Availing Prayer
This sermon was preached on March 17, AD 2024 at King's Cross Church in Moscow, Idaho.
JAMES 5:16–18
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit (James 5:16–18).
INTRODUCTION
In our passage today from the Epistle of James, we are given great encouragement to take up the exercise and duty of prayer, specifically for one another. For context, the verses leading up to our selection are regarding elders praying in faith for those who are sick and weak. And then James explains why such prayer is so important in this well-known verse, for “The effective, fervent, prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
I do not believe anyone in this room would deny the importance and power of prayer. We are Christians after all, we believe the Bible, and so we believe in prayer. But we can believe that… and yet, prayer is one of those things that nobody feels quite good at. If I were to ask each one of you how your “prayer life” was, very few would say, “Excellent, I pray quite enough. God answers them all the time.” No, the replies would range from “I try to remember to pray each day” on the low end to “I pray regularly and daily, but I know I should do so more.”
This has been the experience of many Christians throughout time, even well-known leaders. The great preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, “Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.” It’s not too difficult to pick up a Bible, or bring yourselves to church, write a check for your tithe, or deliver a meal. But prayer… that doesn’t come quite so easy.
Alexander Whyte, a 19th century Scottish preacher, wrote, “There is nothing that we are so bad at all our days as prayer.”
Thomas Shepard, a Puritan from the 17th century said, “There are times in my life when I would rather die than pray.”
Even the reformer Martin Luther, who was known to have spent hours a day in prayer, wrote, “It is a tremendously hard thing to pray aright.” It wasn’t an easy thing for him.
Do you feel better now? You and I are not alone in our need to grow in prayer. And so my desire this morning is that we would find great encouragement in this passage. For here we have a recipe, or a formula, for the kinds of prayers that are answered—the kind that avail and have power with God. And we are given a great example in prayer from the life of the prophet Elijah.
WHAT KIND OF PRAYER AVAILS MUCH?
Effective, fervent
In verse 16 we are given two qualities of prayer that avail much—that have great power and bears fruit. The kinds of prayers that God delights to answer. The first one is prayer that is “effective and fervent.”
The KJV and NKJV use two English words to translate just one word in the original Greek. It carries with it the meaning of energetic, active, and emphatic prayer. This is the opposite of prayers that are lethargic, inactive, or hesitant. Prayers offered up to the Lord half-hearted and without faith. James gets at this again in verse 17 with the word earnest, that Elijah prayed earnestly for it not to rain. Here in the Greek again it could literally be translated as “he prayed in prayer.” It’s a Hebrew idiom meant to convey a kind of depth and earnestness. A fervency.
We can see examples of this kind of prayer throughout Scripture. In the Old Testament, think of Jacob wrestling with God in the night (Gen. 32). And when morning came he said to God, “I will not let You go until You bless me!” There was a strong conviction and desire to see the matter through until the blessing came. There was a fervency, a wrestling, and an earnestness.
In the New Testament, consider what we call the Parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 18. Jesus says on the front end that this story is meant to teach us to pray and not lose heart (Lk. 18:1). He tells of a widow who approached a wicked judge who did not fear God nor man, seeking justice. At first the judge refuses her request, but after a while he bends, simply because of her persistence in coming again and again, wearing him down. Jesus says that if this unjust judge does such a thing, how much more would our God answer the cries of His own people, who seek Him day and night with their prayers.
In both of these instances, the fervency and persistence comes from faith not doubt. There is a boldness before the Lord that says, “I know You are good and hear Your people. So answer me.”
Imagine this kind of prayer like how a child may approach a parent in asking for a snack. They can be quite persistent, right? They can wear you down really quick. But in a healthy home, at no point does that child think that their mom or dad doesn’t want to feed them. That they won’t provide the food they need. The reason they are persistent is usually because they know you are willing—but sometimes it takes a little work. This is how God is. He already knows what we need, but He likes to be asked. And sometimes, for reasons unknown to us, He may make us persevere in the asking.
But note that fervent prayer is not anxious prayer. Prayers that are riddled with worry and distress, a kind of pleading that doesn’t believe God hears or cares enough to answer. Rather, it’s simply a call for warm prayers, not cold prayers. Prayers that have life within them, and a strong desire to actually see God answer. This fervency ought to be present in our prayers. We are to take all of our worries, our fears, our desires, and dreams—and give them to God, again and again in faith.
