Jeff Gelineau - Class 4: Effectual & Fervent

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   When the English fire a cannon across your bow, you're supposed to reply in kind. But when a cannon fires some English across your bow, I don't know how to respond. It's too tricky.

2. 0:30

   Like a shopping cart that invariably veers to the right, and you spend the entire time pulling it back to the left, I feel that any group of human beings will do the same, and any ecclesia will do so even more so. And it's for that reason that we need the radical and different message of James.

3. 1:10

   It applies to every one of us, and applies to every one of our ecclesias, and tries to bring us back. Tries to retrieve us from our natural, legalistic, exclusionary, un-Christlike tendencies. We talked about the idea of faith and works. The concept of being motivated by good works because of the salvation we receive through faith.

4. 1:44

   We took a bit of a side tour yesterday about rules and regulations. James' emphasis on being a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only, really spoke to me. And I think it encouraged me to explore this idea of working on your problems from the inside out, not from the outside in.

5. 2:03

   I pray that that was as helpful to you as it was to me. Today we want to talk about what James has to say about prayer, specifically about effectual and fervent prayer. about the kind of prayer that really can move mountains. The kind of prayer that heals the sick. The kind of prayer that can change the weather.

6. 2:27

   You have two choices when you approach verses in the Bible that are explicitly clear. Verses that can't be spiritualized, but by their very nature have to be taken literally. Either they apply to us, or they don't.

7. 2:49

   Either they are specific, unique messages written just to a limited audience at a set time in history, or the Bible was written for our admonition, for our learning, our instruction in righteousness.

8. 3:05

   Which do you believe is true? What do you really feel deep in your heart is correct? Sure, we all kind of believe that all Scripture is given for our admonition and learning, but take a look at this verse. 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.

9. 3:42

   Elijah was a man just like you. The clear implication here is that if we pray earnestly, we could also do miraculous things like stop the rain from falling out of the sky. Whoa, yeah, yeah, but, but, wait a minute, wait, yeah, wait, but. All of a sudden, the walls start coming up, right?

10. 4:09

    It's at that point you start to feel a little uncomfortable, a little lost at sea, a little bit like a duck out of water. It's at that point you start to think of all the reasons why we couldn't possibly cause the weather to change dramatically by our prayers. This has to be some kind of specific, unique message to a limited audience.

11. 4:33

    It can't be applying to us. I don't think any physics professor could change the meaning of what he's saying there. Let's think about some of the possible arguments against why we would want to apply this verse to ourselves. Well, the first one is simple, right? I mean, you know, God talked to Elijah.

12. 4:57

    So, he doesn't talk to me, so, therefore, there's a difference there, right? We can't go so far as to say that Elijah was different than us, because the Bible is pretty clear. He was just like us. We only believe in one state of mortality. We believe that all men are made of the same matter.

13. 5:21

    All hearts are deceitfully wicked. So, we can't go so far as to put Elijah in a different category. So, we kind of stress the different circumstances that Elijah lived under. And therefore, we imply that those circumstances were sufficient enough to warrant a difference in nature. But I would say, don't confuse God's revelation with God's interaction.

14. 5:48

    Just because the times of open revelation have ceased, doesn't mean that God is no longer interacting with mankind on a daily basis. Well, you know, Elijah lived in Old Testament times. Kind of a, it's kind of the same argument, right? I mean, because God relates differently with mankind at different times, though, doesn't really prove anything, does it?

15. 6:16

    Don't confuse God's relations with mankind, with God's interaction with mankind. Ah! Elijah had the Holy Spirit. Now we're down to it, right? That really is what you're thinking. That was the crux of the matter. Really, really deep down inside, you kind of feel like you're not really going to be held to the same kind of great things as Elijah or David or Noah or Samson.

16. 6:48

    You know, because they were, they had the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit worked with them. The power of God moved in their lives, and that's what helped them do what they did. So even though James is trying to tell us that Elijah was just like us, and we can pray to it, it doesn't really apply.

17. 7:05

    Why? Because Elijah had the Holy Spirit. I think it does. James' point is that Elijah was a man just like us. The King James says, Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. New American Standard says, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. The New Living Translation says, Elijah was as human as we are.

18. 7:31

    James was trying to teach us something here about prayer. Not about the Holy Spirit. But the two are connected. You have to believe that God will do miraculous things when you pray.

