The Power of Prayer part 4 Our Example

Well, take your Bible and turn with me to the book of James. Like I said earlier, we are finishing up this wonderful practical book, the book of James. And the title of the series is "Being Good Works Flow From Good Faith." And it's been my desire to equip you, not just teach you, but equip you to be able to live out your life, your Christian life, in the biblical way. I'll give you an example of how practical this is. I was talking to a particular friend that doesn't live around here that loves the Lord, and he was telling me about some obstacles in his life and some opportunities in his life and some choices in his life.

These were positive in nature. And I was able to really just turn around and speak to him what God taught us out of the book of James regarding trials. Trials come, and they're positive and they're negative. And we face these trials, and this proves us and teaches us, and it causes us, if we live out what we've learned, it causes us to have good works, good Christian works that come out of not just a profession of faith, but our true possession of a real faith because we are born, again, believers. Now, the practical nature of the book has been obvious. And we have been looking at some practical verses, verses 13 through 18.

We're finishing up this portion, these portion of verses, and we've been dealing with prayer. We've learned that James is teaching us how to pray and what prayer looks like in many different circumstances of life. I gave you a quotation last week that I really held onto this week. Warren Wiersby says that prayer is a high and holy privilege. But it's not just a privilege I said last week. It is a command and it is an obligation. But I want to reiterate that the motivation of our heart is out of love. We love the Lord. He saved us. We want to walk with him and we want to serve him. We want to be the people that God wants us to be.

And therefore, we must have a true, legitimate prayer life. And James is teaching us prayer in these different circumstances in life. In verse 13, he taught us about prayer and suffering. Suffering in interpersonal relationships, conflict, conflict in the life of the church, conflict with people in your life. This is not a perfect world that we live in, you know. People are not perfect. Even those of us who love the Lord are not perfect. We will suffer sometimes because of the way we're treated. James teaches us how to pray in those circumstances. Second, he taught us how to pray when we are sick.

Verse 14 through the beginning of verse 15, James teaches us about healing and sickness and how to approach that in a spiritual manner. And then third, James taught us about prayer in regards to sin. Remember we dealt with confession of sin in the life of the church. We're supposed to be a loving, caring body, a loving, caring group of Christians, brothers and sisters. And when we have a brother, we have a sister that's struggling. They're struggling with a particular sin. They should be able to come in the appropriate time, in the appropriate manner, and to the appropriate people to confess that and deal with that.

And we're supposed to pray for them as we see them struggling. Now we're going to move on into the remaining verses, these verses in prayer, verse 13 through 18. And we're going to see how James gives us a very illustrative example of prayer and how our prayer life should be. Now teaching is one thing, but showing and demonstrating is another. Let me repeat that. Teaching you is one thing, but yet if I show you and explain to you, it's a whole other matter. Many of you know that I do carpentry work, I'm a tent maker by trade. What I mean by that is I'm by vocational. I'm a pastor. Yes, but I also work for myself.

And the way I operate, and I might be a little bit backwards and crazy. If you tell me how to do one thing, if you tell me how to do something, it's one thing. But if you show me and if you illustrate it for me, and if you give me an example, I might just have that aha moment. In other words, it might all come together. That's really what James is doing right here. James is showing us a great example of prayer. Now the title of the message this morning is the power of prayer part four. I call it our example, our example. And we're going to look at an old Testament figure named Elijah.

He's a very famous man of God, not just in the old Testament, but the new Testament as well. Let's back up with our verses, the end of verse 16, and we'll go on down to verse 18. James says the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. And it's almost like with verse 17, it's almost like he says, let me give you an example. Because what does he say? Elijah, he was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it did not rain on earth for three years and six months. Verse 18, and he prayed again in the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

We have a great example with this man, Elijah. I call it part four, our example. And you see on the screen, the main truths that we're going to look at as we take some time in these verses. So if you're taking notes, I hope that you do. You jot down these notes for your study time, your prayer time, so that you can get all that the Lord wants you to get this morning with the message. So truth number one, I want us to see potential in prayer, potential in prayer. Go back to that verse, that end of verse 16. What does James say? The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Now this is a very famous portion of scripture.

