James 5:13-16 KJVS
[13] Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. [14] Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: [15] And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. [16] 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.

We’ve heard that last line in this passage many times. We say we believe prayer works. We apply this line to various areas of life, and we talk about how our lives are influenced by prayer.
Allow me to lay a little groundwork before we get down to the main point of the message.

Effectual means successful at producing the desired results. So, a righteous person’s prayer will produce the desired results.

Fervent means having passionate intensity. It comes from a French word that means to boil. It is also related to our word for energy. A righteous person who prays with passionate intensity will produce the desired results.

Avails means to be strong, to have power, to be able to achieve. A righteous person who passionately prays is exercising the ability to achieve the desired results.

Now, by researching the Greek wording and meanings and taking this part of verse sixteen in its proper context, the desired results are relief from afflictions, which are hardships, healing from sickness and forgiveness for having committed an error or side slip, either willfully or unintentionally. Let’s apply this passage of scripture to our current situation. Is anyone having to endure a hardship? Is anyone sick? Is anyone guilty of some sin that was unintentional or even intentional? If that is the case, and we will admit it is our current situation, if righteous people will pray with sincerity, then the prayers will bring about the relief, the healings, the forgiveness we need.

This is one of the most hope-filled passages in the New Testament. This letter is written by someone who understood afflictions, illnesses and sinfulness. James was around during the early persecutions against Christians. He had seen his brother Jesus deal with sickness, and he had seen other believers deal with it through the power of God, too. He understood how people could unintentionally do wrong because of ignorance.

And James wrote to the believers who had been scattered because of the persecution that afflication, sickness and wrongful deeds can be dealt with through passionate prayer that will get results. I’ll say it again, the sincere prayer of the righteous will get results.

Do we believe what I am telling you is true? If we do, then why won’t we pray? Why do we think about prayer, talk about prayer, read about prayer, study the topic of prayer, attend prayer conferences, but not actually pray? For all of us who have been filled with the Holy Spirit, if we believe the Spirit makes intercessions for us and others when we pray in a heavenly language we never learned, then why don’t we pray in the Spirit every chance we get when we are praying?

Allow me to share a theory I have about why we don’t pray as much as we believe we should. Satan knows prayer works. He also knows that if he can keep us occupied with making a living and caring for our families and dealing with life’s troubles and temptations, then he can take up so much time from our days that we don’t make the time to pray. He knows the average Christian’s prayer lasts less than three minutes a day.

He knows that we will not defeat him spiritually if we do not fight him spiritually through prayer. So he works to keep us too busy to pray. That being said, what are we going to have to do in order to see the effective results that we believe prayer can create? We are going to have to exercise the self-discipline to actually take control of our time and schedule more time to pray. Simply stated, we have to stop making excuses, stop being so busy, and pray.

We are about to make some time right now to pray. Everyone watching this service is encouraged to join us in prayer. There will be some prompts on the screen to guide us as we pray together. To everyone in the building helping with the broadcast and everyone watching online, let’s start by thanking God for sending Jesus to provide forgiveness for anyone who will believe in Him.

Thank God for Sending Jesus
Thank God for His Blessings in Life
Praise God for Hearing Our Prayers
Pray for Our Families and Close Friends Who Have Needs
Pray for Our Local, State & National Leaders
Pray for Those Affected by the COVID19 Virus in Any Way
Pray for Our Nation to Turn Back to God
Thank God for His Mercy and Grace
Thank God for the Answers to Prayers the He will Send
Give God Praise for Who He Is

If you have a prayer request, please contact us through the “Comments” space below. Your email will not be shared by us.

God bless & hope to see you online again soon.