What does an effective prayer life look like? An effective prayer life relies on “abiding in Christ” and maintaining a pure relationship with God by confessing sin and walking in the light. Looking to the biblical example of Elijah, we, ordinary believers, should be encouraged to pray earnestly by knowing and claiming specific promises found in God’s Word.
Transcript
I would like for you to open your Bible to the same text we looked at last week… last time. So in James chapter five the verse that we were focusing on is verse 16, but I’m going to back up to verse 13. Read this in context.
Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He’s to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they’re to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who’s sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they’ll be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 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 earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
And the second text is John 15 and verse 7. In the midst of that section of Jesus instruction on what it means to abide in him, abiding in the vine. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. He spoke to his disciples:
If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.
Let’s look to the Lord and ask his blessing on this inerrant word that we have from him.
Father, we are so grateful for the preciousness of your word and the promises of scripture. We thank you father for the encouragement for us to draw close to you and father the the blessings of a relationship with you that mean eternal life and father the sweetness of fellowship with our savior the lord Jesus. All these things father we pray that you help us to see and grow in this morning. We ask Lord that you would encourage us and bless us through your word. Father that you would instruct us so that we know how to better approach you. And father we pray that by the abundant grace that you have have given us in Christ Jesus, we would mature as believers and be able to have a prayer life that is effective that accomplishes your purpose in this world. We ask Father for such grace and blessing in Christ’s name. Amen.
Well, last time three weeks ago, we were we I thought maybe I would remind you what that was about because it has been a bit. I remembered the sermon pretty well, but I didn’t remember that I was sick when I did it. You guys reminded me of that this morning. So it’s easy to forget things. But we were looking at this text and a few other texts on prayer on the the idea is as it was said to me, I’d love to have a few people that I could go to to make my to make prayer requests knowing that they’re the kind of people whose prayers are answered. And then she said, I want to be that kind of person. I want to be the kind of person who has a relationship with God whose prayers are answered.
That’s a that’s such a rich, wonderful aspiration. It’s truly great. And and it’s true of me too. As I said last time, I want to be that kind of person. And I’d love to have a church filled with people who I could make mention prayer request in the work of the Lord, knowing that they’re going to lift those prayers up to to the Lord and see his miraculous workings. I I think that that would be an extraordinary thing.
And then last time we looked at a couple of people as examples from from recent church history fairly recent if you count 150 years ago is recent. George Müller who was known for supporting thousands of orphans solely through prayer. He he didn’t ask anyone any human being for anything. He only asked the Lord and the Lord would meet the needs in extraordinary ways. He actually supported thousands of missionaries, thousands thousands of orphans and he founded a mission as well with missions and he did an enormous amount of extraordinary work. God used him in such wonderful ways. He was a man who knew how to pray.
And I also mentioned John Nelson Hyde who was a missionary in India who despite his physical and linguistic struggles he led hundreds of people to faith primarily through his overnight really intense prayer sessions and just looking at some of the story we looked at a couple of the stories from these men’s lives and it was truly extraordinary lives the kinds of lives that we might have if we lived the way they lived in relation with God. And that God could use us.
These men were uniquely gifted. No question. But I hesitate to say that they were that different from any of us. I don’t think they were. God gifts his people. Every one of us in this church is a person who has been gifted by the Holy Spirit of God in various ways and you can be used by God in extraordinary ways if we submit ourselves to him in relation to him.
I. Fellowship with God in Christ is a prerequisite for effective prayer
You know James who wrote this letter that we are looking at James the just James the brother of of the Lord was a man who was known for prayer and Ucidius who wrote a history in about fourth century was writing a history of the Christian church collected you know his sayings of people much earlier and he quotes Hegopus who was describing James. He said he said he was accustomed to enter alone into the temple and be found kneeling upon his knees and interceding for the forgiveness of the people so that his knees became as hard as that of a Hamill. James was a man of prayer. And he’s instructing us throughout this letter on what it means to be people of prayer.
A. Elijah is a man “of like passions,” but was also a man in fellowship with God
And he gives an example, you know, he gives an example that’s more extraordinary than George Müller or John Nelson H. He gives the example. If you want to look for a man whose prayers are effective, he singles out Elijah. He says Elijah He’s talking about effective prayers of a righteous man. And he singles out Elijah. You remember Elijah and the and the you remember the prophet Elijah? You remember what he was like? He the first miracle I think one of the first miracles mentioned that he was connected with was praying for the great drought. He went he declared to King Ahab that there’s not going to be any rain or d to fall on Israel until he gives the word. And that’s exactly what happened.
