James 5:16 – 18
James 5:16b-18, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 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 heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
THE PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN IS POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE (V. 16b)
The Bible teaches that no limits can be set on the power of prayer. God is the almighty. He is
unlimited in His power. Jesus said in John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in
you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
The Jews had a saying that he who prays surrounds his house with a wall stronger than iron.
Scripture provides numerous examples of the power of prayer. Here are a few. Joshua prayed
and the sun stood still as the Lord fought for the Israelites against the Amorites. (Joshua 10:1213) Elijah prayed and the widow’s son came back to life. (1 Kings 17:19-23) (She fed him during
the famine) Hezekiah prayed and asked God to deliver the Israelites when Jerusalem was
surrounded by the Assyrian army and in one night the angel of the Lord put to death 185,000
men in the Assyrian camp. (Isaiah 37:15-36) Hezekiah also prayed when he was ill and at the
point of death and God gave him 15 more years of life. (Isaiah 38:1-6) Hannah prayed when
she was barren and asked God for a son and God blessed her with a baby boy, which she
named Samuel. (1 Samuel 1) The Jerusalem church was earnestly praying or Peter while he was
in prison and the night before his trial an angel woke him up and led him out of the prison.
(Acts 12:5-10)
Some people might say, “Yeah God answered their prayers, but they were super saints.” God
never answers my prayers. But James does not say that everyone’s prayer would be powerful
and effective. He said in James 5:16b, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and
effective.”
Who is a righteous person? In Scripture there are two aspects of righteousness: positional
righteousness and experiential righteousness. A person who through God’s grace has admitted
they are a sinner who has fallen short of perfection in God’s eyes and therefore have placed
their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s one and only savior provided for mankind is
positionally righteous in God’s sight.
A positionally righteous person believes that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, lived a sinless life
on earth, died on the cross in their place as their substitute to satisfy God’s wrath for their sins
and was raised bodily from the dead on the third day and has a right standing before God.
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Romans 3:20-22, “… no one will be declared righteous in his (God’s) sight by observing the law;
rather through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God apart
from law, has been made known to, which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness
from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
Romans 4:3-5, “What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him
as righteousness. Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an
obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his
faith is credited as righteousness.”
When God declares a person positionally righteous because of their faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, He sends the Holy Spirit to indwell them and to make them experientially righteous or
conform them into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Philippians 2:13, “for it is
God who works in you to will and to act according to His purpose.”
A Christian who is walking in obedience to God’s commands is both positionally righteous and
experientially righteous. The Apostle John said in 1 John 3:7, “Dear children, do not let anyone
lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous.”
A Christian who is both positionally righteous and experientially righteous will be powerful and
effective in prayer. Their prayers will also be in keeping with the will of God.
Psalm 34:17, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their
troubles.”
Proverbs 15:29, “The Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”
Psalm 66:18, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”
ILLUSTRATION – Around 1950 there was a powerful Christian revival in the Hebrides Islands just
off the west coast of mainland Scotland. For some months, a number of men met three nights
a week for prayer, and they often spent hours praying. The weeks passed and nothing
happened until one morning at about two o’ clock; a young man read Psalm 24:3-5, “Who may
ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a
pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive
blessing from the Lord.”
He closed his Bible and looked around at his friends on their knees before God, and said,
“Brethren, it is just so much humbug to be waiting like this night after night, month after
month, if we ourselves are not right with God. I must ask myself – Is my heart pure? Are my
hands clean?” And at that moment, God swept into that prayer group and at that wonderful
moment seven Elders discovered what they evidently had not discovered before, that revival
must be related to Holiness. This was the beginning of a movement that went from
congregation to congregation and island to island off the coast of Scotland with far reaching
effects.”
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APPLICATION – Have you admitted to God that you are a sinner in need of a Savior? Have you
placed your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as God in the flesh, who lived a sinless life on
earth, shed His blood on the cross and rose physically from the dead on the third day as
payment for your sins? If you have God’s Word says that you are positionally righteous in God’s
eyes. If you have not God’s Word says that you are positionally unrighteous in God’s eyes and
will have to pay the penalty for your sins by spending eternity apart from God in a place of
torment. If God’s Word says you are positionally righteous in God’s eyes are you striving to
obey God’s commands so you can be experientially righteous before God? Are you confessing
all your sin?
