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May 05, 2019

How to Pray Effectively

Passage: James 5:16-18

Preacher: Pastor Tim W. Young

Series: Developing a Faith that Works

Category: James

Summary:

Main Text - James 5:16-18, OT Reading - 1 Kings 17:1-7, 1 Kings 18:41-46, NT Reading - Romans 13:1-14

Detail:

How to Pray Effectively – 5/52019

James 5:16-18  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17 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. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

 

TO PRAY EFFECTIVELY SEE A VITAL DOCTRINE - vs. 16b

  

  1. We are taught the Intensity of the Asking

                  You prayer does not have to be phrased in religious language.

                   Your prayer does not have to be long in order to be effective.

                   The frequency of your prayer is not the all-important thing  Matthew 6:7 

                               

Intensity = fervancy or earnestness. Genesis 32:26

               James uses the word “powerful” to describe it.   Acts 19:20   

Can this same spirit be said to be true of your praying?

 

  1. We are taught the Integrity of the Asker “a righteous man”

 

               1) the spiritual sense -  Romans 3:10

 

2) the moral sense -  1 John 3:7  

                              Psalms 66:18   Isaiah 59:1-2   1 John 3:21-22 

 

  1. We are taught the Immensity of the Answer It is “effective”

1 Thessalonians 2:13 

 

If our prayers are to be truly effective, they must be energized by God Himself.

Romans 8:26  

 

 TO PRAY EFFECTIVELY CONSIDER A VIVID ILLUSTRATION vs. 17

  

  1. Note the Natural Weakness “a man just like us.”

Acts 14:15                          1 Kings 19:4 

 

  1. Note the Supernatural Power

 Kings 17:1   1 Kings 18:41-42     1 Kings 18:1 

Therefore “Never resist any urge to pray.”

 

TO PRAY EFFECTIVELY HEED A VALUABLE DIRECTIVE -  vs. 16a

 

  1. Heed the Area in Which the Confession Should Be Made
  2. Those you have wronged Matthew 5:23-24
  3. When you need the counsel of another Galatians 6:1
  4. When your sin has caused a public scandal bringing disgrace

 

  1. Heed the Attitude In Which Confession Should Be Made
  2. Heed the Aim With Which the Confession is Made