And then the one of the next miracles was because of the drought that occurred and the and the famine there was a widow who was starving to death and and he and that there was that flower and the oil that never failed. You remember that? Elijah’s prayer. Remember that same widow that boy died and she appeals to him. And Elijah prays for this boy and God restores the life of that young man. These are pretty big miracles that pretty extraordinary ways for God for God to act in in a person with a person’s ministry. And then he’s famous for calling down fire from heaven and Mount Carmel. In fact, that wasn’t the only time he called fire down from heaven on a couple of occasions, more than one. And then he prayed for the end of the drought. He he then he he just before he was offered up as I guess that’s the the right description he he parted the Jordan River and God used him to create to in some of the most remarkable miracles similar to those that took place with Moses used him in incredible ways. And then finally, you know, he goes to heaven in the whirlwind. He goes to he didn’t die a natural death, but he was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, in a chariot of fire.
That’s Elijah. You remember him? Look at James words about Elijah. He says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.” Now, if you look for somebody who has an extraordinary prayer life and you say, “Well, if ever there was somebody who is exceptional. It’s Elijah.” James says he’s just like us. He was a sinner who who God has shown great mercy to. He’s saved by grace just like us. He’s a person just like us. And so what James is saying is we need to we need to recognize that God can work extraordinary things through prayer and building his kingdom for his glory to his purpose and we can be part of it. Any one of us could be part of great things that God does in the world.
And so what an encouragement to pray and what an encouragement to pray large prayers to the Lord. So it says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly and he gives that example of that first miracle that when he tells Ahab that it’s not going to rain and so he tells Ahab that it’s not going to rain and doesn’t rain for three and a half years then he prays again and the sky pours rain and the earth produces its fruit.
So one of the things that’s crucial here is this key And I mean this way that we need to understand what it what it means what it means to have an extraordinary prayer life. I think the first thing is that is that we have to have a deep relationship with the Lord. We have to be living in fellowship with the Lord. Elijah is a man of like passions, but he’s also a man who’s in a right relationship with God. He’s in fellowship with God. In the chapter just before this, chapter 4 and verse 8, James says:
Draw near to God and he’ll draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your heart, you double-minded.
Sin is a very serious thing. You know, if you we we mentioned last time, if if you regard sin in your heart. The Lord doesn’t hear your prayers. It says in the Psalms tells us, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners.” There’s something very similar to that in that Paul writes when he’s addressing instructions for the church in his letter to Timothy. He writes, “Therefore, I want the men in I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands,” the men in the church should pray lifting up holy hands. You read that and you think, well, is that the way we should pray every Sunday morning when we come together? Should we be holding our hands up to the Lord? Well, that’s not the point of that verse. It’s not the posture that he’s talking about. That holy hands, hands that have been washed and cleansed. The idea goes back in part to the Jew the Jewish ceremonies. for worship. They had all these labors and people would wash their hands before they worshiped. There was nothing about cleanliness or getting rid of germs. It was symbolic. It was symbolism. And this is symbolism here as well because hands symbolize the activities of life. All the things that you do. And when you or if you have holy hands It represents a holy life. It represents a pure heart. It the the inward reality of a holy life. So the power of prayer is directly related to purity and to in our in our relationship that we have with God in our in in that in that sense. And yet it is not merit. It would shift and you could think well if I do all these things I will have I’m going to be good with the Lord. No the thing is you need to be good with the Lord then you’ll do these things.
II. What it means to abide in Christ
So what does it mean to live in such a relationship with God to live pure and right? Well, there’s an idea and so that’s why I have this other verse from John 15:4 which is really a key verse in these sermons. We closed with that last time. John 15:4 Jesus said:
Abide in me and I in you. And as the branch can’t bear fruit in itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
He goes on to say, “I’m the vine. You’re the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” In verse six, “if anyone doesn’t abide in me, he’s thrown away like a branch that withers.” Verse seven, “if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it’ll be done for you.” That’s the key verse that we’re looking at. Abide in me and I in you. If if I if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it’ll be done for you. And then he goes on to say, “as the father loved me, I’ve loved you. Abide in my love.” 15:10, “if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I’ve kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love.” In 1 John 2:27, “the anointing that you received from him abides in you just as he’s taught you abide in him.”
