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"Effectual Fervent Prayer"

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16

The true born-again life is not for the faint hearted, nor the spiritual sluggard. Every line of scripture breathes with a violent spiritual assault against darkness, a militant pressing into the kingdom of God, and prevailing prayer through great travail. Jesus said Himself that the "...violent take it by force" Matthew 11:12.

Few understand the nature of the battle we are in. If we are to take the kingdom, we must do so by force, however it is here that most confessing Christian's fail. They fail because the battle is spiritual and because it requires death to self. The natural mind envisions taking up arms and charging into battle defeating the enemy by brut force, but this has never been the way of Christ.

In the book of Matthew scripture records that when Judas betray the Lord in the Garden that one of the disciples drew his sword to battle, but Jesus rebuked him and said, "...Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled..." Matthew 26:52-54.  While Jesus was fighting a spiritual battle, His disciple could only see a carnal enemy and through fear and self preservation, drew a sword to fight the flesh.

Our battle is spiritual and demands self sacrafice, the more we die to self and yeild to the Spirit, the stronger we become in this warfare. Jesus made it clear that His words are spiritual, "It is the spirit that quickeneth (makes alive); the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" John 6:63. The only word God has for our carnal man is that he must die on the altar, every other word God speaks is meant for the man who walks in the spirit.  (Read Romans 8:1-10).

We fight a spiritual enemy and gain spiritual ground. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places"   Ephesians 6:12.  It is a violent walk with God in the spirit and the greatest violence will be against our own carnal desires that hinder our gain of spiritual ground.

The most powerful weapon God has given us in this spiritual battle is prayer at an old-fashioned altar. The devil knows the power of prayer and that is why most churches today have removed the altar. Fact is, the devil has made great advances in the spiritual realm because men are blindly fighting in the carnal realm. Instead of taking up the armor of faith, truth, righteousness and prayer, men stand outside abortion clinics holding up posters, whine to their civil leaders about prayer and Bibles being censored in public school, and critiquing the next Hollywood movie coming out for family values. Is it any wonder we are loosing the battle?

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16.  Prayer is the key to victory in this spiritual battle. Jesus prayed continually for strength and direction, He was lead of the Spirit and won every battle, even at the cross.

Two points need to be made here if prayer is to be effectual, that is to bring about a result. First, our prayers must be fervent. The word fervent means passionate, zealous, and even fanatical. Our prayers must burn within us by the Holy Spirit or they will never be effectual in this great battle.

Second, if prayer is to be effectual, it must come through a righteous man. The quality on which the success of prayer depends is not the talent, education, wealth, or office of the man who prays, but rather the fact that he is a righteous man. The Amplified Bible renders righteousness as a man who is in right standing with God. The opposite then is that "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:" Psalms 66:18

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Also by
C. H. Spurgeon

"Prayer, the Forerunner of Mercy"
by Charles H. Spurgeon

"Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock."   Ezekiel 36:37

In reading the chapter we have seen the great and exceeding precious promises which God had made to the favored nation of Israel. God in this verse declares, that though the promise was made, and though he would fulfill it, yet he would not fulfill it until his people asked him so to do. He would give them a spirit of prayer, by which they should cry earnestly for the blessing, and then when they should have cried aloud unto the living God, he would be pleased to answer them from heaven, his dwelling-place. The word used here to express the idea of prayer is a suggestive one. "I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel." Prayer, then, is an enquiry. No man can pray aright, unless he views prayer in that light.

First, I enquire what the promise is. I turn to my Bible and I seek to find the promise whereby the thing which I desire to seek is certified to me as being a thing which God is willing to give. Having enquired so far as that, I take that promise, and on my bended knees I enquire of God whether he will fulfill his own promise. I take to him his own word of covenant, and I say to him, "O Lord, wilt thou not fulfill it, and wilt thou not fulfill it now?" So that there, again, prayer is enquiry. After prayer I look out for the answer; I expect to be heard, and if I am not answered I pray again, and my repeated prayers are but fresh enquiries. I expect the blessing to arrive; I go and enquire whether there is any tidings of its coming. I ask; and thus I say "Wilt thou answer me, O Lord? Wilt thou keep thy promise? Or wilt thou shut up thine ear, because I misunderstand my own wants and mistake thy promise."

