If you missed last week’s blog post, go back and check out Part 1 on the topic of Prayer. We spent some time in James chapter 5 where we learned about the importance of prayer and the times it is needed and in which it often occurs. But there is another facet to prayer.

Prayer is not only made in times of crisis or need, nor is it only called for during times of illness or on behalf of a friend in need. Prayer is also called during times of sin. We will pick up in James chapter 5 at verse 16:

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.”

“Confess your sins” – in other words, acknowledge your faults. See those ungodly things in your life as God sees them. But that verse doesn’t stop there. It continues, “and pray for one another…so that you may be healed.” Spiritual healing occurs when we confess sin and get right with God. Unconfessed sin and sin that you haven’t dealt with can become a barrier in your relationship with Christ. Sin sets up a wall of separation and the enemy is given a foothold.

When the Holy Spirit convicts you of thoughts and actions that are contrary to God’s Word and will, we need to act in immediate obedience. We need to acknowledge it and follow through in repentance. This is so important so you don’t hinder the Lord’s work of His blessing in your life.

It’s not just an individual call – on a personal level. It’s also a call to accountability. When you keep your sin hidden, the enemy has a field day taking that sin and beating you in shame, guilt, and isolation. When you keep your sin hidden, you deceive yourself about the omniscience of God. You are prone to think and act as if He can’t see it because no one else can see it. But that’s not true. God knows all we do and He sees it – every detail, every word. “Pray for one another.” We need to bring our sin into the light of God’s truth so the enemy loses power over it.

The last part of James 5:16 mentions the prayer of a righteous person. The prayer of a righteous person does not seek the Lord with worldly sorrow and regret because they were caught or because they “felt guilty”. The prayer of a righteous person is brought to the Lord with godly sorrow and a heart of repentance. This prayer is described as “effective prayer.” This is an intense and serious prayer and includes coming to the Lord with a humble heart. It includes admitting our need and asking for healing and restoration for our self and others. And it includes backing our prayers with righteous lives.

Different translations call this prayer “effective” or “fervent”. What makes it effective? Is it because you said just the right words? Or prayed at a particular time? Or in a special way? No. The effectiveness is a direct result of a clean heart and confessed sin that desires to be dealt with. It’s not casual prayer. It’s gut-wrenching.

And did you catch that little phrase at the end of verse 16, “when it is brought about.” The ESV reads, “…as it is working.” And the ASV says, “in its working.” Any way you read it, it’s implying a simultaneous reaction – not before the prayer is made, not after it is finished, but DURING the praying! That speaks of the productivity of prayer. I don’t know about you, but that give me hope! What encouragement to know our prayers are heard and they are productive!

Our prayers are not effective because we are special. They are effective, powerful, and productive because the One we pray to is powerful! In James 5:17-18, it says Elijah (a revered prophet of God) had a “nature like ours.” He was human like we are – yet the prayers he prayed were effective, productive, and powerful. Elijah prayed for the rain to stop, and it did. Then he prayed for rain, and it rained. The power available to Elijah in prayer is the same power available to us, because we serve the same all-powerful God.

We don’t tell God what to do when we pray. All of our prayers come under the sovereign will of God. We come humbly in our time of need and we seek His intervention and we seek His help. Elijah didn’t try to make a demand or assert his own strength or power to God when he prayed. He came dependent on God because he knows how weak he is and powerless in his own strength. Elijah couldn’t control the weather any more than we can. But he knew the One who created the rain. Let us go to the throne confidently, as Elijah – and seek the One “who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). Our confidence is rooted not in our own abilities, but in Christ and the power of God!

Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Lord, help us not to doubt those truths. Help us to pray and not try to fix things in our own strength. We ask for the joy and peace available to us through submitting ourselves to Your will through prayer. Help us to humbly ask for what we need. We believe You have the power to do far above all we could even ask or think. Amen.