This is a very familiar verse for most of us. Now the, I like how the English standard version renders the verse. The English standard version says the prayer of a righteous person has great power in its working or as it is working. Now when I read that verse, I see potential. That's why I penned it that way. Potential in prayer. There is great potential. That's what James is saying, because he says the effective, the powerful prayer of a righteous man can do great and powerful things. That's basically what he's saying. So I see potential there.

Now I want to break this verse down and I want us to see just some truth in this portion of verse 16. First, I want you to see effective prayer. I want you to see effective prayer. We see that. It says the effective prayer. Now the King James says the effectual fervent prayer. Now this word effective is where we get our English word energy. Basically in the original, it means effective, energetic, and powerful prayer. Fervent prayer, effectual prayer. All these translations mean the same thing. In the original, what is he saying, energetic, powerful, effective prayer. So what do we see?

James says this effective, fervent, powerful, accomplishing much prayer. It's loaded right there with those first few words. Second, I want you to see a righteous man. What does he say? The effective prayer of a righteous man. Now James alludes to the type of righteous man he's talking about in chapter four, verse three. You can turn back a page or so in your Bible and see verse three of chapter four. What does he say in the end of verse two? He says you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive. He's talking about prayer, but notice verse three.

He says you ask and you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives so that you may spend it on your own pleasures. He's dealing with motives in regards to prayer there if you're familiar with the verse. But what is James saying over here in chapter five? He's saying that a righteous man can have powerful, effective prayer. Now what does this righteous man mean? Let me break this down for you in three ways. This man right here in chapter five, this man is right in his standing with God. This man is right in his relationship to God and this man is right in his motivation before God. Some of you might need to write that down.

He's talking about a righteous man. What does that mean? He is right in his standing before God. That means he's born again. No man, no woman, no young person is right in their standing before God unless they are a born again Christian. Some people say receive Christ. God has saved them. They have become a new creation. They are a new creature in Christ. That is what a true Bible Christian is and that man is right in their standing before God. Some people might talk about their position before God. They're right positionally. Then also he's right in his relationship to God. What does that mean? It means he's walking with God.

There is no sin between him and God knowingly. He is right with God in his relationship. He is walking with God. She is living before God. They are in a right relationship with God. They're not in rebellion against God. They are obedient to God. That is a right relationship to God. But yet I also mention this verse 3 out of chapter 4. They are right in their motivation. This righteous man that James is talking about, they are right in their motive. You know that we can come and we can pray the right thing but with the wrong motive. I've seen that for years in the life of the church.

What we see here is a righteous man in right standing before God, in right relationship to God, and with a right motivation before God in the circumstance at hand. That is exactly what was going on with Elijah. That's what James is trying to say right here in verse 16. Third, I want you to see when the phrase accomplishes much. Go back to the verse, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." Now in the original, this means very strong. Occasionally, I will give you another reading. I like what the Amplified says in this verse.

The Amplified says, "The earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available." Dynamic in its working. That explains it very, very well because this accomplishes much. It means a very strong and dynamic prayer. It literally means to accomplish much. So with that explanation, go back to the verse. The effective prayer, the energetic, powerful prayer of a righteous man who is right in their standing before God, in their relationship with God, and in their motive before God, it can accomplish much. It is a very strong prayer. I like MacArthur's comments on this verse.

He says, "Week prayers come from weak people." Strong prayers come from strong people. And he goes on to say, "The energetic prayers of a righteous man are a potent force in calling down the power of God." That's exactly what this verse teaches. See that's kind of the punchline. That's really the theme of the message. But then what James does, he goes on to give us an example. He teaches right here in this verse, but then he moves on to say, "Let me show you what it looks like in Elijah." But before we get into Elijah, I want to ask you a question, talking about this verse. Have you ever had effective prayer that accomplished much?

I'm afraid that most of us, most of the time, have weak prayers that accomplish very weak things, if anything at all. And it shows us that many times we are weak Christians. That's not God's will. That's not God's desire. That's not God's plan. And as I preach this, I must examine my own life. As I talk to you and explain to you and teach you, I must examine my life and my prayer track record, if I can say it like this. And I would say to you that I have a lot of time and a lot of years and a lot of prayers that have been weak prayers that have come from a weak heart.