Brethren, we must use enquiry in prayer, and regard prayer as being, first, an enquiry for the promise, and shell on the strength of that promise an enquiry for the fulfillment. We expect something to come as a present from a friend: we first have the note, whereby we are informed it is upon the road. We enquire as to what the present is by the reading of the note, and then, if it arrive not, we call at the accustomed place where the parcel ought to have been left, and we ask or enquire for such and such a thing. We have enquired about the promise, and then we go and enquire again, until we get an answer that the promised gift has arrived and is ours. So with prayer. We get the promise by enquiry, and we get the fulfillment of it by again enquiring at God's hands.

Now, this morning I shall try, as God shall help me, first to speak of prayer as the prelude of blessing: next I shall try to show why prayer is thus constituted by God the forerunner of his mercies, and then I shall close by an exhortation, as earnest as I can make it, exhorting you to pray, if you would obtain blessings.

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Also by
E. M. Bounds

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Prayer Takes In the Whole Man
by E. M. Bounds

PRAYER has to do with the entire man. Prayer takes in man in his whole being, mind, soul and body. It takes the whole man to pray, and prayer affects the entire man in its gracious results. As the whole nature of man enters into prayer, so also all that belongs to man is the beneficiary of prayer. All of man receives benefits in prayer. The whole man must be given to God in praying. The largest results in praying come to him who gives himself, all of himself, all that belongs to himself, to God. This is the secret of full consecration, and this is a condition of successful praying, and the sort of praying which brings the largest fruits.

The men of olden times who wrought well in prayer, who brought the largest things to pass, who moved God to do great things, were those who were entirely given over to God in their praying. God wants, and must have, all that there is in man in answering his prayers. He must have wholehearted men through whom to work out his purposes and plans concerning men. God must have men in their entirety. No double-minded_ man need apply. No vacillating man can be used. No man with a divided allegiance to God, and the world and self, can do the praying that is needed.

Holiness is wholeness, and so God wants holy men whole-hearted and true, for his service and for the work of praying, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." These are the sort of men God wants for leaders of the hosts of Israel, and these are the kind out of which the praying class is formed. Man is a trinity in one, and yet man is neither a trinity nor a dual creature when he prays, but a unit. Man is one in all the essentials and acts and attitudes of piety. Soul, spirit and body are to unite in all things pertaining to life and godliness. The body, first of all, engages in prayer, since it assumes the praying attitude in prayer. Prostration of the body becomes us in praying as well as prostration of the soul. The attitude of the body counts much in prayer, although it is true that the heart may be haughty and lifted up, and the mind listless and wandering, and the praying a mere form, even while the knees are bent in prayer.

Daniel kneeled three times a day in prayer. Solomon kneeled in prayer at the dedication of the temple. Our Lord in Gethsemane prostrated himself in that memorable season of praying just before his betrayal. Where there is earnest and faithful praying the body always takes on the form most suited to the state of the soul at the time. The body, that far, joins the soul in praying.

The entire man must pray. The whole man, life, heart, temper, mind, are in it. Each and all join in the prayer exercise. Doubt, double-mindedness, division of the affections, are all foreign to the closet. Character and conduct, undefiled, made whiter than snow, are mighty potencies, and are the most seemly beauties for the closet hour, and for the struggles of prayer.

A loyal intellect must conspire and add the energy and fire of its undoubting and undivided faith to that kind of an hour,the hour of prayer. Necessarily the mind enters into the praying. First of all, it takes thought to pray. The intellect teaches us we ought to pray. By serious thinking beforehand the mind prepares itself for approaching a throne of grace. Thought goes before entrance into the closet and prepares the way for true praying. It considers what will be asked for in the closet hour. True praying does not leave to the inspiration of the hour what will be the requests of that hour. As praying is asking for something definite of God, so, beforehand, the thought arises--"What shall I ask for at this hour? " All vain and evil and frivolous thoughts are eliminated, and the mind is given over intirely to God, thinking of him of what is needed, and what has been received in the past. By every token, prayer, in taking hold of the entire man, does not leave out the mind. The very first step in prayer is a mental one. The disciples took that first step when they said unto Jesus at one time, "Lord, teach us to pray." We must be taught through the intellect, and just in so far as the intellect is given up to God in prayer, will we be able to learn well and readily the lesson of prayer.

