Introduction
Today, we’re going to be talking about the principles of prayer, because, friend, there are principles that are real and valid. God does not work in prayer according to whim, fancy, or caprice. But, there are definite laws, and rules, and principles for getting our prayers answered. And, the time will come, if it has not already come, when for God to answer your prayer will mean more to you than anything in this world. So, pay attention.
Now, James is talking, here, about prayer. James chapter 4—and we’re going to begin reading in verse 1, and we’re going to read right on through to verse 10. Now, James asked the question: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” That is, if people can’t get along with other people, it’s because they can’t get along with themselves. If they fight outwardly, it’s because they're fighting inwardly. “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not…”—now, if there’s not a star in your Bible right by that statement, there ought to be—“ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye might consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” —and, that word enmity means “warfare with God”—“whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:1–10).
Now, James, here, is intensely practical. And, James is not a theoretician. He’s not a philosopher. He is a very practical preacher, and he’s talking to us about a very needful matter, and that is the matter of prayer. And, there are three things that stand out to me in these 10 verses, as I look at them.
I. The Unasked Prayer of a Struggling Man
The very first of which is the unasked prayer—the unasked prayer of a struggling man. James pictures a man who is struggling to get what he needs, but he fails to ask God. Look at it, and see if that’s not what he’s saying in verses 1 and 2: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:1–2). Lusting, scheming, warring, fighting, killing, trying to get what we need, when all the time the Father says: “Ask, and ye shall receive” (John 16:24).
God wants to answer the prayers of His. And, very plainly, many who are in this building, and many who may be listening to a later tape, and many who are listening by radio or television, have needs that are unmet, simply because you’ve not come to God, who invites you to come and ask God. Our wonderful God has put it: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew
7:7). This is God’s plan. And, God doesn’t want you to try to do it yourself. You must ask
God.
A little boy was trying to move a huge stone. His father was amused, and watched him. And, his father said to him, “Son, are you using all of your strength?” He said, “Yes, Daddy, I’m using all of my strength.” And, the dad said, “No, you’re not, Son. You’re not using all of your strength, because you haven’t asked me to help you.”
So many times you’re saying, “Oh, I’m trying with all of my strength.” My precious friend, God is your strength. Have you asked Him? Have you said, “Father, I want You to help me to do this?” Are you going to quit trying, and start trusting, and come to the Lord?
Did you know, friend, that not only are you missing a blessing when you don’t pray, but you’re sinning against God? You see, prayerlessness is more than weakness; it is wickedness. Let me give you some verses. In 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 23— listen to this verse: “God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23)—“God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.” Did you know, my friend, that, when God the Holy Spirit gives you a prayer assignment to pray for me, or God gives me one to pray for you, and I don’t do it, not only do I fail you, I sin against God? Listen to it, again: “God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.” You see, prayer is a command of God.
First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17, says we are to “pray without ceasing” (1
Thessalonians 5:17). That is, constantly, continuously, we’re to be praying. If you’re not praying, you’re transgressing that command. Luke chapter 18, verse 1, says this: “And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). The word faint means “to get weary and stop praying.” “Men ought always to pray.” Now, if men ought always to pray, and they don’t pray, they’re sinning. If God has commanded us to pray without ceasing, and we don’t, we sin. “God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.”
Do you know what John Bunyan said in Pilgrim’s Progress—he said this: “Prayer will make a man cease from sin, but sin will make a man cease from prayer.” You see, there’s not a sin in my life but what prayerlessness is a part of it. There’s no vile or hideous sin in my life, or in your life, or in anybody’s life that proper prayer would not have prevented. Jesus Christ told His disciples: “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” (Mark 14:38). And, the reason that we enter into temptation so easily and the reason that we become the dirty plaything of a dirtier devil is that we have failed to pray and put on the whole armor of God. Prayerlessness is a sin! You have not because you ask not. God forbid that we should struggle and try to do it ourselves! And so, what you see here is the unasked prayer of a struggling man.
II. The Unanswered Prayer of a Selfish Man
But, move on. Then, you see the unanswered prayer of a selfish man. Now, there are some people who don’t pray. But then, there are other people who pray, but their prayers get no higher than the light bulbs. Their prayers are not answered. Continue to read. “Ye ask…”—verse 3—"Ye ask, and receive not…”—not every prayer is answered. Some prayers, indeed, are not answered and never will be—“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,”—that is, you’re asking for the wrong thing and with the wrong motive—“that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” —I’ve already told you that word means “warfare with God”—“whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God” (James 4:3–4).