The illustration James uses to prove his point that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful
and effective is Elijah. James says in James 5:17-18, “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 heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
Let’s note three things about Elijah. (1) James 5:17, “Elijah was a man just like us.” Elijah was
not perfect. He had to cope with fears, doubts, periods of depression and physical limitations.
Hezekiah, Elisha, Joshua, Hannah and the Christians in the early church were human beings just
like us. They sinned, sought forgiveness, prayed in faith and received answers to prayer. If God
answered their prayers, He will answer ours.
(2) James 5:17, “… He prayed earnestly …” 1 Kings 18:42 tells us, “Elijah climbed to the top of
Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.” I believe Elijah’s posture
is the outward evidence of his inward earnestness. We may not put our face between our
knees when we pray, but we must be earnest in our praying. We must really want what we are
asking for. We must pray like Jacob, when he wrestled with God and said in Genesis 32:26, “I
will not let you go unless you bless me.”
George Mueller (a great man of prayer who prayed earnestly) wrote, “I am now, in 1864,
waiting upon God for certain blessings, for which I have daily besought Him for 19 years and 6
months, without one day’s intermission. Still the full answer is not yet given concerning the
conversion of certain individuals. In the meantime, I have received many thousands of answers
to prayer. I have also prayed daily, without intermission, for the conversion of other individuals
about ten years, for others six or seven years, for others four, three, and two years, for others
about eighteen months; and still the answer is not yet granted, concerning these persons
(whom I have prayed for nineteen and a half years). Yet I am daily continuing in prayer and
expecting the answer
APPLICATION – Are you praying earnestly for anything? Or do you pray for a little while and
then give up? When you pray do you mean what you say? Or do you just go through the
motions?
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(3) Elijah prayed expectantly. God promised Elijah that he would send rain.1 Kings 18:1 tells us,
“After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present
yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”
If God promised to send rain, why did Elijah pray for it? Because prayer is one of God’s
appointed means of bringing His promises to pass. God not only ordains the end, he also
ordains the means. So when we pray about something that God has promised to do we are not
coming to a reluctant God in an attempt to persuade Him to do what He really does not want to
do. We are coming to God as dependent individuals who know we cannot bring about His
promise in our own strength. Because of God’s promise to send rain, Elijah could pray with
great confidence that God would indeed answer his prayer.
1 Kings 18:42-45, “Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face
between his knees. ‘Go and look toward the sea,’ he told his servant. And he went up and
looked. ‘There is nothing there,’ he said.
Seven times Elijah said, ‘Go back.’ The seventh time the servant reported, ‘A cloud as small as a
man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ So Elijah said, ‘Go and tell Ahab, Hitch up your chariot and
go down before the rain stops you.’ Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose,
a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.”
Six times Elijah sent his servant to look for clouds. Six times the servant said, ‘There is nothing
there.’ But Elijah kept praying expectantly and finally the seventh time the servant said, ‘There
is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.’ Elijah is so convinced the Lord is going
to keep His promise he tells his servant. ‘Go and tell Ahab, “Hitch up your chariot and go down
before the rain stops you.”’
Most of us would have quit praying long before the servant went back a seventh time. But
Elijah believed God’s promise and kept praying until he saw God answer.
HOWARD HENDRICKS – Sometimes our expectancy is demonstrated by waiting. Some things
on my family’s prayer list were there a long time before they were answered. One of them was
the salvation of my father, a retired military officer. Shortly before his retirement, he flew
down to Dallas to see us, and of course my kids were so excited, “Granddaddy’s coming! Hope
he’ll wear his uniform.”
When he appeared in the doorway of the plane in his uniform with all the varicolored ribbons,
my youngest boy took off to greet him. When my father got to the bottom of the ramp, he
threw his arms around him. Just as I caught up with him, I overheard my youngest say, “Hey,
Granddaddy. Do you know Jesus yet?” My father said, “No, son, I’m afraid I can’t say I do.” To
which my son replied, “Well, you will pretty soon, because we’re praying for you!” “Pretty
soon” turned into many years. Dad received Christ four months prior to his death in 1974. I
had personally prayed for him for 42 years.
