“The prayer of a righteous man (Jesus) is powerful and effective.” James 5:16
Dear Jesus, my prayer life, like many other parts of my discipleship, has suffered the damaging effects of bad teaching through the years. This one verse in James used to intimidate me and discourage me from praying. I assumed the only “powerful and effective” prayers were ones you answered with a big “Yes.” Worse I thought the health of my prayer life was directly related to my maturity as a Christian—a scary thought now.
Thankfully, the Gospel has been deconstructing and rebuilding my prayer life. Jesus, I now understand that you are the “righteous man” whose prayers are powerful and effective—perfectly answered by your “Yes’s, No’s, Not Yet’s, and Trust Me’s.” And the only righteousness I have is yours—freely given to us through the Gospel (Hallelujah!).
Jesus, you are our great prayer warrior—ever living to pray for us—ever-so-graciously purifying our prayers as they rise to heaven. Because our permanent address is “in Christ,” we’ve been set free to pray with palms-up boldness.
You are the sovereign King who is reigning over all things, not a computer waiting to be programmed by us. You are our great Bridegroom who enjoys communing and fellowshipping with us in prayer, not our “cosmic-concierge,” waiting for a call to arrange our day trips.
Because the Gospel is true, throughout eternity our declaration will be, “You have done all things well.” Why pray? Because you are God and we are not. Why pray? Because you command it, commend it and commune with us through it. ‘Tis way more than enough reason. So Very Amen.