But yet there have been some times when it's been strong prayers that have come from a work of God done in my life. I'll give you an example, and I can't take credit for this. Number one, it's a work of God. And number two, it was in conjunction with someone else. But Keith and I had a very good friend, still have this friend, that years ago was influenced by some bad doctrine, poor teaching. Remember in 2 Timothy 2, we learned that in the life of the Ephesian church, there were some that were teaching bad doctrine concerning the resurrection. And Paul called them by name, and he says that their teaching had upset the faith of some.

In other words, Paul says there are some people in the Ephesian church, they've been influenced by bad doctrine. Well, Keith and I had a friend, we still have him, he had been influenced by bad doctrine from a false teacher. Sucked in. And although we could not talk to him, he didn't live here, and there was a broken relationship, Keith and I were burdened for him, and we began to pray for him, and we had a strong intense burden to pray for him. We were right in our standing before God because we're born again.

We were right in our relationship with God, and that we were walking with God at the time, and our motive was not selfish, we wanted him restored, we wanted him out of that bad doctrine, and we wanted him on a path that the Lord had for him. Well, to speed up the story, through some serious trials and adversity, God got the man out of that situation, and God showed him and taught him the error of the way, and God showed him how God had saved him, and God called him out of that, and he is now victorious and strong and walking with God because of it. He is a stronger man because of the situation. What am I showing you? The potential in prayer.

That's all that's wrapped up in that verse to me. He says, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. It puts a lot of weight on our wagon and a lot of responsibility at our doorstep." The potential in prayer. Let's move on. I want us to see, number two, a man like us. I've already said that James gets into verse 17 and on, he gets into this great example. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. I want to pause there because I think we need to spend some time to see that Elijah, he was a man just like us. Now that phrase, "nature like ours," it literally means with the same nature.

The King James reads, "Subject to like passions as we are." The Amplified reads, "Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have." Then it has quotations in that translation with feelings and affections and a constitution like ours. What is James communicating? What does the text mean right there? It literally means that Elijah had a nature just like we do and he had a constitution just like us. In our language, we would say it like this. Elijah was just like a man like me and you. I saw James the same. He had a nature that was exactly like ours.

Now you don't have to turn there, but if you would, I want you to write these verses down. In the book of 1 Kings, we see the story of Elijah. We see his public ministry, how he was thrust on the scene, dealing with God's people, the nation of Israel. Now I'm focusing on this nature and constitution just like ours. But let me give you the backstory. The backstory is this. The nation of Israel was in a terrible position. They had a terrible king with a terrible wife. As a matter of fact, if you look at Chapter 16 in 1 Kings, you see that there was king after king after king after king who did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

I mean, it went from bad to worse and from worse to worse and worse to worse. It just kept going, it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. It didn't just stop by being bad. It just descended. But in verse 29 of Chapter 16, it says, "Now Ahab, the son of Omri became king over Israel." Verse 30, "And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord." Now notice, "more than all who were before him." In other words, if you take king after king after king who did evil things and you took all that they did and put it in one big pile, you can say it like this, "Ahab eclipsed them." It was a dark day.

But in dark days, God sends his men. And God thrust Elijah on the scene. And what had happened was the people of God, the nation of Israel, had begun to worship the pagan gods of the land. They were called Baal and Asroth. They had forsaken the one true God. And what Elijah does is he comes on the scene and Elijah prays that it would not rain and it did not rain. There was a three and a half year drought. And as a matter of fact, Elijah had a great showdown before the prophets of Baal. Basically he says, "You say you worship Baal and he's a good God and a true God, but we're going to have a showdown.

We're going to draw a line in the sand and we're going to see whose God is God." Now we know that the one true God did prevail, but if you follow the story and you follow his life, he had tremendous failure and defeat later on. Great victory and then great defeat. Now what am I trying to show you? This great man of God, if we study first, he was afraid. Chapter 9, verse 3 says, "And he was afraid and he arose and he ran for his life." What had he just done? He had called down fire from heaven. He had proven that the prophets of Baal were false prophets and they had led the people astray and he had called down fire from heaven.

