The Power of Prayer

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 18th of February, 2024 - the first Sunday in Lent.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, the Lenten season began this past Wednesday and today is the first Sunday in Lent.  This is our time for intentional introspection, to make it our purpose to look deep inside ourselves to see if we are living our daily lives as God would have us live.  It commemorates the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness shortly after His baptism in the River Jordan.  During these days He fasted and prayed, and resisted all the temptations of the devil.  So what better way to begin our journey through Lent than with a confession of our sin and an emphasis on prayer?

We’ll be finishing up the Apostle James’ letter to the early church this morning, where he tells us to confess and pray, reminding us of the power of prayer.  Throughout this letter, James has given us good, solid advice, along with some warnings, on how we should live, how we should behave during our daily walk through this life in preparation for the next.  And he continues that trend as he closes this letter.

The early church needed these instructions and words of encouragement, for everything was still very new to them.  They were getting mixed messages from the different people who came through their churches - some preaching the true Gospel, some spreading false teachings.  The letters from James and the other Apostles were an important resource for them, and for us today.

So please listen and follow along to verses 12 through 20 of the 5th and closing chapter of James’ letter, and I’ll be reading this from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

12 But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.

13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

19 My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, 20 you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

--James 5:12-20 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for letting us know how important a good prayer life is in our daily walk.  We know that we should spend more time with You, in Your word and in personal conversation.  Father, please help us be more earnest and faithful in our prayer life.  Please forgive us when we don’t set aside enough time each day just to talk with You.  Help us be more diligent in this regard, especially during the Lenten season.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Help us realize the great power we hold within us, the power of Your Holy Spirit, and how He can work through us when we pray to You.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

While researching for this morning's service, I found some interesting information about prayer.  Did you know that there are 650 prayers listed in the Bible, and that of those, about 450 have recorded answers?  The first time prayer is mentioned in the Bible comes in Genesis 4:26, where we read in the NASB that, "To Seth also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then people began to call upon the name of the Lord."  Before this, conversations were initiated directly by God.

The Bible records Jesus praying 25 different times during his three year earthly ministry.  And the Apostle Paul mentions prayer 41 times.  In Jesus' model prayer, He gives us five areas to focus on: (1) to focus on God's everlasting glory, that His name be hallowed and honored; (2) to focus on God's eternal will, that His Kingdom come; (3) to focus on our present, that God's provision - our daily bread - continue to be given; (4) to focus on our past, that God has forgiven our sins; and (5) to focus on our future, that God's deliverance will be provided.

The Bible lists at least nine main types of prayer: prayer of faith, of agreement, of request, of thanksgiving, of worship, of consecration or dedication, of intercession, of imprecation, and praying in the Spirit.  And lastly, the word "Amen", which means "let it be" or "so be it", makes its first appearance in the Book of Numbers, chapter 5 verse 22.  In that passage, God commands it to be said by a person who is yielding to His examination.

If prayer isn’t important, do you think our bible would place so much emphasis on it?  650 prayers listed, with 25 of them being raised by our Lord Jesus during His short, three-year ministry.  And those 25 are just the ones listed by the Gospel writers – I bet He lifted a whole lot more than that.  While in the wilderness for 40 days and nights, He did little more than pray the whole time!

And that part about saying “Amen” when we conclude a prayer…  I think most of us know that “Amen” means “so be it”, but did we understand the full meaning of “so be it”?  By saying “Amen”, we are in effect saying, “OK, God, look deep within me and see if I am truly being faithful in my prayer.”  And if we are being faithful in our prayer, we should willingly be open to His examination, for we will be doing what is right in His eyes.

So, James is ready to close out his letter and send it off to the young Christian churches scattered throughout the known world.  But first he has a little more advice and a few more warnings.  And he starts off with a warning about taking an oath.  In this, James echoes something Jesus said during His sermon on the Mount.  The Apostle Matthew recorded Jesus’ words in the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 33 through 37, when Jesus said…

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’, ‘No’. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”

--Matthew 5:33-37 (NKJV)

Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and other passages in our bible warn that if we swear by God’s name and fail to do what we are swearing to, then there will be condemnation upon us.  To swear by heaven or earth is a spiritual-sounding way to get around using God’s name, in that it gives us an escape clause in case we don’t carry out what we are pledging to do.  Jesus said to let our “Yes” be “Yes” and our “No” be “No” so that there would be complete honesty and integrity about our word and the commitments we make.

