What Makes An Effective Prayer?

 Why do we bother praying?  Why do we take time to tell God things He already knows?  Well, here are a few of the reasons that motivate me to pray even though I don’t have all the answers about why God would put this kind of a system in place.

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  James 5:16

Another translation puts it this way:

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

If our prayers are powerful and effective and produce wonderful results then that would seem to be a good reason to talk to God about whatever is going on in our world.

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.  Ephesians 6:18

I don’t know who Marvin Williams is but I found this quote on his blog today about prayer and it summarizes so well what I’m trying to say:

God invites into a relationship with Him, not to just get stuff from him. He invites us into His purposes and power – power to defeat the enemy, save, restore, strengthen, raise up, heal, glorify God, accomplish the impossible, bless, impart wisdom, secure peace, keep us from sinning, and reveal God’s will. When we see prayer this way, it becomes less of punching the clock and donkeywork and more joyful anticipation of how our Father will move the world for his glory and our good.  (Marvin Williams)

Well, let’s pray – and even though it might seem strange isn’t it good that we can even pray about praying:

Loving God, we thank You for this amazing gift of prayer – the chance to talk to You the most high and holy God, creator of the universe.  You so much want to hear what we have to say and bless us.  When we find ourselves in trouble:

that person can pray to God and find favor with him, they will see God’s face and shout for joy; he will restore them to full well-being.  Job 33:26

How amazing is that.  How grateful we are for many times and experiences of this in our own lives.

We’re weak an vulnerable to temptations of many kinds every day and so we pray God that we will follow Jesus’ command and

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Matthew 26:41

Help us to recognize those things that call us away from You.  Give us humility to ask for and receive

the strength and help we need because our flesh is weak even though our spirit is wanting to follow You.

And we know that You want us not just to pray for ourselves but that our prayers are meant to minister to others on their behalf, even our whole nation.  These are familiar words but we don’t want to pass them by today and not act on them:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

In whatever country each of us live today Lord help us to care for those who live there as You care for them and to pray.  Give us humble hearts to confess the sins of our nation on behalf of all who live there and to pray that many will repent, will turn from their wicked ways and seek Your face. 

You’ve promised so much to us when we do and even healing for our land and I can’t think of a nation on earth right now that doesn’t need healing from the covid-19 virus and so much more. 

And so Lord, whether we feel like we know how to pray, what to pray, or even why to pray, we will pray today trusting You to make something wonderful and right about what we speak to you:

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  Romans 8:26

Thank You for this precious privilege of prayer.   Amen