Pastor Richard Waialeale
July 19, 2020 - W2029

Prayer

Pastor Richard Waialeale

July 18 &19, 2020

Aloha & Welcome, New Hope--Everywhere & Anywhere!

Our lesson today is from the book of James; James is one of Jesus’ four half-brothers. Can you imagine growing up in the same household with Jesus?  His brothers must have had problems getting a grip on the truth of who Jesus really was. Even though they grew up with Jesus, they didn’t really believe that He was the Son of God until after His resurrection when they were so convinced that He was undeniably the Son of God!  In fact, James was so convinced that Jesus was the Son of God that he went on to become the leader in the early church. 

Let me start with this: When Leonard Da Vinci, considered one of the greatest painters of all time was painting “The Last Supper” at a monastery in Milan, he had spent a great deal of time meditating, until some of the monks became concerned that he was spending more time in solitude than in painting.  He explained to them that when he paused and took time in prayer that he made more significant and expressive strokes with his paintbrush!  

Here's the point:  You may not feel that you're all that good with prayer; but you can be sure that you're no good without it! 

Philippians 4:13 NKJV says: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

The disciples had observed Jesus raising the dead, healing the sick, feeding the multitudes; and they were by His side when He walked on water, preached, and cast out demons, but the most foundational thing they asked Him is in  Luke 11:1 KJV: “Lord, teach us to pray..." The disciples understood that there is power in prayer--and prayer should be our priority, too!

James 5:16-18 NKJV says: "¹⁶Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (Here it is:) The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷Elijah 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."

There are three words in the above scriptures that may have intimidated us in the past, but not anymore, as we will focus on them today:   

1. Effectively/Effectually

James uses Elijah to illustrate this point because Elijah was a man of vulnerabilities just like we are; and he knew that in order to pray effectively/effectually, he had to combine prayer with God's word. Here's the key: Elijah didn't even have the entire Bible, but he surely knew God's promises.  In the same way, we must understand that to pray effectually/effectively is to combine our prayer with God's word--His promises from the Bible. 

Deuteronomy 11:16-17 NKJV says: "¹⁶ Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, ¹⁷ lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you."

To illustrate this point: In 2018 in Western Australia, a miner named Henry Dole had watered down dirt from big chunks of rocks; and he found that gold was everywhere, as far as the eye could see!  The biggest of the stones weighed at 143 pounds, worth about $2.6 million; the second weighed 132 pounds, valued at $1.95 million; and for the entire year of 2018, a total estimate from that mine amounted to 562 pounds of gold worth more than $10.4 million!  

The point is that miners have been digging there for 45 years and are still getting gold today, recovering pieces bigger than ever.  That's how it is with God’s Word.  You keep digging and digging for years and years and you still have not exhausted all its treasures!  I believe the greatest revelations and truths are yet to come.

Psalm 12:6 NIV say: "And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times." 

Here's your application: When reading the word of God and you come across a scripture that you sense the Lord touching your heart, just stop and talk to Him about what you're reading, and the Lord will grow something in you! To pray effectually is to pray biblically. When we plant and water the seeds inside of us--God grows the seed!     

John 15:7 ESV says: "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish,    and it will be done for you.

2. Fervent 

Have you experienced what it means to press through and pray until something is birthed?  How many of you pray once, twice, three, four times,and if nothing happens, you give up?  I know I do--not so with Elijah.  He prayed until something was birthed.  That's how it works.  

Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane with such birthing intensity that his face sweat blood.  Do we even know what it means to keep asking, and keep seeking, and keep knocking?  Elijah prayed and he didn't give up! James tells us it’s not only effectual prayer that gains much, but it must be combined with fervent prayer! 

What I have learned during the pandemic lockdown shelter?in?place season is that the Father is saying to every single one of us--Pray fervently!  If you have to come back an eighth or a 12th time, just keep praying because God knows what's ahead!  God is saying to Elijah: It is not for me to respond immediately, but for you to come in my presence repeatedly!  By then, I find in God everything my heart desires!

One day I had a call to visit an elderly man at Queens Medical Center.  Before I left, I had prayed fervently that God would give me the words to say to him.  I prayed but I did not get anything from God--no answer at all!

This was a 93-year-old, Buddhist man, who had cracked his ribs and was in great pain.  I couldn’t understand him very well as he was having trouble breathing. I started talking and after a while, he asked me to help him get up.  He’s on a morphine drip and when I moved him, he starts screaming, but his speech had improved.  He told me that when everyone leaves and he’s in the room alone, he sees menehunes chasing rabbits! (Note: menehunes are Hawaii version of Irish leprechauns.) 

When he said that, the Lord gave me the words to say: “Mr. Yoshioka, do you know what can get rid of those menehunes and rabbits?”  With big eyes, he says, “No. What?”  I said, “Jesus.”

I tried to explain Jesus to him as simply as I could.  At the end of the day, he received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  When I was ready to leave, I was happy and excited that the Lord had me build a relationship with this man!  

Six or seven months later, Mr. Yoshioka came to church in a wheelchair with his grandson to thank me.  What I learned from this is a deeper appreciation of my relationship with Jesus.  A relationship is not to get God’s attention, but to birth a deeper relationship with Him! 

Praying fervently and effectually is building and developing my relationship with God.  On that day on the mountaintop, Elijah's relationship with God went a little bit deeper; and on that day in the hospital, my relationship with God went a little bit deeper!  

3. Righteous 

We come to our third word in the book of James that often intimidates us--righteous!  

James calls Elijah a man with vulnerabilities:  One minute he’s on the mountaintop after calling down fires from heaven; then he is frightened by the words of a woman named Jezebel and is done in by despair!  James refers to Elijah as a righteous man.  Righteous is not dependent on the way we behave--but on what we believe!

Do you believe in God?  Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross for your sins and was resurrected after three days?  Do you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior?  Your believing makes you righteous!

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV says: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Regardless of where you've been or what you've done, you are a new creation in Christ!  You are righteous! Even if you have sinned, you have become righteous because of God in you. That makes you righteous right there!  

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV says: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

So, even if you have sinned, you are made a new creation when you accept Jesus; and as a believer, you are now surrounded by Christ, covered with Christ, and washed with the blood of Christ! That means God has put our sins, past, present, and even the stuff that you haven't even done yet on His Son!

Listen, Church:  You can't get any more righteous than that!  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man gains much, produces much, and avails much.  Effectual, fervent, and righteous are three words that unless understood biblically can intimidate us and keep us from praying consistently.   

But once we understand the meaning of effectual, fervent, and righteous, all that remains is to understand the word "much." Much is what God has done for us and wants to continue to do in our lives as we walk with and wait on Him--effectual, fervently praying!  

Application:  Because we are all believers, you are surrounded by Christ, covered with Christ, and washed with the blood of Christ.

Listen, Church:  You can't get any more righteous than that!  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man gains, produces, and avails much!  Effectual, fervent, and righteous are three words that unless understood biblically can intimidate us and keep us from praying consistently.  

But once we understand their meaning, all that remains is to understand that the word "much" is much; it is what God has done for us and wants to continue to do in our lives as we walk with Him and wait on Him--effectually, fervently praying!   

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

2. Share the times that God answered your prayers.

3. Describe the difference between the time before you accepted Jesus and after.

4. Do you feel a deeper relationship with God when you pray?