19. 7:53

    You have to believe that God is able to override the natural laws of physics. God is able to supersede the natural laws of nature. Why else would you pray? The whole idea and the whole definition of something being miraculous is that it's supernatural. And the reason that we come to God in prayer is because we're asking Him to do something miraculous, something supernatural, something that wouldn't normally happen if the course of law of life were to continue untouched by God.

20. 8:39

    Supernatural is a great word. It's defined as something that transcends or contravenes the known laws governing the universe. Isn't that what you do when you pray? Prayer is a means by which we ask God to change the normal course of events. We ask God to intercede and to stop things from happening the way they normally would.

21. 9:09

    We ask God to transcend the normal laws that govern our universe. By its definition, I would say that prayer is miraculous. From the smallest issues that God helps you with in your daily lives to the amazing healings of the sick or the injured, it's miraculous. And if something is miraculous, does it matter the size?

22. 9:39

    Does it matter the scale? If God is able to, with His power, to stop that cancer cell from multiplying and instead cause it to die and to wither, is there any difference between Him picking up a mountain and casting it into a sea? He's miraculously changed the laws of nature that govern the world that we live in.

23. 10:11

    And God does this every single day. Daily, in the lives of each one of us, in the lives of those around us, we perform miracles through the power of God in the asking of our prayers.

24. 10:32

    We come to God and we ask Him to intervene, to intercede, to change the normal course of events. We are just like Elijah. We are connected to the force of the universe, the great power.

25. 11:00

    And He loves us. And He wants to help us. He wants to work with us for good. So maybe you don't feel strong enough to take on this huge responsibility. Maybe you don't feel smart enough or wise enough. Don't worry, God can help you with that too. Look what James says in chapter 1.

26. 11:22

    If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. Look how James describes our Father. He says He gives generously. To all.

27. 11:41

    That's the kind of method that God doles out this great, this miraculous power. Generously. Without finding fault. Without just saying, well, you don't, you know, you don't deserve this, or you've done something that blocks your access. I think God will bless us with the wisdom that we need to pray correctly, to use prayer in a godly, in a righteous way.

28. 12:17

    Too often I think this is the step that we miss most. This is the step that we skip over to our peril. First, coming to God and asking Him to guide us, to bless us with wisdom, to help us say the things we need to say.

29. 12:40

    It's too easy to say that we aren't capable or wise enough to be helpful to others, but we have to believe that God works in our lives, and if He tells us to ask for wisdom, He's capable of giving us wisdom. And those of you who have experienced it, you know that feeling.

30. 12:59

    You know, why does a brother bother to pray before he speaks? Unless he believes that God is able to help him with that talk. That God is able to come in to your life and to help you formulate the words, to say the things that weren't in your notes, that connects with the person in the seventh row back who had a hard time getting up that morning and thinks maybe she won't come to meeting ever again.

31. 13:36

    But God helps you to speak to her. If you ask Him to. Colossians, Paul writes, For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We can be filled with the knowledge of God's will, with spiritual understanding, with wisdom, but we have to pray for it.

32. 14:04

    And we have to have the faith that God will answer those prayers. You see, faith is required for prayer. Faith is the operating factor in all prayer. It's the gasoline that powers the engine. You have to believe in what you're asking for. You have to believe in God's ability, God's power to do what you're asking for.

33. 14:29

    It's not just a matter of asking and God grants your wishes like a genie. There is a prerequisite on your part. James, in chapter 1, continues. He says, When ye ask, he must believe and not doubt. Because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

34. 14:51

    that man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. He's double-minded and unstable in all he does. So all prayer is guided by this same principle. Ask in faith and you shall receive. Remember what Jesus said, the words that John read the other night. Have faith in God. This is from Mark, not from Matthew.

35. 15:11

    Have faith in God, Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

36. 15:33

    Now you've got two choices when you approach verses like this. You can think that they apply to you or you don't. You can think that it's a literal lesson from our Lord or there's some spiritual message to it.

37. 15:54

    Or maybe it's both. Either way, you've got to understand the miraculous content. What did John say is that the mountains represents the rulers and the sea represent the people. It's still miraculous for us by our prayer to be able to throw down a ruler, to take a president and cast him back into the people.

38. 16:25

    Or, he talked about the ruling thoughts of your body. What's still miraculous for us to be able to take our sin and to overthrow that which rules our body. if I'm honest with myself though, really, it's more because I'm scared than anything else that I don't want to believe what the Lord tells me.