Can you imagine—the enemy of God? Do you think the enemies of God are going to get their prayers answered? How are we the enemies of God? When we become a friend with the world. Well, what’s so wrong with being a friend to the world? Now, when we say the world, we’re not talking about unsaved people, nor are we talking about the world of nature. When the Bible uses the word world, here, it means “an ungodly system that is set against our Lord and His Christ.”
Now, notice what James says that friendship with the world is. It is adultery. It is adultery. You see, Jesus Christ is the Heavenly Bridegroom. The Church is the bride. We are married to Jesus Christ. And, because we’re married to Him, we’re to be true to Him and pure before Him. This world is like a harlot that would steal away our love from the Lord Jesus Christ. And, when we flirt with the world, when we run with the world, when the ambitions, ideals, and desires of the world find a lodging place in our hearts, we set ourselves at warfare with God. Friendship with the world is enmity with God.
Now, suppose there’s a worldly Christian, a Christian who has un-confessed, un-repented-of sin in his life, and he loves this world; and then, he comes to God, and he asks God to bless him and strengthen him. Do you think God’s going to do it? He cannot! Suppose there’s a woman who’s being unfaithful to her husband; and then, she comes to her husband, and he’s aware that she’s being unfaithful to him. And, she says, “Husband, I want the keys to the car, and I’d like for you to give me several hundred dollars.” He says, “What do you want it for?” “Well, my boyfriend and I are going to take
a trip to New Orleans, and I’d like for you, if you would, to subsidize it.” Would he be a wise husband if he did it? What he would be doing would be just simply encouraging, aiding, and abetting that adultery!
Now, don’t you see that, when a worldly Christian comes to God and says, “God, give me strength,” why should God give a worldly Christian strength? Why should God give you more strength to serve the devil? Some of you are sick, and you say, “God, heal me.” Well, why should God heal you, if you don’t intend to use that strength to serve Him with it? Why should God just give you more strength, more ability, to serve the devil and to be unfaithful to Him?
Why, not only is God not going to hear; God is going to oppose you. You and God get into a war. “Know ye not that friendship with the world is warfare with God?” You see, dear friend, there are prayers that are unasked, but there are also prayers that are unanswered. There is the unasked prayer of a struggling man. But, there is the unanswered prayer of a selfish man—a man whose motives are not pure, who wants God to answer prayer that he might consume it upon his lusts. So many people think of God as some sort of a glorified bellhop, a Santa Claus, who’s supposed to give them everything they want, simply because they ask for it; and yet, they do not love Him with all of their hearts. They’re committing spiritual adultery.
III. The Unhindered Prayer of a Spiritual Man
But now, let’s move on to the third thing. Now, there is the unasked prayer of a struggling person who struggles rather than asks. There is the unanswered prayer of a selfish person. But, I want you to see the unhindered prayer of a spiritual man—the unhindered prayer of a spiritual man. Your prayers ought not to be hindered. It ought to be normal for God to answer your prayer. Sometimes, someone will say, “Hey, believe it or not, God answered my prayer,” like that was unusual. Friend, it ought to be the unusual thing if your prayers are not being answered. It ought to be the normal everyday occurrence for God to answer your prayer.
A. Five Principles of Prayer
Now, as I told you by way of introduction, God works according to principle. He doesn’t work arbitrarily, capriciously, by whim or fancy. There are rules for prayer, just like anything else. And, if your prayers are not being answered, it’s because somewhere, somehow, you’re transgressing God’s principles. I want to give you five principles, now, of prayer. And, James gives them right here—to get your prayers answered. And, they come—one, two, three, four, five—right as we go right down the Scripture. So, just stay right in the Word of God, and let’s see what they are.
1. There Must be a Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit
The very first principle is there must be a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Now, look in verse 5: “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” (James 4:5). Do you think God was just spinning His wheels and wasting time when He had that put in the Bible? Do you think the Scripture said that for no purpose at all—that “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” (James 4:5).
Now, who is the Spirit that dwells in us? The Spirit that dwells in us is the Holy Spirit. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9). Now, that phrase “lusteth to envy” may confuse you if you read it in the King James. The word lust does not mean “sexual desire.” It just simply means “a strong desire.” Let me give it to you in another translation; perhaps it will be clearer: “The spirit which God made to dwell in us jealously yearns for the entire devotion of the heart.” He “jealously yearns for the entire devotion of the heart”—that’s what it means: “He lusts to envy.” He desires with all of His desire that your full heart be given to Jesus Christ. He has every right to say that your full heart’s devotion belongs to Christ. You are not to be a friend to this world. You are not to commit spiritual adultery. The Holy Spirit that is in you is put in you to cause you to love Jesus Christ passionately. And, God didn’t say that in vain; God said it with a purpose. “The Spirit which [He] made to dwell in us jealously yearns for the full devotion of the heart.”
