"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16b
Throughout my years as a Christian, I've heard that portion of scripture quoted hundreds of times. I've always considered that a righteous man's prayers were sanctioned and set apart as holy. But when I was reading a devotional the other day, I came across some questions regarding this verse that gave me great pause.
There's qualifying factors for the much that may be availed through a man who is righteous. First and foremost, the man must be righteous. He must be a man washed in the blood and set apart as one of God's own. For only through the blood of Jesus is any man made righteous. "Our righteousness is as filthy rags", after all.
And even a man made righteous through the attoning grace of Jesus Christ must continue abiding in the Vine without blemish. My reasoning behind this statement is the context from which I get the above verse in James. Preceding that portion of verse 16 is these words: "Confess your trespasses one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." 5:16a. So here we see even a righteous man (saved by grace) must confess trespasses (sins) with another brother/sister, don't you think?
So what if a righteous man (sinner saved by grace) sins against a brother or even sins, in private, against his Savior. Suppose no one in the world but he and God knows. Can his most fervent prayer avail much? Can we beat our chests and say, "O, Lord, thank God I am not like so-and-so" and then expect God to answer our zealous prayer? Can God even hear our prayer if there is any leaven in our loaf of life? Wouldn't it behoove us to ensure our prayer avail much by first confessing our sins? After all, God doesn't even want our tithe or offerings till we've left the altar and reconciled ourselves to our brother. So why would He even listen to our moaning and groaning for this-or-that if we have sin between us and His holiness?
I think of all the ire we may feel toward another in our walks as Christians. I wonder if that counts as sin? I wonder if our thoughts of another being meanspirited, arrogant or just plain stupid ever constitutes an attitude of pride in us which God hates?
I wonder if what I'm to do in order to avail much in my prayer life is to remain at peace with all men as much as possible? And how many times in my pride-centered life have I dismissed the "as possible" as impossible and moved on to think God understands. After all, "so-and-so" is totally irrational, unreasonable, and intolerable?
If that were how it's suppose to be, I wonder why Jesus said, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." Was Jesus not talking about those folks mocking, rejecting, spitting and cursing Him? Was Jesus not referring to the very irrational, hatefilled, meanspirited crowds calling, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Or was Jesus referring to the guards driving nails into his flesh and giving Him gall to quench His thirst?
What is an effective, fervent prayer?
Well, the effectiveness certainly doesn't rest with me. My Amplified Bible reads this way: "The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]." Then James illustrates his thinking with the example of Elijah, who being "a human being with a nature such as we have", prayed for rain to be withheld, and for 3 and a half years, it did not rain. And then Elijah "prayed again and the heavens supplied rain".
I Kings 18:1 recorded: "After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth".
Yet several months passed before the Lord actually sent the rain. And when Elijah later prayed, he had enough faith that he said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the abundance of rain." But before rain came, Elijah climbed a mountain, prayed and sent his servant out seven times before the servant finally saw a cloud in the distance. Persistent. Effective.
FERVENT. Continuing, steadfast, believing.
A "fervent" prayer is persistent. It relies on the "the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]." Hebrews 11:1, Amplified. An "effective" prayer is faith-filled.
A righteous man. Some folks say the proof is in the pudding. In this case, could the proof not be in the prayer? selahV
[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]