39. 16:54

    I haven't experienced it in my life and therefore, I don't feel comfortable with it. or maybe you have experienced it in your life. Maybe you have been in those positions where the doctor walks out and takes off his gloves and his mask and says, I'm sorry, there was nothing I was able to do.

40. 17:23

    It was gone too far. There is no hope. And then six months later, you're playing golf with the person and you praise God. But whether you want to see this verse as a spiritual lesson or as a literal challenge, I think the message is the same. Jesus purposely is trying to challenge us.

41. 17:56

    He's giving us a challenging example of a real life event to try to push us a little bit further than that which we feel comfortable with. To try to stretch our faith. To try to expand our sense of God's reality, which we call supernatural. Jesus, I believe, is really trying to tell us that prayer can move mountains.

42. 18:20

    Even if you want to spiritualize it, it's a huge statement. Even if it's not talking about the physical relocation of tons of rock and gravel, it's talking about some very powerful and significant miraculous transformation. There might be an issue that you face that is as big as a mountain.

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    Something that's overwhelming. Something that's almost impossible possible to move and it can't be removed by determination or by willpower or by positive thinking. Some mountains can only be moved by prayer.

44. 19:06

    Did you notice verse 24? It doesn't say that you believe that maybe it could happen. happen. It doesn't even say that you believe that it will happen.

45. 19:24

    He says, believe that you have received it. The Greek there is actually past tense. That's the kind of faith that God wants from us in prayer. Praying while all the while believing that you have received it.

46. 19:47

    But there is a catch, right? There is some kind of caveat. Of course there is. There has to be a godly purpose to your prayer. This isn't some kind of parlor trick that God can do. You know, pick up the stone and throw it into the bucket of water. It has to be done according to God's will.

47. 20:08

    We read about from 1 John chapter 5. This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And we know that He hears us whatsoever we ask. We know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him. We know that He hears us.

48. 20:28

    We know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him. If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, we know that He answers us. So why is this so hard for us? Why do we struggle with this fairly simple, straightforward verses?

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    Is it because we feel that we don't know God's will? That God is so far beyond us that we couldn't possibly know what He wants for us? I don't think so. I mean, in the end, is God's will really that complicated? Or do we actually kind of know these verses by heart, right?

50. 21:09

    Fear not, little flock. It's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. We know that in all things God works to the good of those who love Him. We call it according to His purpose. Take no thought, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things.

51. 21:26

    Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And the one we read this week, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

52. 21:43

    I don't think that it's a matter that we don't know these verses. A lot of us have them already memorized. It's not hard for us to understand what God's will is for us. So why do we sometimes not pray according to God's will? Why is it sometimes that our prayers don't work? Let's return to James for some help.

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    In chapter 4 he says, When you ask you do not receive. James 4 verse 3 Because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. In reality it's really not that hard for us to understand the purpose of God for us. Our God loves us and it's very clear what he wants for us.

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    In reality the hard part is understanding what's in our minds. The real struggle is for us to be honest with ourselves when we pray. To be honest about why we're praying, why we're asking for what we're asking for and what we really want for the answer. If we have God's will clear in our minds about what we're praying for and if we ask in faith God will give it to us.

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    prayer is the most intimate form of communication that we have with God. And we all know the question they asked. Lord, teach us to pray.

56. 23:18

    Prayer is the most intimate form of communication that we have with God. We benefit greatly from time spent reading God's word and learning about who he is and who he wants us to be. But we can only really connect with God while we're in prayer. prayer. And the point that we have to really believe is that God wants us to connect to him.

57. 23:44

    God wants you to reach out to him. He wants to develop a relationship with you. A lasting, personal, intimate relationship. It gives God pleasure for us to develop this kind of close, intimate, personal relationship with him. And that for me was hard to understand. It was hard to swallow. It really took me a while to believe that in my heart.

58. 24:10

    It took me a while to believe that God really wanted to be my friend and not just my God. It's easier for us to understand this relationship of creator and created than it is for us to understand a personal, intimate relationship, like Abraham being called the friend of God. God wants. That's what God wants.

59. 24:37

    And that's what God wants from us in prayer. So how do you do it? How do you become best friends with the omnipotent being? How do you develop the kind of prayer life that God wants? I've got just three suggestions today. I'm sure there are many. The first one is be honest. honest.

