Just Keep on Praying

Just Keep on Praying
James 5:16b-18

Church tradition says that James was known as "Old Camel Knees."  They say he was known by that name because he spent so much time in prayer that his knees became hard and calloused like a camel. 

James was indeed a man of prayer.  He had a great deal to say about prayer in this book.  You will notice in the first chapter, the fifth verse, he introduces the subject of prayer.  He says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." 

In the fifth chapter he talks about the matter of prayer.  For instance, in this very context of the verses we are studying tonight in verse 13, "Is any among you afflicted?  Let him pray."  Verse 14 says, "Is any sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray."  Verse 15 says, "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick."  James has a great deal to say about the subject of prayer.

The Lord Jesus talked to us about prayer on many occasions.  One time Jesus said about prayer, "Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find.  Knock and it shall be opened unto you." 

I'm always impressed by the statement of the disciples who came to Jesus on one occasion.  Remember that they had been with the Lord about three and a half years.  They had seen Jesus Christ do many things.  They heard Him say many things. 


They came to the Lord Jesus and said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples."  Isn't that an interesting statement?  They didn't say, "Lord, teach us to preach," as important as that is, but they said, "Teach us to pray."  They didn't say, "Lord, teach us to cast out demons," as Jesus did.  They said, "Lord, teach us to pray."  They didn't say, "Lord, teach us to heal the sick," as marvelous as that is.  They said, "Lord, teach us to pray." 

Now the teaching of James is very specific.  He doesn’t talk about prayer in general, but rather he talks specifically about answered prayer. 

And first of all he gives an explanation of answered prayer, and then secondly he gives an example of answered prayer.

He gives the explanation of answered prayer in the sentence in

verse 16. 

When it comes to the matter of answered prayer I want you to notice first of all

I. The Integrity of Prayer.

First we zero in on the word “righteous” and immediately we feel defeated.  You say, "That leaves me out if it says a righteous person.  I'm not righteous."  Of course, when we all look at our hearts sometimes we wonder how we could even dare to approach the throne of God in prayer.  

So let’s talk about what it means to be “righteous”.

When you study the subject of righteousness in the Bible you will discover that there is a positional righteous and there is also a practical righteousness. 

Positionally we are declared righteous when we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.  Romans 3, verse 10, says that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags.  We have no righteousness in and of ourselves.  Yet, the Bible says that when we receive the Lord Jesus and His finished work on Calvary's cross, God takes our rags of righteousness and imputes to us the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

You meet the Lord at the cross, and when you do He exchanges those rags of your righteousness for the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and now positionally you are in the presence of God as if you had never sinned.

One of the great hymns we sing in the faith has a line like this.  "When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne."  So if you have received Christ as your personal Savior, positionally you are righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is also a personal, practical righteousness.  It is a righteousness which has to do with your daily life. 

So which one is being addressed here?  I think it’s the second one.  What he's talking about is someone who is living right.  There is no unconfessed sin in their life.

The Bible says, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear."  In Psalm 66, verse 18, the scripture makes this statement that we need to consider.  "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." 

So the first requirement of answered prayer is you have to be ‘fessed up and be sure there is no unconfessed sin in your life.

Do you remember the scripture about Joshua?  The children of God had just gone through that embarrassing defeat at Ai.  They presumed upon the Lord and they went up to Ai, and you know the story.  They lost the battle and many lives were lost in that batter.  Joshua went before the Lord and the Bible says that Joshua fell on his face in prayer before the Lord.  "Oh, Lord what's wrong?  Oh, God what's happened?"  Then God did an amazing thing.  God said to Joshua, "Joshua, get off your face, quit praying."

There's a time to pray and there's a time not to pray.  What the Lord was saying to Joshua was, "Joshua, there's sin in the camp and you deal with the sin if you want to get your prayer answered.  Deal with the sin in the camp first, and then you can expect to get your prayers answered."

Is there any unconfessed sin in your life?  Now remember:  we’re talking about how to get answers to our prayers.  First of all, there is the integrity of prayer.

Then he talks about

II. The Intensity of Prayer.

Now we zero in on the phrase “effective, fervent prayer."  The word there is a Greek word from which we get the word energy.  Have you seen the little Energizer Bunny?  It keeps going on and on and on.  That word energizer is from the Greek word energeo.  It carries the idea of inherent power. 

There is tremendous, inherent power in prayer.  "The effectivel prayer."  It means stretched out prayer.  At the root of the Greek word is the picture of an athlete who is stretching for the finish line.  He is intense.  There is intensity in his movement and activities.  We're talking about prayer that has intensity in it.

You say, "What kind of prayer is that?"  Some people think that it's loud prayer.  Some people think that the louder you pray and the more intense your prayer is, then God will hear you.  Not necessarily so. One of the most powerful prayers in all of the Bible was prayed by a woman named Hannah.

