Effectual, Fervent Prayer

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16)

There are many patterns given in the Bible about how to pray, the clearest and most precise being the Lord's Prayer taught by Jesus.
“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.  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:9-13 NIV)

In Daniel 9:4-19 we have a beautiful prayer made by Daniel in intercession for Jerusalem.  Psalms 51 is a perfect example of a prayer of repentance, written by David, asking God to forgive him for adultery and murder.  Jacob prayed to God on the banks of the Jordan River beseeching God to deliver him from the wrath of his brother, Esau. Psalms 90 is a prayer Moses prayed asking God to turn from the wrath he felt towards his chosen people. In 2 Kings 19:14-19, King Hezekiah prays for deliverance from the king of Assyria.  In 2 Chronicles 20 we see the prayer of Jehoshophat when faced with the armies of Moab and Ammon that had come to war against Judah.  All of these prayers, and many more besides, follow a very clear pattern. 


They are not just a litany of wants and needs presented before an authoritative God with the power to save.  They are rich with praise, copiously supplied with memorials of past promises and accounts of salvation, full of contrition for the unworthiness of the supplicant and precise in the acknowledgment that the answered prayer will be for the glory of God.  They are submissive in their presentation and humble in their requests.  The opening verse from James said that it is the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man that avails much.  All of these examples of prayers were given by men that God himself described as righteous.  Yet, when I read the accounts of their lives, they would not fit my understanding of righteous.  They were not without sin.  My righteousness is the righteousness of God and it is in that state that my prayers are heard and answered by God.  This righteousness is”rightness" with God as explained in Romans 3: 21-26 NLT. 

"But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus."  

In this "right state" with God I can confidently approach the throne and trust that my prayers will be heard and answered if I follow the pattern laid out by the great men of the Bible.  Using Daniel's prayer in chapter 9 of Daniel, I should first and last give praise to God and solidly anchor my supplication in the promises he has made to me. 

“O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments," (Daniel 9:4)

"Are not you our God, who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham your friend forever? And they dwelled therein, and have built you a sanctuary therein for your name, saying, If, when evil comes upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in your presence, (for your name is in this house,) and cry unto you in our affliction, then you will hear and help."  (2Chron. 20:7-9)

Next, I must put away pride, and admit that I face a righteous God as a fallen and sinful woman (man).  Throw out the "Serenity Prayer".  It is not about dealing with what I can handle and giving God the rest; God demands that he is first; mind, body and soul.  If I were capable of saving myself and being successful on my own I would not have required a savior.  Yes, I can be "the man" society accepts and accredits as successful.  But will this save my soul when it comes to the final reckoning? No, I must acknowledge where I stand before God.

"We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and from your judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto your servants the prophets, which spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs unto you, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.  To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets." (Daniel 9:5-10)  [Continues on to verse 15]

"Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight: that you might be just when you speak, and be clear when you judge." (Psalms 51:4)

"You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance." (Psalms 90:8)

Now that I have submitted to the righteousness of God, admitted my inadequacies before him, and committed my ways to his leading; it is time to make my request. 

"O Lord, according to all your righteousness, I beseech you, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because for our sins, and “for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are become a reproach to all that are about us." (Daniel 9:16)

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.  Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence; and take not your holy spirit from me.  Restore unto me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit." (Psalms 51:7-12)

And here I arrive at the key; the primary reason why many of my prayers are not answered:  God does not grant my requests because I am  worthy.  He will not give it to me because I really want it…or even desperately need it.  He answers if it is according to his will and in order to gain the glory that he deserves. 

"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us:" (1 John 5:14)

"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for your own sake, O my God: for your city and your people are called by your name." (Daniel 9:19)

"Then will I teach transgressors your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto you."   (Psalms 51:13)

"Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech you, save you us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the LORD GOD, even you only."  (2 Kings 19:19)

This is not to say that he does not desire to give good gifts to his children.  "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"  (Matthew 7:11) God is over all, and in all.  He knows the end from the beginning.  (Isaiah 46:10)  He knows whether answering our requests will be for our good or lead us to destruction.  Bottom line, He desires our soul to be saved and sometimes that means telling us no.  But don’t be dismayed, no is still an answer, just not the answer we wanted. 

When we seek to live our lives for God, in his favor, according to his will; our prayers will reach past the brass ceiling.  God will hear, and he will answer.  Remind him of his promises, confess your failings and your weakness, present your request, and give the glory of answered prayer to him.  God always hears the prayers of his children and he always answers.  I have two years of answered prayers to prove it.  Sometimes I don't like the answer, but it was an answer all the same.  Our kids are not always happy for the replies we give them to their requests, but we know that our answer was for their best; how much more our Father in Heaven who can not fail, and does not lie. 

Don't think you must walk through this life all on your own.  Trust your Heavenly Father.  "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him."  (Psalms 34:8)

God Bless
Amy Charissa Warren