SERMON
BY
BRO. SETH A. ARYEE
LOCAL PREACHER
BETHANY METHODIST CHURCH, DZORWULU, ACCRA-GHANA
THEME: PRAYER: GOD’S DELAYS ARE NOT GOD’S DENIALS
JAMES 5:13-18
TEXT: "THE EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILETH MUCH" (JAMES 5:16)
There are Christians who seem to be always getting on. They grow like grass after rain. They are ever adding grace to grace. Every time you meet them, they seem larger and their spiritual stature bigger, taller and stronger. What is the secret?
God’s promises to His children are varied and numerous. The Word of God says:
* “In blessing, I will bless you” – Genesis 22:17
* “And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten – the hopping locust, the stripping locust, and the crawling locust, My great army which I sent among you. And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people shall never be put to shame” - Joel 2:25,26
* “The blessings of the Lord – it makes (truly) rich, and He adds no sorrow with it (neither does toiling increase it)” – Proverbs 10:22
* “And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” – Philippians 4:19
* “If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given to him” – James 1:5
* “Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” – James 1:17
We want:
* Food, and God says: “I am the Bread of Life”
* Knowledge, and God says: “I am the Truth”
* Companionship, and God says: “I am your Friend”
* Love, and God says: “I love you”
* Beauty,
* Happiness, God says: “Rejoice in the Lord always (delight, gladden yourselves in Him) again I say, Rejoice” – Philippians 4:4
* Health, and God says: “I am the Lord Who heals you” – Exodus 15:28
So how do we appropriate the varied and numerous things that God has promised His Children, including all of us present in the House of God today. God assures His Children: “Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking (reverently) and (the door) will be opened to you” – Matthew 7:7. and He adds further: “If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, Who is heaven (perfect as He is) give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him” – Matthew 7:11
We are also assured that: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds . . ." - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
So, we find that the only way to be really happy in such a world as ours is to be ever casting all our cares on God, using the weapon of PRAYERS. This means that:
* God is our source
* Heaven in where our help comes from – Hebrews 4:14-16
Prayer opened the Red Sea
Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from heaven
Prayer healed the sick and raised the dead
Is there anything that the Lord cannot do?
What is prayer? Through prayer, we draw near to God. Listen to Ellen G White’s definition of prayer: “Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as a friend”. Prayer does not change God, but it does change us and our relation to God. It places us in the channel of blessings, and in that frame of mind in which God can consistently and safely grant our requests. So prayer is the discipline of mind.
Our text for today can be seen in the second half of James 5:16: Let us all read together “. . .the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”. This passage says the “effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” In this single sentence, a man could be effectual, fervent, and righteous. Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines effective as: producing a decided, decisive, or desired effect. Fervent is defined as: very hot, marked by great intensity.
The two conditions for availing (tremendous power) prayer are:
* Effective and fervent prayer; and
* Prayer by a righteous man
Through tradition, we kneel down; clasp the two hands together and look up to heaven. Sometimes, we make the sign of the Cross to end our prayers. Can we say this act is effectual and fervent?
I want to suggest four ways which lead to an availing prayer:
* Praying from the heart, that is, prayer that has some relationship with you. This means that when you pray, you really mean it. It is a prayer that touches you – heart-felt. It is when your emotions are built into your prayers; you feel it and are passionate about it.
* Praying with alertness. Jesus said: “watch and pray” (Mark 1333-37; Luke 21:36) and be focused. James 1:6-7 confirms this as: “only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitation, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out of sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything (he asks for) from the Lord”
* Praying with faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that "without faith, it is impossible to please God". My understanding is that you may have love and yet will not please God. Jesus said: Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray (with the mouth), believe (with the heart) that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’” (Mark 11:24). This is articulated in Romans 10:10 “For with the heart one believes, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”. It is not surprising that we are “a royal priesthood of believers”. “So faith comes by hearing” Romans 10:17. The answer to your prayers will not come by anxiety or by worry. Paul tells us not to be anxious about nothing but “in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known” (Philippians 4:6). Most of the time, when people pray, it is mostly a complaint or murmuring or grumbling; in fact, we sometimes accuse God of partiality – it is frustration verbalized. Rather, we should be saying something like this: “Father, I thank you that your word is truth; and in my present situation, I know that You will answer me"
There are two kinds of faith: 1. Little faith, which is the result of lack of sufficient information. The remedy for this situatiion is to get more information, and in this context, by reading the Word of God. 2. Weak faith, which is the result of lack of exercise of faith. What you know and have read and learnt, you have to act on it otherwise it will be worthless
* Praying in expectation. This is believing that God will do what He has promised to do no matter the circumstances
Who is a righteous man? Let me suggest some view: Firstly, he is a right living man. He is not a perfectly blameless man - James goes on to remind us of Elijah and we know there was a time when that prophet’s imperfections were revealed. But he lived as a just and straight man.