God had used him in an immense way. He was God's man doing God's work and God had shown up in a mighty way. He had called down the very fire of God right there before Ahab and his wife Jezebel, but right there the next day it said he was afraid. What am I showing you? He had a nature just like ours. Second, I want you to see that he ran from his circumstances. That's what verse 3 says. He was not afraid to go toe to toe with the prophets of Baal, but yet the next day he was afraid of Jezebel and Ahab. He was weaklings. He ran from his circumstances.

And then if you go on down to verse 4 in chapter 19, it says that he quit the service of the Lord because what did he say? "But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and he sat down under the juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die." He quit. Then if you go on down to chapter 19, verse 10, when God confronted him, we see forth a pity party. Look at verse 10. Verse 9, "Then he came there to a cave and lodged there and behold the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him, 'What are you doing here Elijah?'" In other words, God followed him in his defeat.

Verse 10, "And he said, 'I have been very zealous for the Lord, for the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel, for they have forsaken thy covenant. They have torn down thy altar and they have killed thy prophets with the sword and I alone am left.'" You know what he's saying? I'm the only one. What am I trying to show you? He was a man. He was a man full of fear, running from his circumstances, quitting the Lord and having a big party, pity party. Now what does God want us to learn? It is important for us to realize that Elijah, he was not some superhero for the Lord.

He was just a man and automatically I fast forward it all the way to the New Testament to the Gospel of John in John chapter 21. I have taught and referred to John 21 so many times and the life of Peter. Peter was this big blow hog of a man, a loud mouth for the Lord Jesus. He loved the Lord. He had been saved. He had left his nets and he had followed the Lord. But what do we see in Peter's life? A lot of defeat and a lot of failure. Why? Because he was a man also.

Some people would say, "Oh, the preacher, that was before the Spirit fell and he was full of the Spirit." If you fast forward on into the book of Galatians, there was a time when Paul confronted him because he was a bigot in the life of the church. What am I showing you? You're how to nature just like ours as well. Now, I'm not making an excuse for sin. What am I trying to show you? Is that sometimes we can elevate someone like Peter and someone like Elijah and we kind of put them out of our league when all actuality, what James is showing us is Elijah. He was a man with a nature just like ours.

Now, I want to take this main truth, truth number one. And I want to take this second main truth, truth number two, that we've just looked at and I want to put them together. We've seen this big potential for prayer. We've seen this potential in prayer and we see this man like us, Elijah, how to nature just like us. And what I want you to see is lots of times there will be power in prayer through much weakness. When we see the totality of the story of Elijah's life and Peter's life, there is great power, but yet there is always great weakness at their doorstep. They are one word and one step away from tremendous failure and weakness.

Now, I can't get into their mind and I sure cannot get into their skin and I sure cannot relate fully to their circumstances outside of what we have in the scripture. But I believe that when Elijah was on his great journey, there was always that fear. There was always that apprehension that was always in the back of his mind. Why? Because he was just like me and you. And we must take these truths and we must put them together. Go back to Peter. Remember in Matthew chapter 18, we see this great confession. What does Jesus say to the disciples? He knew that all the crowds were talking about him. He knew the mumblings around the region.

And what did he do? He looked at the disciples and say, "Well, who do you say that I am?" Peter jumped up and said, "I know exactly who you are. You're the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus if he'd have said it in our words, he'd have jumped up and said, "Bingo son, you got the right answer. Let me put a star on your lunch kit." And he went on to say, "You didn't get that from the Sunday School Book. You got that from God." Woo-hoo!

But yet then the Lord started saying, "You know, I'm going to go to the cross and I'm going to suffer and die." And that's when Peter takes him by the shirt tail and pulls him off to the side and says, "Never, Lord will you die. What am I showing you?" Even when he says what the Living God had told him what to say, one minute later he is blowing it. What am I showing you? There is great potential in prayer, but yet these great heroes of the faith, they were just like we are. And I think it's very important for us to see if we're not careful when we look at something like this, we'll say, "Well, you know, I never can be that kind of man.

