This is a continuation of the Praying From The New Covenant series. In my last message “Praying From Victory” as opposed to praying for victory, I mentioned that praying from victory is praying from the perspective of the finished work of Jesus on Calvary. And this is a perspective issue, it’s a mindset or mentality issue. Praying from victory is a New Testament mentality, because under the new covenant, we know that we already have all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, so we do not second-guess ourselves, we know that the power of the finished work and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is what guarantees the potency of our faith. On the cross, grace made all things available to us, at His resurrection, our faith was quickened to take what grace has made available.
Today we will be interrogating what exactly makes the believers prayer lethal, what element in the prayer makes it potent, powerful and effective.
In James 5:16b, “…the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (makes power available)”. Here James says that it is the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man that produces or releases power that accomplishes things in through prayer, meaning that a righteous man’s prayer has power, and the nature of that prayer must be effectual and fervent if it must manifest powerful and produce results. Before we interrogate what makes the believer's prayer powerful, let's first understand who a righteous man is, because it is not the effectual fervent prayer of just about anyone that produces power, it is the effectual fervent prayer of a RIGHTEOUS MAN that produces power, so he must be a man not an angel (angels don't pray because they were never redeemed), and that man must be righteous. So then, who is a righteous man?
Romans 4 tells us that Abraham believed God and it was accounted or credited to him as righteousness, that is, Abraham was considered a righteous man because righteousness was given to him on credit not debit. Abraham was spending what he didn’t have but shared in. Abraham’s righteousness was an IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS, but to the New Testament believer, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, that we have BEEN MADE the righteousness of God in Christ. In order words, we have righteousness, we’re not credited with righteousness, we have been made righteous. That’s the difference between Abraham’s righteousness and the New Testament believer’s righteousness. We are righteous not because of what we did right or didn’t do wrong, we are righteous because of what Jesus did on the cross for us, He MADE us right. To be right righteous means to be RIGHT BY GOD. And this is not a behavioral or character issue, it is a nature issue. So our righteousness is not a function of our good behavior or performance, but is a function of what Jesus did for us on the cross, He through His death, burial and resurrection MADE us righteous, so we are His righteousness In Christ. Just like no man is a sinner because of the sins they committed but because we were all born sinners from the sin nature of Adam, so also we have now been made righteous (if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ) not because of what we did right but because of the new nature that we now have in Christ- His nature of righteousness. The faithfulness of the shepherd is never predicated on the behavior of the sheep, but is predicated on the NATURE of the shepherd, so the righteousness of the believer is not predicated on the behavior of the believer but is predicated on the NATURE of the one in whom we have believed - Christ Jesus the Lord! 🙌
This is who a righteous man is, the one who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and has been made the righteousness of God, not the one who thinks he is righteous because of good behavior. Our good behavior equates to nothing but filthy rags in the sight of God, so we cannot claim righteousness on the grounds of our good behavior but on the nature of the One who has MADE us righteous.
So, the effectual fervent prayer of a man who knows that he is right in the sight of God not by his good behavior or good deeds but by the nature of the Christ in him, this is a righteous man.
We have established who a righteous man is, now let’s see What makes the prayer of this righteous man effectual and fervent.
The power of the believer or righteous man’s prayer is REVELATION! That is, the revelation knowledge of the word of God and of the finished work of Jesus on Calvary that you have is what makes your prayer powerful.
Paul in Hebrews 4:12 reminds us of the lethal potency of the word of God; “for the word of God is living, powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
This means that the word of God by itself, inherently has potency, power and potential, it doesn’t require anyone’s assistance or contribution, it has power, potency and potential to bring itself to pass without assistance.
But how does the power in the inherently living and powerful word of God become tangible in my life and in my situation? Jesus said in John 8:32, “you shall know the truth (the word is truth), and the truth that you know is the truth that will make you free” - paraphrased. The truth is always the truth, it’s nature of truth cannot be changed, and arbitrarily it remains useless to you until you become aware of it’s power and consciously apply it, otherwise it remains just an arbitrary truth. So also the word of God is powerful, but if you are not AWARE or CONSCIOUS of its power, it remains potentially inherently powerful but not actively powerful in your life.
Revelation knowledge is not mental assent, it’s not sensual knowledge, it’s not information knowledge, it is revelation knowledge because it cannot be taught it can only be caught, it cannot be googled up on the internet, it can only be revealed by the Spirit.
Revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ and of the finished work of Christ is how we become aware of the truth of God’s word, revelation or the revealed truth is how we move from our un-renewed mindset into the mind of Christ, revelation is what give and activates the full power and life of God’s word in our mouth, and revelation is becoming aware and conscious of the truth of Gods word. God cannot be taught, He can only be revealed, otherwise our academic institutions will be able to teach us God, but they cannot because He can only be revealed. When Christ is revealed the believer is unveiled. The moment Simon received the revelation of who Jesus was, Peter was revealed, that is, he was no longer called Simon but Peter. “In His light we see light…”, in the revelation of who He is, we become who we are in Christ. It is only in the revelation knowledge of Him that the eyes of our understanding is fully enlightened…. It is in the revelation of scripture that the power of that scripture (the Christ in that verse or the Christocentricity of that verse ) is unveiled and released.
So in prayer, it’s not just enough to speak the word of God which is inherently powerful, but we must speak that word from a revelatory point, we must know that word beyond the verbiage of the English language, we must be aware and conscious of the truth of that word for its power to be released, we must know the truth of what Jesus has done on Calvary for us, because it is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus that released the Christ who is the fullness of God unto the believer. The power of God is in the cross of Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection, without the cross, there is no power. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is what gave us the new covenant, it is the new covenant. So it was the cross that released the power of God unto us, and His resurrection gave power to our faith (1 Corinthians 15: 1-3, 14). Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST, for it is the power of God unto salvation…” what is the gospel? It is the over the top too good to be true good news about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it is this gospel that is the power of God unto Soteria (salvation).
Once you receive revelatory knowledge of the finished work in scripture, you see how you could spend months praying from that one sentence or phrase that has been revealed to you, you notice the extent of power and fervency that exudes from that revelation you have when you pray from a word of revelation, that fervency and power is what makes your prayer lethal and powerful. Without revelation knowledge, you’re only speaking words from your head or your un-renewed mind. But once you have a revelation on a word, that revelation knowledge automatically infuses fire, strength, power, fervency into what you say or pray, and that fervency and power now gives power to your prayer to accomplish its task. 💥
Next time you pray, just don’t speak words, speak revelatory words, just don’t speak God’s word, speak God’s revelatory word, that is the truth that you have come to know. The power of the believer’s prayer (that is the righteous man), is not in the verboseness of the speech, it’s not in the intensity of the shout, it’s not even in how much scriptures you can quote as you pray, the power of the believer’s prayer is in the revelation of God’s word that they are praying. Yo want to see your prayer powerful, get revelation knowledge of God’s word concerning that situation and pray from that revelation stance, and your prayer becomes unstoppable! Praying from the revelation of the finished work is what makes your prayer effectual and fervent, and makes it powerful! 🔥🙌
