The Supernatural Dimension: Pray with a Purpose
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Intro:
16 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. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
This morning the title of my message is, [Pray with a Purpose].
Today is May 3, 2020. Twenty-one years ago it was Monday. I still remember playing at recess. There was a light breeze and very few clouds in the sky.
That evening, we had corn on the cob with our dinner. I refused to eat it and was forced to sit at the table until I ate my vegetables. Sometime after 7:00 pm, we heard the tornado sirens sound.
At first I was glad because I thought that meant I wouldn’t have to finish my corn. Then we did what was normal in Oklahoma.
Step one- tornado siren sounds
Step two- check the TV to see if it is serious
Step three- if it is bad enough and close enough, get the kids to the center of the house
Step four- all adults go outside to watch
We did this many times during tornados. This time though, something was different, after going outside, my mom rushed in the house and told us to pray for everyone we know and pray hard for God to stop the tornado heading our way.
My brother and I prayed for our grandparents, friends, and family. My sister who was barely five prayed for Cinderella, Snow White, and our distant relative, Pocahontas.
Miraculously, mom said it was as though the tornado lifted and passed over the two miles between our house and our grandparents. None of our family experienced any loss.
I do not know all the damage or problems that followed. Because the part of the story that has stuck with me since that day was the fact we knew we were to PRAY.
The effective servant prayer of the righteous man or woman avails much.
Prayer is an important part in the life of every believer. To think, the God of the universe has time to listen to us and more than that He WANTS to hear from us.
I have thought about people in my life who we would call prayer warrior or intercessors. Then I have studied people throughout history who lead successful prayer lives.
I have determined PEOPLE OF PRAYER ARE PEOPLE OF POWER. But I have noticed one problem with preaching and teaching on prayer.
We will listen to the message. We will get inspired to pray. We will determine to become people of prayer, and then these thoughts of doubt will arise.
The enemy will whisper mistruths in our ear. He might get us to agree with the message. He might cause us to believe in the power of prayer.
But the lie sinks in when he announces, prayer is good, but you are not good enough to pray. Sure THOSE people have great testimonies, but you could never pray like that.
And sadly, there are many Christians who believe the lie of the enemy and they feel inadequate in their prayer life, or they do not have a prayer life.
In our text we read about a man named Elijah. Remember these four words about him: A NATURE LIKE OURS.
Elijah was a prophet, noted for his many miracles and prolific prayer life. This morning, we will look at a few stories in his life from the lens of James 5:13-18.
When we pray, we do not pray aimlessly hoping God MIGHT hear us. NO, we pray with a purpose. When should we pray? [Pray in times of Suffering], [Pray in times of Sickness], and [Pray in times of Sacrifice].
Let’s begin
1. Pray in times of Suffering
1. Pray in times of Suffering
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Notice the two important words in this passage, SUFFERING and CHEERFUL. Along with these two words are our response to these two emotions.
When we suffer or feel afflicted, we must PRAY.
When we are cheerful and want to celebrate, we must SING.
Let’s focus on the suffering side of the passage. James understood the nature of people. The normal response to suffering is complaining.
While complaining might feel good in the moment, it is not productive. James point is, when we suffer, lets pray.
Knowing he would write about Elijah in a few more sentences, it could be that James thought about the ministry of Elijah and all he faced.
Elijah understood suffering. His introduction to scripture is short. We know nothing of his background, parents, or family. It simply says:
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
Elijah lived in a time where Israel suffered spiritually. Their spiritual condition caused the judgment of God to come to them. As a result, they would face a three year drought.
After announcing this, God sent Elijah to a foreign country. Upon arrival, he met a widow who suffered greatly. She was gathering sticks to prepare a fire so she could feed her sons one more time before they died.
As a man of prayer, Elijah knew God could help her in her suffering if she would only trust. Elijah encouraged her to feed him first, then God would provide for her.
14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”
As a person of prayer, Elijah identified her suffering. Because she was a widow and her sons were not old enough to work, she had no hope.
His prayer life allowed him to feel compassion for her. Such compassion caused him to want to let God use him to ease her suffering.