Now, have you allowed the Holy Spirit to cause you to be deeply in love with Jesus Christ? You see, when the Holy Spirit of God brings your full heart’s devotion to Jesus Christ, when you yield to the Spirit in such a way that you don’t quench the Spirit, then, sirs—then, ladies; then, boys and girls—you’re praying in the Spirit. You see, Paul said, in Ephesians 6:18—listen—we are to be “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” In the Spirit! In the Spirit! You see, what is praying in the Spirit? Praying in the Spirit is letting the Holy Spirit of God dictate our prayers, letting the Holy Spirit of God lead our prayers, letting the Holy Spirit of God direct our prayers, letting the Holy Spirit energize our prayers, and letting the Holy Spirit of God move us to pray! You see, we pray in the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father. And, the very first principle of prayer is there must be a submission to the Spirit. And, He makes prayer not a duty, but
a delight.
Do you ever find it difficult to pray? You just have to drag yourself to the place of prayer, force yourself to the place of prayer? Do you know why? It’s because you’re being ruled by the flesh. Do you think the flesh likes to pray? Indeed not! The flesh is at enmity—warfare with God. The flesh is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Remember what Jesus said to those drowsy disciples? “The spirit…is willing, but”— what?—“the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). The flesh doesn’t want to pray. And so, if you are a carnal Christian, a fleshly Christian, you’re going to find prayer a drudgery. If you’re a spiritual Christian, you’re going to find prayer a delight, if the Holy Spirit in you
is free.
Now, if, dear friend, you find it difficult to pray, it is because you’re not filled with the Spirit. And, if you’re not filled with the Spirit, it is because you have not surrendered completely to the Holy Spirit and to the Lordship of Christ. And, if you’ve not done that, it is because there’s un-confessed, un-repented-of sin in your heart and in your life. You have become enamored with this world. You have become a spiritual adulterer. You are making love with this vile world that nailed Jesus to the cross. You have set yourself as an enemy of the cross of Christ. Your prayers are not going to be answered. There must be a sensitivity to the Spirit of God, who jealously yearns for your full heart’s devotion to be given to Jesus Christ. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your life? Do you love Him with your full heart’s devotion, as the Holy Spirit of God is telling you to love the Lord Jesus Christ?
2. There Must be a Submission to the Father
Let me give you a second principle: Not only must there be a sensitivity to the Spirit, but, when there is a sensitivity to the Spirit, there’s going to be a submission to the Father. Continue to read. That was verse 5; now, look in verse 6, if you will: “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:6–7). No longer be proud, like that man who fights, and wars, and schemes, and desires to have and cannot obtain. He tries to do it himself. Come to God and say, “God, I can’t do it. Lord, I cast myself upon You. I’m unable to do it by myself. Here, Lord, I humble myself before You. And, Lord, I want Your will to be done. I submit to You.” Answered prayer is not for rebels, nor is prayer some way that you bend God’s will to fit your will, nor is prayer some exercise where you talk God into doing something that He ordinarily would not want to do. Prayer is just simply submitting to the will of God.
This world got into a problem to begin with when, in the Garden of Eden, that first man, Adam, said: “Not Thy will, but mine be done.” The second Adam, the Lord Jesus, in another garden said: “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). And, He is the example for us all. Jesus taught us, if we would get our prayers answered, we’re to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:9–10). Are you willing to pray that way? “This is the confidence that we have in Him: If we ask Him anything according to His will, He heareth us” (1
John 5:14).
So many of us are wanting God just to rubberstamp our own ambitions, our own desires, our own proclivities, our own ways. We don’t wait before the Lord. We don’t seek the Lord. We don’t let God’s Word abide in us, and we don’t abide in Him. But, we just come marching into His presence with a shopping list and wonder why God doesn’t answer our prayers. We must pray in the will of God. We must surrender to Him. We must submit ourselves to the Father. Listen to it again: “He giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:6–7).
Now, not only is God not going to be your answerer; He’s going to be your adversary. He’s going to resist you. God is going to set Himself in battle array against you. You are praying, but your prayers will anger God, if you try to use prayer as a smokescreen for repentance, and you do not get right with God. God will resist you, and it won’t be merely the devil who is resisting you; it’ll be God the Father that is resisting you and seeing to it that your prayers are not answered, because you’ve not humbled yourself; you’ve not submitted yourself; in your arrogance, you’ve tried to have your own way and ask God to superimpose His blessings upon your plan.
