Prayers Can Heal
Prayers Can Heal
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails 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 land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
—James 5:16–18
If there is one thing to be said about the Greek language, it is that it’s one of the most expressive languages in all the earth. Consider, for example, that in English we have only one word for love. Whether we are saying, “I love my wife” or “I love golf ” or “I love my dog” or “I love chocolate” or even “I love the Lord,” we use the same word for love. The Greeks, however, have several words for love: one to express the highest level of love—the kind that truly reflects God’s love, another to express fondness or affection for someone, and still another to refer to physical attraction.
Likewise, Greek has several words that we translate as “prayer” in English. The word for prayer in James 5:16 carries with it the idea of humbly begging for something, making an earnest plea. This isn’t a prayer that orders God to do this or that, nor is it one that claims a certain thing. This word suggests a needy man with his head bowed and his cap rolled up in his hands, humbly asking for help, not demanding it or claiming something he feels is due him. This humble prayer is approached with integrity, asked with intensity, and answered with immensity.
A PRAYER THAT IS APPROACHED WITH INTEGRITY
James said that an effective prayer is the prayer of “a righteous man.” This requirement may seem a bit threatening. Our first response may be “That leaves me out!” The word righteous has a rather foreboding ring to it. Knowing this, James inserted an illustration of the fact that “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” He mentioned Elijah and said that this great man of God was “a man with a nature like ours.” One minute he could be on the mountaintop celebrating and the next minute, under the juniper tree sulking. Elijah could be attacking huge problems head-on one minute and running from them the next. He was ordinary. He was just like you and just like me—and he was righteous. Simply put, Elijah was right with God. James wasn’t parading out super saints here. Just folks like you and me. For all believers are “righteous” as we stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Paul said, “[God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). In Christ, we are clothed in His righteousness.
But if spiritual righteousness is the only issue here, why aren’t more of our prayers answered? When James said the prayer of “a righteous man” avails much, he had in mind moral righteousness. He was speaking of the kind of integrity that John addressed in his epistle: “He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous” (1 John 3:7). The emphasis is on doing righteousness, not merely being righteous in God’s eyes. Righteous people practice what they preach. They are men and women of integrity. John added, “Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22, emphasis added). Prayer can heal a world of hurt when we approach the Lord with integrity.
A PRAYER THAT IS ASKED WITH INTENSITY
James was not talking about just any prayer, but about prayer that is “fervent.” We derive our English word energy from this Greek wording. Literally, it means “to be stretched out,” and it suggests an athlete stretching out toward the finish line with a final burst of energy. When we are striving to run the Christian race in obedience to Christ, our prayers take on a powerful and persuasive energy. They become fervent.
Prayers that get results are not long, drawn-out orations. They are pointed and powerful, asked with intensity and approached with integrity. They are prayers like that of the publican, “God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). These fervent prayers are like the one Simon Peter prayed while sinking in the sea, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30). They are prayers like Jacob’s, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!” (Genesis 32:26).
It is not the length of your prayers but the depth of your prayers that makes them effective. It is not the prayers that issue forth from your head, but the prayers that spring from your heart that are effective. So approach God with integrity, do those things He commands, and then pray with passion and intensity. Why? Because “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
A PRAYER THAT IS ANSWERED WITH IMMENSITY
This prayer James described “avails much.” When we are doing what is right—when we are praying in humility with a spirit of energetic fervor—God answers our prayers. Elijah, “a man with a nature like ours,” knew that truth. He approached God with integrity; he was a doer of the word, not just a hearer (James 1:22); and he asked with intensity. No wonder God answered with immensity and sent the rain to soak the parched land.
Before we finish looking at James 5:16, remember that we are in the section of James’s letter that deals with healing. One might find it a bit strange that James would use Elijah as an illustration here. Why not Naaman who was healed of leprosy? Why not the Shunammite woman’s son who was brought back to life? Why Elijah? Because primarily James was addressing our spiritual and emotional well-being, not just our physical well-being. Elijah’s prayers opened up heaven, and the Almighty sent refreshing rain upon a drought-stricken earth. And isn’t rain from heaven the real need of hearts that are hungry and souls that are dry?
God is still in the business of divinely intervening in the natural processes He established so long ago. Sometimes He uses doctors and medicine, but God Himself is the ultimate healer. James said, “The Lord will raise him up” (James 5:15). We will pray bolder prayers when we remember that God can do anything. When we pray, we are talking to a God who isn’t limited by time or space or anything He has ever created. He is, therefore, a God who answers our prayers with immensity. Effective prayer can make a difference in a world filled with hurting people.
God, help us to reach up to You with “effective, fervent” prayers, and then to be Your hands extended in reaching out to people in need.
Just Do It! Let me close this chapter with an awesome truth: God answers prayer. Don’t rush past that last sentence. Read it again: God really does answer prayer! If more of us truly believed this, we would spend more time talking to Him than just talking about Him. God always answers our prayers, and, sometimes His answer is direct. We pray and we immediately see the answer. Other times, His answer is delayed. For His own good reason, He places us in a holding pattern. Still other times, God’s answer is different. He does answer but differently than we expected, yet always for our own good. And then at times our request is denied. God simply says, “No.” And one reason He says no is because He always knows what is best for us.
From the book
