Speaking about the power in prayer, from the book of James chapter 5, David says your praying will restore the broken and heal the sick.
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.”
That healing is not necessarily physical. I believe James is also talking about mental and emotional healing. When we can lay down the burden of our faults, our problems and the mistakes we’ve made in life, and pray together, there can be real restoration.
Sadly, so many churches respond to people’s failures by condemning and criticising them, sometimes even throwing them out. But that is not the answer! We should be praying together, helping people find forgiveness, healing and restoration. Even those suffering a mental breakdown or struggling with deep psychological problems need our love, compassion and prayer.
We need to restore the backslider and lift up those who have failed, not cast them out! The Church should be a place of restoration, where people can find the help and prayer they need to recover.
Then James says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
I love preaching on this Scripture because the language in the original Greek conveys something powerful. The word translated "effectual fervent" is related to the Greek word energeō, meaning to be active or at work. It speaks of prayer that is working powerfully. We often use the words dynamic or dynamite to describe that kind of power.
We need prayer that is alive, active and powerful – prayer that makes a difference!
And James gives us an example in verse 17: "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are." In other words, Elijah was an ordinary human being, just like us. Yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Then he prayed again, and the rain returned.
What an extraordinary miracle! Elijah was a man just like us, yet his prayers brought about a mighty intervention of God. James is reminding us that prayer is not reserved for a select few. We need to believe God, pray earnestly and trust Him to work powerfully through us!