3. There Must be a Standing Against the Devil
Ladies and gentlemen, there must be a sensitivity to the Spirit. Ladies and gentlemen, there must be a submission to the Father in prayer. And, number three: There must be a standing against the devil in prayer. Look, if you will, again, in verse 7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James
4:7). Now, why does he mention this right here? I believe that James is talking about the subject of prayer, and anybody who has tried to pray has known that the enemy will attack. Isn’t that true? Isn’t that true?
Have you ever endeavored to pray, and the kids will get in a fight, the telephone will ring, the beans will burn, thoughts will come into your mind, even when you get in the prayer closet? I mean, you’ll shut yourself off from all of these things, but the enemy seems to come in through the keyhole, under the door. And, you start to pray, and you think silly things. Do you ever think silly things, Bob, when you pray? Just silly things come in your mind—foolish things. Or, your mind goes wandering about what you need to do: got to cut the grass, or you have to go shopping or something. And, you find yourself almost talking on one level and thinking on another level. What is that? That’s the enemy.
You say, “Can he do that?” Indeed, he can. You know that he can take thoughts out of your mind and put thoughts in your mind? Did you know that, Gene? He can do that. The devil can do that. Or, you read there, in the parable of the sower, and Jesus said the devil is like the birds that come and steal the seed away.
Now, when I’m preaching, these devil birds are flying around. He sees you sitting
there, and that devil bird goes in there and picks that thought out of your mind. He doesn’t want you to hear what I’m saying. So, you can sit right here in church, and you look so pious, nod your head, smile, and say, “amen,” and you’re off playing softball, this afternoon, in your mind. Those things are just there; the devil is just stealing that seed out of your mind.
But, not only can he take thoughts out; he can put thoughts in! Can he really? You read in the Bible there where Judas betrayed Christ, and the Bible says: “Satan, having put into the heart, the mind of Judas, Judas went and betrayed Him” (John 13:2). Hmm? Takes thoughts out and puts thoughts in. And, he’ll do that when you pray. I mean, prayer is warfare!
And, why does the devil oppose us when we pray? Why do we find it so hard to gird up the loins of our mind? Why is it so hard to pray? I’ll tell you why: because the devil fears our prayers. J. Sidlow Baxter said, when he was here a couple of years ago—he said, “I believe that whenever we begin to pray, the devil must say to his demons, ‘Stop him from praying. Stop him! Boy, if he learns how to pray, he can beat us every time! But, if we stop him from praying, we’ll beat him every time.’”
Do you know what the devil says to us? The devil says to Bellevue, “You go ahead and have your auditorium; you have your chandelier; you have your television program; you have your pulpits, your microphones; you have your Tom Claytons, Tommy Lanes, and Dan Carters; you have your choir; you have your flowers; you have your Sunday School, have your Church Training—have it all!—so long as you leave out the power of Almighty God, that comes through earnest, persistent praying, that will not take no for an answer.” The devil laughs at our organization. He mocks our schemes. He fears our prayers. Someone has well said that the devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. And, therefore, prayer is warfare.
I’m not trying to tell you this to discourage you, but I am telling you this to forewarn you—that you must resist the devil. And, when you find out that you’re trying to pray and that this Spirit in you is desiring to bring the full heart’s devotion to Jesus Christ, and you feel that oppression, come against it in the name of Jesus. Prayer is warfare—warfare, warfare. But, Hallelujah! “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John
4:4). “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
4. There Must be a Separation from the World
Now, what are these principles? Number one: a sensitivity to the Spirit; let Him bring your devotion to Jesus Christ. Number two: a submission to the Father. Number three: a standing in prayer against the enemy. Number four: a separation from the world. Look again, if you will, in verse 8: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8). Friends, defiled hands, dirty hearts, and double minds do not get prayers answered. We’re to be lifting holy hands to God in prayer. Cleanse your hands. It’s no deep, dark, esoteric secret why God doesn’t answer some prayer. Your sins have separated between you and your God! And, your iniquities have hid His face from you, that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:1–3). The Bible says, in Psalm 66, verse 18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18).
“Cleanse your hands…and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” Defiled hands, dirty hearts, double mind. There must be a separation from the world. Listen to me, my beloved people. Is there in your heart, right now, a division—sin and righteousness trying to dwell in the same heart? In your mind, you’re trying to hold onto God with one hand and this world with the other hand? You’re married to Jesus and committing adultery with the world? You’re double-minded. You’re an adulterer. Be done with it! Confess it! Forsake it! Separate yourself from the world. Tell that harlot of this world, “It’s over!” Your affair is over, and you quit! Ask Jesus to forgive you. “Cleanse your hands…purify your hearts, ye double minded.” That’s a principle to get your prayers answered. It is taught over, and over, and over again in the Word of God!