As a result of his prayers, God helped this widow. If God could do that through Elijah, what could He do through us when we prayer with a purpose?
Remember, he had a nature like ours.
2. Pray in times of Sickness
2. Pray in times of Sickness
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
When I read these verses, I think about what we have done many times in our services. When people are sick, we anoint them with oil and pray over them.
But notice, the elders and the oil are not the source of the healing. It is the prayer of faith.
What is faith?
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith comes into play when we trust God even though we do not SEE how He will meet our needs. As James wrote this, I can’t help but wonder if he thought back to Elijah.
17 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him.
Not long after God used Elijah to ease the suffering of the widow, not her son comes down with a sickness. He lost his breath and eventually died.
With the sudden loss, the emotions of the widow took over and she questioned Elijah. What did she do wrong? She blamed herself, wondering if her sins caused the death of her child.
As a man of faith, Elijah was purposeful in his next moves. He took the child to an upper room where he stayed. He laid the boy on the bed and then he PRAYED.
21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” 22 Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.
Because Elijah was a man of prayer, God worked through to perform supernatural works. I love these stories of healing. Whether they come from scripture or other books, I believe God heals!
If God could do that through Elijah, what could He do through us when we prayer with a purpose?
Remember, he had a nature like ours.
3. Pray in times of Sacrifice
3. Pray in times of Sacrifice
16 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. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
God wants His people to confess their trespasses, meaning do not hold onto hard feelings with each other. Instead we are to pray for each other.
Sometimes prayer is a sacrifice. When we suffer or face sickness, it is natural to want to pray. But what about when times are easy? Is prayer reserved ONLY for difficulties?
Let’s look back to Elijah and His sacrificial payer. Even though Elijah declared a three-year-drought, God provided for him. He had everything he needed.
But he wanted to see God restore Israel. He had an assignment, and part of that was to get Israel’s attention to return to the Lord. He did this by calling the false prophets to the mountain for a challenge.
They would both prepare a sacrifice and the God who answered by fire would reign. When it was Elijah’s turn to pray, he said:
37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”
God answered His sacrificial prayer. The people turned back to the Lord. Then God told Elijah, it is time for the rain to fall. He prayed on top of a mountain and after seven times of looking, the rain finally fell.
If God could do that through Elijah, what could He do through us when we prayer with a purpose?
Remember, he had a nature like ours.
Close:
As James wrote about prayer, he used Elijah as an example. God did great things through him. Therefore, we believe God can do great things through us!
NLT— the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results
NIV— The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
ESV— The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
NASB— The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
AMP— The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
But let us never think, that is good, but God could never do something like that through me?
When we pray with a purpose, God will work through us, BECAUSE, everyone in scripture had a nature like ours, and look what God did in and through them.
As I have prayed this past week for THE message for today, James 5 continued to roll over in my spirit. Then I thought about all we’ve faced as a church/country over nearly two months.
And I can say this, Satan HATES what we have done. He would have preferred we take a two month hiatus on spiritual matters. But thankfully we have not done that.
He hates what our church has done, and he hates that you have been on this parking lot for six weeks. He has tried to stop and discourage.
BUT we are staying STRONG, because the effective servant prayer of the righteous man avails much.
However, I would like to add this, as much as Satan hates what we’ve done, he will hate it that much more for what is getting ready to happen.
For God is speaking. And His desire is NOT that we get back to NORMAL. For normal in many Christians around the world was:
casual prayer life
inconsistency in spiritual matters
and occasional church attendance
God wants to usher in a new normal. He wants a church that prayers fervently and on purpose.
He wants a people who prioritizes spiritual matters
And He wants congregations full of worshippers who come on Sundays, NOT for a recharge or a refresh, but to CELEBRATE, LOOK AT WHAT GOD DID FOR ME THIS PAST WEEK!
If we get through this and have not grown closer to God, then we’ve have missed what God wants to do through everything that has happened.
And I can stand here confidently and declare, I am proud to pastor a church that can say, we have grown deeper during the pandemic.
We have a strong anointing on the parking lot. And as we move forward, REMEMBER, to pray with a a purpose.
Remember, Elijah was just like us, God did great things through Him, imagine what great things He can do through us!