Righteous Prayer

Posted by Pastor Marcus on Feb 25, 2011 in Scripture | Comments Off

So I’m reading James 5:17-18 today…

¹⁷Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. [I Kings 17:1.]

¹⁸And [then] he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual]. AMP

…and thought to myself, “Elijah, a ‘human being’ just like us prayed a prayer so powerful that it completely altered his [and those around him] physical world.”  So then I wondered what it would be like today if we knew someone, met someone or even heard of someone who had experienced this same type of miracle?

For instance, what if my friend ‘Pedro’ prayed that it wouldn’t snow in Denver – and for the next 3 1/2 years it didn’t?  How would we react?  We’d probably put ‘Pedro’ on some sort of throne and try to milk him for pointers on how to do the same.  We’d idealize him and figure he has something we just don’t – right?

Well it doesn’t take looking much further than the first five words of James 5:17 to see that thoughts/actions like those toward ‘Pedro’ are just plain wrong.  Now I agree, I would be quite amazed to see this as well [and I actually believe miracles like this DO still happen] but if you jump back just 4 verses in John 5 we will see the power God has given all of us ‘human beings’ through prayer.

¹³ Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and
anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. NIV

Was Elijah [or my buddy 'Pedro' for that matter] so *special* or *different* that his prayer worked?  YES!  It was the faithful prayer of a righteous {hu}man that set his prayer apart.

So you want your prayers to be answered in powerful ways?  Then seek the faithful prayer [like that in James 5:13-16] and pray it through true, pure and undefiled righteousness – then you too [human nature and all] can will see the miracle hand of God in your life and in the world!

But that’s just my opinion.