Effective Prayers-Defined

Today, I would like to give you a little bit of explanation. I think it is due.

The past writings have focused on an issue that is, for many of us, difficult to grasp. There are many names that we use for it, but there is only one that God uses.

I have talked, a lot, about "the chasm". I have spent some time looking at the first effective prayer. But, there is (it seems to me) a fluid dynamic at play here that we have not really discussed.

Look, if you would, at a Scripture. James 5:15-18

God gives us here, not only a very useful definition, but a principle example that we should use, and understand.

God tells us in this part of the Love Story that He has sent you and I that there is a formula we must become. It looks like this: a + b = c.

Can you plug in the variables?

We have said that the first secret of effective prayer is that the prayer must be to God. In this passage, God tells us His response directly.

What is it that causes, or empowers our prayers to the point that they become effective? What was it that Jabez had that turned God away from His busy schedule, and listen?

Here, God does not say that effective prayer is, by itself, a prayer to Him. Yet most of us seem to believe that is the case, and we certainly act like it.

"Hey, I did my part. I prayed. Now God has to answer it, right?"

Not according to this passage, He doesn't. Not according to Jabez, He doesn't. And, surprisingly, not according to God He doesn't.

Even on the Genesis 1:1 side of the Big Dig, it was not merely uttering His Name that caused God to bust the speed limit. If you remember, it was the heart. The passion of the prayer. In that moment, you were transformed, you see. You did not merely pray. You prayed for all you were worth! It was "fervent" prayer. You should probably look this word up in your Dictionary. You can find one here. Fervent prayer is not uttering words. It is to put every feeling, thought, and hope into a suitcase and send it riding through the vast reaches of time and space across an infinite void. The word is not empty. It is loaded to the hilt with all that we are. And in that moment, we stand at the edge and realize that is our destiny. Our hope is gone, because the reality of the situation has become so very clear to us that we cannot misunderstand it.

And, when we cry out, fervently to God from our heart, then He will hear our prayer. But that does not, alone, require His response. When we cry out, in fervent prayer, "God!", I see Him turning around in Heaven and saying "Did someone call Me?"

We must get His attention. We need Him to know that it is not one of the many, standing over there. How do we part ourselves away from the masses of dancers? What is it that separates us into a moment of unique identity that tells God that he not only heard, but that He heard us?

Our first effective prayer is:"You are the God of Creation!"

It is a declaration of our relationship with Him. It is like we are declaring across the chasm "You are driving the boat!" We understand that they are His Rules, and that it is His game. And, we are telling him that we want to play His game, His way. There's a word for that, and it is the container of our relationship with God.

Righteousness.

It is a measure of how well we are playing the game. It is a measure of how fully we understand the rules of the game. And, when the measure is sufficient, the God of Creation then, and only then, responds. God is not a bully. But, it's His gig. It is NOT God's job to respect us, and respond on demand like some trained seal, working for favors.

When you go to someone's home to visit, and you are asked to remove your shoes at the door, what do you do?

When you go to renew your driver's license, why do you stand in line?

When you go to the bathroom, why do you always reach for the toilet paper?

First, you honor the maker of the rules, and the rules they make. It's only polite, and respectful.

When you cry out "You are the God of Creation", you do the same thing. And you start a relationship if God believes you. But, when you are in that moment, over there on that side of the pit, I wonder if you will cry out from your heart only once. Or, will you cry out until you have no breath left?

It's hard to holler when you are crying. Have you ever noticed that? It is using one breath to accomplish more purpose than the breath can do. That is fervent.

In the passage I asked you to look at, we talked about a formula. Now lets see if we can plug in the variables.

a = fervent prayers

b = righteous man

c= effective prayer

The fervent prayers of a righteous man are effective prayers, and cause God to respond. God is a conditional thinker. When we do our part, He does the God thing. We cannot, on our own, create righteousness. I mean to say that we cannot create our own righteousness. Righteousness is a measure of the reflection of God in us. As the moon has no light of its own, neither do we have one iota of non-reflected righteousness. Our "luminosity" is always indirect. when we cry out, from over there, we are reflecting the absolute maximum righteousness available to us. And that, my friend, is what causes God to respond. Only then will God hear our prayer from Heaven. And, only when we reflect His Righteousness will our prayers be effective. Our prayers must be fervent, because God's Glory cannot be contained in our mere words. The fullness of our righteousness is our total ability to reflect the relationship we have with Him. It is no easy task. But, it is no difficult task either. It just, sometimes, takes a while to do the job!

And, the passage that we see tells us that when we do our part, God does His part.

The fervent prayers of a righteous man (or woman-here the word is for mankind, not merely the gender) are effective, and cause God to respond. They require God to respond. Please understand that God is not held hostage to our Prayers. He simply plays by the rules He created. "If" you do this, then "I" do this. And, our job is to do "this" until God responds. They are only effective when God responds. We will discuss how God responds much, later.

The fervent prayers of a righteous man are effective, and the results are huge (availeth much)!

How huge?

In the passage we learn, again, of Elijah and a prayer he prayed to God. How's that for huge? A righteous man prayed fervently for the rain to stop, and it did-for three and one half years! And, only when this same man, with the same faithful righteousness prayed again for the rains to come did things get wet. Was that all about Elijah? Hardly. God does what He does for His Glory.

