The Prayer of a Righteous Man…
James 5:16B “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason - June 1, 2003
In college, I was asked to prepare a lesson to teach my speech class. We were to be graded on our creativity and ability to drive home a point in a memorable way. The title of my talk was, "The Law of the Pendulum." I spent 20 minutes carefully teaching the physical principle that governs a swinging pendulum. The law of the pendulum is: A pendulum can never return to a point higher than the point from which it was released. Because of friction and gravity, when the pendulum returns, it will fall short of its original release point. Each time it swings, it makes less and less of an arc, until finally it is at rest. This point of rest is called the state of equilibrium, where all forces acting on the pendulum are equal.
I attached a 3-foot string to a child's toy top and secured it to the top of the blackboard with a thumbtack. I pulled the top to one side and made a mark on the blackboard where I let it go. Each time it swung back, I made a new mark. It took less than a minute for the top to complete its swinging and come to rest. When I finished the demonstration, the markings on the blackboard proved my thesis. I then asked how many people in the room BELIEVED the law of the pendulum was true. All of my classmates raised their hands, so did the teacher. He started to walk to the front of the room thinking the class was over. In reality, it had just begun. Hanging from the steel ceiling beams in the middle of the room was a large, crude but functional pendulum (250 pounds of metal weights tied to four strands of 500-pound test parachute cord.).
I invited the instructor to climb up on a table and sit in a chair with the back of his head against a cement wall. Then I brought the 250 pounds of metal up to his nose. Holding the huge pendulum just a fraction of an inch from his face, I once again explained the law of the pendulum he had applauded only moments before, "If the law of the pendulum is true, then when I release this mass of metal, it will swing across the room and return short of the release point. Your nose will be in no danger." After that final restatement of this law, I looked him in the eye and asked, "Sir, do you believe this law is true?" There was a long pause. Huge beads of sweat formed on his upper lip and then weakly he nodded and whispered, "Yes." I released the pendulum. It made a swishing sound as it arced across the room. At the far end of its swing, it paused momentarily and started back. I never saw a man move so fast in my life. He literally dived from the table. Deftly stepping around the still-swinging pendulum, I asked the class, "Does he believe in the law of the pendulum?" The students unanimously answered, "NO!" Ken Davis, How To Speak To Youth, pp 104-106.
This illustration certainly has something to say to us about the practical aspects of faith. And as we continue our series on prayer, today we want to look at the relationship between faith and prayer.
Jesus had this to say about prayer in Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” This statement follows his challenge to his disciples to “Have faith in God.” in verse 22.
The first thing we notice about this is that it is a definite promise that Jesus makes here. It is a promise of what He, by His Holy Spirit dwelling in us, is going to work into your very being and character.
There are five components in this passage that give us the essential elements of effective prayer:
1. There is first of all, the heart’s desire.
a. “What things soever ye desire” is how the King James Bible puts it.
b. Desire is the secret power that moves the whole world of men.
c. Desire is the soul of prayer.
d. Perhaps, one of the reasons we do not have what we need from God is that we have been weak in our desire. Jeremiah 29:13 tells us “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
e. God offers himself to the whole-hearted. In 2 Chronicles15:15 we are told “They sought Him with their whole desire.” God always gives to us according to our heart’s desire, not as we look at it, but as He sees it! If we have other desires that occupy our hearts more than He does Himself, He allows these desires to be fulfilled. And there are times when we get what we want but with it comes leanness of soul!
f. God is a reader of the heart. Let us come to Him and be able to say, “Lord I desire this with my whole heart.”
2. The expression of that desire in prayer
a. “What things so ever ye desire when ye pray…”
b. The desire of the heart must become the expression of the lips.
c. There were times when people came to Jesus and cried out to Him for mercy. His answer to them was “What would you have me do?” “What do you want?” He wanted them to say what they desired.
d. To pray is to enter into God’s presence, to claim and secure His attention, and make our requests. Prayer is to commit our need to His faithfulness and leave it there. What would you have him do? Whatever it is; tell him! That is what prayer is all about.