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APPLICATION – Have you been praying for many years, perhaps for the salvation of a loved
one? May I encourage you to keep praying? Jesus said, “Keep on asking, and you will receive.
Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you.” But ask
and seek and knock earnestly and expectantly.
Ron Dunn, (A Southern Baptist Pastor from Texas) said this about prayer, “Satan has no defense
against this weapon; he does not have an anti-prayer missile. For instance the unbeliever has
many defenses against our evangelistic efforts. He can refuse to attend church, and if he does
occasionally show up, he can shift into neutral and count the cracks in the ceiling. You can go
to his home, but he doesn’t have to let you in. Hand him a tract on the street, and he can
throw it away. Get on TV, and he can switch channels. Call him on the phone and he can hang
up. But he cannot prevent the Lord Jesus Christ from knocking at the door of his heart in
response to our prayers. People we cannot reach any other way can be reached by way of the
throne of grace.”
Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not
overcome it.”
But the means Jesus will use to build his church is the prayers of righteous believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ and the preaching of the gospel. God promised in Isaiah 55:11, “My word that goes
out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and
achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus said in Matthew 6:9-13, “This, then,
is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as
we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil
one.”
Many of us pray for our daily bread which is good. Unfortunately many Christians pray to get
rich so they won’t have to pray for their daily bread anymore. Many of us ask for forgiveness
and many of us ask for protection against the evil one. These are good prayers. And Jesus
encourages us to pray for these things.
But I believe the one prayer most Christians fail to pray is “Father hallowed be your name. Your
kingdom come, Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”
John Piper said, “The first and most important prayer that can be prayed is, “Hallowed be thy
name.” God wants to have more and more people admire, respect, cherish, honor, esteem and
praise his name. So Jesus teaches Christians to put their prayers in line with this great passion
of the Father and to ask him to, cause more and more people to hallow his name,” It is
basically a missionary prayer. (p. 102 Pleasures of God) This world is a battle ground, not a
playground. The battle is for the eternal destinies of men, women and children. Prayer is to be
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a walkie-talkie for spiritual warfare, not a domestic intercom to increase the comforts of the
saints.”
Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 9:37-38, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Paul told his fellow believers in Ephesians 6:19-20, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my
mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.
Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
Colossians 4:3-4, “Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may
proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”
2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, “... pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be
honored just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men.”
Once again John Piper says, “We are on this earth to press back the forces of darkness, and we
are given access to Headquarters through prayer in order to advance this cause. When we try
to turn it into a civilian intercom to increase our material comforts, it malfunctions, and our
faith begins to falter.”
God loves to see sinners saved from the penalty of their sins. But even more He loves to do it in
answer to the prayers and preaching of those who love Him.
ILLUSTRATION – Some years ago in Korea, four missionaries from different denominations
agreed to meet together to pray daily at noon. At the end of one month one missionary
suggested that since nothing had happened, the prayer meeting should be discontinued. He
suggested that each missionary pray at home when it was convenient.
The others protested, saying that they should spend even more time in prayer each day rather
than discontinue the prayer meetings. So they continued the daily prayer meetings for four
months. Then suddenly the blessing began to be poured out.
In Evangelical Christian magazine, one of the missionaries declared: “It paid well to have spent
several months in prayer; for when God gave the Holy Spirit, He accomplished more in half a
day than all the missionaries together could have accomplished in half a year.”
THE PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN IS POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE. (V. 16)
PRAY EARNESTLY,
PRAY EXPECTANTLY,
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PRAY FOR YOUR DAILY NEEDS, PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS, PRAY THAT GOD WILL PROTECT YOU
FROM TEMPTATION AND THE EVIL ONE.
PRAY THAT MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WILL ESTEEM, ADMIRE, RESPECT, CHERISH, HONOR,
AND PRAISE GOD’S NAME.
PRAY THAT WE WILL SHARE THE GOSPEL CLEARLY AND FEARLESSLY AND THAT PEOPLE
WOULD BE SAVED.
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