Praying that Prevails

There are few things more discouraging than unanswered prayer. Many of you know what it is to pray over and over, but yet it is as though Heaven is silent. The Bible describes a type of praying in James 5 that causes our prayers to prevail. I invite you to walk with me through each phrase of James 5:15-18 and let us discover what the Bible teaches us in praying more effectively.

The Promise
What hinders our praying more than anything is sin. The Bible gives us a wonderful promise in v.15 that if we confess our sins, there is forgiveness. Have you ever thought about how we act when we know we have sinned? We have a tendency to run from God. Do you know where this comes from? It comes from our parents, Adam and Eve. Once they sinned in the Garden of Eden, what did they do? They hid from the Lord (Genesis 3:8).

We do the same thing today. I have seen it so many times. Someone is serious about their walk with God, and they are passionately pursuing the Lord. All of a sudden, sin creeps its way into their life and they fall off track. Because of guilt or feeling uncomfortable, they shy away from the church, from God’s Word and ultimately from God’s will.

Why do we run from God? If there is forgiveness there, why would we need come to Him when we have sinned? Like the Prodigal Son of Luke 15, until we “come to ourselves” or in other words, to our senses, we will continue living far away from God’s heart and His will for our lives.

I appreciate that James is quick to tell us that if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. Does this not remind us of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Be quick to repent often. Develop a sensitivity toward the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, Confess to One Another
I love the word, “Therefore.” It is a transition word. Anytime you see the word, “Therefore,” you should stop and read the verse or block of verses before because the author is building an argument. He is presenting a conclusion. So James is saying this, if there is forgiveness when we confess our sins, the conclusion should be that we are willing to confess our sins to one another. Why? Because there is forgiveness from God, should there not also be forgiveness from one another?

I also think one of the reasons the Bible encourages us to confess our sins to one another is because it creates accountability. I do not think this means to get on social media and air your sins to everyone. I think it means to share our faults and failures with close brothers or sisters who pray for us and encourage us in our walk with Christ. There should be deep accountability in our lives and with our closest friends.

That You May Be Healed
How can anyone deny the link between confessing sin and divine healing? James could not be any clearer in his teaching. The word, “Confess” means to agree with God. Many people cannot effectively confess their sins because they do not see what they are doing as sinful. We must have a sensitivity toward the Lord that He can convict us of sin our life.

Once we sense His conviction, we should then confess to the Lord as well as others. James is crystal clear that this is part of the divine healing process.

Righteous Praying
The next statement James makes is fascinating to me. Once I have confessed sin, obtained forgiveness, I am not able to pray in an effective way. Notice what James says in v.16, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Now, if you are like me, I can think of a few people that I would consider righteous, but I don’t think of myself as a righteous person. I know my faults. I know my failures. I know my sins.

So how can James tell us, normal, everyday Christians that our prayers can become effective? Because when we confess our sins, it brings us in “right” relationship to God. Do you remember what we said about Adam and Eve? They hid from the Lord. When we confess, it enables us to stand “upright” causing us to become Righteous, which means “Right Standing.”

It is not that we are super Christians. No! Instead is that we are confessing, forgiven Christians. Because God is working salvation in our lives, we are in “right standing” with Him bringing the righteousness of Christ. Read and savor Romans 3:22, “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction.”

The Effect
According to James, the prayers of the Righteous have great effect. He says it has, “Great power as it is working.” After my eye surgeries, I would have to take pain medication. I remember being in so much pain and thinking to myself that those medicines would “begin working” in my system after about 20 minutes.

The Lord would remind me that prayer was very similar. As I would pray, I could rest knowing that it is having its great effect in me. Do you believe that prayer is working, even when you cannot see it or feel it?

The Example
James is once again going to remind us that we do not have to be super Christians to experience prevailing prayer. He is going to give us an unlikely Old Testament example, Do you remember Elijah, the prophet of God who called down fire from Heaven and defeated Baal?

James says that Elijah was, “a man with a nature like ours.” He is saying that Elijah was very human. After the great accomplishment of calling fire down from Heaven, Elijah entered a deep depression in 1 Kings 19. He went so far as to ask the Lord to take his life. This shows us that Elijah struggled to trust the Lord at times.
So what was the secret to such spiritual power in Elijah’s life? James says yet “he prayed fervently.” That is the secret to prevailing prayer. A life that openly confesses sin, experiences forgiveness, given the righteousness of Jesus Christ and prays fervently will experience prevailing prayer!