Paul spreads the nature of prayer over the whole man. It must be so. It takes the whole man to embrace in its godlike sympathies the entire race of man-- the sorrows, the sins and the death of Adam's fallen rae. It takes the whole man to run parallel with God's high and sublime will in saving mankind. It takes the whole man to stand with our Lord Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and sinful man. This is the doctrine Paul teaches in his prayer-directory in the second chapter of his first epistle to Timothy.

Nowhere does it appear so clearly that it requires the entire man in all departments of his being, to pray than in this teaching of Paul. It takes the whole man to pray till all the storms which agitate his soul are calmed to a great calm, till the stormy winds and waves cease as by a godlike spell. It takes the whole man to pray till cruel tyrants and unjust rulers are changed in their natures and lives, as well as in their governing qualities, or till they cease to rule. It requires the entire man in praying till high and proud and unspiritual ecclesiastics become gentle, lowly and religious, till godliness and gravity bear rule in church and in state, in home and in business, in public as well as in private life.

It is man's business to pray; and it takes manly men to do it. It is godly business to pray and it takes godly men to do it. And it is godly men who give over themselves entirely to prayer. Prayer is far-reaching in its influence and in its gracious effects. It is intense and profound business which deals with God and his plans and purposes, and it takes whole-hearted men to do it. No half-hearted, half-brained, half-spirited effort will do for this serious, all important, heavenly business. The whole heart, the whole brain, the whole spirit, must be in the matter of praying, which is so mightily to affect the characters and destinies of men. The answer of Jesus to the scribe as to what was the first and greatest commandment was as follows:

The Lord our God is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with they soul, and with all they mind, and with all they strength.

In one word, the entire man without reservation must love God. So it takes the same entire man to do the praying which God requires of men. All the powers of man must be engaged in it. God cannot tolerate a divided heart in the love he requires of men, neither can he bear with a divided man in praying.

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How the Spirit Enables Us to Pray
by Thomas Boston

It is by the help of the Holy Spirit that we are able to pray, Gal 4:6, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'" Rom 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

There Are Two Sorts of Prayers.

Firstly, A prayer wrought out by virtue of a gift of knowledge and utterance. This is bestowed on many reprobates, and that gift may be useful to others, and to the church. But as it is merely of that sort, it is not accepted, nor does Christ put it in before the Father for acceptance.

For, secondly, There is a prayer wrought in men by virtue of the Holy Spirit, Zech. 12:10, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication," and that is the only acceptable prayer to God. James 5:16, "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." The word "effective" is from the Greek word "inwrought." Right praying is praying in the Spirit. It is a gale blowing from heaven, the breathing of the Spirit in the saints, that carries them out in the prayer, and which comes the length of the throne.

Spirit Helps Us to Pray Two Ways.

1. As a teaching and instructing Spirit, furnishing proper matter of prayer, causing us to know what we pray for, Rom. 8:26, enlightening the mind in the knowledge of our needs, and those of others. The Spirit brings into our remembrance these things, suggesting them to us according to the word, together with the promises of God, on which prayer is grounded, John 14:26,"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." Hence it is that the saints are sometimes carried out in prayer for things which they had no view of before, and carried by some things they had.

2. As a quickening, exciting Spirit, Rom. 8:26.; the Spirit qualifying the soul with praying graces and affections, working in the praying person sense of needs, faith, fervency, humility, etc. Psa 10:17, "Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear,"

The man may go to his knees in a very unprepared attitude for prayer, yet the Spirit blows, he is helped. It is for this reason the Spirit is said to make intercession for us, namely, in so far as he teaches and quickens, puts us in a praying frame of mind, and draws out our petitions, as it were, which the Mediator presents.

Special Giftedness in Prayer?

This praying with the help of the Spirit is particular to the saints, Jam. 5:16.; yet they do not have that help at all times, nor always in the same measure; for sometimes the Spirit, being provoked, departs, and they are left in a withered condition. So there is great need to look for a breathing, and pant for it, when we are to go to duty: for if there be not a gale, we will tug at the oars but heartlessly.

Let no man think that a readiness and flowing of expression in prayer, is always the effect of the Spirit's assistance. For that may be the product of a gift, and of the common operations of the Spirit, removing the impediment of the exercise of it. And it is evident one may be scarce of words, and have groans instead of them, while the Spirit helps him to pray, Rom. 8:26. Neither is every flood of emotions in prayer, the effect of the Spirit of prayer.

