Prayer Power Series

Introduction:

A. The story is told of a five year old boy who told his daddy that he’d like to have a baby brother and that he was willing to do whatever he could to help bring that about.

1. The boy’s father paused for a moment and then replied, “I’ll tell you what, if you pray every day for two months for a baby brother, I guarantee that God will give you one!”

2. The boy responded eagerly to his dad’s challenge and began praying that night for a baby brother.

3. The boy prayed every night for a whole month, but then began to get skeptical.

4. He checked around the neighborhood asking his friends if they had ever prayed for a baby brother and had their prayers answered.

5. His friends told him that you just don't pray for two months and then, whammo – you get a new baby brother, so, the boy quit praying.

6. One month later, the boy’s mother went to the hospital and when she came back home, his parents called him into their bedroom.

7. The little boy cautiously walked into the room, not expecting to find anything since he had stopped praying, but there was a little bundle lying right next to his mother.

8. When his dad pulled back the blanket, the little boy saw that there was not one baby brother, but two!! His mother had twins!

9. His father said to him, “Now aren’t you glad you prayed?”

10. The little boy hesitated, but then answered, “Yes, but aren’t you glad I quit praying when I did? Otherwise who knows how many baby brothers I would have ended up with!”

B. Prayer is indeed powerful, because God is powerful beyond our ability to even ask or imagine.

1. But let me ask you this question: is there anything wrong with praying for what you want?

a. Of course not.

2. In James 4:2, James wrote, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.”

3. In James 1:5, James wrote, “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.”

4. In the passage we will be studying today, James says that if we are in trouble or sick, then we should pray to God about it.

5. In other words, if there is something we want from God, then we should pray about it, and we should ask others to pray on our behalf as well.

C. But we all know that there is more to effective prayer than just asking God.

1. The Bible teaches that not all praying is effective.

2. According to Psalm 66:18, those who pray while they cherish sin in their hearts will find that God doesn’t listen to that prayer.

3. According to Matthew 6:5, those who pray only to be seen by people will not receive the reward of answered prayer, because their only reward is be seen by people.

4. According to James 1:7, those who waver in faith should not expect to receive an answer to prayer.

5. And according to James 4:3, those who pray for things simply because of selfish desires will not receive what they ask for.

6. But all that being said, James wants us to know that “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” (James 5:16)

D. I think you would agree with me that the great people of God in any generation are those Christians who pray.

1. These people do not necessarily talk more about prayer.

2. They don’t advertise their belief in prayer.

3. They don’t try to explain everything about prayer.

4. Rather, they are the humble, dedicated ones who faithfully and obediently pray.

5. They don’t necessarily have more time than the rest of us to pray, they just consider prayer more important than the things with which most of us fill our lives.

6. You don’t have to have a lot of money or education or talent to be a person of prayer, rather you just have to be committed to prayer and follow through with a time, a place, and a system for prayer.

7. Those who are disciplined in this way and believe in their God who hears and answers prayer, will claimed and experience the power of prayer.

8. Brothers and sisters, I don’t know about you, but I’m not there yet, but I’m continuing to head in that direction, becoming more and more a person of prayer.

E. James, the writer of this letter we have been studying, was a person of prayer.

1. His contemporaries knew him by the nickname “camel-knees.”

2. He had spent so much time on his knees in prayer that they were literally baggy and rough, like camel’s knees.