The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16, NIV)
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”! ‘Effectual fervent’ means this is very powerful prayer. The Greek word often used for powerful is ‘dunamis’. We’ve borrowed this word into English as ‘dynamo’ (to generate electricity, power, to run your home, your car); and as ‘dynamite’ (a very unusual explosive which doesn’t waste its energy on the open air, but pushes the wall down, breaks open the rock face). So when we’re talking about prayer, your prayer must not be wasted on the air, but like dynamite, it must be dynamic enough to move the mountain out of the way! To move the sickness! To move the obstacle! If your prayer is not doing this, it’s not doing its job! Dynamite is used in mining, it’s dangerous, but used correctly, it’s powerful! It achieves its objective! In the same way, the dynamic prayer of a righteous man avails – it works!
Now I want to turn to James 5:14ff. My Bible is old and this page is virtually torn out, I’ve had to stick the page back together, because I use it so much! That’s because it’s about faith and miracles of healing! Here James says, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” – this is not just healing, but also forgiveness of sin! So there is the miracle of healing and the forgiveness of sin, and let’s go on, verse 16, “confess your faults one to another, pray for one another that you may be healed.” This is not the ministry of the evangelist, this is the ministry of the Church! Come on! Pray one for another that you may be healed! It will probably take another book to explain the difference between the work of the church and the evangelist! But you can put these simple instructions from James into practice in your own lives.
I’ve always loved prayer and I’ve always loved hills. After dinner one night I left the family and went alone to climb the steep cliff path to pray. Getting towards the top, I came to a place where there was a bush and I couldn’t go any further, I was conscious that the devil himself was stopping me from reaching higher. I battled and battled, I knelt on the ground and cried out. But I could not get beyond that point! The second night, I tried again. When I got to that same spot, to that same small bush, I couldn’t get beyond! There was a ‘barrier’! Something held me back. I knew it was demonic, I became very afraid, gave up and quickly ran back down and told my Dad. He understood and showed me how to plead the power of the Blood of Jesus and break that barrier. The third night I went again. Again, I could not get beyond that same bush. But I would not rest, I would not go home without getting to the top – I had to get that victory. It was as if the devil himself was there with a flaming sword to stop me! But this time I prevailed in prayer exactly as my Dad had showed me – and I did it – I reached the top!!! What an impact it had on my life! That was more than 70 years ago, but I’m still on the same journey and I must always climb higher! But every time you think you’ve reached the top, there’s always another peak, another mountain to climb! We’ve got to reach the top! Not stop part way!