Righteous
The second quality we are given is righteousness—the prayers of a righteous man avail much. Did you know that God does not answer everyone’s prayers the same? Although we are all justified by faith through grace, we are all equally united to Christ, Scripture does teach that unrepentant sin can obstruct and interfere with our prayers.
We actually are reminded of this in every worship service when the minister says at the end of the confession of sin prayer, “We know that if we regard iniquity in our hearts, this prayer will be ineffectual.” That is straight from Psalm 66, acknowledging that our prayers will not be answered if we harbor hidden sin.
Here are a few other examples of this teaching in Scripture.
Proverbs 28:9 — “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.”
Isaiah 59:2 — “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
James 4:3 — “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
1 Peter 3:7 — “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”
Unconfessed, unrepentant sin hinders our prayers. Now, this is not teaching that God only answers the prayers of super-Christians. Or, if such a person existed, only Christians without sin. Absolutely not. Instead, you should think of this in covenant terms. We are told that John the Baptist’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, “were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Lk. 1:6). Is Luke saying they were completely sinless? Of course not. Rather, when they did sin, they confessed it and offered sacrifices according to the Law. They were covenant keepers. They were earnestly faithful to God, even in their failings.
Think of the covenant of marriage. A husband and wife can be faithful to their covenant, and yet not perfect. They sin against one another, they say the wrong thing at the wrong time. And they seek forgiveness from one another. But they are committed to keeping their covenant. They are faithful to it.
And so a righteous man or woman is a Christian who is sincerely committed to God and seeking to do His will. And James says, when those people pray, God is eager to listen. He inclines His ear to them.
WHY THE EXAMPLE OF ELIJAH? (1 KINGS 17–18)
He was a righteous man, “with a nature like ours”
Now let’s consider the example of Elijah. What is it about Elijah that made James decide to use him, and in particular, this episode from his ministry, as the example for this teaching?
To review, James writes beginning in verse 17, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
Now open to 1 Kings 16 right before where the story of Elijah begins. Here we are in the northern kingdom of Israel, now under the wicked rule of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. We are told in verse 30 that Ahab did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all the kings before him. And then again in verse 33, we read that Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings before him. What did he do to achieve such a thing? He turned from Yahweh, the God of Israel, and served and worshiped the pagan god Baal, setting up an altar in the temple of Baal which he had built in Samaria.
In the midst of this wicked idolatry, the prophet Elijah springs forth into the narrative out of nowhere in 17:1, which reads, “And Elijah the Tishibite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.’” We are given no history of Elijah. No story of his upbringing or preparation in order to become a prophet. Instead, he suddenly appears before the king, boldly rebukes him, and declares that there will be no more rain until he says so.
Now there are two interesting reasons why Elijah chooses to bind the rain in Israel. There is significance in this particular action.
The first is that Baal was a god of nature, a storm-god, and it was believed that the rain came forth from him. Rain was his thing, unless it happened to be dry season, in which case they believed he was currently dead again awaiting his rebirth in the autumn when the rains returned. And so Elijah, whose name means Yahweh is My God, confronts the chief Baal-worshiper and says that Yahweh is now shutting off Baal’s faucet. Yahweh is in charge.
The second reason Elijah declared a drought pertains to covenant blessings and curses. In Deuteronomy 11, the Lord declared to Israel that if they love Him with all their hearts and souls, He will send forth to the land rain in its season, that they may harvest grain, wine, and oil. But if they did not keep covenant, if they turned aside and served other gods, He declared that His anger would rise against them and He would shut up the heavens so that the land would yield no fruit (Dt. 11:13–17). And so the rain was both a sign against Baal and his supposed power, but also against all of Israel for their covenant breaking.
Here we see in all of this that Elijah met the first criteria of James—he was a man of powerful prayer because he was a righteous, covenent keeping man in a land of unrighteous covenant breakers. He introduces himself to Ahab as one who stands before Yahweh, and has such a connection with the Lord that the rain will not come until he, Elijah, says so.