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    The first building block of any close friendship is honesty. Complete honesty. God is always 100% honest with you. Whether you want to hear it or not, God is honest with you. You are the one that has to be honest with God. Honest with God about your feelings, about your faults, about what you think and who you are.

61. 25:31

    If you look at the life of Abraham, like the life of Moses, life of David, look at virtually every person in the scripture who is a friend of God, perfection has never been a prerequisite of having a relationship with God. God. But being honest with God about your faults has always been what God wants.

62. 25:54

    Notice how the friends of God in the Old Testament felt free to be honest about their feelings also. You read through the Old Testament, you see that complaining and second-guessing and accusing and even arguing with God doesn't really seem to bother God. Instead, he seems to encourage it. Abraham questions and challenges God over the destruction of Sodom.

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    David accuses God of betrayal and unfairness and abandonment in psalm after psalm. And Job vents his bitterness during his ordeal. And in the end, God defends him to his friends for being honest. What we sometimes see in the Bible as audacity, God sees as authenticity. To become a friend of God, you have to learn how to be honest with him about your feelings.

64. 26:52

    Sharing with God what you really feel, not just the words that you think will make up a good prayer, not just the things that you've heard some other brothers say and you thought sounded nice. Not what you think you should say, but what you feel you should say. If you truly believe that God uses everything for good in your life, then you have to be uncomfortable, you have to learn to grasp and to really feel good about bringing out those deep hidden areas of your life where you've harbored resentment to God over your past hurts, over your unanswered prayers, your appearance, your weight, your background, your parents.

65. 27:43

    Hidden bitterness creates a barrier. We can't establish a good relationship and we can't become intimate with our Lord if we have hidden bitterness in the middle. Why would I want to be friends with God if he allowed this to happen to me, if he made me look like this, if he put me in this position, if he gave me this much money?

66. 28:05

    You have to come to have faith in the fact that everything God does is in your best interest. Well, yeah, we all know that verse, we can quote that one, but does it really apply to my high blood pressure? Does it really apply to my low checkbook balance? Does it really apply to my terrible son?

67. 28:33

    even if it's painful, even if you don't understand it, God did it for your best interest. Every character described in the Bible as being a friend of God is recorded with having battles with doubt. Instead of masking the doubt with cliches, they voice them to God. I think expressing doubt is often the first step toward the next level of intimacy.

68. 29:06

    Don't be afraid of that. When you start to question things or you're confused or your faith falters, don't recite some simple cliche and try to move on. Bring that to God and say, God, I'm confused, I'm lost. Help me.

69. 29:27

    The second way to build intimacy with God, I think, is by practicing constant conversation, constant communication. To truly develop a friendship with God through prayer, you have to share all of your life's experiences with Him. Not just a few, but all of them. Of course, it's important to establish the habit of a daily prayer time with God.

70. 29:56

    But God wants more than just an appointment in your schedule. God wants more than just 15 minutes at the end of the day or five minutes in the morning. God wants to be included in every conversation you have, every problem you think over, every thought that you work through. So learn to carry on this continuous, one-sided conversation with God all throughout the day.

71. 30:25

    That's what's meant when it says pray without ceasing. And the key to sustaining this constant conversation with God is not to change what you do, but to change the attitude with which you do it. Include God in even the most menial parts of your day.

72. 30:47

    I mean, you know, my wife and I go for walks almost every day and it's usually an hour long and every day, seven days a week, that whole hour long, we are talking about deep, philosophical, important, meaningful things, right? Wrong, you know. It's like, well, the UPS driver came by today, he had a tear in his shorts, you know.

73. 31:10

    You know, it's because we have an intimate relationship, we share everything with each other. If I hear the most oblique, you know, unconnected thought, and I hadn't heard it from her yet, you know. I'm like, honey, how come he didn't tell you my third cousin, second rush move, who lives in Iowa, you know, got pregnant, you know.

74. 31:32

    It's like, well, yeah, I hadn't got to it yet, you know, we hadn't gone on our walk, right? I think that's the kind of relationship we need to try to learn to develop with God. In the Garden of Eden, worship wasn't a scheduled event. In the Garden of Eden, they walked with God.

75. 31:52

    He was a continual attitude, a continual conversation. And don't worry if you don't feel God present all throughout the day. Your goal is not a feeling, but a constant awareness of the reality of God in your life. Because you're not going to feel Him all day long. There'll be times where you feel God present with you, but the majority of times you're just going to feel like you're just talking to yourself.