I never can be that woman or I never can be that young person of great prayer." But I think when we really get down to it and see what James is trying to communicate, we can see that we can be this kind of person. Why? Because these people were used in great power, but yet they were always human and they were one word and one step beat away from revealing that. Main truth number three, I want us to see that he prayed. He prayed. Go back to the verse, verse 17. "Alijah was a man with a nature like ours." See, we can overlook that if we're not careful. But notice what he says.

"And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months." Verse 18. "And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit." Now we've seen Elijah as our example. Now we see his prayer as an example. You know, I think a lot of people miss the point here. What I mean is I think they focus on the rain and the drought and I think they focus on the time span. And you know, until I started studying this this week, I didn't realize James is the only one that tells us that it didn't rain for that particular amount of time. The story in 1 Kings doesn't tell us that.

We just know that it was a great drought. Three and a half years, James tells us. But it's not necessarily what took place. We need to read a little more between the lines. I want us to see, first of all, he prayed earnestly. Go back to the verse. "And he prayed earnestly." Now the English Standard Version reads fervently. Now this literally reads in the original language with prayers. These were not mere words as what James is showing us. These were prayers out of a man's heart that was in a right relationship with God, positionally and relationally, but not just in his position in relationship to God, but yet in his call before God.

What am I showing you? He prayed and he prayed fervently and he prayed honestly. He prayed fervently and honestly. And the original says with prayers, what is he talking about? He prayed according to the work and the will of God. He somehow, someway had an understanding of the work of God. He had an understanding of the will of God. He had an understanding of the heart of God. I've kind of likened it like this. Sometimes God allows us to look through the keyhole. We see just a little bit. Sometimes God allows us to look around the corner. We can't see around the corner, but yet by faith we can sense what's around the corner.

That's the way the Lord works with men and women of prayer. What do we see? He prayed how? He prayed with true prayers as God led him. He was praying the very heart of God. He was in a right standing before God. He was in a right relationship with God. And look, he was in such a position that he was in the middle of doing the work of God. He was God's man for God's hour and God's time and God's problem. Second, I want you to see what happened. I think it's obvious. He prayed earnestly that it might not rain. It didn't rain for three and a half years. Verse 18, and he prayed again in the sky poor grain and the earth produced its fruit.

Now it's obvious here that we see the drought three and a half years. I've already said to you that first Kings chapter 17 and 18 and 19, they do not give an account of the timeframe. They give an account of the event itself. Now it is important for us to see and to know the story here. And I've already told you this. Ahab and Jezebel were on the scene. God's judging his people. Remember, God will not let his people get away with sin and rebellion. And he judges them by sending a drought that would curse the entire nation and literally bring the nation to its knees and cause them to respond to his work through Elijah.

Elijah stands there on Mark Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal. God shows that the prophets of Baal were false and yet he rains down fire from heaven so that the people of God jumped up and they said, yes, God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he is God. And I think it's important for us to see what happened, but what happened inside what happened. Again, I'm going to go back to the first Kings story. You don't have to turn there, but I would like you to write these portions of scripture down. I want you to see, and this is extremely important, that Elijah prayed by faith. Chapter 18 verse one teaches us that.

Now it came about after many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, go show yourself to Ahab. That is in the heat of the drought. Why did Elijah step onto the scene? Those little words there, the word of the Lord came. Now I have been giving you an accurate definition of faith. Faith is not a hope so. Faith is not a good idea. Our faith has substance, and the substance is the living Lord that we know and we love and we serve. When Elijah stood before Ahab in the height of this drought, he was a wanted man. Now why did he stand there? He stood there because God said to. And he had faith in what? A hope so?

No, he had faith in God. When he stood there before Ahab and he knew that he could lose his life because he was a hated man, his faith was in God. Another words, when his knees were knocking because he out of nature just like ours he was saying, Lord I'm trusting you. Ooh God, you called me. You told me God this isn't me. Elijah, he prayed by faith. So I want you to see that Elijah prayed believing. If you go on down to chapter 18 verse 6 what do we see? So they delivered the land, excuse me, in chapter 18 verse 16. It says, "So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and he told him." And Ahab went to meet Elijah.