Throughout the narrative of Elijah, the text explicitly shows his faithfulness. Whenever God commands Elijah to go and do something, the text specifically repeats the exact words in describing Elijah’s actions, showing his perfect obedience. For one example, in 1 Kings 17:3, God says to Elijah, “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook Cherish, which is east of the Jordan.” And then in nearly identical language we read, “So Elijah went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherish, which flows into the Jordan.” There is a specific repetition of the details of the command to show Elijah’s compliance, and this appears a number of times.
Elijah was a righteous man. He was also in many ways an extraordinary man, he was a traveling wonder-worker essentially. He raised the dead, called down fire from heaven, controlled the rain, fasted for forty-days, divided the Jordan river to cross on dry ground, and ultimately was taken into heaven by means of a chariot of fire. And actually, that’s not his last performance, for we find him again in the New Testament alongside Moses, as the representative of all the prophets, meeting with Christ and the disciples to witness the Transfiguration.
Yet, what James wants us to take away from the example of Elijah is that he was a man just like us. He does not allow us to say, “Yeah but… that was Elijah!” He cuts off that thought immediately, and states Elijah was a man with a nature like ours—and look how God answered His prayers. He can do that for you too.
He prayed earnestly
The second quality regarding the prayers of Elijah is that they were earnest. He was a man of great passion and boldness in his praying. He prayed in his praying. We see this throughout the ministry of Elijah, but James points us specifically to God answering his prayers regarding the rain.
Now if you’re reading closely, you’ll notice that in 1 Kings it does not explicitly say that Elijah prayed for God to stop the rain. Instead, we read that he comes before Ahab, and declares before the living God that there will be no rain, until he says so. And so here James is making an inference that Elijah did indeed pray to stop the rain—either in this moment or right after. And because we believe that James is inspired, we can receive his account as accurate and true.
But we do see Elijah explicitly praying at two points later in 1 Kings 18. The first is during the showdown with the prophets of Baal. Elijah has already stained Baal’s reputation by displaying Yahweh’s ultimate power over the rain for three years. And here in this worship challenge, he is ready to completely humiliate Baal and his followers.
The challenge is this: two sacrifices will be prepared on the altars. Then the representatives of each god will call upon their god to send forth fire upon the altar, displaying their power. This challenge is right in Baal’s wheelhouse. It should be easy for him to perform this task for as a god of nature, he was often depicted with a bolt of lightning in his hand—fire from heaven. But as we all know, Baal did not show up. As Elijah mocked, perhaps he was sleeping or relieving himself. Instead, Yahweh answered with power, sending forth fire to consume the sacrifice and to bring great glory and praise to Himself from the people.
After winning the victory, Elijah, perhaps mockingly again, tells Ahab he ought to head home for dinner before the rain comes. And here is where we see Elijah earnestly pray to the Lord for the rain to return. We are told that Elijah bowed down, and placed his head between his knees—a posture of prayer. While bowed in prayer, he commanded his servant to go look towards the sea for signs of rain. But there was nothing. And so it says that he did this seven times. Seven times he earnestly prayed for the rain, and seven times he looked for an answer. After the seventh time, the servant returned saying, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” Elijah then tells Ahab again to get going, before the rain stops him. And then we are told that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was heavy rain.
Now there are two lessons we can learn from Elijah’s prayers here. The first is regarding his boldness. What gave him such boldness before a wicked king, hundreds of false prophets, and the people of Israel? Was he simply out of his mind? No, not at all. Elijah was bold because he knew the Lord, he knew the true and living God of Israel. In a land that had turned away from God to idols, he stood firm. And he not only stood firm, but he confronted the idolatry and false gods head on.
Elijah could be bold because he knew God. He knew that God would send forth the fire upon the altar because he had sang Psalm 135 that “Yahweh is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth… He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”
And he knew the will of God, he was aware of what God had declared. He could pray an imprecatory prayer calling for a drought because he knew that this was one of the covenant curses God promised to bring against His people if they ever strayed.
Likewise, it is likely that Elijah was aware of the great prayer of King Solomon recorded in 1 Kings 8. In which Solomon says, “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.” Elijah knew that the Lord was a merciful and forgiving God, and would shower His humble people with the blessing of rain when they returned to Him.
Second, Elijah persisted in prayer. Even though he had the utmost confidence that the Lord would send the rain, he continued to pray seven times and look for the answer to his prayer. He was a man who absolutely knew that the Lord was sovereign and did as He pleased. And yet he knew that the Lord desires to work out His will through the prayers of His people.