There are of those which puff up a man, but make him never a whit more holy, tender in his walk, etc. But the influences of the Spirit never miss to be humbling but sanctifying. Hence, says David, "But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You," 1 Chr 29:14; and, says the apostle, "We have no confidence in the flesh," Phil. 3:3.

Also by
Andrew Murray

Sin Of Prayerlessness
by Andrew Murray

What think you? Do you not begin to see that the sin of prayerlessness has had a more terrible effect than you at first supposed? It is because of this hasty and superficial converse with God that the sense of sin is so weak and that no motives have power to help you to hate and flee from sin as you ought.

Nothing, nothing except the hidden, humble, constant fellowship with God can teach you, as a child of God, to hate sin as God wants you to hate it. Nothing, nothing but the constant nearness and unceasing power of the living Christ can make it possible for you rightly to understand what sin is and to detest it. And without this deeper understanding of sin, there will be no thought of appropriating the victory which is made possible for you in Christ Jesus, and will be wrought in you by the Spirit.

0 my God, cause me to know my sin and teaching me to tarry before thee and to wait on thee till thy Spirit causes something of thy holiness to rest upon me! 0 my God, cause me to know my sin, and let this drive me to listen to the promise: 'He that abideth in him sinneth not,' and to expect the fulfillment from Thee!

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Also by
T. Austin Sparks

Read the Book >>

The School of Christ     by T. Austin Sparks
The Light of Life     Chapter V

How We Get the Light of Life - The Crisis

That brings us to this question. What is the way into Christ, or how do we get the light of life? Well, the answer is, of course, briefly, to have the light we have to have the life. This light is the light of life. It is the product of life. All Divine light, true light from God, is living light. It is never theoretical light, mere doctrinal light, it is living light. And how do we get this light of life?

The Imitation of Christ
by Thomas À Kempis

The Imitation of Christ     by Thomas À Kempis
Internal Consolation     Book III

The Proving of a True Lover

The Voice of Christ
MY CHILD, you are not yet a brave and wise lover.

Time to sharpen
your Sword!

The Word

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Scripture Studies       Matthew 6:7-13   MH Comm.
Click on the links for commentary study.

7.   But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. JG Expo.

8.   Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. JG Expo.

9.   After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. JG Expo.

10.   Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. JG Expo.

11.   Give us this day our daily bread. JG Expo.

12.   And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. JG Expo.

13.   And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. JG Expo.

"No Substitute for Prayers!"
By Oswald J. Smith

Intercessory prayer is the Christian's most effective weapon. Nothing can withstand it's power. It will do things when all else has failed. And the marvel is that we turn to other agencies in order to accomplish what only prayer can bring to pass. God has placed this mighty weapon in our hands, and He expects us to use it. How disappointed He must be when we lay it a side and substitute natural means for supernatural work.

In this twentieth century we are, more and more, turning from the God-appointed means of intercessory prayer and adopting, instead, merely natural agencies for the carrying on of His work. Everywhere we look it is the same, both in evangelism and ordinary church work. Intercessory prayer has been shelved. For some reason it is out of date. Our methods, we say, are better, our plans more successful, and so we adopt natural means to bring to pass the supernatural.

My brethren, it can never be done, We may appear to be successful; the crowds may come; the altar may be full night after night. Reported results may be broadcasted everywhere. Whole cities may be stirred and mightily moved! And yet when it is all over and two or three years have passed, how little will be found to be genuine! And why? Simply because we have been satisfied with a superficial, spectacular work, brought to pass by natural means. Consequently the truly supernatural has been largely lacking. Oh let us get back to intercessory prayer, the highest form of Christians service, and give God no rest until we have a spiritual outcome.

Pillars of Truth
that you can stand on.

When Ye Pray

"...What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24

A good while ago in smoky, foggy, lovely London there was a fully surrendered, consecrated woman-gray-haired, bent back (she spent many hours a day over the washtub and the ironing board.) She had a boy. He ran away to sea in his teens, and for years she did not know where the boy was. And she prayed, of course. These praying mothers! And prayer never slips! Many a time the dew of her eyes mingled with the suds as she prayed for John on the high seas, she knew not where. And the prayer was answered, of course. No real, simple prayer ever slipped yet. It cannot. John came to Jesus. And then he began telling others about Jesus, and he became known as "the sailor preacher" of London. And John Newton, London's sailor preacher, was the means of turning men (I will use a big word thoughtfully) by the THOUSANDS to Jesus.

