To: The Body of Christ
From: Aldwin and Wendy Naruse
Subject: Daily devotional journal
RE: Effectual Prayer
Effectual Prayers
James 5:13-16
King James Version (KJV)13 Is any among you afflicted (to cause pain or distress to, undergo hardship, suffer trouble, endure hardness, tormented, suffer adversity, to be evil entreated, suffering due to the pressure of circumstances, or the antagonism of persons, pressed)?
let him pray (to ask earnestly for something, make request, beseech, entreat, commune, invocate, petition, solicit, beg, plead)
commentary:
Those who are physically sick or spiritually sick need to pray to our Father God in heaven, the creator of heaven and earth for He is the great physician and has all the answers to our problems. God is a jealous God and desires fellowship from us. He desires that we go to Him about everything because He desires that we commune with Him. Even though He knows all our needs and our problems, He still wants us to acknowledge that we need Him and is one hundred percent dependent on Him, to develop that co-dependency with the Lord. We need to have this attitude of dependence on Him. When adversity strikes, we are reminded of the importance of needing God and depending on Him for all our needs.
Job in the beginning did not have that intimate relationship with God, he was blinded. God allowed satan to afflict him and he came to realized that God is God and he repented.
Job 42:5-6
New King James Version (NKJV)
5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.”
Job now knows that he is nothing apart from God. His eyes has now opened and He can see God and hear God. He now knows that he is totally dependent on God for his life. He now knows that he needs God every moment of every day.
When a person walks away from God or thinks that he does not need God, he is spiritually sick. He will be easily tempted by the devil and will be used by the devil. Because he has taken himself from the lordship of Jesus Christ, by default, he places himself under the devil’s domain. He is now in partnership with the devil. When he is tempted by his own evil desires, he will not have the power to resist those temptations because he is not connected to God. He has become the devil’s puppet.
Either we are under the divine lordship of Jesus Christ or we are under satan’s control. There is no middle ground. If a person is not with God, he is with the devil. There is no neutral ground.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:30,
He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
So either a person is with God or he is not with God. And if he is not with God, he is, by default, with the devil.
Unless he returns to God fully, he will stay sick and never be healed. He must repent of his sins and ask God for forgiveness so that his fellowship with God is restored.
Jesus Christ is our all in all. He alone is able to meet all our needs. We must bring our needs and problems to Him. WE must acknowledge his lordship in our lives. We must continue to build our relationship with Jesus Christ. We must go to God for everything. Nothing is too big or too small for Him.
Is any merry (cheerful, lively, well)?
let him sing psalms (shout, song of praise, celebration, hymn, worship with music, make melody).
Those who have a joyful heart ought to sing to the Lord for He inhabits in the praises of His people. God desires that we sing praises to Him and worship Him in songs. He desires that we just sit at His feet and give Him undivided devotion and attention. Our God in heaven is the only one worthy of all praise. He is the only one who deserves all our worship. He is our creator, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.
14 Is any sick (frail, ill, faint, weary, weak) among you? let him call for the elders (matriarch, superior, senior, forebearer, advance in life, seniority of age, of rank, a position of responsibility, exercise spiritual care and oversight of church, maturity of spiritual experience, overseer) of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing (blessing, dedication, devotion, exaltation, making holy) him with oil in the name of the Lord:
There are many in the churches who are sick, not just physically sick but spiritually sick. Believers are spiritually sick when they are living in sin. When a person is living in sin, he is separated from God. Therefore, he is connected to the devil. Nothing good comes from the devil for he is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus came to give life and life more abundantly. (John 10:10) So a person without Jesus is spiritually sick. A person who does not have a relationship with Jesus is spiritually sick, though he may go to church every Sunday.
Here, in this verse, it is saying to the sick to have someone who is mature in the spirit to pray over them. Those who are young in the faith ought not to pray over others, but those who are not only spiritually mature but has clean hands and a pure heart. Only then is he qualify to pray for others. If he is in sin and in darkness, he is not to pray for others because his prayers will be cursed and he will spiritually contaminate those whom he lays hands on to pray. To anoint someone is to make holy. And only those who are truly holy in the eyes of God is qualified to pray for those who are sick.
15 And the prayer of faith ( allegiance, assurance, belief, confidence, reliance, sureness, conviction ) shall save (rescue, deliver, salvage, recover, redeem, set free, ransom, unshackle,) the sick (frail, ill, faint, weary, weak) , and the Lord shall raise (resurrect, rise up, stir up) him up; and if he have committed sins ( evil, guilt, iniquity, transgression, wrongdoing, offense, disobedience, imperfection), they shall be forgiven ( pardoned, reinstated, taken back, welcome home) him.
There is power to prayer when it is accompanied by faith. When we pray, believing, we shall receive. (Mark 11:22-24) And these prayers will rescue those who are sick in spirit or in body. This is where we as believers can stand in the gap for those who are weak in their faith. We are to be like the four friends who brought the paralytic to Jesus. It was the faith of these four men who saved their sick friend. The sick friend could do nothing for himself. But his four friends made it their business to get him in front of Jesus by opening the roof and letting him down to Jesus. In the Bible, the sick friend said nothing. Jesus saw the faith of his four friends and said to the sick man “Your sins are forgiven you.” We as believers can rescue our sick friends when we pray in faith for them and when we stand in the gap for them. God honors faith, for without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Heb 11:6)
16 Confess (acknowledge, assert, affirm, admit, confide, disclose, reveal, profess ) your faults (blame, sin, mistake, crime, error, flaw, trespasses, transgressions, wrongdoing, misconduct) one to another, and pray (petition) one for another, that ye may be healed ( cure, recovered, make whole again) .