Hannah was barren.  Hannah didn't have any children, and yet Hannah prayed a child into her womb.  When you read about her prayer, you will discover that the Bible says that Hannah prayed in her heart, that her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.  Not a syllable was heard.  Not a sound was heard, and yet there was tremendous power.

It is not praying loud that causes you to have power in prayer.  Sometimes people pray so loud you would think the Lord was hard of hearing. I'm not belittling loud prayer. 
Sometimes in the intensity of the moment when we are really agonizing before God, we may pray loud prayers.  But it is not necessarily loud prayer that is powerful prayer.

Some people thing that it is a long prayer which is powerful prayer.  There is a time for long prayer.  Sometimes you will read in the Bible that Jesus prayed all night long.  The disciples would go into the room where Jesus was to stay, and they would find that the bed sheets had never been turned back, that Jesus Christ had not even spent any time on that bed because He had been out there on the mountainside all night in prayer to God.

There is a place for long prayers and it’s generally not the worship service.  Probably long prayers ought to be private prayers and not public prayers.  I've never been too impressed with the long public prayers.

So it is not necessarily a long prayer that will get the job done.

I heard about D. L. Moody, and he had called upon a brother to pray in one of his crusades.  The brother just prayed on and on. Do you know what I'm talking about?  Moody was a rather abrupt and blunt kind of man.  So while the brother was praying, he just stepped to the podium and said, "While our brother is finishing his prayer let's sing the next hymn."

It's not loud prayers.  That's not where the power of prayer comes.  It is not long prayers, necessarily.  That's not where the power comes.  What he's saying is prayer with energy in it. 

What kind of prayer is that?  Do you remember in the book of Jude it talks about praying in the Holy Spirit?  Power in prayer is prayer which is energized by the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is based on the teachings of the Word of God.  When you can pray the Word of God and pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, that is intensity in your prayer.

The integrity of prayer, a righteous person. 
The intensity of prayer, it’s effective and fervent

Then notice
 
III. The Immensity of Prayer.

What does the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man do? 

Notice the next phrase:  it “avails much”.

That means it does a lot of good.  It has a lot of power.  It brings great things to pass in it.

You would not imagine what God can do in prayer.  We think the big things, the big decisions, are made in the higher echelons of political power in this city.  There are little widow women who get down on their knees in prayer every day who have more power with God and more moving power in the world today than all the politicians in our city.

You try science and you'll get what science can do.  You try education and you'll get what education can do.  You try people and you get what people can do.  But when you try prayer, you get what God can do. 


So he gives us this explanation of prayer. It is a prayer of integrity with power and results. 

But then he moves on and gives us a very real, understandable, familiar human example of what he’s been talking about. 

James was someone who knew his Bible.  James knew how to go into the Old Testament and draw the lessons and the examples of spiritual truths from his Bible.  He's going into the Old Testament and he's going to find an example of answered prayer.  Who will he choose?  Shall he choose Daniel?  What a great man of prayer was Daniel.  Daniel prayed three times a day, morning, noon and night.  But he didn't choose Daniel.

Did he choose Moses?  Moses prayed 40 days and 40 nights.  What a mighty man of prayer was Moses.  But he didn't choose Moses.

He chose, arguably, the greatest prophet in the Old Testament.  He chose the prophet Elijah.  He uses the prayer life of Elijah to teach you and me the great lesson of answered prayer.

And I love the timing of God; I’m sure not smart enough to put things together and make all the timing work out.  But from the very studies we are involved in on Sunday evenings, James draws his illustration.

Notice what he has to say about Elijah.  This is the New Testament commentary on the Old Testament character Elijah. 

Verse 17
What he's saying about this man Elijah is that there was weakness in Elijah.  He was a man of like passions.  That means that he had similar circumstances to us.  That means that he encountered the same kinds of problems that we do.  It means that he had the same kinds of weaknesses and failures that we do. There was greatest in Elijah.

There is no doubt that there was greatness in Elijah.  Elijah was a man who raised a boy from the dead.  He was a man who was fed by ravens.  He's a man who confronted the prophets of Baal.  He called down fire on the altar on Mt. Carmel.  He was a man who was carried by a chariot into heaven.  There was greatness in this man Elijah. 

But there was weakness in him also.  He went through the same kind of difficulties and problems we do.  He had the same kinds of changing emotions that we do.  He had his ups and his downs.  He had his hills and his valleys.  He had his victories and he had his miseries.  He was a man of like passions as we are.  There were days when Elijah got up on the wrong side of the bed and kicked the cat and everything was wrong.  He was a man of like passions just like you and I are.  There was weakness in this man Elijah.

Literally the passage here says, "Elijah, man was he."  He was the same clay as we are.  There was weakness in him.

I don't know if I ever feel more weak than when I get on my knees in prayer to God.  I don't know that I ever feel a greater sense of failure than when I get on my knees in prayer before God. 
But Elijah encourages me.  Even though there was weakness in this man Elijah, God heard Elijah.  There was weakness in him.

There was greatness in him, there was weakness in him, but we also see earnestness in him.  It says, "And he prayed earnestly that it would not rain." 

