’t you see, says James, that all the time this Elijah was no different from us believers. James does not focus on the fact that Elijah was a mighty prophet of God, but passing over that simply points out that “he was a man like us.” Now isn’t this what the record shows?
Listen to Alec Motyer’s description of the tension that can be seen in Elijah’s life: ‘He could rise to heights of faith and commitment (1 Ki. 18:36-38) and fall to depths of despair and depression (1 Ki. 19:4). He could be brave and resolute sometimes (1 Ki. 18:17-19) and fly for his life at a whiff of danger (19:3). He could be selfless in his concern for others (17:19-24) and then be filled with self-pity (19:10).’
Put simply Elijah was an ordinary person, he was right with God yet served God from apposition of weakness. He felt the power of worldly intimidation, he was prone to despair. He knew he was not worthy. As Tony Bird notes, ‘He was no superhero.’ Daniel Doriani notes, ‘he was simply a righteous man who prayed, for individuals and for his society.’
When he was walking close with the Lord his prayer knew such power. But when he was far from the Lord, his pleas were denied (ie, for his death). Prayer is the outworking of a relationship – as it was for Elijah so it will be for us.
You see the danger we face in reading biographical material, whether of believers in the Bible or believers used in equally mighty ways since then, is that we tend to think that they lived in a different world. We begin to think that they were special people – utterly different to us. And that what we see in them could never be found in us. No, says James. We have no business separating ourselves from them in this way. They were ordinary people like us – fallible though redeemed. Elijah was subject to all the sins, failures and weakness that we are. The secret of their success lay in the maintenance of their relationship with God. We are dealing with the same God who has given the same Holy Spirit to reside within and work in and with us.
When it comes to prayer, then, James takes a holistic approach.
When we think of prayer we tend to treat it as a part of our Christian experience, something you do because of a situation at hand.
But for James you cannot separate prayer from the rest of your day. Prayer, though addressing the situation, should arise from a relationship with God, flowing naturally out of a life of godliness. When it does then you will know intensity in prayer and the effectiveness of prayer. Your prayer life is a manifestation of you daily life before God. May God in His grace cause us to grow then in godliness.
This then is the answer to knowing how to pray better: live better.