And it goes on to say, "And when it came about, when he saw Ahab, Elijah said to Ahab, and he said to him, 'Is this you, you trouble of Israel?'" This is the confrontation between Elijah and Ahab. As he stood there before that wicked king, the king Ahab said, "You're a trouble maker." But what did he do? He prayed believing. Prayed that believing God would answer the prayer. Then we see that Elijah prayed in persistence. We go on down to chapter 18 starting in verse 41. When he begins to pray for rain, he sent his servant out to look for a cloud. And what does it say? Seven times he sent his servant.

And finally on the seventh time, his servant came back and said, "I see a little cloud in the sky and it's as big as a man's hand. What am I showing you? What happened? What am I showing you? The big deal isn't that it didn't rain for three and a half years. The big deal is that Elijah prayed and he prayed by faith. He prayed believing what God had told him and he prayed in a persistent manner. He had faith in what God was doing. God had allowed him to see through the keyhole and he knew that he was a part of God's work and he believed by faith what God told him and that's why he prayed in persistence. And I think that's the point.

Go back to the verse. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. It did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again in the sky for rain. What happens right here is a lot of people, they miss the forest because they're looking at the trees. Oh, it's not that big of a deal that it didn't rain. God's in charge of all of those things. The big deal is that Elijah prayed. What is our example? Our example is at the timeframe. Our example is at the drought. Our example is at just the showdown between Ahab and Elijah and the prophets of Baal. The point of what James is writing is, is he prayed. He prayed by faith.

He prayed believing and he prayed with persistence. And most people misunderstood the, misunderstand these verses. Elijah did not accomplish all these things. God did. It was God that accomplished all these things, but Elijah was obedient and God worked through Elijah to say that Elijah did all these things would be blasphemous. But to say that God worked through Elijah would be biblically accurate. Let me ask you a question. This is an application in helping us understand. Could God have accomplished all these mighty things in Israel without Elijah? Yeah, God did not need Elijah.

God does not need any man, but we must understand that God's methods are men. God entrusts himself and his work to men. And a lot of times when you make that statement, people get it nervous. They'll say, whoa, wait a minute. How in the world? The next thing that you say is God is dependent on men. God doesn't need men, but God has committed himself to men. And when he has committed his work to man, when he has committed himself to man, when he has committed his purposes to man, therefore he makes himself dependent on man. That's why he pursued Elijah. Remember in his defeat and failure, what does he say? What are you doing here?

Son, what are you doing in this cave? And if you follow the story, he turns around. That's a picture of repentance. And he goes all the way back and he goes back on the job. God could have said, listen, Elijah, you need a little vacation. You just chill out here and I'll go take care of the rest. No. What am I trying to show you? God could have accomplished all of these things without Elijah, but God used Elijah. Now, how does this apply to you and to me today? How does this make sense into your struggles and my struggles? Listen, we've been praying for some of your lost loved ones for how long? How long?

Could it be that God is desiring to form you and change you and mold you and use you in these circumstances? Could it be that God is trying to change you before he gives you what you desire? Maybe you're coming with the wrong motive. I've seen people in the life of the church, they have a lost spouse and they pray and pray and pray for that spouse to come to know the Lord. That's a good thing. They have an impure motive. They just want a better marriage. But yet the true motive is when you come to the point where you say, you know, God, I don't care if I ever get a good marriage.

I just want my spouse to be saved for your glory and your honor. Who cares how I feel? Who cares what I want? What's all about you? And see, we've been praying for some things for a long time. Are we going to quit? Let me be honest with you. You know why we must continue to pray? And I pray by faith for your lost loved ones because I believe it's God's desire to save them. I believe I can say, Lord, I know you want to save them. Why? Because it says that for God so loved the world. It says in Timothy that he desires all men to be saved. So I guess I do a little math.

I say, well, the Lord came and suffered and bled and died for lost man and lost humanity. He says that he loves lost humanity. And I look over there at your lost family members and I say one plus one equals two. So I can pray by what? Faith. And I believe that he wants to say otherwise I wouldn't do what I do. I would have quit a long time ago and that's why we pray with persistence. Why? And in that persistence all along, we're expecting God to work in us and teach us and to change us and look, we must continue in prayer. He prayed. He prayed. This wasn't a little quick prayer. This wasn't a little easy prayer.

