We Believe Prayer Really Changes Things, Part 2

January 19, 2025
Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL
James Jackson, Pastor

Please open your Bibles to James 5, and we are going to pick up where we left off last week, unpacking our second “We Believe” statement: We Believe Prayer Really Changes Things.” Last week, we talked about when to pray: Pray when you’re suffering, pray when you’re smiling, pray when you’re sick, and the last one was pray when you’ve sinned. I didn’t come up with those points, by the way. Those are from Skip Heitzig, pastor of Calvary church in Albuquerque New Mexico. This morning, we are going to talk about how to pray. How do we pray as though we really believe prayer changes things?

You know how Microsoft Word will underline something in red if it is misspelled, or blue if there’s some other problem with it? Well as I was working on my sermon, I noticed that “really” was underlined in blue. I rolled my mouse over to see what the problem was. And Microsoft Word says “Really” is redundant. In other words, if you believe prayer changes things, there’s no need to have the word “really” in there.

But even though the little paperclip from Microsoft says I didn’t need the “really,” I kept it in, And here’s why: Every churchgoing person will tell you they believe prayer changes things. But they still live their lives as though it doesn’t. Remember the crux of this series has been that our beliefs are backed by our behavior.

What do we mean when we say we believe prayer changes things? Is it that prayer changes us? We become more aware of God? We become more mindful of the people on our prayer list? Yes to all of those. As I’ve focused on our church’s prayer list, I find that I am much more mindful of the needs of people in the church. I feel more loving toward them. And I really do feel more in tune with God.

But is that all we mean? Or are we willing to believe that prayer is more than a centering exercise? Do we really believe prayer changes things, to the point that we are praying for God to do things only he can do? Because let’s face it— I can get centered and focused on my own. Light a candle, practice deep breathing, improve my diet, take a  walk, be in the moment, visualize my goals, take my meds— all the things the self-help books say to do can work, if being centered and focused is the goal.

Flipping through the church directory can help me be mindful of my church family. I don’t need God to do that.

But believing God can heal someone who is sick because I prayed for him? Believing God will keep people safe from a fire in Los Angeles or a flood in North Carolina or a snowstorm in Buffalo? Believing God will divinely protect a President from assassination, or people on Bourbon Street from a terrorist, or the unborn from an abortion? That’s something different. That’s believing prayer really changes things.

And most of us aren’t willing to pray for things like that, because we don’t want to be disappointed if it doesn’t happen. Or we are worried about God’s reputation— that someone’s faith could be compromised because the tumor doesn’t shrink or whatever.

I want to assure this morning that God doesn’t tell us to guard his reputation. God can take care of Himself. God tells us to pray. And in James 5, he tells us to pray specifically, pray confidently, and pray for salvation.  Let’s read James 5:16-20 together:

1.   Pray Specifically (v. 16b)

We pray for others all the time. At our Wednesday prayer meeting, on Monday mornings, in your Sunday School classes. We even have a new app we are using called Echo. And if you have an iphone you can go ahead and download it right now. But now, let me ask you, how do you pray for others? I’m afraid lots of times I pray like I’m watering the lawn. I’ve got the sprinkler attached to the hose and I’m like: “God, be with all the missionaries… God be with all those who are sick…”

But that prayer doesn’t require much. It doesn’t ask God to do anything more than what he has already promised to do. He’s already told us he will be with us always (Mt 28:20) and that he will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). So what do you mean when you say, “God, be with them?”

I want to challenge us to Pray Specifically. Truly interceding goes further than just doing a prayer broadcast over a group of people. It’s praying for individuals. And again, it’s more than, “And Lord, just be with so and so as they are having surgery today…” It’s knowing what kind of surgery. It’s knowing what so and so is anxious about while they go into surgery. It’s knowing what success looks like— what the desired outcome of the surgery is. And its about caring enough for the person you say you are praying for to find out those details.

Being specific in your prayers is what makes intercession more difficult than petition. You already know what you need, or at least you think you do, so being specific isn’t really a challenge. But being specific for someone else is hard. You tend to get distracted more easily. You tend to get interrupted more often.  Why is that?

I think its because we are doing spiritual battle on two fronts.

First, we are battling the devil. Because when intercede for others you are doing what Jesus does. Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus lives to make intercession for us. Any behavior that reflects the behavior of Jesus Satan is going to be opposed to.

Second, we are doing battle with our own sinful nature. Your attention is going to wander because you are by nature a selfish person. We all are. It’s the result of the Fall that we think of ourselves more than we think about others. When we are thinking about ourselves and our own desires, we are laser focused. But try spending extended time giving focused, specific attention to somebody else, and see how distracted you get.

But it isn’t just selfishness that  keeps us from specifically praying for someone else. There’s also pettiness. Let’s do an exercise: is there anyone you are mad at right now, or that you don’t like? If I asked you to focus on that person, you are likely to think about all the times they’ve been annoying, or mean to you, or dishonest with you. And so let’s say a crisis comes up in their life. Now you’re asked to focus on their crisis, and you can’t get past the thought of “serves them right.” or “where were they when I needed help?” And you’re right back into your selfishness again. So for you to pray for someone who has hurt you, or you’ve had disagreements with, or you just plain don’t have much in common with once again shows that you are becoming more and more like Jesus, and the devil doesn’t like that.

