August 25: Prayer that works

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.    (James 5:16-18 — New American Standard Bible)

Real prayer is powerful and effective. God will respond to you and do what you ask Him to do; your prayers won’t hit the ceiling and fall back down, but will rise up to God and be answered from heaven. Real prayer moves God's hands and causes things to happen that would not otherwise happened.

Of the seven billion plus people in the world, how many pray? If 75% of the world prays, or even 50%, where are the results? People are suffering, there is war, hospitals are full, people are getting divorced, homeless people are living under bridges, and there are more addictions today than ever before. Is prayer to blame? No, because like anything else in life there’s a right and a wrong way to do it. Many people pray to the wrong god, or pray without faith, or make empty repetitive prayers, or pray to a god that they feel is not interested in doing anything for them. If we don’t pray in the proper way, or pray to the right person, how can we expect results?

This passage states that the prayer from a righteous man (or woman) can accomplish much — that righteousness is a key to prayer. But righteousness is just a fancy word for doing what is right, obeying God, living the way He wants us to live. Righteousness is not being perfect, because Elijah wasn’t. If you read about what He did after the rain came you’ll see that he ran from Jezebel, got depressed and just wanted to die (1 Kings 19). He wasn’t perfect, but he was righteous! …just like you and me.

One of the most important lessons of this passage is that Elijah had a nature like ours. In other words, Elijah was no different than you or me. He was a human being just like us, but chose to live by faith and to believe in great things. What we learn from this passage is that the problem of prayer does not concern the object of our request — the size of our request… Elijah asked for the rain to stop for three and a half years — but the earnestness of our prayer, the boldness of our faith in God.

We can’t be content with mumbling ritualistic, dry prayers. Get busy using your faith to ask for great things with the determination that God has to treat your prayers like He did Elijah’s. Make sure you’re a righteous person, that you listen to Him when He talks, and that you are growing in faith and obedience every day. When you’re doing this, and you make an effective prayer — bold and strong, not based on feelings but on God and His promises —you will see answers on a par with Elijah’s.

Let’s stop blaming God for unanswered prayers; let’s look inside ourselves and decide to change whatever we have to change to see amazing things.