“The effective prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

We observed last month that our prayers are only going to be beneficial when righteousness is an attribute of the petitioner. We saw the word that describes man in our verse above, but what does it mean for our prayers to be effective?

In order to properly handle this question, I must first make a clarification about our verse. It appears that effective is an adjective, a word to describe the noun prayer. This is not true, though. This word in the original Greek is actually a verb. This may not sound very important, but I think it is if we are going to uncover the full meaning intended by James.

Knowing that effective is really a verb gives more power to prayer because it is action. Some of our English translations place it before prayer, which causes us to glide right past it to the all-important word prayer. However, the Greek places it at the end where it is most likely to catch our attention.

Look at the verse when worded in the order of the Greek: “Much strong [is] a petition of one [who is] righteous, being made effective." Our word, effective, is actually a present participle “being made effective.” It indicates a continuing action—our prayers are continually being made effective.

When we live righteously, our prayers are given strength. What we find as time passes is that our prayers have not been in vain—they have been effective. This is the same idea used elsewhere in Scripture. In Galatians 2:8, Paul says that God “effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship.” God brought good results to the work of Peter’s hands in ministry. He similarly gives our prayers good results.

The interesting thing about our word effective is that in the Greek it is energeo. The English word which has derived from this is energy. When we put this into the context of our verse, we get “A righteous man’s prayer that energizes avails much. We are talking about more than simply an effective prayer, but one which is full of power.

When we treat our bodies poorly—we neglect our needed sleep, fail to eat healthy foods, ingest nothing but junk—those bodies suffer from lack of energy. We consume our lattes or energy drinks thinking this will fill the void. The result is we grow dependent on those substitutes, which wind up not even helping us, and may actually bring us harm.

The same can be said about our prayer life. We fail to come to God in prayer, and give our spiritual soul the necessary nourishment of Scripture, then wonder why our prayers are not effective. We feel that we can utter a five minute prayer on the way to work and that will suffice. All the while, our spirits are starving and our prayers lack the energy to truly be effective.

So what do we do? How do we turn our prayers into Energizer bunnies pounding beats into the very throne of Heaven? I think two things will help make our prayers more effective and powerful: giving support to our prayer and keeping a proper perspective of prayer.

The foundation of prayer—of our entire Christian walk for that matter—is relationship. The reason God created us is so we could share in a relationship with Him. Everything accomplished at work, ministry involved in, and even family time spent is meaningless if there is a break in our connection with the Lord. When the focus is placed once again on God (or maybe even for the first time) activities and accomplishments carry much more meaning. We experience an overwhelming thankfulness for our family, church, job, and all areas of our lives.     

A proper relationship with the Lord sets the groundwork upon which we build. Prayer then becomes the building material used to construct our temple for the Lord. But we do not work alone—Christ labors along side us, like oxen in a yoke. We are joined together with Christ like a marital relationship, and we work together to build a structure that is fit for Heaven. Prayer allows for growth rather than decay.

Our prayer is also made powerful by keeping a proper perspective of prayer, particularly regarding that relationship we are discussing. We must remember that we do not petition God so He can pop out of His magic lamp and say, “Master, whatever your wish, I will obey.” Instead, prayer is opening ourselves up to God, repenting of the things we have done to harm our closeness with Him, and simply conversing with our Master, our Father, and our friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Prayer is powerful, it is effective, and it is energetic. Let us look at this great gift of God—the blessing of being able to converse with our Creator—with wonder. Instead of mumbling words speedily to God, let us remember that we are talking to a holy God in Heaven. He hears us and makes our prayers effective, and in turn, energizes us for the spiritual walk ahead.

Next month we will close this discussion by placing our verse into the context Paul used by observing the surrounding verses. Until then, I pray that the Lord blesses you in ways that further his Kingdom.