The Effectual Fervent Prayer
James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus
Christ gave us an example of “The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16) in
the two verses that followed this most encouraging statement:
“Elijah 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.”
(James 5:17, 18)
Notice, the prerequisites: The
prayer that is effective is the prayer that is fervent and it must come from a
righteous person. This specific Greek word for prayer focuses upon supplication
which refers to a definite petition that Elijah made to God. Elijah, having
established an intimate relationship with his God, determined exactly what
God’s will was in this matter and boldly prayed for it to come to pass.
It is in this area of intimacy where most of
us fail in our relationship with the Lord. Intimacy requires a deep
relationship, a thorough knowledge of the one we want to know and enjoy close
fellowship with. This is what Paul desired when he said:
“That I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being made conformable unto
His death.” (Philippians 3:10)
The Lord Jesus displayed His intimacy with
the Father when He prayed with great intensity in the Garden of Gethsemane just
prior to the Cross:
“And He said, Abba, Father, all things
are possible unto Thee; take away this cup from Me: nevertheless not what I
will, but what Thou wilt” (Mark 14:36)
This
one brief verse demonstrates intimacy, faith, boldness and submission giving us
the Divine pattern for receiving answers to prayer! The
word “Abba” is an Aramaic word
underlining a special intimate relationship between child and father. Aramaic
was the language spoken by Jesus and the nation of Israel in that day. This
word only appears three times in the New Testament, here in Mark 14:36, Romans
8:15 and Galatians 4:6. This is the word we as children of God should use as we
enter into His presence (Hebrew 10:19-22) each day to begin our continual walk
with Him!
Which brings me to the crux of the message
the Lord wants me to communicate. Entering into His presence must be a daily and
ongoing dying to self (I
Corinthians 15:31) by crucifying the flesh (Galatians 5:24) and putting on the
Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14) as we bow our knees before our Altar (Hebrews
13:10) which is the precious Cross of Christ so that we can enjoy fellowship
with the Father through intimate communion.
When we focus upon the Cross, and the
Blood that Jesus shed for our redemption, we will be humbled afresh and the
love that energizes our faith (Galatians 5:6) will come flowing into our hearts
as we prepare to enter into the Holiest to receive our marching orders for the
day! Abba, Father is our entry cry!! Knowing that He wants to hear and answer
our petitions more than we want to bring them before Him is one of the keys to
intimacy.
He longs to hear our voice, depending on
Him: ”I will cry unto God most high, unto
God that performs all things for me” (Psalm 59:2) said David in this verse
underlining the theme for the entire book of Psalms. It shows his complete
dependency on God for ALL
things. Herein lies the heart of prayer, our dependency. But, we must take the
time to enter into the Holiest utilizing His Word to cleanse and prepare our
hearts in order to come before Him.
Just
the other day I got a call from a trucker who told me he wants to give God ten
percent of his time…2.4 hours…the first part of the day. I was struck by his
declaration because it brought back memories of when I was first saved and had
the same idea and intent. One Godly preacher of old declared:
“I’ll
have to pray two extra hours this morning so I have enough time to get all the things
accomplished the Lord has given me to do.”
Another preacher has rightly said: “Prayer
is the battle, the ministry is just the picking up of the spoils.” The time we
spend in effectual fervent prayer the first thing in the morning enables the
Lord to go before us during the day getting the victory. Then, all we have to
do is “Pick up the spoils” for without Him “We can do NOTHING! (John 15:5). Yes, we must plan and pray as though
each day might be the last day of our life, for it may well be so.
Intimacy is the most necessary ingredient,
so much so, that the Lord Jesus opened His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
by first displaying this most important quality of prayer. He was and is the
Son of God! He could have begun with any declaration or request, but He opted
for this very unique word “Abba” providing us with this most valuable example. Only
those who have spent TIME with their father know what intimacy is all about.
When the Lord saved me I was 35yrs old. It
was His great love for me as my “new” Father that produced my child-like love
for Him. My earthly father was mostly non-existent throughout my life leaving a
great void which I never realized until the Lord saved me. Now, He has given me
everything that I missed, and so much more, and I realize that He allowed it
all for His glory and my good. What a marvelous and merciful Savior!
When I experienced this intimacy with my “new”
Father, immediately on that day, it drew me so close to Him that I began to devour
His Word which gave me deliverance from the habits that controlled my life for
over a decade. The joy was unspeakable, but it was the love and immediate
intimacy that drove me in my desire to obey Him and communicate with Him. I
remember declaring: “Can you imagine, the God of Creation wants to speak to
me?”
This phone call from my trucker friend
has reminded me of those days, and my great need to once again establish and
maintain that great TIME of communion which I enjoyed when my days were begun
with an intimate and extended TIME of communion with my Abba, Father through
the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is truly miraculous how God
works through His people at just the right time and place!
I am thanking and praising the Lord for
this timely reminder from a truly unexpected source. But, it is just how He has
worked in my life throughout the three plus decades since He saved my soul way
back in March of 1980. He has faithfully sent various messengers to direct my
steps and keep me ‘cranking’ on the straight and narrow time and time again,
and, for that I am extremely thankful. He is in complete control, praise His
holy name!
Now, it’s high time we spend TIME in the
Holiest each morning so that we can declare with great joy: “Souls for Jesus” as
our daily battle cry! TIME is the issue and the great need of the hour in order
for us to enjoy the intimacy necessary to really know Him. Then, we can
experience the power of His resurrection as we see Him moving among us, doing all
of those seemingly impossible things that only He can do through The Effectual
Fervent Prayer!
The
necessity of intimacy can not be denied if we are to have prayer that is
powerful in moving the hand of God. Elijah knew exactly how to get the job done
for his effectual fervent praying afforded him the ability to bring a precise,
and very authoritative Confrontation of the Ruler, Ahab the king, the husband
of Jezebel one of the most vicious and notorious queens known in the history of
the northern ten tribes of Israel.
In addition to his famous confrontation of
Ahab in I Kings 17:1 which contains only (25) specific and pointed words,
Elijah was miraculously fed, performed two miracles on his way to the grandiose
confrontation of the religious Baal worshipers on Mount Carmel recorded in I
Kings 18:20-46. In this extended passage Elijah brought forth another effectual
fervent prayer I Kings 18:38, 39 which
is exactly one of the two prayers which is referred to in James 5:18.
Here is the text
to that powerful prayer and its results: “Lord
God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I
have done all these things at Thy Word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people
may know that Thou art the LORD God, and that Thou hast turned their hearts
back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in
the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they
said, The LORD, He is the God; the LORD, He is the God.”
This is the effectual prayer
that we must emulate if we want Elijah-like results! Notice: Elijah begins by
identifying the Lord, then he praises Him and immediately identifies himself as the LORD's servant, and all that he is doing there on Mt. Carmel is from the Word of
God. Then he boldly commands God to hear, twice, and gives the reason and
prophesies that the people will be turned back again and the rest is history.
The LORD then, puts on a tremendous display of His great power to not only consume
the sacrifice but to also consume all that was around the sacrifice which
brought the complete submission of the people. Now, this is effectual prayer!
Follow Elijah’s pattern for effectual prayer and you too will see powerful results!!
No comments:
Post a Comment