PRAYER WITH GREAT EFFICACY
Prayer is essential for
Christians. Through praying with a
trusting heart to God, we can understand God’s will and enjoy peace in
Christ. James Chapter 5 verses 13-18
clearly point out when and for what we should pray, and how to make an
effective prayer. Here I would like to
mention some of my personal thoughts to encourage one another.
I.
In time of affliction
“Is anyone of you in trouble? He should pray” (Jas 5:13). Affliction is a tremendous test to a
believer. Many a time, because we fail
in the test of affliction, we lose our heart and faith and start to
grumble. However, since we are the
children of our merciful Father, how would he let us suffer in vain? The Bible always emphasizes that to bear the
burden in youth is good, and suffering is to help us grow and bring us closer
to perfection so that we have a hope in the last day. Therefore, it is very important to pray for
God’s will in time of suffering. While
Jesus being in great sorrow in the Garden
of Gethsemane, He left us
an example of prayer. Jesus said, “My
father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from em. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Most often while in suffering
, haven’t we forgotten to pray for God’s will?
While God let Satan attack Job, His
main purpose is for Job to be more perfect and to enable God’s name to be
glorified. Although Job had been
attacked by Satan several times, he did not complain against God. Instead he said, “The Lord gave and the Lord
has taken away”. Since Job was able to
prevail over the trial and glorify God’s name, God not only made him perfect,
he also blessed him abundantly. In times
of affliction we often forget the fact that it is the battle between God and
Satan. Satan wants to knock us down
through this affliction while God wants to gain glory through our prevalence
over this affliction. If we can get
through, we will gain perfection in our utterance and be blessed richly. However, if we fail, we will become the
captives of Sata, and much more suffering will be waiting for us ahead. Thus, we should be watchful and pray in order
to overcome the ordeal.
II.
In times of Joy
“Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” (Jas 5:13)
While we are at the weakest point, joy always has us lose our
self-control. As King Nebuchadnezzar
enjoyed being the mightiest one of his time, he forgot that it was God who made
him strong. Instead he bragged, “Is not
this the great Babylon
I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my
majesty?"” The words were still on his lips,
God’s word came and said, “King Nebuchadnezzar, your royal authority has been
taken from you. You will be driven away
from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle
until you acknowledge that the most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of
men.” King David ran into the same
incident too. When David came to reign,
with the help of his mighty men and fighting men, the kingdom enjoyed peace and
prosperity. At that moment, he lost his
watchfulness and sinned. Thus in his
Psalm 103, he always reminded himself, “praise the Lord, o my soul; all my
inmost being, praise His holy name…”
Later he built the temple and offered gifts to glorify the Lord. (1 Chron 29:
12-14). In serving the Lord, we hardly
give true glory to the Lord because we always get hurt and lose heart in
failure, or because we always feel complacent while everything has been worked
out fine and most often just remember our great deeds. Then how could this glorify the Lord’s
name? Therefore, we should pray in
watchfulness and with thanksgiving heart so that God’s name will be glorified.
III.
In time of sickness
“Is anyone of you sick? He should …. Pray.” (Jas 5:14). Sickness may come from God’s trial and his
discipline due to our wrong doings, or from our lack of care for our
health. No matter what the reasons are,
all these are for our sake (Job 33:19-30).
Asa was a good king who removed all the idols
and the idol worshipper’s leader, and led people to the Lord. Therefore, God blessed him and made him
prosperous. While everything was going
on smoothly for him, he no longer felt that everything was from the grace of
God as he became used to being under the grace of God. Although God wanted to save him through the
warning of the prophet, on the contrary, he put the prophet into jail and
oppressed the people. Finally, God made
him sick. While afflicted with a disease
in his feet, he did not examine his misdeeds, instead he kept searching for the
physician and at last he died of the disease.
Upon enjoying the grace of God we
should keep reminding ourselves to count God’s blessing often. In doing so, we will be continually stirred
up by God’s love. At the same time, our
faith toward God will stand firm and our love for God will increase more and
more. Once illness comes upon us, we can
be strong enough to resist it and think it over in quietness so that the same
mistake of King Asa won’t be repeated to us.
What is the prayer with great efficacy?
1.
Being laid hand and pray
“Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to
pray over him and anoint hi with oil in the name of the Lord.” (Jas 5:14)
When we are ill spiritually or
physically, we should ask the deacons or the elders of the church to lay hand
on us and pray. In the Old Testament
times, “oil” was used to anoint a person to be prayed for, but nowadays, hand laying has replaced “oil”.
Laying hand brings forth blessing.