A. We share His life, His Spirit
Okay, that’s a whole list of verses. What are we talking about? What does it mean to abide in Jesus Christ? That’s the first group of these verses on abiding. To abide in Jesus Christ first of all means that we have the life of God in us. We have the very life of Jesus in us. That’s what that symbolism about the vine and the branches is about. We we’re in relationship with Christ. If you are the branch and he is the vine, the life flows from him into us. We have spiritual life. not in ourselves. We can’t do anything to get it. We receive it as a as abundant grace from God when we come to faith in Christ. And we are in the vine. We’re to abide in the vine. We’re to stay connected to to to the vine. And we are to have that have and enjoy that that life. That’s that’s key. And that’s the point of John 15 is that we’re in this deep fundamental relationship with Jesus Christ that is like it’s it’s like it’s biological, you know, it’s it’s deeper than than just what we say or what or what we do. We’re actually receiving we have the spirit of God in us. That’s why in 1 John 2:27, the anointing, the spirit that that you’ve received from him abides in you. So because of that, just as that spirit has taught you, abide in Christ.
B. We strive to live like Jesus
And there we shift the second part of this. And that is if you’re abiding in Christ, the person who actually is in Christ, connected to the vine, wants to do what Jesus desires, wants to be, wants to listen to his word, wants to listen to his commandment that says that we’re to love one another. For example, that’s specifically mentioned in First John and 1 John 2:6 says:
Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk the same way which he walked.
If you say if you and and by the way that’s a that’s a great verse to point this out. First John, the epistle to First John is telling us who is real in the church. That’s the point. Who’s truly saved? Who’s the person who’s a believer? That’s the point of First John. And so there’s all these things that he points to that indicates the reality of faith. And so you can say you can have a say so faith. You can say that you abide in him. But if you that’s really true of you, then you need to be walking the way Jesus walked. That’s what he says. You need to be walking as a as a as a figure of how you live your life. You need to be living your life and the way that Jesus lives his life. to the emphasis here again is on purity and the purity in a relationship with God. 1 John 3:6:
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
All right? If you actually abide in Christ, you don’t pursue sin. You don’t follow that and it become a characteristic of your life. You might get caught up in something for a bit, but a believer can’t stay in that. It’s not characteristic of a true believer. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
D.A. Carson, a theologian, tells a story about how he went to a conference in Europe. This was years ago and the conference there were people from all from different places and he he didn’t have many people to speak English to he but he spoke French and he found this person who spoke French and they kind of became friends another person who was attending this conference and they would meet together for lunch and different times and they have conversations and all of a sudden the guy wasn’t showing up for the conference and this man who was who was married and had a family he Carson put it together that this guy’s having an affair while he’s here. He’s having a relationship with some woman here in this hotel and he’s a married man and that disturbed him and so he decided to confront him about it. So he confronts him with this and the man says It’s my job to sin. It’s God’s job to forgive. You know what that is? That’s a person who is not abiding in Christ. That’s a person who is continuing in his sin. That’s a person who is pursuing sin and he’s presumptive of the grace of God. A person who lives like that doesn’t have a relationship with God. That that’s the person who regards sin in his heart and God doesn’t hear his prayers.
III. What it means for God’s Word to abide in us
So that’s the first part of that saying that that promise of Jesus that if if we abide in him and his word abides in us, ask whatever you wish and it’ll be done for you. If you abide in me, he says, we abide in Christ and his words abide in us. That’s the second part. The second part of this is that the word of God abides in us.
A. Believe and obey the received word
The word of God abides in us. The gospel truth that we originally heard, we continue to believe. We trust the word of God that we have been taught, the apostolic teachings. We regard it, value it, it’s precious to us. And if we if that is true of us, then we listen to it. If we have faith in the word of God, if we’re trusting the word of God, then we act that out naturally in our life, not to merit anything, not to earn anything, because because we love it. We value it. It’s God’s own word. So 1 John 2:24 says:
Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and the Father.
That’s the relationship fellowship with God. If the word of God is living in you, is is active in you by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, it it’s real to you and it shapes the way you think and the way you behave and and what you choose then you’re in a relationship a deep relationship with the son and with the father that’s what it says so that’s one part of it you know and it the other side of this and it’s just it’s a secondary thing but I think it’s still important and that is
B. To know and claim God’s promises.
But how can how can it abide in us if we don’t know it? How can the word of God abide in us if we have if if we if we you know once a week or or occasionally we hear something of the word of God? I mean don’t we need to be filling ourselves with the word of God, thinking about it, meditating on it for it to be in us? We should know it. So that’s where we come back to Elijah.