This was a difficult set of circumstances. If you follow the story in Kings, you'll see that he was a wanted man. He was a hated man. He had to live in hiding for those three and a half years. He was very unpopular. He was not the preacher who was wanted all the time. I did a little research and I found us a good example that illustrates this type of praying. Most of you are familiar with George Mueller. George Mueller was famous for his orphanage ministry. If you're looking for a good Christian biography to read, I would encourage you to pick up a George Mueller book. There have been many, many, many biographies written about this man.

As a matter of fact, I have a couple of short ones if you want one. They're usually very easy reads and really what the stories are about are about a man who had a fabulous prayer life. But a lot of people don't know that he was a wonderful preacher. As a matter of fact, when he was later in his life in his 70s, he gave his famous orphanage ministry to his family and he went on the road preaching and he preached into his 90s. He traveled all over the world, even in his 70s and 80s and 90s. But I ran across a quote out of a biography that exemplifies this type of praying. Goes like this.

In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land or on the sea and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. 18 months lapsed before the first, that's number one, of the five was converted. I thank God and I prayed for the others. Five years elapsed and then the second was converted. I thank God for the second and I prayed for the other three. Day by day I continued to pray for them and six years passed before the third of the five was converted. I thank God for the three and I went on praying for the other two.

Those two remain unconverted. And then there's a quotation from George Mueller. The man to whom God in the riches of his grace has given 10,000s of prayers to pray in the self same hour or day in which they were offered has been praying day by day for nearly 36 years for the conversion of these individuals and yet they remain unconverted. But I hope in God I pray on and I look yet for the answer. They are not converted yet but they will be. This was the faith that carried him through every strained and straightened place. He met emergencies by asking and in due time God supplied whatever the need might be.

Those prayers, talking about the prayers of the unconverted, you ask? In 1897 those two men, sons of the friend of Mr. Mueller's youth were not converted. After he had entreated God on their behalf for 52 years daily but after his death, that's George Mueller's death, God brought them into the fold. What do we see? He prayed like Elijah prayed. Did you get that? And God even answered those prayers after his death. Now as I begin to wrap up, what do we see? The power of prayer, part four, our example. We see the potential in prayer. We see that he was a man like us and we see that he prayed.

And as we wrap up this portion of scripture that deals with prayer, verse 13 to verse 18, we see that we should pray when we're in suffering. We should pray when there are those who need healing and sickness. We should pray when some confess sin but we should pray as we see the examples before us and we should be powerful men and women of prayer. Now as I close, I want to help you the way I have been helped. Besides studying portions of scripture and praying with others, I have learned to read accounts of others who prayed. I've already given you one. I wish you would write down the name George Mueller. George Mueller.

You can go to any Christian bookstore just about and I would imagine you can find a biography of George Mueller. Buy it, borrow the money for it, read it. It's easy to read and I encourage you because what you will do is you will learn about a man of prayer. He prayed exactly like James is talking about. I've already given you one. I talked about the other night on prayer meeting, one of the prayer meeting nights and that's the life of David Brainard, the journals of David Brainard.

It was never written to be published but yet there were some who took the journals of this man of God and when you read these journals and you wade through his personal ups and downs, peaks and valleys, what do we see? A man of prayer, sacrificial prayer. He laid in there to pray for those souls of those poor American Indians. I give you another name, Andrew Murray. If you're ever in a bookstore and you see the author Andrew Murray and it is about prayer, buy it because it is always good. Andrew Murray is considered an authority on prayer. I've had several Andrew Murray volumes on prayer and most of them I end up giving away.

Andrew Murray, anything on prayer. And then I'll tell you about another little book and it's a small book but it's called Power in Prayer by EM Bounds. Power in Prayer by EM Bounds. Less than 100 pages but every word and every phrase is power packed. What is he teaching? He's teaching on prayer. Andrew Murray, EM Bounds, George Mueller, David Brainard, all of these examples, all of this teaching will come in line with what James has taught. What does he say? The effective, the powerful, the energetic prayer of a righteous man, one who is right before God can do great things. Then James says, well let me go on and tell you about one. You know.

You know Elijah. What is James trying to teach us? In all of these circumstances we should be people of prayer, powerful prayer, who accomplish much. Let's pray.