People are saying, “Well, God just doesn’t answer prayer anymore.” Is your heart clean? “Well,” you say, “I don’t have any, and I might have a little grudge toward someone.” Yeah? You’d be surprised what that little grudge is costing you. Now, for most of those good, you know, nice, church-going folks, it’s not adultery; it’s not thievery; and, it’s not stealing—that’s not your problem. It’s just that attitude you have towards somebody else—that resentment, that pride, that hostility, that criticism. Be done with it! It’s not worth it. Get rid of it1 “Cleanse your hands…purify your hearts, ye double minded.” James said earlier: “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). “Let not that man think he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:7).
He’s not going to do it. God is not going to bless you! Do you say, “This one thing I do”? God does business with those who mean business.
5. There Must be a Soberness of Purpose
Now, finally, let me give you the fifth principle: not only a separation from the world, but a soberness of purpose in prayer. A soberness of purpose—a seriousness of purpose, if you will—in prayer. Continue to read, as he says, “Be afflicted…”—verse 9— “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:9–10). Another reason that our prayers are not answered is sometimes they’re just half-hearted, giddy, frivolous, easily uttered, soon-forgotten prayers. We
rattle off our little “Now I lay me down to sleep” type of prayer. We never get hold of God with both hands and really pray, and plead, and intercede.
Prayer is work. Prayer involves a brokenness, a weeping. That’s one of the reasons for fasting. You see, when we fast, it’s not that we earn God’s favor. You’re not going to buy a blessing by fasting. But, what fasting does—it serves Heaven notice that we mean business, that we’re serious about this matter of getting our prayers answered. So many people could not tell you, 20 minutes from the time they prayed, what they prayed for, for they use little vain repetitions and rattle off little prayers.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with laughter. There’s nothing wrong with joy. But, there’s a time to laugh, and there’s a time to weep. And, God knows that this is a time for America, who’s laughing her way into Hell, to start to weep. I tell you, friend, things are caving in around us. Communism—militant communism—is on the march. We’re murdering a million-and-a-half little babies in America every year by abortion. The pornographers are dealing their goods like a broken sewer in our land. And, people are crying for freedom from restraint and no laws, and they want to do their thing; and, they’re talking about liberty like they fought for at Valley Forge, while they themselves are servants of corruption.
But, not only should we weep about the wickedness of our world; we ought to weep about the weakness of our churches, because, the problem doesn’t lie at their doorstep; it lies at our doorstep. We ought to weep about the lostness of our loved ones. We ought to weep about the barrenness and powerlessness of our lives. We ought to be on our faces before God in repentance, and prayer, and weeping! As James said: “Be afflicted, and mourn.” People like that—they want to go to church on Sunday morning, have the pastor give them their seven-day milk bottle, and burp them on the way out. Someone has described the 20th-century Church as a “dry-eyed Church in a Hell-bent world.”
General William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army. What a man of God he was! Someone wrote General Booth and said, “General Booth, we need a revival here. We’ve done everything. We’ve organized. We’ve prayed. We’ve done everything that we know to do, and there’s still no revival. What should we do?” He mailed back a terse telegram that said, “Try tears—try tears.”
God said, “I’ve seen thy tears, and I’ve heard thy prayer” (2 Kings 20:5). When’s the last time you ever shed a tear in prayer over some soul that was mortgaged to the devil? Listen to it again: “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”
You see, so many times, we don’t mean business with God. Look in James 5, verse
16: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” Now, notice the last part of verse 16: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16)—“the effectual fervent prayer.” That word fervent means, literally, “stretched out,” like an athlete who is stretching for the goal. The prayer that is answered is a fervent prayer. God forgive the coldness, the half- heartedness, the laziness, the lackadaisical attitude that we have in our praying.
Conclusion
All right now, look up here. Look right here. There’s the unasked prayer of a struggling man. There’s the unanswered prayer of a selfish man. There is the unhindered prayer of a spiritual man—the spiritual man, who’s sensitive to the Spirit, who is submissive to the Father, who is standing against the devil, who is separated from the world, and who is serious in his purpose. “Ask, and ye shall receive” (John 16:24). God answers prayer, and the hope of your life, the hope of this world, and the hope of this church is in prayer that is answered.
Let’s pray. Father in Heaven, I pray now, in the name of Jesus, that You would speak to every heart, including this pastor’s heart, about this matter of our prayer life. Oh, dear God, help us, for we’re weak. But, Lord, we bring our weakness to You. In and through Jesus our Lord.
