THE POWER OF THANKFUL PRAYER
James 5:16-18
“The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
Prayer is like breathing- It indicates that you are alive! (Acts 9:11) When all we can do is barely breath; there will still be breathing prayers of Thanksgiving. There are three conditions set forth in James for truly effective prayer. We’ve recently gone through the armor of God and the LORD’s Prayer, now we shall look at what empowers our prayers. But first we will look at what might be hindering our prayers. Sin hinders, and thankfulness empowers.
EFFECTUAL- Confession brings inward peace and makes prayer effective- It’s not the prayer that hinders, it’s the praying one (Luke 18). The human body cannot bear the weight of sin and associated guilt. Psalm 32:1-5. If you are not a confessing Christian, then you are stuck in a spiritual ditch. Satan would love you to stay stuck. Satan hates the doctrine of forgiveness, maybe more than any other doctrine in the scriptures. Every time a Christian confesses his or her sins it is like they get crowned again (1 John 1:9).
FERVENT- [energeo] If life is daily, then prayer must be daily too. Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17) means to pray daily. When prayer becomes operative, it carries a wallop – it is powerful in its effect.
BUT -without confession, your prayers are HINDERED, powerless or worse - they are self-condemning. Isaiah 5:18 / Psalm 66:18 / Proverbs 1:23-28 / 1 Peter 3:7--All these warnings of hindered prayer mean the church lacks power that they could have experienced.
RIGHTEOUS MAN- Where are we going to find righteous men and women, boys and girls?
This is not a discouragement for prayer, but the greatest encouragement! Any man or woman in Christ who prays, reaches into the power of Christ Himself. Any man in Christ is a man who has Christ as his head and righteousness as his power. You are the man or woman for THIS DAY that the LORD has made.
Example of Elijah (1 Kings 18:41-45). A man who declared war against the false gods of Baal. The point is that Elijah was a great man, but just a man. He had no other supernatural characteristics. His nature was just like ours. Why does James point to this fact? It is for our encouragement. It’s a “how much more”, argument. James leaves the application of this illustration for us to figure out on our own, in our own prayer lives. You fill in the blank. If God answers the prayer of a godly man like Elijah, and you, a child in Christ face similar trials, what could you expect from your prayers?
PRAYERS GIVEN WITH A THANKFUL HEART - In Psalms 103-107 we have a series of prayers of praise and thanksgiving. Each see the world in a different light. Psalm 103 looks at the nature of forgiveness and God’s great mercy, Psalm 104 looks at God’s sovereignty and providence. Then in Psalm 105 and 106, we have two Psalms of Thanksgiving; Psalm 105 is a summary of Israel’s family history from Abraham to the entrance in the Promised Land. In Psalm 106 we find a detail of the sins previously unmentioned in the family, and they are covered, and forgiven.