And then James moves right into the subject of prayer.  Is life causing hardships and troubles?  Pray.  Not feeling very well lately?  Pray, and call the elders for more prayer.  Oh, and if everything is going well, then sing praises to the Lord for He is good.  Prayer offered in faith can heal the sick and bring forgiveness to the sinner.  James says we should confess our sins to each other and pray for each other.  Confessing our sins to someone else may be very tough to do, but it can bring peace to our heart, and support and encouragement from another.

And the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and can bring wonderful results.  The Apostle Paul defines earnest, fervent prayer for us, in chapter 4 verse 2 of his letter to the Colossians, when he instructs us to…

2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

--Colossians 4:2 (NLT)

There’s three keys words in this verse.  “Devote” – make the time to pray, set aside some time, be purposeful to make this part of our daily activity or routine.  “Alert” – be completely aware and conscious of what we are praying for, don’t just recite some memorized mantra, be thoughtful in our prayer.  “Thankful” – each prayer should begin and end with giving thanks to God, for He is a good Father, He provides everything we have, and by His mercy we are forgiven of our sin and granted eternal life.

Oh, and don’t hesitate to be a name-dropper.  Jesus assures us that anything we ask in His name will be granted if we ask in faith and it is for a righteous reason.

Paul also encourages us to pray without ceasing, and in any and all circumstances.  In his 1st letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 5 verses 16 through 18, Paul writes…

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

--1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)

Now Paul isn’t suggesting we do nothing but pray.  I mean we have to eat and sleep sometimes.  But we must not allow ourselves to get to the point where we just give up and stop praying altogether.  Life gets tough and can beat us down to where we don’t want to get up again, to where we don’t even try to pray anymore.  Instead, we should stop and take stock of all the things we have to be thankful for.  When we see God’s hand at work in us and around us, we will be joyful.  And this joy will further fuel our thankfulness.

Jesus told us that in this world we will face tribulations, but we can be joyful in this because He has conquered the world.  These trials and troubles can be a joy to us for they help us mature in our faith.  So we can be thankful, no matter what we face, for this is God’s will for all who belong to His Son Jesus.  Besides, when we face troubles, we often turn to prayer, and this is God’s will for us, too.  He likes to spend time with us.

Family, the Lenten season is a great time for us to stop, look deep within, and open ourselves up more to God’s will.  Let’s try to make time in our busy day to spend solely with our Father God, reading His word, talking with Him in prayer and introspection, listening for His reply.  Let us be earnest and faithful in our moments with God, striving to be ever more righteous in His eyes.  For there is great power in prayer.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who came to us to redeem us, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for always being with us, through good times and bad.  No matter what we are facing, Father, we know that you are watching over us.  Thank You, Father, for seeing to all our needs and giving us even more so that we can share with others.  Sometimes, though, we take Your gifts for granted.  We forget to thank You for Your generosity, for Your help.  Sometimes we get so weary and worn from life’s trials that we don’t even come to You in prayer.  Forgive us these times, please Father.  Please help us remember the power of our prayer.  Help us make time to pray in any and all circumstances.  Help us be more faithful, earnest, and fervent in our prayer life.  And please help us do a better job of sharing our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You gave us a great example in how to pray to our heavenly Father, in what we have come to call our Lord’s Prayer.  In it we see that we should glorify and honor God and recognize His sovereignty and will, that we should thank Him for our daily provision, for seeing to our needs both now and in the future, to thank Him for His forgiveness and mercy.  Please help us pray from our hearts, in our own words, using the pattern You gave us.  Help us pray through God’s Holy Spirit within us when the words just won’t come.  And Lord, please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

Lord Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.