"Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray.
Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.
Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you,
anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.
Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.
And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall,
none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again,
the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops."
James 5: 13 - 18 NLT
I know this may come across as harsh, but I have to admit that there are certain people in my life that I would simply prefer to pray for me.
Of course, I'll never refuse to be prayed for by anyone, because prayer is awesome in general! But I've found that some people are able to pray with a different level of power and authority. Like the above verse mentions, the earnest prayer of a righteous person (a person in right standing with God based on faith in Christ, not on their works) is effective and produces wonderful results. So by that clarification there seems to be, based on scripture, a difference between effective and ineffective prayer.
Now, I'm not trying to get into a complete discussion about what constitutes effective prayer. But I'll go as far as saying that faith (Matthew 17:20), the genuine motivation behind your prayer (James 4:2-3 ), making a clear "ask" (Matthew 7: 7-10) and how well connected you are to God (John 15:7) all play a role.
Matthew 17 recounts the story of a father who brings his demon-possessed son to be healed by Jesus' disciples. The disciples are unable to cast out the demon, and they proceed to ask Jesus why they were unsuccessful. In Jesus' matter-of-fact style, He tells them that they had too little faith. He goes on to say:
"I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard see,
you could say to this mountain,'Move from here to there,' and it would move.
Nothing would be impossible.'"
While I was reading this verse the other day, I noticed something that I had never noticed before. In this passage, Jesus does not mention at all whether the mountain moving was in God's will or not. And it made me think about how many of us are reluctant to pray with power and authority because we don't know what God's will is on a subject. So instead of praying, "Mountain, be moved" we pray, "Lord, I'm not sure if moving the mountain is in your will or not, but may your will be done with this particular mountain."
I've personally been challenged a lot in this area over the last few years. I used to feel a lot of hesitation in praying for specific things, not just because I wasn't sure about God's will, but also because, if I'm honest, I was trying to manage my disappointment upfront. How would I feel if those prayers were not answered the way I'd hoped? How would that affect the way I perceived God's goodness? Would I doubt that He was listening? What were my expectations? (Check out Celine's blog on Great Expectations here)
To that point, I think it is prudent to ensure that we are not putting our hope in the OUTCOME of the prayers. Our ultimate hope and trust should always be in God himself, not in whether some specific prayer was answered. However, scripture is clear that God wants us to exercise some level of specificity in our prayers, and that these prayers should be bathed with faith and the authority and power we have been given by Jesus Christ himself. Why? Because, not only is prayer a great privilege, it's also an immense responsibility that we all, as followers of Christ, are called to do at all times (1 Thessalonias 5:17). And if I'm called to do something at all times, I sure hope that all the time I'm spending doing it is effective!
In closing, the next time you want to shrink away from being specific in prayer, remember that God does not just respond to need. He responds to faith. So SPEAK to that mountain and TELL IT to do something. And rest assured that God will handle the rest.
I've personally been challenged a lot in this area over the last few years. I used to feel a lot of hesitation in praying for specific things, not just because I wasn't sure about God's will, but also because, if I'm honest, I was trying to manage my disappointment upfront. How would I feel if those prayers were not answered the way I'd hoped? How would that affect the way I perceived God's goodness? Would I doubt that He was listening? What were my expectations? (Check out Celine's blog on Great Expectations here)
To that point, I think it is prudent to ensure that we are not putting our hope in the OUTCOME of the prayers. Our ultimate hope and trust should always be in God himself, not in whether some specific prayer was answered. However, scripture is clear that God wants us to exercise some level of specificity in our prayers, and that these prayers should be bathed with faith and the authority and power we have been given by Jesus Christ himself. Why? Because, not only is prayer a great privilege, it's also an immense responsibility that we all, as followers of Christ, are called to do at all times (1 Thessalonias 5:17). And if I'm called to do something at all times, I sure hope that all the time I'm spending doing it is effective!
In closing, the next time you want to shrink away from being specific in prayer, remember that God does not just respond to need. He responds to faith. So SPEAK to that mountain and TELL IT to do something. And rest assured that God will handle the rest.
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