3. Faith that carries that prayer to God.
a. “What things so ever ye desire when ye pray…”Because it is only by faith that we can know God, receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord of our lives, or ever live the Christian life, faith is the life and power of prayer.
b. Remember, faith is the opposite of sight. “We walk by faith and not by sight…”
c. It is to become a natural part of our lives that we look not at the things which are seen but rather at the things which are not seen. (2 Corinthians 4:18).
d. We have to get to know God if we are going to pray as we ought. We need to become occupied with His Power, love and faithfulness;denying our self and allow His light to shine in our lives. Then and only then will unbelief become impossible. God is our God. He has promised to bless us and He will. He will answer prayer. He has said He will…and He will!
4. In that faith, the acceptance of God’s answer.
a. “What things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that you have received…”
b. The very first thing faith has to do when we pray is to accept the answer, as given by God in Heaven, before it is given. This is the secret of believing prayer. Spiritual things can only be understood spiritually. The spiritual, heavenly blessing of God’s answer to your prayer must be spiritually recognized and accepted before you feel anything of it. It is faith that accomplishes this.
c. The person who not only seeks an answer, but also first seeks God who gives the answer to prayer, receives the power to know that he has what he has asked of God. When we know God personally, we will ask of Him according to His will and the promises He has made to us. Then we know that we have what we have asked of Him. Knowing God intimately is one of the keys to answered prayer.
d. The power of effective prayer is born out of human weakness and the despair it fosters. We cannot do it…and so we come to God who has promised that when we pray, He will hear and answer.
5. The experience of the desired blessing
a. “What things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that you have received them and you shall have them…”
b. Faith may rejoice in the certainty of an answered prayer.
c. We can count on it. That is the testimony of the Word of God. Now, we know that the answer may come today or it may come tomorrow. We may have it right now or we may have to patiently wait for the answer to be revealed. But we have the assurance that we have what we have asked God for.
d. As sure as there is desire, prayer, faith and faith’s acceptance of the answer from God, there will also be the manifestation and experience of the blessing we seek.
e. At His bidding, you can dare to claim the answer!
When it comes to prayer, one of our problems is with what we see. We do not readily see things from the perspective of Heaven. We have prayed in the past and have not received what we asked for. That negative experience has tempered our prayer. We carefully avoid getting too specific when we pray because we fear that it might not work…like in the past.
Our text tells us that “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
The issue becomes one of faith. Look at your Bible and tell me about the righteous people of God mentioned there who had faith. Scripture is full of illustrations of people who had faith to trust God with their lives and their needs. They prayed and God gave them what they asked for.
Definition of faith: Hebrews 11:1. "What is faith, unless it is to believe what you cannot see." (Augustine)
Faith is derived from the Word of God: Romans 10:17
Faith's demand: Hebrews 11:6
Faith's design: 2 Corinthians 5:7
The dualism of faith: Hebrews 4:2
Faith's duty: Romans 1:17--live by it.
Richard Mayhue, Divine Healing Today, Moody Press, p. 100.
The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith, we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap us. John Emmons.
Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends. George Muller.
Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. Augustine
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou mayest believe, but believe that thou mayest understand. Augustine.
Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace. Oswald Chambers in Run Today's Race.
When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I'd place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: Leave slide rules here. If I didn't do that, I'd find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he'd be on his feet saying, "Boss, you can't do it." Charles F. Kettering in Bits & Pieces, Dec, 1991, p. 24.
There will always be those who will tell us that prayer can’t work this way…or at least it doesn’t. We all know people who prayed and did not get what they wanted. Therefore, you can’t do it!
The problem with this is the fact that Jesus promised us that we would have what we asked for.
One last illustration will bring our thoughts about faith and prayer to a close: James 5:17 tells us this: “Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heaves gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
Elijah is one of the ‘giants” of our faith. He was used of God in powerful and miraculous ways. When he was on the mountain battling the unbelief of God’s people and the forces of evil, He prayed and called down fire from heaven to burn up the sacrifice on the altar. God responded and sent the fire! When he said that it would not rain again until he said so…it did not! We do not have recorded the encounter of prayer with God where he requested God withhold the rain, but James tells us that he did pray that way.
For our purposes today, notice this fact: Elijah was a man just like us.
Put it another way, we are people who are just like him, just as powerful and effective in our prayer as was he….potentially. He was just a person who believed God. We are just like him and when we believe God and really take Him at His Word powerful things will happen in answer to our prayer.
Will you walk by faith like that? The choice is yours. If you will…then you can be as powerful in prayer as he was.
What will you believe God for today?
--- Dennis Gleason