We see this principle in the Lord’s Prayer. We are taught by Jesus to pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Do we ever for a moment think that such things will not take place? That God’s kingdom will not forever reign or that His will will not ultimately be manifested? Of course not. And yet we pray for these things to come to pass. We pray His kingdom down. We pray for His will to be accomplished.
CONCLUDING APPLICATIONS
Be encouraged
I’d like to conclude with three applications from all of this. The first is very simple: Our passage this morning, and the story of Elijah, is meant to be an encouragement for you to pray—not a discouragement.
James did not write this so that you would marvel at the powerful prayers of Elijah as something only reserved for extra special or righteous or gifted people. Absolutely not. As he wrote, Elijah was a man with a nature like us. And look at what God did through his prayers!
If you are seeking to live a simple, godly life through the power of the Holy Spirit, then you have God’s attention. Proverbs 15:8 says that “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.” God delights to display His glory and His power by answering the prayers of His people.
Recognize where you pray already
The second point is this: Recognize where you pray already, and do so earnestly and with renewed faith.
Often the experience of hearing sermons or reading books on prayer is like walking on a tight rope. There is great encouragement to be had, and at the same time, great shame creeps in when we see how far short we fall. And it is hard to know how exactly to improve when you are preoccupied or overwhelmed with your shortcomings.
But what I want to point out is that you already do pray quite frequently. Think about it. Every Lord’s Day you come in here and participate in the congregational prayer with your “Amen.” And yet, we all know it is very easy to zone out, let your mind wander to afternoon plans or things that need to get done, or to simply participate half-heartedly. So as far as you are able, with little ones and all sorts of distractions, pray earnestly. Present your heart before the Lord, and pray along with the congregation sincerely.
You also most likely pray in your homes at dinner time, and perhaps before bed or at the start of the day. And again, we all know that these prayers can become lukewarm. Empty words, repeated without life in them. You can change that. You must change that. It doesn’t need to look like long, drawn-out prayers with lots of dramatic emotion. But it does look like standing before God with your families like you mean it. Speaking to Him, as if He were really there. Expecting Him to answer, as if He really cares and can.
Take practical steps to cultivate additional times of prayer
Lastly, after giving attention to improving the times you have already set to pray, you should seek to set aside and additional times of focused prayer. The Apostle Paul instructs us in Colossians 4:2, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” Every single person in this room could pray more, or at the very least, pray more earnestly and fervently.
If you do not already have a specific time set aside daily to pray, I encourage you to take a look at your schedule and find the most reasonable and doable time in which you could regularly do so. John Calvin once commented that “It is good to have certain hours appointed for prayer, not because we’re tied to hours, but unless we would ever become unmindful of prayer.”
We are a weak and feeble and forgetful people. Which means we are prone to forget to turn to our Lord in prayer—which because we are weak is exactly what we need. And so one of the best things you can do is to make prayer a daily routine.
But for those of you who already do pray daily, you might have another challenge at hand. Often your mind wanders or you simply don’t “feel” anything when you pray. You wouldn’t describe your prayers as fervent.
The Puritans had a solution to this common problem and they put it simply and memorably as this: Pray until you pray. Pray until you pray. Often it takes time to warm up in prayer, to become fervent. D.A. Carson explained this Puritan teaching by writing, “We should pray long enough and honestly enough, at a single session, to get past the feeling of formalism and unreality.” The way to pray fervently and earnestly, the way to pray in your praying, is to simply persist in honest prayer before God until you do so. But if we never make the time to do such a thing, we will never know what that even means.
So practically, you might make use of a prayer list or a book of written prayers to get going, to start the engine. But you should seek to have times set aside in which you try to earnestly commune with God until His Spirit makes you warm.
God has given us a great duty in prayer. And as we noted it is often a difficult duty. But it is more than that. Being able to pray to the living God is a gift. You are able to speak freely to the God of Israel, to Elijah’s God, who sends forth fire upon the altar. What a great privilege and opportunity.
So as a church, let’s commit to praying with greater frequency and fervency. Let us walk with God, confessing our sins, that He might answer us in our time of need. For as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, we know that He is willing and able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20–21).