Power of Prayer

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 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: 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. 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. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

(Jas 5:13-20)

God's prescription for every affliction is prayer. The prescription for sickness is prayer. God's solution to solving every health problem is prayer. You will remain in your affliction and sickness if you don't pray. Now he says to call for the elders to pray for the sick. These elders will still pray. The bible says the prayer of faith will save the sick. The amplified says its the prayer that is of faith. The kind of prayer that has assurance of answers. Its the prayer that is assured of dynamic response. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen. So the prayer that has faith is a prayer that is assured of the evidence of what's being prayed for. Its a prayer that is backed by the substance of what is prayed for. Hallelujah

Now verse 16 says "..to confess personal faults and offenses to one another." 

The prescription for emotional hurt and offense is still prayer. Now the addition of this part is to address issues that may arise that will prevent prayer. The inclusion of this confession of faults one to another and emotional healing is because, the elder is aware of how offense can affect prayer. Jesus said if you bring your offering to the altar and you have fault with your brother or is hurt by your brother, he said leave your offering and go make peace before offering it again. offense can negatively influence your prayer. There is no faith in offense. There is no faith in sin. Prayerlessness breeds sin and sin breeds prayerlessness and the result of prayerlessness is affliction and sickness.. Now do you get the picture?

Now he says the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

The strength of a prayer is in its fervency, persistence and continuity. The effect of this thereof is tremendous power available. This tremendous power is present for demonstration. The phrase, the power of God was present to heal them as stated in Luke 5:17 explains the exercise of prayer.

And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

(Luk 5:17)

 This is the effect of prayer. Its makes available tremendous ability to cause radical changes, dynamic in its working.

Now its vital we comprehend this well. 

The power of prayer is in the prayer of faith which assures answers to prayer. 

Now the intensity of this power or better put, what guarantees this power is in the fervency of prayer inspite of distractions, the persistence inspite of resistance or negative situations, continuity without ceasing. Fervency has to do with heartfelt. You must pray with intention. You must be intentional about what you pray about. You must surely mean to cause a change. This desire is seen in the fervency expression. Certain folks copy the fervency expressions but lack the deep conviction of the prayer. Persistence involves ignoring the resultant negative situations. For instance, you prayed but there is not immediate change but you keep persisting.

 Luke 18:1. Men always to pray and not to faint. 

You don't consider circumstances in the place of prayer. You prevail no matter the resultant negative situations that seem to defy your prayer. Continuity requires that you never cease from the place of prayer. Maintain a discipline of prayer. Continuity defines the fervency and persistence. You are to continue in fervency and persistence. These are the recipe for an explosion of power.

The Lord spoke to me once using a physics equation. He asked, what is the measure of the power. Is it in the speed of the response? He let me know that the greater the power, the more work will be done at a shorter time. When ever Jesus wrought miracles, bible usually said, immediately, suddenly, at the same hour.. If you must have that Jesus effect, then consistence in the place of prayer is essential. Jesus was God before he became man. He answered prayers as God and so knows and completely understands the power of prayer. When he became man, he prayed earnestly more than any man. Bible says in the Gethsamane, he prayed till his sweat was as thick as blood. That;s fervency. He persisted even though he had resistance in him for his mission. and bible says he frequently withdrew to pray. All that Jesus did as man, he did it because he prayed. He was 100% human in reality, albeit God in flesh. His divinity was expressed in prayer. If my people that are called by my name can humble themselves and pray. 

Now, Verse 17 says "..Elijah was a man of like passions as we are."

 He is referring to the humanity of Elijah. He was even more human than we are. Its important to note that he is using Elijah as an example of one who is righteous because he prayed. Righteous used here is in context of prayer only. The defining line for Elijah was in prayer alone. When he wanted to cause dynamic change, he did so by spending time praying first. He created such availability of power that he asked to see the King at that time. This was the introduction to Elijah in the scriptures. No one had known him. So he wasn’t even a renown prophet at the time. He came into the scene and demanded to see the highest authority in the land, prophesying that there will be famine and lack of rain, not because God told him, but that he says so. Ah! That’s a different level expressed here. And truly, there was no rain for three and half years. Now, its important to note, that Elijah did not state that the rain will not fall for three and half years. He said it was till he says so.

So that it stopped at three and half years, was because Elijah was tired of the famine and decided to bring restoration. God wants to demonstrate through you. He is waiting for you to develop your faith. Its not God that is answering your prayer, it is your faith. God will not say no if your faith say yes.

God is always willing to answer your prayer. He needs you to believe. The woman with the issue of blood grabbed her healing without taking permission from Jesus. You can draw out that miracle brethren. Its your faith that will make you whole. Its according to your faith!

Its important to note that Elijah spent hours praying before declaring no rain before the King. If you read 1 kings 17 when he went to declare the no rain command to King Ahab, you will think he just walked up to declare. But James let us know the behind the scenes effect. 

Vs 17; "..and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain."

 One man decided to do bad belle for a whole nation and it worked. Did God not know that so many people will suffer. The widow of Zarepheth was one of the victims of the famine and so many others. This tells you that Elijah was not following God’s wish. He was on his own, but he had faith.

 "Again I will say, God will not say no if your faith says yes. This is how we know that the Almighty is not partial. If your faith can take it, then you will have it."

 Now how do one build his faith to believe the impossible. Jude 1:20:

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

(Jud 1:20)

The word build here is like exercise. Two people may have the same mass, but with faith, one will develop better muscles than the other. So exercise yourselves on your most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost. Prayer is the exercise of divinity. In prayer, you become more conscious of divinity than your humanity. In prayer, you become less conscious of your human vulnerability but of God’s strength. You cease to look at your weakness and is assured of his strength. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. To build your faith, you pray, to pray more you need to pray. 

To be continued....