SERIES ON PRAYER: "PREVAILING AND VICTORIOUS PRAYING"

The word “prevailing” can be used in many ways. In economics, they speak of the “prevailing wage”.  This is the current pay for an employee and could include benefits, depending on the context. God’s economy though is ENTIRELY different than man’s fiscal operations.  “Prevailing” in terms of heaven, means something entirely different. The word itself – prevailing – derived from the Latin and means to “have greater power”.

There is a perfect example of prevailing prayer with King Jesus Himself when He told Peter (in Luke 22:31-32a) that “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.“ Now Jesus praying for one of His Creations – Peter – is guaranteed success! He is God, after all! We ain’t!

BUT, the Savior of the World showed us something special here. Basically, the Lord is teaching His prayer warriors to prevail and avail. One of the very potent facets of the type of prayer is expectation by predomination. That may sound like some preacher man made-up phrase.  

But look at some of the words uses in these two victory verses, of prayers well answered by Heaven:

• ....(Jesus said) “I have prayed for you”. Jesus has prayed for Peter AND HE HAS PRAYED FOR US! He is a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King. He is still interceding for us before the Throne of Almighty God the Father. When we pray for someone else or ourselves, the Holy Spirit interprets our prayers with “groanings and more which only the Trinity can comprehend”.  Therefore, Satan can slam as sideways every which way from Monday, but the truly born-again have the right as sons and daughters appeal to heaven!
• This is ALL Jesus had to say – “I have prayed for you.” So now, how do we prevail – get the superior answer from Heaven for which we are hoping? Two things: we avail and call on His Name!

All the riches of Heaven (which are not the same as the temporary scratch of this world) are available to the Christian. By the way, it is available to only those who not just profess Jesus is the Savior and Lord, but have had their sins forgiven and accepted Him as Lord of their lives. Anything else is ignoring the Jesus-spoken truth of Mark 1:15.

We have not, as Christians, because we ask not. If what we ask for is not good for us, in the opinion of our Creator, we will not get it. If the timing is not right, according to His plans and purposes, we will receive the correct version of our request when our hearts, minds, and circumstances are aligned to see God’s Perfect Hand in the matter.

The first key to availing ourselves in prayer and supplication is to persevere in our Faith and love for Christ, then to persist (see the previous posting on Persistent Prayer).  The second key is to stay in the zone. Each of us has our own piece of the wall, in this life, to which to attend.  While most may do this correctly, our attitudes and love for God while building our portion of the wall, will count in towards the outcome of our prayers.

If we start doubting God, by thinking He has turned a deaf ear to us…..and continue in this unbelief, well, sometimes He may answer, sometimes He may not. Everyone has down moments. Even John the Baptist got depressed in Herod’s prison and sent a messenger to ask his own cousin, whom he (John) knew was God, “if he was the Messiah”! Jesus was not offended but sent a word back of encouragement and testimony of miracles.

This is how the Lord rolls. In seasons of doubt and despair, He will not abandon us.  It is impossible to recall how many times in the last few decades, that the Lord has sent help, hope, encouragement and more…even before He answers a prayer request.  Availing is simple – just trust and be faithful. You will prevail.

The (half) brother of the Lord – James – who was saved after the Resurrection, reminds us that the "effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”. That is an almost week English translation, as beautiful as the prose is. What James actually said, in the original language is this “much prevails the prayer of a righteous man”! 

Now, this is even more significant, because of what goes before this phrase in the same verse, and the very fact that we are availing ourselves of the very power direct from Heaven.  The full verse reads “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" (James 5:16).

The word confession here says nothing about going to a priest. It means holding yourself accountable before God and man. This makes the prayer even stronger.  The power being this righteousness, keeping short accounts with God and man and praying (communicating) via a direct line with the Almighty is what makes this so strong.

In fact, this is what the word “prevail” means here. It means my prevailing prayer has strength. It means I am able to boldly approach the Throne of Grace and offer my petitions. It means that according to my strong faith and confidence in the Savior, I can pray like Jesus and be successful….even if the answer is no!

The word “confidence” is derived from “con” – meaning with and “fide” – faith.

When we pray with confidence, we pray WITH FAITH.

When we pray as one who is settled up with God and those around us, we pray righteously.

When we pray thus, we pray effectively.

When we pray effectively, we pray in sweet, sweet victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. This is the essence of prevailing prayer. 

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PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES - THE BOOK OF JAMES, #10

METHODOLOGY CONCERNING: ACCOUNTABILITY

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:16a).