The Holy Spirit will lead and direct you to whom you are to make your confession to. It may not be a priest or pastor, but it will be someone sent by the Holy Spirit who has the anointing of God because the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much.
We must confess and admit our sins and trespasses to one who we can trust. When there is sin, healing will not take place. But when we have confessed our sins, we have come cleaned before God and man and that is when God can make us whole again. We can do nothing of substance for the kingdom of God unless we are whole again. Jesus came to save and heal the sick. He wants us to be free.
The effectual (authoritative, powerful ) fervent (intense, heartfelt, sincere) prayer of a righteous (good, honest, faithful) man availeth (to be strong, to have power, profit) much.
So an authoritative, powerful, intense, heartfelt prayer of a good, honest, faithful man profits much. We cannot allow a passive will to be concluded with. We must know by the Holy Spirit the divine will of God. It is found through searching in the Word of God and in His Spirit by His divine knowledge to know his will. We cannot settle for permissive, passive will.
A faithful and honest person who prays will be heard by God because he is clean and has a pure heart. A person who is living in sin and darkness will not be heard by God.
1 John 5:14-15
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.When we ask for things according to God’s will, He hears us because we are asking for the things that He desires for us to have.
Prayers resulting from true faith, mature faith, persistent faith avails much.
Without the anointing of God, the prayer becomes religious. It becomes just words. But those whom God chooses are given this power and authority. (Matt 10:1) Jesus gave the disciples power and authority to cast out demons and heal the sick.
Elijah knew God’s word and God’s will and persistently prayed in faith according to God’s revealed purpose. The prayer of faith by the Holy Spirit discerns God’s will and persevere until it is accomplished.
So we do our part by exercising our faith and God will get the results. The prayer of faith, the gift of healing and extraordinary supernatural strength are the evidence of having the anointing from God. Without it, we are just acting as religious hypocrites, full of head knowledge but have no real power and authority.. Having a super charismatic personality may not be of faith, but just an external show, putting on a performance. .
Faith is knowing the will of God and persisting in His will. Healing power of God is evident by preserving health, devising good nutritional habits, having a healthy lifestyle, forgiveness of disease-causing sins and by the prayer of faith. This gift of faith given by the Holy Spirit is the ability to operate in the supernatural realm and to supersede and override the natural. Related to the gift of faith is the gift of healing and the gift of miracles.
If anyone is sick spiritually, mentally or physically, according to James, he should call the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and then the prayer of faith from the intercessor will heal the sick.
17 Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly ( serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous) that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
The intercessor should be like Elijah. He should have the markings characterize by being a , good, faithful, honest person who is serious in intention and is purposeful and sincerely zealous. He is one who is a seeker of God because he is earnest and determined. He does not carry or exhibit any outward religiosity such as a white collar or a title in the church but simply a man or woman of God and not of the church or religious denomination, operating under the divine Lordship of Jesus Christ only.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
The man of God must be consistent just as Elijah. This person must pray consistently. By being determined to receive what He has so earnestly prayed for, the holy intercessor will have his prayers answered, just like Elijah. He shall see the fruits of his labor, his labor in prayer. He shall see the miracles of God because he himself has done his part and when God sees a man or woman faithful in his or her calling, God will reward him or her by answering their prayer in the affirmative. God will not be indebted to any man. God is true to His word and He is faithful. When we do our part, as night follows day, God will do His part. Therefore, we must never grow weary of praying or doing good, for in due time, we will reap good fruits if we do not give up.
If we do not exercise our faith, like Elijah did, our faith becomes merely words of paper. Exercising of our faith is like a muscle that must be strengthen on a regular basis. Otherwise, the faith becomes weak and sick, with no substance at all and the devil has won. This is why churches today has no power and authority. The church has become weak and sick and mediocre. We cannot take the backseat and accept par value but continue to take the high ground and impose the kingdom of God over all circumstances. Remember God created man in His image and likeness to have power and dominion over all the earth. (Genesis
Genesis 1:28
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
I cannot phantom to believe that a person’s faith is so shallow like Thomas. “ So now, you have faith because you see the holes in my hands.” This permissive and passive will is so lukewarm.
Revelation 3:15-16,
15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Faith that is not tested cannot be trusted. We are to continue the fight of faith until the end. It is by our faith that we stand before the Lord at the final judgement. I must continue to demonstrate my faith before God and man so that I am proven and tested to be part of the fellowship of believers.. I cannot take any passive or lukewarm position. I must be aggressive to take the high ground. I must never settle for any passive or permissive position. I am called in ministry to demonstrate the Christ residing in me, from grace and mercy to glory to glory. It is the Christ and no religious denomination who gets me in heaven. It is by faith and faith alone in Christ Jesus.
