16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.[a] 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (James 5:16-18 ESV)
Do you feel like your prayers sometimes just go no where? I think we all do, but this is because we cannot see what God has planned or, often, what is even best for us.
Prayer availeth much. I like this simplified King James Version of the end of that first verse. I think it well captures and encapsulates verse 16. But we must consider too the portion of that sentence just prior to this. It calls upon the prayers of a righteous person. We cannot live how we want, continuing to sin and expect our prayers to be completely effective. I say completely because I still believe that God listens to every prayer. Even those of the wicked. How would we ever find Him if He didn’t?
It is not that we should stop praying because we feel like we are not being heard. Maybe it is that we should listen more to the Holy Spirit and pray differently. Even in times when we are not being our best God is watching and listening, opening doors that we thought were closed, making new paths we never knew existed.
Reflect on: What you pray and how you pray. Maybe a change is in order.