You know, it’s a it’s it’s interesting that Elijah is clearly a man who knows knows the word of God. He he’s the Lord spoke through him for one thing, but he knows the scripture. And so when you look at this example that James singles out. I think it’s interesting because you you might think that some of the other miracles that that that Elijah did would be a a bigger example. Now, he picks this one. He talks about the prayer of a righteous man because you remember Elijah on his knees when he when when he prayed for the rain. This this thing is seasoned with Elijah’s prayers. This is this this thing comes about because Elijah Elah is praying. But what is he praying? Elijah knows God’s word. He knows the word of God. And so Deuteronomy 11:16-17 is a message from God through Moses to Israel.
Be careful or you’ll be enticed to turn away and worship other gods.
What’s going on in Elijah’s day? They’re worshiping Baal. Israel is turned and worshiping Baal. Jezebel is leading the nation into idolatry. The whole nation is turned away from God to Baal. Deuteronomy 16:17:
Be careful or you’ll be enticed to turn away and worship other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce.
Israel’s in idolatry. The nation is in idolatry. Elijah claims the very word of God. He knows the word of God. And he goes to Ahab. And this is Elijah’s prayer. And this is Elijah’s proclamation to Ahab that it’s not going to rain until God gives me the word. And I tell you that’s the that’s the that’s the message. God is going to withhold the rain because God said he would hold the rain. He claims this promise. That’s the situation. They’re in exactly the situation. He goes to the passage in the Old Testament that says that this is the way God will act in this situation. He prays that God doesn’t He’s claiming a promise of God.
Later on, you know, it’s it’s not exactly, it’s very very interesting, but Solomon points out in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, when the Holy Spirit of God enters Solomon’s temple, Solomon prays, “When the heavens are shut up and there’s no rain because they’ve sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin when you’ve afflicted them. Then here in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the good way that they should walk and send the rain on your land which you have given to the people for an inheritance. Another promise that God sends the rain when the people repent. That’s exactly what Elijah claims. He’s taking the promises of God, lifting up to God, asking God to fulfill to fulfill his word.
George Muller and Arthur Pearson’s biography, Arthur Pearson was a contemporary of Müller and he wrote the fir I guess the first biography of Müller and he said that Müller would say to young people, “Put your finger on the passage on which your faith rests.” That’s a great advice. Find the passage and claim it. And he says that Müller applied this personally when he encountered a specific word, a promise for a crisis. He had put his finger on the text and he would say, “You have spoken. I believe.” Claiming the word of God in faith, looking for God to act for his own glory, working in in relationship with God because you’re abiding in him and claiming the very promises of God. That is an aspect of the word abiding in you and being used by the spirit of God because you know the promises of God and the claim. That’s one way for your prayers to be more effective. when you’re actually claiming what God says will happen.
III. How fellowship is restored when we sin
So, we need to recognize that these things need to be true of us. We need to be striving for a pure relationship with God because that’s the nature of Christian life. He came, John tells us, the reason Jesus came is to deliver us from our sins. We’re to be delivered from these sins. We’re to live a pure life before him. And yet we do sin, don’t we? And when we sin, the relationship that we have with God, the fellowship is is hindered. It’s broken in a way. It doesn’t mean that you’ve lost your salvation, but the fellowship is broken when we sin. And we we sin in countless ways. And often we know we’ve sinned. We know why we’ve sinned. And that that that hinders us in multiple ways.
I mean, for one thing, we can’t we can’t go before God as a hypocrite claiming to be righteous before God and regarding and continuing in the sin, protecting that precious sin in our heart. You can’t do that. That’s what the psalm means when it says he won’t hear at that prayer. God doesn’t listen to you if you come to him in hypocrisy. In fact, it’s it’s like you think you’re going to deceive God. You know what a ridiculous thing. You think you’re going to trick him. That’s that’s an extremely dangerous approach. I mean, you think of Ananas and Safara. That’s exactly what they were doing. You have not lied to me. Peter says, you have lied to the Holy Spirit. You can’t you can’t trick God. And God, you know, is not going to honor the prayer of a hypocrite to begin with.