76. 32:28

    But your goal is to develop that awareness of the reality of God, the fact that He's a living and an active part of your life. And the more aware you become of that, you'll find it helps you in other ways too. You'll find your language clears up. and your thoughts get a little more concentrated and your actions more pure.

77. 32:57

    So learn to cultivate that awareness of God being real and practice shorter conversational prayers throughout the day rather than waiting until you get to the end of the day with some big, long, complex prayer. Practicing this awareness of God is a habit. You have to develop it. It's not going to come naturally.

78. 33:15

    You have to train your mind to remember God. You have to get up in the morning and get yourself back down on your knees and realize that you're not going through this alone. You're not showering alone. You're not dressing alone. You're not commuting alone. You're not working alone. You're not golfing alone or doing the dishes alone, raising the kids alone.

79. 33:37

    That will change your life. And the third suggestion I have is a prayer model. It's just really bizarre for me to even be putting this up here because a year ago, a year and a half ago, I wouldn't have even thought this way. When I was younger, a year ago, just my whole life, I've always thought, two basic types of people in the world.

80. 34:04

    Artists and engineers. Artists were free-thinking, emotionally motivated, impulsive, fun-loving, engineering, and engineers were conservative, disciplined, schedule-keeping automatons. Obviously, I thought of myself as an artist. I didn't keep a schedule. I didn't follow routines. I ate whatever I wanted, and I got fat. And I realized that even though there's all different kinds of people, everyone can benefit from a little discipline.

81. 34:37

    everyone can benefit from keeping a schedule and eating right and getting some exercise. And I began to really value and understand what a prayer model is. It's a simple system to help you remember the things that you need to pray for. Too often, there's so many things to pray for, and there are so many unhelpful things rushing through your head that you might forget the important things.

82. 35:08

    I was finding my prayers were becoming these massive lists. I've always kept a prayer list. And it just became this massive list of requests and requests and requests and requests. And I wasn't spending any time praising God or developing that relationship. There are lots of different prayer models, but the one I like is called ACTS.

83. 35:27

    It's an acrostic that stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. There are lots of different acrostics. You can find lots of different ones. There are simple ones like ABC, adoration, blessing, confession. And there's complex ones like the word prayer, P-R-A-Y-E-R. I'm going to ask what it stands for. But one of the reasons I like this acrostic here is because it contains several of the major elements given by Christ in the Lord's prayer.

84. 35:54

    So I think it's helpful to kind of look at the Lord's prayer. He says, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be the name. You know the word Lord's prayer. Although Christ doesn't directly mention thanksgiving, we see he connects to the ideas of adoration. When he says, hallowed be thy name. He connects to the idea of confession.

85. 36:12

    He says, forgive us your debts. And of course, he connects to the idea of supplication also. When he asks God to lead us not into temptation.

86. 36:24

    These categories are very broad. That's another reason I like them. It allows for adaptation to a lot of different contexts. I want to spend a few minutes and kind of review them. First of all, adoration. Adoration is the heart, I think, of a prayer. And the heart of adoration is to spend time praising God and adoring him for who he is.

87. 36:48

    Love and cherish God's presence and his work in your life. Be still before his presence and enjoy him. use this time to allow God to speak through you, through his word and through his spirit. If you can't think of what motivates you or what inspires you about God, you can praise the Lord by praying scripture or hymns.

88. 37:16

    That's why I like these meditation hymns. I pray these hymns back to God. Now, the other reason I like this acrostic acts is because it comes to us in reverse order. The hardest things are first and the easiest things are last. And I would say this is probably the hardest part of a prayer for many of us.

89. 37:40

    It's the part that we're least familiar with. And that's why I like it right up front. The very first thing. It's also a part that's very important. Something that's very important and I don't do a good job of it and I want to get better. I focus on that. For me, it was helpful to think of it as writing a love letter to a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

90. 38:06

    When you adore someone, you describe things that you like about them. And that's the same part of the praise to God. To see his actions and his work in our life and to praise him for that. To describe what we like about what he does. Describe the things we've noticed or thought about God during the day.

91. 38:27

    Confession. We're pretty much a little more familiar with this, but it's pretty hard to do, isn't it? We're all intimately familiar with our shortcomings. We need to ask God to forgive us continually. But spend time also asking God to search out your hearts for areas that displease him. Allow God to cleanse your heart of any unconfessed sin.

