The Word of God declares in James 5:16 that “…The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” (AMP). The King James Version renders it this way: “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (KJV). Not all prayers are effective. Prayer is fellowshipping the Father. Prayer is a divine communication. Just like not every communication is effective, not all prayers are effective. An effective communication is that which conveys or transfers the actual intended information from the sender to the receiver without any form of distortion or misunderstanding and as a result gets the appropriate feedback. An effective prayer is that prayer that gets God’s attention. We don’t need to impress God with great words when we pray. God never listens for our grammatical constructions but He looks at the heart that is calling out to Him. Remember, He already knew what was in our hearts before we approached Him in prayer.
There are qualities that determines the effectiveness of a prayer. It is not in how loud or low your voice is when you pray. We must listen to God’s Word on this matter if we must really get His attention in prayer. The qualities of an effective prayer are spelt out clearly in James 5:16. It indicates that if your prayer must be result oriented, it must be earnest, heartfelt, continued and you must be sure of your righteous stand with God. In all of these, one thing stands out so prominently – Righteousness. Settle it once and for all, if you are born again you are righteous – you’re the righteous one praying! Every New Creature is righteous (2Cor.5:17,18,21). You don’t work for it. It was automatically imputed to you the very moment you confessed Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. II Cor. 5:21 says “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (NKJV). That is eternally settled in Heaven before the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. You just go ahead and walk in righteousness – live it! Boldness and confidence in prayer stems from our good knowledge and understanding of our righteous stand before the Father. It’s a gift possessed by every New Creature in Christ Jesus (Rom.5:17). Glory to God!
According to James 5:16 (AMP), when we pray this way, we release power! Which power? Power to accomplish what we desire from the Lord. The ‘a’ part of James 5:16 makes it clear that this happens when we intercede for each other. This is how it works. If I start praying for certain people all over the world, maybe for their salvation or healing, I am releasing divine virtue by reason of my connecting to God on their behalf. This power then is transported by assigned angels through the working of the Commander – the Holy Spirit – who bring the answers to the desires of such people for whom I’m interceding. God is never limited by distance. He can work anywhere and at any time because of the prayer of a righteous man – that’s the power of intercession! You’re never wasting your time when you pray in line with the Word. God is more willing to answer your prayer than you are willing to pray. If believers know the power they have on their knees, we would change our approach on how we solve the problems of life. Prayer will then become our first response instead of our last resort. There is really no powerful prayer; we only have Word-based prayer that a powerful God is eager to and answers!
Actually, it is the influence of the Holy Spirit that makes prayer a living thing. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Power! One of His ministries to the Saint is to help make our prayer life very effective. Romans 8:26-28 tell us how: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (NKJV). In prayer, it is our dependence on the Holy Spirit to guide us that makes our prayer life effective. The Holy Spirit makes prayer creative. Never start your prayer time without asking Him to help you pray aright – it would make all the difference! Many people are praying everyday but only few are actually getting results. As long as you prayed to the Father in the Name of Jesus, in faith – not wavering and it is in line with the Word as inspired by the Holy Spirit, never question whether or not the prayer would be answered – you just go ahead thanking the Lord for it until the answers manifests (John 16:23; James 1:6-8; John15:7; Philip. 4:6).
Now we know prayerlessness is a luxury! We can’t afford not to pray. I use to think that prayerlessness was just not having the desire to pray but I once listened to a teaching by Pastor Benny Hinn where he showed from the Scriptures that prayerlessness was a sin. Later on in life, I started realising that prayerlessness was a function of pride even though it was not seen like that by the one who is not praying. In the realm of the spirit, our actions make statements. When we don’t pray, we are simply telling the Lord “I can handle this. You don’t need to come into this matter. I have all it takes to get the job done”. This is really a dangerous place to be. I know this by experience. When you don’t pray, you only accomplish what the natural man can accomplish – nothing extraordinary about your life! You only get to the extent to which sense knowledge can get. I like to declare like the Psalmist: “As for me, I will call upon God, And the LORD shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:16,17 NKJV). Many people want to walk in the Anointing but only very few are willing to spend quality time in the place of prayer. For your life to have power, you must pray! Prayer puts you in sync with the Father God. It produces in you an unusual keenness or sensitivity to the Holy Spirit which enables you to co-operate with the Spirit as he uses you to accomplish the Father’s will. This was the secret of the power-exuding life of Jesus. He understood fellowship with the Father. He spent time with Him.
When we pray in line with God’s Word, we are certain that our prayers are heard. 1 John 5:14,15 say “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (NKJV). Never question your prayer another day! There is power on your knees. Just start making the power connection right away and let it flow!