Among the many that John Newton touched, there was one man, Thomas Scott-cultured, scholarly, moral, "didn't need a Saviour." Scott came to Jesus. And then Scott, as many of you know by tongue and by pen, (again I will use that big word) swayed THOUSANDS for Jesus.

Among the many that Scott touched, there was one man, the very reverse of Scott-young, dyspeptic, melancholy, "too bad" for God to save. But Scott touched Cowper, and Cowper found out about a fountain filled with blood. And he was cleansed in the flood of blood. He wrote down his hymn, "There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood." Some folks do not like that hymn today. Some of the new hymnbook makers are leaving it out. But the old hymn was sung, and saved people by the thousands.

And Cowper touched a man, among many, Wilberforce-clever, a Christian statesman who was a lay preacher of the old school... And Wilberforce, among many, touched one man, a vicar of the Church of England, namely Richmond. He was changed. And Richmond knew the story of the daughter of a milkman... He wrote down her story. He called the little bit of a book, "The Dairyman's Daughter. "...The little bit of a book went into peasant's huts and kings' palaces, and all between, and everywhere-burning like a soft, intense flame. Untold thousands of lives were touched and changed.

The center of the whole thing-an old woman, gray-haired, bent back, stubby fingers, bending over the washing and ironing as she prayed for her boy, John. And praying until John came... I am very clear about this. The Man on the throne yonder who came from the throne to the cross and back would say, "This woman, she was MY friend. Through her prayer I could loosen out the power that touched untold thousands.   S. D. Gordon

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Quotes on Prayer

"Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God."   Andrew Murray

"There is no power like that of prevailing prayer, of Abraham pleading for Sodom, Jacob wrestling in the stillness of the night, Moses standing in the breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heartbroken with remorse and grief, Jesus in sweat of blood. Add to this list from the records of the church your personal observation and experience, and always there is the cost of passion unto blood. Such prayer prevails. It turns ordinary mortals into men of power. It brings power. It brings fire. It brings rain. It brings life. It brings God."   Samuel Chadwick

"Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth."   John Wesley

"Some people do not like to hear much of repentance; but I think it is so necessary that if I should die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance, and if out of the pulpit I would desire to die practicing it."   Matthew Henry

"We must continue in prayer if we are to get an outpouring of the Spirit. Christ says there are some things we shall not get, unless we pray and fast, yes, "prayer and fasting." We must control the flesh and abstain from whatever hinders direct fellowship with God."   Andrew Bonar

"Depend upon it, if you are bent on prayer, the devil will not leave you alone. He will molest you, tantalize you, block you, and will surely find some hindrances, big or little or both. And we sometimes fail because we are ignorant of his devices... I do not think he minds our praying about things if we leave it at that. What he minds, and opposes steadily, is the prayer that prays on until it is prayed through, assured of the answer."   Mary Warburton Booth

"Why does the Church stay indoors? They have a theology that has dwindled into a philosophy, in which there is no thrill of faith, no terror of doom and no concern for souls. Unbelief has put out the fires of passion, and worldliness garlands the altar of sacrifice with the tawdry glitter of unreality. The Holy Ghost cannot conquer the world with unbelief, nor can He save the world with a worldly Church. He calls for a crusade, a campaign, and an adventure of saving passion. For this enterprise He wants a separated, sanctified and sacrificial people."   Samuel Chadwick

"The men that will change the colleges and seminaries here represented are the men that will spend the most time alone with God... It takes time for the fires to burn. It takes time for God to draw near and for us to know that He is there. It takes time to assimilate His truth. You ask me, How much time? I do not know. I know it means time enough to forget time."   John R. Mott

"Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, 'above all that we ask or think'. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!"   Andrew Murray

"The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!"   A. B. Simpson

"The reason why many fail in battle is because they wait until the hour of battle. The reason why others succeed is because they have gained their victory on their knees long before the battle came...Anticipate your battles; fight them on your knees before temptation comes, and you will always have victory."   R. A. Torrey

"To arouse one man or woman to the tremendous power of prayer for others, is worth more than the combined activity of a score of average Christians."   A. J. Gordon

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