This takes us back to the Old Testament account in I Kings 17 and 18.  When you go to that passage, you will not find any direct mention of prayer.  Yet it is very obvious that Elijah prayed in that setting.  In fact, the whole life of Elijah could be summarized in two statements that are found in I Kings 17 and 18.

First of all, the Lord said to Elijah, "Hide yourself."  Then He said to Elijah in chapter 18, "Present yourself."  What do we learn from that?  You are never ready to show yourself before men until you have first of all hidden yourself before the Lord.

Elijah takes us behind the scenes.  He takes us behind the outward picture and he shows us what's going on behind the scenes in the life of Elijah.

Did you know that if you will let me go behind the scenes in your life, I'll find either the secret of your success or the reason for your failure?  Do you have a quiet time?  Do you pray?  Do you have that time behind the scenes of your life where you draw on the mighty power of God?  Are you in contact with God in a daily way?

He was a man of like passions.  He prayed earnestly.  The word there means that he prayed stretched out.  He prayed earnestly.  He prayed stretched out.  It means he prayed with intensity.  It means he prayed with effectiveness.  It means he prayed with earnestness.  He prayed intently. 

"He prayed earnestly that it would not rain."  Read it.  He goes before King Ahab and he says, "Ahab, there won't be any rain unless I call for it."  For three and a half years there was no rain.  He had such power with God in prayer, he prayed with such intensity, he could say to heaven, "No rain."  And for three and a half years not a drop of rain did fall. That's the mighty power of answered prayer.

He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, stretched out.  James got involved in a situation similar to this where similar terminology is used.

Do you remember the Bible tells us about Simon Peter and they arrested him?  The Bible says that prayer was made without ceasing of the church for Simon Peter.  The terminology is very similar there.  Prayer was made without ceasing.  Prayer was made stretched out.  They prayed earnestly for Simon Peter.

Do you know what God does?  God opens up prison doors when people pray with that kind of earnestness.  God causes shackles to fall off of people when we pray with that kind of earnestness. Do you pray earnestly in your prayers?

Then it says in verse 18, "And he prayed again."  Literally the text there says, "He prayed in his prayers."  It's a Greek idiom that carried the idea of praying with great intensity. 

 

He was a man of weakness and yet he prayed.  We see his weakness and we see his earnestness.  But then we see his effectiveness.  He prayed in his prayers and it says, "And the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."

Look at I Kings 18.  I think this is one of the greatest passages in the whole Bible on the subject of prayer.  I’m ot going to spend much time here, because we’ll look at it Sunday night, but in the context of prayer, I want you to see some things. 

You know the account here.  Elijah has called down fire on Mt. Carmel and the fire has consumed the sacrifice. Then we come to

I Kings 18, verse 41. 

Keep in mind that it hasn't rained for three and a half years.

Now there are three statements I want to underscore in your mind:

verse 42

That's the posture of prayer.  No direct mention of prayer, but he has the very posture of prayer. 

You don't have to be on your knees when you pray.  You don't have to be on your face when you pray.  You don't have to close your eyes when you pray. 

But there are sometimes when the need is so great and the burden is so heavy upon us and some times when we need to call upon God with such intensity and such earnestness that it drives us to our knees. 
Then there are times when prayer is such a serious matter in our life and the burden is so heavy, it not only drives us to our knees but it puts us on our face.  Have you ever been on your face before God in prayer? 

He's got his face on the ground between his knees and he's looking for a weather report. 

verse 43

Here’s the first statement:  “Go up and look”

He didn't give up.

Too often in our prayers that we are like little boys who run up on porches and ring door bells and run away before anyone answers.  Sometimes we pray and if God doesn't answer the first time, we quit.  Or we may pray twice and if God doesn't answer, we quit.

He went seven times, the perfect number, perfect intensity.

Don't give up in your prayers.  If God doesn't answer today He may answer it tomorrow. Keep on praying.  Go check the clouds.  Go see.  There's nothing seven times.

Then look at verse 44.  Here's the second thing I want you to get.

“There is a cloud”

 

Elijah prayed with such earnestness, with such intensity, with such effectiveness, it's like he stamped his hands on the heavens.  What prayer have you prayed like that?

God said, "I'm going to send the rain." 
Look at the third statement. 

In verse 45 it says, "And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain." 

There's tremendous power in prayer.  Just keep on praying, and one of these days the rain's going to start falling in your life.

Someone said, "Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence."  Someone says, "Can prayer change the weather?"  Well, it did in this instance.  It hadn't rained for three and a half years, and yet Elijah prayed and the weather changed.

Someone says, "In scientific days we understand that scientifically the weather is a part of the fixed laws of nature and nothing can change the fixed laws of nature."  But you left out something in the equation.  You have left out the God who fixed the laws of nature.  The God of nature can change the fixed laws of nature because the first law of nature is the sovereign will of God.

He changed the weather.  The same God who can change the weather is the God who can answer prayer and the God who can change your life as you pray.