We sometimes get all hung up on that whole concept. Trust me, we will deal with it fully just down the road a bit. But let me tell you that God is about His Glory all the time. Not because He wants it, or needs it from us. But, rather because He wants us to live in the fullness of it, as a reflection of Himself in us. He desires to share with us His Glory. Shakaina. Have you ever heard of it? The unspeakable, indefinable, unimaginable Glory of the God of Creation is the idea of this word. (Because this is a personal journal, and not a published thesis for evaluation, I am not so worried about spelling. Bear with me, please.)

Shakaina Glory is also shared between God and His kids. He reflects the fullness of His Glory to those who are righteous. It's a benefit of playing the game by His rules. God needs nothing, He's God. He's not so lonely that He just can't do without us. There are millions upon millions of angels in Heaven singing of His Glory every moment of eternity. So why does God need you or me?

Every creation is a reflection, in one way or another, of its creator. And, of all the things which God created, only one has the gift of choice. We have been set higher than all other living things on the Earth, just slightly lower than those very same angels I mentioned. We can choose, over there, to lose our filthy rags, and be clothed in the fullness of God's Glory. The closer to Him we are, the more righteous we are, the more of His Glory we reflect. This is, in a word, pleasing to Him. Why?

Because it is a testimony to the World of our relationship. Our righteousness floods light into a dark place. If you have ever been inside the center of a cave, you must surely know how much light can be produced by one single match. Imagine that same match becoming a candle. Not only light, but light for a long time. Now, imagine that candle being transformed into a 2,000 mega-watt halogen klieg light that is connected to a 35,000 watt electric generator, plugged into a nuclear power facility! And that's just where righteousness begins.

In the case of Elijah, the fervent prayers of one righteous man stopped rain for over three years. Not only that, but a single prayer at that. How's that for effective prayer? And to prove the matter, it was not until that very same man prayed again for the rains to come that they came. Do you realize what that means? One prayer stopped the natural laws of climatology. Well, let's say redirected them. We will talk about that later.

But it does bring into focus one of the biggest conflicts in faith. Well, did Elijah's prayer physically, actually stop the rains? Or is that just some illustrative story to prove a point? What does God say about it? What does Jabez say about it? What do you say about it?

The Middle-Eastern Climatological Historical Survey said it actually happened. What they do not say is why it happened. They weren't there. They have no "first-hand" data to prove a point they don't care about. But, they have plenty of evidence that such an occurance did in fact take place, in the specific area where Elijah was standing when he prayed.

One thing that has constantly amazed me is that no single shred of scientific evidence has yet to be created that contradicts Scripture. The Bible does not contradict itself, or God. The Bible does not contradict a single thread of whatever scientific data, from whatever source you choose. Science confirms Scripture, when it is real science. (If you really want to follow this stream of thought further, I would highly recommend a book by a guy named Josh McDowell. He has a book titled "Evidence That Demands A Verdict!" You can look it up here.

The fervent prayers of a righteous man are effective prayers, and the results are so huge that they can only come from one source: God Himself. In our Elijah example, it seems to me that you have a couple of choices. You must read the story in it's context over in the Old Testament, but you will see that there was very definitely reasons for Elijah to pray this prayer.

Was it about Elijah? Was it about his power? Was it about his "stuff"? Was he trying to pray in for himself a new car? Was he all about impressing his fellow worshippers in Church? Hardly. Was it about his righteousness, and his reflecting the fullness of the Glory of God?

What does God say about it? What does Jabez say about it? What do you say about it?

We know what James said about it, that's for sure. James had plenty of reason to know about it. He was a follower, and a Disciple of Jesus christ. He was so convinced of it, that he was killed for talking about it, but kept right on speechifyin' about it to his very last breath. What did Christ think of James?
I would let you search on that one yourself. But be sure to look up the terms "Sons of Thunder!" (That's a nickname Jesus used)

If you are playing by the rules, over here on the Genesis 1:3 side of the pit, amazing things happen. Amazing to who? You? They shouldn't be. But they sure can seem amazing to those of us kids who aren't as righteous as you. That's how we fill each other's righteousness container up. We share the reflection of God, each in our own way. (Not, as Lucifer sadly determined, in our own light!) It is not about us. It is always about Him.

To believe that we are somehow worthy of God's reflected Glory just simply amazes me. You know, to me, that is just like the Rooster who believes that the sun rises, simply because he crows! There is no righteousness in such thinking, or living. There is no reflection of the Most High God in believing that you are, somehow, "entitled" to anything. And, if you need just one more reminder, I'll ask ya: What did YOU do to get across the hole? Did you spread your arms and flap your way across? Did you put on your really awesome lookin' $ 800 hiking boots and trek your way from one side to the other? Did you drive your totally incredible Hummer through the muck, and the mire?

I don't think so...nope, I don't. If you do, I'd say you'd better do a quick GPS check on your position, friend. There's a lot of "over there" over there.

We must pray. To God. Fervently. Righteously. That is effective prayer.

Are you praying? Are you praying to God? Are you praying to God without ceasing? Are you praying to God without ceasing in the fullness of His Righteousness?

What would God say about that?

What would Jabez say about that?

What do you say about that?


Be Blessed, Indeed!



Unohu