May 14, 2000
Does Prayer Work?
James 5
By Ronald
George Jr. at the Fayetteville Baptist Church
If all the sleeping folk will wake up,
If all the lukewarm folk will fire up,
If all the dishonest folk will confess up,
If all the disgruntled folk will cheer up,
If all the depressed folk will cheer up,
If all the estranged folk will make up,
If all the gossipers will shut up,
If all true soldiers will stand up,
If all the dry bones will shake up,
If all the church members will pray up...
Then we can have a revival! --
R.G. Lee
Prayer
is the prelude to revival.
Scripture
Text: James 5:13 (KJS) Is any
among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is
any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them
pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the
prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if
he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess [your] faults
one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to
like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and
it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And
he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her
fruit.
Prayer is the sincere desire of the heart of the
creature to know the creator. It is
the act of the creature to get in touch with the creator.
The power of prayer is in the God of the prayer.
I.
God can through Prayer! What
can prayer do?
a.
We have not because we ask not! Have we asked?
James
4:2 (KJS) Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain:
ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive
not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts. What is it
that you want or would like to see happen in your life, church, or home?
Without
Prayer the Church that will storm the gates of hell becomes ineffective in
accomplishing it’s task of shining the light of the gospel.
This great lion of the world becomes toothless with much bark and no
bite.
Some years ago a young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and
asked for a job. "That
depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree."
The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree.
Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "Start Monday!"
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by, and Thursday afternoon
the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your
paycheck on the way out today."
Startled, he replied, "I thought you paid on Friday."
"Normally we do," answered the foreman, "but we're letting you go
today because you've fallen behind. Our
daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to last
on Wednesday."
"But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected.
"I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee
breaks!"
The foreman, sensing the boy's integrity thought for a minute and then
asked, "Have you been sharpening your ax?"
The young man replied, "I've been working too hard to take the
time."
How about you? Have you been too busy, too hard at work to sharpen your ax?
Prayer is the hone that gives you that sharp edge.
Without it, the more work you do, the duller you'll get.
-- William D. Boyd, Liberating Ministry from the Success
The
Power of prayer is like the launch pad underneath the space shuttle.
You can’t see the tons of steel and concrete underneath the shuttle,
but without it the shuttle would not be able to take off.
It would sit and dig a hole in the soft earth until it was buried.
b.
Prayer can heal the sick. Are
you afflicted then pray? Are you
merry or happy then sing Psalms or praises?
Will you pray for the sick to be healed and raised up?
Will you pray that your sins will be forgiven?
Are we sick because we have sinned?
Will we confess and pray that we may be healed?
How do you know that prayer works? Have
you seen the results?
- Prayer
can raise the dead and revive the Christian.
- Prayer
can save the lost and deliver the sinner.
II.
What kind of prayer works?
The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we
are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the
earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and
the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
The unceasing prayer of a righteous avails much.
What did Elijah have that we don’t?
a. He prayed. He prayed.
And He prayed some more. He prayed.
b. He lived the life. He
was in line with the Lord’s direction for his life.
He was righteous.
c. He was a man who was just like us.
Elijah
prayed for a drought and it didn’t rain for 3 and a half years.
He prayed for rain and it rained. The
crops began to grow and the people began to receive the blessing of life from
the food that God had given through the rain.
God connects the spiritual side of life with the physical side of life.
2Chr
7:14 (KJS) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear
from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. {which...:
Heb. upon whom my name is called}
Will we pray?