There is no more Christian act than to pray for your fellow man or woman - without fear, without favor and without concern if he or she is even a Christian at all! It is a special honor, even calling, to be able to stand in the gap for another in prayer and supplication before the Throne of God. Theoretically, we are commanded to do so, as this verse from James 5 commands, but in practice, it does not work this way.

The Lord, through James is calling for two spiritually critical things, on two separate tracksl in one command here: Accountability and Intercession. First, He is recommending strongly here that we each hold one another accountable and in today's parlance, this would most likely be in a small group. We are all accountable to someone, from our managers at work to our spouses, to the church board or the local town council. Everyone answers to someone else. 

Above all, Christians must be accountable to each other. A man or woman of God has to beware of this from the Lord "let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). Every pastor, ministry leader or christian who has ever stumbled or worse, in the area of sin and/or immorality fed by pride and lack of a humble spirit. Even worse, the lack of any kind of Prayer Life opens the door to sin and destruction. While one would expect a successful Christian leader to be more susceptible to such sin, never think that the poor guy in the small church at the store front is not in Satan's cross-hairs, for the same reason! In fact, the song leader of the church with 21 members is in just as much danger is the mega-church worship leader with this $100 jeans and fancy coffees or designer water. Both can possess the same lack of a meaningful prayer and accountable Christian life!

All Christians must guard against unconfessed sin and lack of accountability. An accountability partner, whether wife or older gentleman in the church, would be perfect. But to Whom we are most accountable, most of all, is the Lord Jesus Himself. So this call to prayer by James is the precise methodology of getting out and staying out of trouble- confession and prayer. Confession is the first step in the process of Repentance humility, where there underlies the crux of the matter: communication with the High Priest of Heaven- Jesus.

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WHY PRAY? Part 3 - BE ACCOUNTABLE!

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed... (James 5:16a)

Does this verse teach that we should open a confessional and have a man of the cloth listen to us confess, so he could tell us to go do some penance for it? No- what the Lord is teaching through James, the half-brother of Jesus the Christ, is accountability. We are a fallen people whose tendency to 'miss the mark' increases in frequency and intensity, the further we move from those who are appointed to watch out for us.

For the most part, accountability is not primarily the function of the pastoral, but the call of the Godly and moral. The word confess here means to not just repent before God, but to agree out and out that one has fallen short, did something wrong or untoward, and having acknowledged that sin or trespass on turf where one should not be, one has the privilege and opportunity to be allowed to give praise. Now this is not the convoluted thinking of the world and pop psychology!

Secular psychology will tell you that this 'confession of sins' simply means you have "issues or problems"....and thus, "set up another therapy session" and a temporal answer from man's thinking will evoke responses totally against the Word of God. What we are searching here for is Godly responses and reactions to minor and/or major sin, which is still viewed as sin before God. What Abba Father, our loving Father Who wants the best for us is saying here- "you sure messed up here on this one, son/daughter...but after you ask Me for forgiveness, go to Susie or Jack over there and apologize, make it right or pay for that window you broke when the rock flew off your lawn mower last week and you kept quiet about it."

In the case of small groups, women are better about discussing their shortcomings with other women and seeking answers, biblical or otherwise, if they are walking with the Lord. But for some reason, men's mouths are shut tighter than the vault door at Fort Knox as to their transgressions. The answer is to have a mentor, an accountability brother or band of brothers with whom a man studies the Word of God with on a regular basis. The vast majority of men are not in such a fellowship and are therefore, sitting ducks for the enemy, when they slip up and fall short. Those who are not walking with the Lord have their drinking buddies, golf buddies, baseball buddies or even their former military buddies....and some of them would even share their troubles with each other. In fact, some of these lost men (and women) are better about supporting their fellow brother or sister than most Christians, who come of as self-righteous hypocrites to just about every body else.

So, how do we get around and over these obstacles - hypocritical and otherwise? We are strongly encouraged to pray here for those of us, who have sinned against someone else in particular, and against God in general, because it really affects our spiritual lives. To be free of this burden of sin, we must realize that the Power in the Blood requires the following two-step: take it to Calvary's Cross and then pray before taking it to the person you and I have crossed!

The portion of verse 16 we look at here is the Scriptural version of this aforementioned two-step. We are not supposed to be like the world and dance around sin, tripping the light fantastic with the devil and his music. Our music flows sweeter when the admission of our shortcomings are prayed up to God and then 'fessed up to each other, that reconciliation and restoration can take place. 

There is no healing without prayer. There is no revealing of sweet fellowship with God and man without removing barriers through prayer. There is no relationship, vertical or horizontal, without kneeling before the Throne - in prayer. Selah...Prayer is the key that opens the door to loving relationships between you and I and the rest of the Children of God.