92. 38:50

    Be sure to spend time confessing and repenting of specific sins, too. Attitudes. Mindsets. And then, accept God's forgiveness. And this is really the hard part for many of us, right? We don't feel worthy and we can't understand why God would love us. But that's what he wants. He wants us to spend some time accepting the fact that he does forgive us.

93. 39:19

    We'll talk more about confession in a moment. The next one is thanksgiving. It includes thanking God for specific things such as blessings you've received, people in your life, doors that have been opened, guidance that you've received. And give thanks to God for his salvation and the privilege of having such a wonderful Savior.

94. 39:41

    And thank God for his goodness, his loving kindness, and his thankfulness. Supplication comes last and it's probably the one we're most familiar with, isn't it? We're to come to God on behalf of others and on behalf of ourselves. Spend time praying for specific people, events, countries, missionaries. It's the easiest part of our prayer and probably one of the longest parts.

95. 40:06

    The thing we're most familiar with, bringing our own needs and our desires before the Father. You might find it helpful to keep a prayer list, a list of all the things that you ask the Father for. Life is full of sorrow and suffering and it's important to remember what's going on around you.

96. 40:25

    It's also encouraging and motivating to look back at your prayer list and see the things that are crossed off, the things that God has answered.

97. 40:37

    What else can you pray for? Let's go back to James and get some examples. James says in chapter 5, verse 13, is any of you in trouble? He should pray.

98. 40:47

    It's clear to James and I think it's important that it be clear to us. It really doesn't matter what kind of trouble you're in. NIV says, is any of you in trouble? King James says, is any among you afflicted? The New Living Translation says, are any among you suffering? Other versions say, are you hurting?

99. 41:08

    Is anyone down? And the answer is always the same. Pray. Turn to God in your times of need, your times of weakness, your times of pain. There really is no better choice that you can be given. What if you're seriously ill, though? What if you're actually sick? James continues in verse 14, is any of you sick?

100. 41:30

     He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now, the majority of historians and Bible commentators I read agree that in James' day, anointing with oil was a fundamental medicinal practice. So James isn't encouraging us to deny all medical attention in favor of faith-based healing.

101. 41:56

     But he certainly isn't encouraging us to put our faith in the medicine. The prayer comes first, then the anointing. Our primary faith remains with the miraculous healing powers of God and then the miracles of modern medicine. Because James is quite clear about what heals the sick. And it ain't the medicine. Look at verse 15.

102. 42:21

     The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up. If he's sinned, he'll be forgiven. Prayer offered in faith is what will make the sick person better. And look at this. I love it. It's almost like a bonus. James throws in his sins will be forgiven too.

103. 42:41

     It's amazing. What about forgiveness of sins? James has advice for that also in the next verse. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another. You may be healed. The effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. There really is only one good reason to confess your sins to another person.

104. 43:06

     And the verse describes it. Notice how it says confess your sins to each other and pray for each other. It's not just about sharing your burden. It's not about being validated or confirmed or heard. It's about prayer. prayer. It's about bringing someone else into your situation. Into your problem. So that they can pray for your healing.

105. 43:35

     For your correction. Well who are you going to choose? Thankfully the answer is there also. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. This is not the time to go looking to find someone who you think is going to console you. someone who is going to agree with you. Someone who is going to have pity on you or see things your way.

106. 44:01

     This is the time to seek out a righteous person who can effectively pray for you. Prayer is powerful and the prayer of a righteous person can work miracles in your life. I know what you're thinking. Who is righteous? I don't think this verse is saying you have to find a perfect man. In my mind I always think it's wise to find someone who you think acts righteously in this particular area of sin.

107. 44:35

     Are you having a problem with lying? Find someone you think is impeccably honest. Find someone you think is doing well in that one area and ask that person to pray for you. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and we need every bit that we can get. confess not only to God but to one another so you can pray for one another because no amount of willpower or self restraint or resolutions can help you conquer your sins and live the life that God wants from you.

108. 45:06

     Only the miraculous power of prayer can throw that mountain into the sea. Only the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man can truly set you free. And only if you have the faith necessary will it happen. Which brings us back to the verse we began with. Elijah was a man just like us.

109. 45:30

     You have two choices when you look at a verse like that. Either you can believe that James wasn't really saying what it sounds like. Or you can believe that the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man does avail much.