Secondly, a righteous man has reverence in his dealings with God. There is a searching protestation about a lack of reverence which God makes to those who claimed to be his people during the time of Malachi. "’A son honours his father, and a servant honours his master. If I am a father, where is the honour due me? If I am a master, where is the respect (reverent fear) due me?’ says the Lord Almighty. ’It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name ... I am a great king’, says the Lord Almighty, ’and my name is to be feared among the nations’" (Malachi 1:6 & 14).
Thirdly, a righteous man is one who is approved of God, a straight man as he deals with God. That is, he is perfectly frank before the Almighty. There are times when our words outrun our feelings, but we are speaking to the Lord. There was a time when Jeremiah cried out, "O Lord, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed" (Jeremiah 20:7). That’s a fearful accusation to make of Him who is changeless truth. But that is how Jeremiah actually felt and he took it to God and poured out his frustration in the Lord’s presence.
Fourthly, a righteous man conforms to the will of God. Righteousness relates to our standing before God in three ways:
* How God sees us – when come in the Name of Jesus Christ knowing very well what He did for us on the Cross
* How we see God – do we see God as a loving Father or a fearful Father? When God commands: “Thou shall not. . .”, do we take it that God only wants us to live a boring life”. Rather, He gives us law to “have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10)
* How we see ourselves – because God is holy and if we do not live up to the standard, we find ourselves unworthy. Listen to what the Centurion declared: “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed” (Luke 8:8). He did not say that he was unworthy to receiving a miracle. You are worthy to receive the blessing of God; even from afar, He can speak the word. The Centurion was a gentile and Jesus, a Jew. But because of the work on the Cross, “there is, therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1)
When you look at these, you know that you do not measure to God’s standards because our “righteousness are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). So how does righteousness help us in our prayers? First, remember “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Secondly, Hebrews 4:16 tells us: “Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”
Let us look at the steps:
* “Let us, therefore, come”. How do we come? How does God want us to approach Him?
* “Boldly”. Why boldly? Because, we are coming to Our Father. To where?
* “To the throne of grace”. Righteousness gives us access to God; it also makes us bold. What is the result of our boldness?
* It assures us of God’s intervention in our matters so that “we may obtain mercy”
God is saying here that your righteousness is of Him and that all you need to do is to come forward with boldness to the throne of grace.
Who is, therefore, a righteous man?
* “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” 2 Corinthians 5:17
* “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1)
* “For the law was given through Moses; but grace and truth (reality) came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17)
* “Because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)
* “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made he righteousness of God in him”. (2 Corinthians 5:21). I like the rendition in the Amplified Bible: “For our sake He made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)
How Can I Know That God Will Answer My Prayers? There are three basic principles that we need to follow:
* Faith
* Recognition of God’s will
* Persistence
Faith
* Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."
* Mark 9:23-24 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"
* Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
* I John 5:4 "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world". And this is the victory that has overcome the world-- our faith.
Recognition of God’s Will
* I John 5:14-15 "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.
In John 14:13, we read: "And whatever you ask in My Name (as presenting all that I AM), that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." John 16:23-24 also says: "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My Name He will give you. "Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."
Persistence
Luke 18:1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, (Luke 18:2-7). Romans 12:12 “rejoicing (and exult) in hope, (be steadfast and) patient in (suffering and) tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer”; Ephesians 6:18 “praying always (on every occasion, in every season) with all (manner of) prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”
Ephesians 1:18 “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened (flooded with light); that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones)”; Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be unwise (vague and thoughtless and foolish), but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Do not tell God how great your problems are, but tell your problems how great your God is. Always confirm God’s will before praying.
Ephesians 5:17: Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Do not ask God for too much. Find out whether what you are asking for is God’s will for your life. You do not go to God asking that you want to marry a fifth wife. Of course that is not God’s will for your life and He is not going to answer it.
Whatever happens in the natural is in direct relation to what is happening in the spiritual. In essence, natural occurrences are the domino effect, or the byproduct of what is going on in the spiritual world around us. For instance: when God spoke creation into existence, His words originated in the spiritual and manifested in the physical as a natural creation. Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
The problem is that we humans are so immersed: so wrapped up in what we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands, hear with our ears and taste with our mouths, that we often forget the spiritual world at work around us and as a result, we typically look to the things we can touch and see, hear and taste: the things we have “control” over, to solve our problems with, instead of going to the source: God, our spiritual Father.
