Availing Prayer

INTRODUCTION

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 (James 5:16–18).

WHAT KIND OF PRAYER AVAILS MUCH?

1. Effective, fervent

2. Righteous

WHY THE EXAMPLE OF ELIJAH? (1 KINGS 17–18)

1. He was a righteous man, “with a nature like ours”

2. He prayed earnestly

CONCLUDING APPLICATIONS

1. Be encouraged to pray, not discouraged. If you are seeking to live a godly life through the power of the Holy Spirit, then you have God’s attention.

2. Recognize where you pray already, and do so earnestly and with renewed faith.

3. Take practical steps to cultivate additional times of focused prayer—because God is faithful and kind.