For the past two months, we have been talking about prayer; how important it is to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father (May), and some of the different kinds of prayer (June). So this month we are going to be talking about how a righteous person makes tremendous power available through prayer. As I mentioned last month, the most effective way to pray is when we hook up with the Holy Spirit. James 5 tells us that the prayers of a righteous person make tremendous power available. First of all, as a believer, we are made righteous. Therefore, EVERY believer can make tremendous power available when they pray.
Through prayer, we communicate with our Heavenly Father, receive His wisdom, and experience His presence. Effective prayer is not merely speaking words to God. Effective prayer comes from having a personal relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit guides this relationship. Prayer includes praise, worship, petition, intercession and listening to God’s voice.
Jeremiah 33:3 (NASB)
3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
Wow!!! This is a wonderful invitation from our Heavenly Father. He wants us to come to Him with confidence, knowing that He hears us and cares about EVERY detail of our lives. The more time we spend in God’s Word and in His presence, the more sensitive we are to his leading and direction.
1 John 5:14-15 tells us that we can approach God with confidence, knowing that whatever we ask according to His will, He hears us and grants what we have asked for.
America is celebrating its 250th birthday this month – FREEDOM. So with that being said, I want to focus on the freedom and righteousness every believer has. If you don’t know that you are free and made right with God, you won’t understand that your prayers will give God the freedom to bring His word to pass in your life and the lives of anyone you are praying for.
One of the greatest truths revealed in the New Testament is that through Jesus Christ, believers have been set free from the power of sin and have been made righteous before God. Freedom and righteousness are gifts of God’s grace that was purchased through Jesus.
Our Heavenly Father desires for us, His children, to come boldly into His presence and receive answers to our prayers. When we understand who we are in Christ and learn how to pray in faith, our prayer life becomes effective. Many Christians struggle in prayer because they don’t feel worthy enough to approach God, but God’s Word tells us something totally different.
Romans 8:1 (NLT)
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
Prayer is not based on feelings or emotions. It is based on God’s promises, our righteousness in Christ and faith in God’s Word.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Righteousness means right standing with God; being made right with Him through Jesus. This means that we can approach our Heavenly Father without fear and condemnation. Because we have right standing with Him, we don’t have to bombard Him like beggars trying to convince Him to help us. Our righteousness gives us confidence to approach God.
Hebrews 4:16 (NASB)
16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.
Other versions say we can come boldly, which is the same thing as having confidence, before His throne. When you are confident about something, you have boldness. When we pray, we have to realize that God loves us, hears us and welcomes us because we belong to Christ.
We need to learn to pray according to God’s Word. Faith begins where the will of God is known. We need to learn to build our prayer life on God’s promises and not ON our circumstances or emotions. Faith grows when we meditate on God’s Word. This is how we learn to know His will.
One of the greatest principles of faith-filled prayer is believing that you receive when you pray. So many times, Christians are praying and waiting for God to do something. But His Word says something different.
Mark 11:24 (NASB)
24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.
Faith reaches out and takes hold of God’s promises before we see it with our eyes or before circumstances have changed. Too many Christians believe AFTER they see the answer. But God tells us to believe WHEN we pray, not AFTER we see the results.
We have to pray without doubting. Doubt hinders prayer. We are not to pray, “wishing” that God will do something. We have to know that He hears us and answers us.
James 1:6–7 (NKJV)
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
Our Heavenly Father delights in answering the prayers of His children. He invites us to come boldly to His throne of grace and to trust Him completely, without doubting. As we learn to pray in faith, knowing who we are in Christ and that we are righteous, we will see our prayers becoming more effective and powerful, and we will develop a deeper relationship with Him.