But it’s more than that. When you sin against the Lord, your rel, you know, your relationship is not right with him. And what do you want to do? You don’t exactly want to go to the Bible. You know, you don’t want to spend that time with the Lord, right? Then you feel guilty. Your relationship has been hurt. You don’t have the same relationship with him because you’re if you feel the guilt and weight of your sin. And if you feel the guilt and weight of your sin, you we the tendency that we all have is to not do the good thing that we know to do in that situation. We want to hide from God just like Adam hid from God. You want to avoid him because guilt you don’t want to be confronted by him. So you tend to avoid avoid him. We can’t live that way. You know, you can’t you can’t you can’t be the hypocrite. You can’t be the per James by the way calls that a double-minded person. And he says that if you are a double-minded person, your prayer isn’t going to be answered because you it’s not a prayer of faith. You really aren’t trusting.
A. Walking in the light.
So what are we what’s the way back? you’ve sinned against the Lord. You don’t want to you don’t want to do the right thing that you know to do. I mean the Jerry Bridges gives a a good example of a person who that has a terrible morning. He sinned in some way. He didn’t do his Bible study that morning. Everything has gone wrong for him spiritually that day. And then he’s at the office and here’s an opportunity for him to share the gospel. It’s right there. What do you do? Jerry Bridges says you preach the gospel to yourself and you share the gospel. That’s the right thing to do. In other words, let me break that down so that we understand what he what he means so that we don’t miss it. John, we’re dependent on on the Apostle John in his study very much. And he explains it to us at the very beginning of his of of first John. He says:
If we walk in the light as he is himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus’s son cleanses us from all sin.
If we walk in the light, that’s he’s talking about having fellowship with God and with each other. That’s the relationship we’re looking for for an effective prayer life, fellowship with God. And so, how do you what does it mean to walk in the light? Well, first of all, we remember the word of God. The word of God confronts us with our sin. The reason you might miss that Bible that that that prayer time with the Lord and the reading of God’s word that morning is because you feel guilty and you don’t want to be confronted with your sin. Maybe you’re hiding from from God. But you don’t let that happen. You hear the word of God and the word of God convicts you of sin. You confess it. This in the very steps that follow John 1:7, walking in the light as he is himself is in the light. That’s letting his light the light of truth shine into your heart to reveal what’s there. Then you your your sin is revealed and you confess it.
One Eight, if we say we have no sin, we’re deceiving ourselves and the truth isn’t in us. If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That’s walking in the light. Your sin is revealed to you by God through his word. You know that you’ve sinned. You feel guilty over your sin. Instead of that driving you from God, it should drive have you to your knees. You come before God in confession. You look to the Lord for confessing exactly what you’ve done, repenting of it, turning from it. You don’t want this to ever happen to you again. You You turn from such sin because it hinders your the best thing in your life, which is your relationship with God. You confess it. And when you do that, he’s faithful to forgive you. He will forgive you. He will restore that relationship. You will be cleansed from the sin. And the only place that you can be cleansed from the sin is here. He’s faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. The relationship’s restored. We we can go there and and and fellowship with God. We can offer our prayers to God, not because we’re have any merit or righteousness, but because we are in Christ Jesus and we have his abundant righteousness. We’re to preach this gospel to ourselves, then come to God with our prayers in the confidence of the righteousness of Christ.
Let me pray for us. It’s time. And we’ll continue this next week and look at what it means to pray in the name of Jesus. And it doesn’t mean that we tack that on the end of a prayer. What does it mean to pray in his name? Let’s look to him and ask his blessing.
Father, we thank you for the abundant grace that you have shown us in giving us our savior, the Lord Jesus, and such mercy. How many times do you restore us? Father, thank you. for the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin. Thank you for the privilege that we have to walk in the light as you are in the light. Father, to to have when we when we fail in some way to have an immediate way to have that relationship restored to few. Father, we we pray that you work such grace in us and give us the desire to live right before you. every day of our life. And we pray that as we do so that you would grow our love for you. And Father, we thank you that when we offer our prayers to you that they come to your throne perfect, perfected by the power of your Holy Spirit. And Father, in the grace and strength and might of the perfect righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, Help us to pray great prayers for your glory, for your work, for the salvation of people. Father, help us to pray prayers that really matter and that would bring glory to the name of our savior. And let this be your heart and our desire and bless these prayers as they’re offered. Father, thank you for the powerful and wonderful things that you’re going to do. to the prayers of these people as they lift them up to you. We praise you for it truly in the name of our savior, the Lord Jesus. Amen.