Persistent Effectual Fervent Prayer

Today we are going to talk about prayer.  The Lord has been dealing with me and my family a lot on the subject of prayer.  Many times I have been convicted in just the past few weeks alone on my lackluster prayer life.  If you are like me, you have probably treated prayer as an obligation that you must fulfill to be considered a good Christian.  Maybe you get on your knees in the morning, say your piece and then leave.  Maybe you just recite a prayer every night before bed and call it quits.  The Lord has been making it very clear to me that this is not enough.  As Pastor G. Craig Lewis said in his sermon “Last Hour Prayers”, “I know a lot people that believe they’re prayer warriors, but the spirit realm don’t believe it.”  Are we being effective in prayer?  Do our prayers stir up the spirit realm and reach their targets?  This what we will be discussing today.  1 Thessalonians 5:17 says:

Pray without ceasing.

Short and sweet.  This is what we are called to do as Christians.  For a long time, my prayer life has been inconsistent.  I would go days and weeks without prayer.  I was just going around making my own decisions and then when things went wrong, which they eventually do when I am left to my own devices, I would get on my knees and ask the Lord to save me.  Because I serve a wonderful and merciful God, He always came to my rescue.  But why live crisis to crisis?  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  Do you know why the Lord doesn’t want me to lean to my own understanding?  Because it’s dumb.  My prayer life has been in the garbage for as long as I can remember, and when I reflect on the person I was even just a couple of years ago, I realize that I do not like that person.  Only by the grace of God am I in graduate school.  The persistent prayers of my grandmother and mother have kept me on the path of righteousness.  Apart from God, I am nothing and the time I spent going my own way is a testament to that. 

James 5:16 says:

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

What is effectual fervent prayer?  According to the Oxford dictionary, effectual means successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective.  Fervent means having or displaying a passionate intensity.  We are to pray continually and persistently with effectiveness and intensity.  Where is our passion and intensity for Christ?  I had the opportunity to visit the Lord of Hosts church in Omaha and hear a message that really touched my heart and made me feel ashamed as a proclaimed Christian.  Pastor Hank Kunneman talked about how we must be zealous for the Lord.  Paul in Galatians 4:18 says, “But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing…”  Where is our fire for God and His word?  Have we, who are supposed to be His voice on this earth, compromised so much that you cannot tell us apart from the world?  What has happened to us Christians that we have allowed the normalization of abortion and sexual immorality to run rampant in our countries and, even more devastating, in our churches?  We are called to be sanctified, or set apart.  When we go somewhere, people should feel the Lord’s presence and sense something different about us.  We should not be ashamed of who we are.  For the sake of Jesus Christ, we will always face persecution.  2 Corinthians 4:7-10 says:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

We are not called here on this earth to please men, but to live as a living sacrifice unto Christ (Galatians 1:10).  Is your TV show so good that you choose to ignore the glorification of sexual promiscuity?  Is your music so great that you choose to ignore the profanity and vile lyrics?  What are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of our almighty God?  What sets you apart from the world today?  What compromises have you made so that you could be accepted by the world?  These are the questions I have had to ask myself.  It has led me to confess many sins before the Lord and repent for indulging in my flesh. 

1 John 5:14-15 says:

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him.

How do we pray according to His will?  We know His will by seeking Him first and spending time with Him.  Just as you build relationships with the people around you and get to know their likes and dislikes, spend time with the Lord and understand what He loves, despises and desires.  He has been emphasizing to me to pray His word.  Say, “Lord, right here in your word you promised [insert Biblical text here] and I am standing on that word today and claiming that promise.”  We must approach the throne of grace boldly (Hebrews 4:16).  We gain that confidence by spending time with Him and studying His word.  We grab His attention by entering into His presence with praise and thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6-7).  Prayer is not just rehearsed lines or something to do.  If you truly understand who it is you are going before, your tongue should be overflowing with praises, your heart abounding with love for Him, and your soul desperately crying out to Him. 

My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in one of the most crucial and important battles of our lifetime and prayers are needed more than ever.  If you are paying attention, you know that the church and our religious freedoms are under attack.  I will even give you an example that happened close to me.  At my university, a professor handed out a syllabus that stated that any student who opposes the pro-choice or Black Lives Matter movement are up for dismissal from the classroom.  To take a general requirement, you would have to adopt what she believes.  Thankfully, the university has responded and protected the right of free speech in the classroom, but realize the efforts to shut you up and keep you afraid are getting bolder and reaching new heights. Although this is the case, do not be discouraged. We serve a mighty God.  This is not the time to crumble or be overwhelmed by fear.  It is time to pray like you have never prayed before.  Pray for our leaders, pray for the country, pray for those under oppressive leaderships, pray for our liberty, pray for God to reign down justice.  This is not the time for us to fall apart, but to come together and lift up a unified voice.  I am calling on you to join me in persistent effectual fervent prayer.  Let’s be in constant communication with God, involving Him in all of our decisions and praying over every situation that comes to our attention.  If we claim to be Christians, we must act like it.  Stay informed, discern the times we are in and pray.