Samuel Chadwick said, “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray!”

Verse 16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. That doesn’t just mean it has great power as it is working in whatever situation someone is going through, it also has great power as it is working to transform you into the likeness of Jesus.

So number one, pray specifically.

Number 2, pray confidently (v. 17)

Jesus gave us an incredible promise on how to have answered prayer. John 15:7 says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, then you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

That is a stunning promise. Whatever I desire? Wow! Believe it and receive it! Name it and claim it! Blab it and grab it!

Not so fast there, Kenneth Copeland.

We love repeating the second half of that verse. Ask whatever you desire, and it will be given unto you. But we can miss the first half: If you abide in me and my words abide in you.

It’s predicated on if you abide in Christ and His words abide in you. If we abide in Jesus, we will automatically know God’s will, and thus we will ask for it. Let me put it another way:  if we’re abiding in that will, then the things that we will be asking for will naturally be the things that God desires for us.  I don’t know about you, but I never want to ask for something that God doesn’t want me to have.   I trust that the things that He wants for me are better than the things that I want for myself.

Go back to verse 16: Notice that it says the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Now, we talked last week about how at the judgment, we won’t stand before God with our own righteousness. Christ has made us righteous, and that is our only basis of hope in the final judgment. But while we remain here until the Lord comes, our prayers being answered is depends on our obedience and our proximity to God. Our prayers cannot be divorced from our lifestyles. If your life is not pleasing to God, then God is under no obligation to even hear your prayer, much less answer it. I’ll give you one specific example from Scripture. 1 Peter 3:7 says,

⁷ Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Men, if you feel like God is distant, and that you never hear from him, ask yourself: Am I abiding in Christ? Am I keeping his commandments? Am I showing honor to my wife?

Now let’s get back to James. James references someone we should all be familiar with, Elijah.

Now, when we think of Elijah, we immediately think of his powerful miracles, the incredible things he did. And he did some incredible things. He brought the dead back to life. He made a widow’s last jar of flour and jug of oil last for an entire three years of drought. He called fire down from Heaven. In this passage, we read that he prayed that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t rain. And then he prays again that it would rain. He was bold. He was courageous. He was full of faith.

And we look at a guy like this, and we say, well, yeah, but that was Elijah. He was super spiritual. What principles could I possibly learn to apply to my own life? They were superhuman. But what does James say about him?

A man with a nature like ours.

The KJV says Elijah was a man subject to the same passions we are. The NLT translates it as Elijah was as human as you and me. He was afraid. He was cowardly. And at one point, he was so despondent that he even wanted to die and asked God to kill him.

His story is recorded here to remind us once again that God can and does and chooses to use imperfect people, that it’s possible to live godly in an ungodly world, even if it seems like we’re all alone. And now we finally see the secret of his power, the secret of his faith, the secret of his boldness. It wasn’t him. It was God. It wasn’t his courage. It was God’s courage. It wasn’t his faith. It was God’s faith. It wasn’t his strength. It was God’s strength.

Now think about some of the other people God used in Scripture. A liar like Abraham. A cheat like Jacob. Murderers like Moses and David. A coward like Peter.

Christian, your shortcomings and your mistakes are not disqualifications. They are prerequisites. God has no use for people who think that they’ve got it all together, who think that they are perfect and they’re God’s gift to mankind.

But flawed, sinful, broken  people have the ability to show the love and the grace of Jesus because they themselves have experienced that same grace and love.
1 Corinthians 1:26–27 puts it this way:

“26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;”  

Friends,  think of what you were before you became a Christian. Think of your life prior to Christ. Were any of you PhD’s before you came to Christ? Were you the President or a member of Congress? Were you royalty?

None of us. But God chose to use the weak things of the world to shame the strong. Can we just take a moment and thank God for that truth, that reality? That He has chosen the weak things, the foolish things of this world to put to shame the wise. I’m so thankful that God doesn’t look at us with human eyes, that it’s not like choosing up teams in elementary school. God’s not looking for the strongest or the biggest or the wisest. He’s just looking for an imperfect tool who’s willing to submit themselves to a perfect God. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain for three and a half years. And then it rained.

One thing I noticed about the of the drought in 2 Kings 17-18  is that God didn’t tell Elijah on the front end how long it was going to last. So even though Elijah told Ahab it wouldn’t rain until he, Elijah, gave the word, Elijah didn’t have permission to give the word until God gave him permission.  God didn’t give permission until halfway through the third year of the drought. So Elijah’s prayer was predicated on Elijah listening to God to tell him when the right time to pray was.

We need to pray in accordance to his will, but we also need to pray in accordance to his timing. When you come to the Lord and you ask Him for things, pray Lord, this is what I need, but if this is not your will, Lord, don’t give it to me because I don’t want it, but also, Lord, this needs to be in your timing. Give this to me when I need this, not before and not after.

Some would argue that James transitions to another topic in these last two verses, but I disagree. I think he transitions to the most important aspect of prayer, which is praying for the lost. Look at it again:

‌19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

‌When we talk about bringing back someone, that implies going to get someone.

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