“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b).
One of the great but seldom used sources of power for God’s children is that of prayer. It isn’t that we don’t believe in prayer or applaud those who do pray; it’s that we seldom are convinced that it will work for us. When we are in grave danger, we pray, thinking, “What do I have to lose?” Like putting a coin in a slot machine, which might bring a big windfall, prayer, you think, might give you God’s jackpot.
There are three simple guidelines which can help you connect with God when you pray.
Guideline #1: Pray with expectancy. Perhaps you are asking, “Well, why should I expect anything from God?” Simply put, the answer is because you are His child. God doesn’t answer prayer because you are good; He answers prayer because He is good and He has adopted you into His family. That means you can come to Him as a little child and cry out, “Father, I’ve got a need, a big problem. I need your help now!”
On one occasion a young man came to Charles Spurgeon, the gifted British pastor, and said, “Mr. Spurgeon, when I pray, nothing happens!” “Do you expect anything to happen?” he asked. “No,” replied the man. “There’s your problem,” he said. It may be your problem as well.
The Bible says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). Literally hundreds of times the Bible explains what is God’s will, so knowing that God has already indicated His pleasure, helps you to pray with confidence and expectancy!
Guideline #2: Pray with faith. This guideline has everything to do with whether or not you believe God will do what He has said He would do. It’s just that simple. Do you trust God to keep His word? Well, for a moment put this question in the context of doing business with someone today. You call and place an order, so do you expect the merchant to respond in good faith? Some can be trusted; some cannot. But when you trust someone, his word is all that you need. You believe what he or she is telling you.
God has made specific promises to His children, and when you ask Him to do something and you go to His Word saying, “Here, Father, this is what you said you would do. I’m asking you to do what you said you would,” you are then praying in faith. Faith is the confident expectation that God will honor the promises of His Word. Now, a note of caution before I give you the final guidelines. Don’t lift the promise of God’s Word out of the context of Scripture. That’s unnecessary. Find out about the marvelous promises of God’s Word.
Guideline #3: Pray with fervency. What does that mean? Noisy verbosity? Shout and plead with God to do something? No, not really. When Elijah met the prophets of Baal, they cut themselves, yelled and screamed, but praying to a deity who was not alive brought them no answer.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, gave us an insight. He wrote, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b). A paraphrase is, “The down-to-business prayer of a man who has been justified brings great gain!”
A final thought. Each of us has a will of His own, and we’re perfectly willing to let God have our way, right? But the highest form of faith is saying, “God, here’s what I am asking you to do, and I believe that you will; but even more than what I want, I’m asking you to work your will in my life in this whole situation.” Prayer connects you directly with the Father, and God is never too busy to hear your cry. Prayer can change your life for the better.
Resource reading: James 5:17-20