It was recorded in the Bible that a person brought his child to the Lord
and the Lord laid hand on them and blessed them. Laying hand also stands for gift
passing. Paul said, “I remind you to fan
into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
(2 Tim 1:6). The Lord had commanded
Moses to lay his hands upon the elders in order to pass on them the grace of
God. The laying hands also could heal
the sick. Many a time, Jesus laid hands
upon the sick to heal their illnesses.
He also granted the disciples this type of ability. (Mk 16:18).
A brother of BanChicoChurch,
seeing a pastor pass by him, suddenly grasped the pastor’s hand to put on his
shoulder to heal the pain in the arms through the pastor’s hand. After the realizing the reason, the pastor
said, “May God fulfill according to your faith.” Indeed, all the pain of the brother had gone
away after being laid hands upon by the pastor of course the laying of hands
could heal the sickness, but the person being laid hands on should accept it
with faith as well.
2.
Prayer of faith
“And the prayer offered in faith
will make the sick person well, the Lord will raise
him up. If he has sinned, he will be
forgiven.” (Jas 5:15)
The Lord often told those who
asked for the grace: “Your faith will accomplish it.” He continued, “If you believe God, without
any doubt, you can even remove this mountain to the sea.” Thus it shows the greatness of faith. Our God has abundant grace for us, however, we often lack faith to receive it. Therefore, may the Lord increase our faith. To increase
our faith, we should beseech – pray – the Lord to fill us with the Holy
Spirit. We should listen to the sermon
often, so that w will have a profound understanding of the Lord and at the same
time our faith will increase and grow.
David was only a shepherd boy;
however, he dared to fight with the giant warrior Goliath who had defeated the
Israelites for 40 days and nights. Even
God’s name was defiled, but not one Israelite dared to come forward to wage
battle against Goliath. David said,
“While I tended my father sheep in the wilderness, when a lion or a bear came
to carry off a sheep from the flock, I chased it off and beat it to death to
save the sheep from its mouth. The Lord
helped me before and He will help me today so that I will prevail.” David too his past experience as the foundation
of today and said to Goliath, “You use sword and spear to fight, but I fight in
the name of the Lord who will hand you over to me today.” With his great faith, David struck Goliath
down with one of hive five stones and triumphed totally for Israel.
The faith of David is built up
from his daily experience. By the same
token we should learn to rely on the Lord in our daily life. Never wait until we run into great difficulties
and hasten to rely on Him. We always
make a mistake that we could handle the small matter and only when we encounter
a great incident we try to rely on the Lord.
Actually we ought to rely on the Lord with every matter. We should also teach our children to pray and
put their truest on the Lord so that they will build up their faith upon the
Lord and could overcome every hindrance before them. Thus to attain a prayer with great efficacy,
faith is one of the prerequisite to be achieved.
3.
Prayer of the righteous
“The prayer of the righteous man
is powerful and effective.” (Jas 5:16).
The scripture says: “God does not listen to a sinner’s prayer but the
prayer of the righteous one.” We are all
sinners and are justified by faith. When
our prayer is not effective, it does not mean that God does not hear our
prayer. It is sin that separates us from
God. Therefore, in our prayer, we ought
to reflect and reexamine ourselves thoroughly so that we may become righteous
before Him and our prayer will attain great efficacy.
4.
Prayer of Earnestly
“Elijah was a man just like
us. He prayed earnestly that it would
not rain and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain,
and the earth produced its crops.” (Jas 5:17-18)
James emphasizes that Elijah was a
man just like us with flesh and blood and feelings. Whey then is his prayer so powerful and
effective? The answer is that “he prayed
earnestly”. Earnestly means an honest
and sincere attitude from the inner heart.
Hebrew 5:7 records, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered
up prayer and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him
from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” Prayer with a loud voice does not mean
earnestly and great efficacy. But the
prayer must come with petitions from our inner heart and with tears from our
reverent heart. A loud prayer without a
prepared and quiet heart could not bring forth effectiveness. Jeremiah tells us that if we beseech and seek
single mindedly, it will be found.
Some people said that we use our
feet to tread on the roads of the world, but the roads to the HeavenlyKingdom,
we must walk with our knees. No matter
which circumstances we are under, whether it is suffering, joy, sickness, we
should pray. We should also ask the
elders or the deacons of the church to lay their hands upon us and pray. Moreover, we ask God to increase our faith so
that in our daily living we can experience the grace of the Lord and glorify
His name. Praying in this way will
produce great power and efficacy.
We pray to the Lord to keep every
one of our brothers and sisters in Him and help us to finish the journey of
this life, and through the prayer, we can meet the Lord in clear conscience in
the future.