Effectual Prayer, Part 2
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another,
that ye may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.”
James 5:16
Purpose, persistence, and patience—the work of the Lord in the one praying as He hears and answers the request.
Prayer is not trying to get God to do what we want but is learning to be watchful as we wait for the answer to be revealed.
- The purpose of prayer keeps our hearts bound together with God’s heart, desiring what the Lord desires.
- Persistence in prayer shows the depth of our desire.
- Patience grows our faith and keeps us watching for the answer.
“Do you really think Dad is going to be saved?” My husband wasn’t alone in his question. His dad didn’t believe God would save him.
“If I didn’t believe it, I would quit praying for him.” My faith in God, to do the impossible according to man, didn’t waiver until the Lord laid on my heart to stop praying for my father-in-law.
In pride, I thought I was the only one praying for him—remember Elijah in my last post? He thought he was the only prophet left, but four hundred prophets remained. There may not have been four hundred praying for my FIL, but there were definitely more than I.
During the fifteen or so years of praying for my FIL, the Lord did work in me. Prayer opens the petitioner to the work of the Lord in that person’s heart before the final answer comes.
The first work in me began in the beginning of my prayers for my FIL. I wanted him saved because of the way he treated others, especially my husband. I didn’t want to deal with his insults. Through praying and studying God’s word, the Lord taught me to love my FIL—which was the lacking purpose behind my prayers for him. Then came persistence, where the Lord revealed my pride and then came patience.
Believing God heard my prayers and my prayers being consistent with his will, my confidence in the Lord’s answer remained firm—until another obstacle appeared. My FIL developed Alzhiemer’s. The diagnosis tested my faith—Could the Lord save him in this state? As the angel told Mary in Luke 1:37—so He told me.
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
To make a long story short, the Lord worked the impossible into the possible when other family members led my FIL to the Lord. In the Lord’s grace, He allowed me, in my skepticism, to hear my FIL’s one word testimony.
I approached him. “They told me you received Jesus as your Savior, asked him to come into your heart. Did He?”
With eyes mirroring his soul, he answered, “Yes.” And as the infant John leaped in Elisabeth’s womb when Mary spoke, the Holy Spirit witnessed the truth of my FIL’s confession to my spirit. One day I will see him in heaven.
In the book of James, the Lord inspired James to write down four words concerning prayer—effectual, fervent, righteous, availeth.
Effectual—begins with an altar, a place of sacrificing our will to the will of the Father.
- Here we listen more than we speak as the Lord conforms our minds and our hearts to his.
- Here we learn to set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
- We unite with our Father in purpose and praise as He prepares us for the battle ensued in prayer.
- This is where the righteous person finds cleansing and strength to walk in the righteousness of God rather than self.
Fervent—comes with the work of the Holy Spirit’s power in us.
- He gives us a passion, a zeal for the purpose of God after we have spent time at the altar of God.
- We know what to pray, and if we don’t the Holy Spirit prays for us.
- We know the One we pray to is faithful and is the God of the impossible.
- Persistence is learned here. It’s like water coming to a boil. The water sits quietly until there is a stirring. Then comes the full out popping of the bubbles.
Fervency is not based on emotion but on the power of the Holy Spirit uniting the word of God with the power of God in the heart of the one praying. Faith is strengthened while we wait for the answer to be revealed. These prayers availeth much, allowing us to witness the power of God. We have learned confidence in our Father’s word.
“And this is the confidence that we have in him,
that, if we ask any thing according to his will,
he heareth us:
And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask,
we know
that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
1John 5:14,15
The Lord has heard us. He has answered us. And, yes, He answers us immediately, but often the answer is revealed a little at a time. Ours is to patiently wait for Him to finish the work. He is never late.
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
through all ages, world without end. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20,21,KJV
What does prayer mean to you?