THE FERVENT PRAYER

James 1:16

Morning Meditation 8/30/16

Verse 16 says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Prayer is a vital key that connects us with our heavenly Father. When we were saved, we were reconciled to God. God was God to us as our Creator before we were saved. We were His by an act of procreation. God is as much involved in procreation as He was in what we might call direct creation. As our God, we were accountable to Him, but not in fellowship with Him. Through Christ we are now reconciled to Him as God and have a new relationship. He is now our Father and we His sons. Prayer is the way we communicate with Him as to our personal needs and needs that have to do with His kingdom work in which we are involved while here on earth. Prayer is essential. Our text speaks of prayer and assures us of an answer. First, let’s look at what the verse says.

James says, “Confess your faults one to another .. . . ” The word “confess” translates “exomologeo” and means “to confess, to acknowledge openly and joyfully, to agree.” It is a present middle imperative verb. The definition describes one who is willing to walk in openness. He is not trying to hide what is called “faults.” He is willing to admit to another person that they are “faults” and he has them. This is humility. This is a willingness to remove all false claims of being something that we are not. Salvation does not make the natural man better. We still have to say with Paul, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom. 7:18). God saved us by His grace and we walk by faith in the daily supply of grace.

There are those who evidently think that salvation makes us better. We can’t think of ourselves as better without the idea of merit walking through that open door. We can’t think of being better without a comparison with others being made, i.e., I am better than so and so, or, I’m not as good as another that we admire. All such comparisons are vain and have to do with the flesh and not the Spirit. We can’t get better without Christ losing ground. To the degree that we are better, to that same degree, He is not as needed. So the Christian life is one of humility where we grow downward, and the more we recognize our complete depravity by nature, the greater His grace becomes to us.. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isa. 57:15).

I said that the word “confess” is a present middle imperative verb. What does that mean in relation to the meaning of this verse? It means that James is addressing a present and constant ongoing need in the lives of those to whom he writes. Since he is writing to Christians, he is writing to us concerning a constant and on going need. All of us have an old sin nature and as a result we all have this common and constant need. It is middle voice. This is where the subject (we Christians) participates in the result of the action, i.e., when we confess our faults one to another, we are helped by that action. We gain for ourselves a blessing by a willingness to walk in openness and admit that we are constantly in need of forgiveness. The imperative mood means that it is a command and expresses urgency. This is important enough for the Holy Spirit to inspire James to put this verb in the form of a command. What makes this so urgent? Because if we get an answer to prayer, we must walk in honesty. And no Christian is honest who is self righteous. We are either self righteous or we admit that we lack in righteousness. God supplies with forgiveness and imparted righteousness when we are willing to agree with Him and confess to others our faults. It is imperative to answered prayer for us to see this, so he puts it in the imperative mood.

Our text says, “Confess your faults one to another.” The word “faults” translates “paraptoma” and means “a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness, a sin, misdeed.” The word “fault” is the same word that is found in Gal. 6:1: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” The words “one to another” means that we are not only to be honest with God about our “faults” but we are to walk in openness with our brethren. It is amazing how we try to impress our friends and even family (those who know us best). Psychologists’ tell us that almost 100% of the time in counseling that the one sitting across the desk from the counselor is not going to tell you the real problem. He will go all around it. He does not want to admit it is “his fault” and that he has a fault and needs help. That is the reason the counselor has to dig. And that makes us uncomfortable. James tells us how to get relief without paying $100 an hour for it!

Incidentally, if we don’t confess our faults, it does not remove the fact that we have them. You say, “Yes, but I’m not humiliated in the presence of my friends.” This is where the rubber meets the road. Do we want answers to prayer or do we want to continue to “say prayer” where nothing ever changes? We just have a real problem with honesty don’t we? We have a problem agreeing with God.

The words “and pray for one another” is the answer to the problem of “faults.” To get strength to overcome the “faults” is going to be the result of prayer. And it is the prayer of those before whom we just “confessed our faults.” By our confession we presented a need to our brethren. They respond in prayer and the result is, “that ye may be healed.” It may be a physical illness or it may be a spiritual problem expressed by the word “faults.” All the help we will ever need is in the local Church, if we will only believe and practice the Bible.

Then James states a reality: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” The word “effectual fervent” translates “energeia” which means, “working, efficiency; in the NT used only of superhuman power, whether of God or of the Devil.” Here we know it is God’s power. The word “prayer” translates “deesis” which means “desire, want, entreaty.”

If we want to be effective in prayer there must be “righteousness.” I can hear someone say, “Well, preacher, you just told us we have an old sin nature and that we are to grow downward, and now you are telling us that we must be righteous!” Paul says, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30) Jesus is God’s righteousness and it is the only righteousness that will stand in His sight. We are not ready to come before Him in the righteousness of Christ until we are bankrupt in our own sight. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” If we want something from God, we must deserve it, and since Christ is the only one who deserves it, grace is where God gives us what Christ deserves. This is the reason we pray in the Name of Christ and not our own. This is the reason fasting is an aid to prayer. Fasting allows us to see the weakness of the flesh, and when we see that, we are ready to cast ourselves on the mercies of God. “A righteous man” is the man who sees himself as he really is, a sinner that cannot be improved, and sees Christ as his Substitute, not only as the one who died for him, but also, the one who lives for him and is his righteousness before the throne. Amen! Someone hold my mules! Fervent prayer is never prayed by a self righteous man. Fervent prayer is prayed by those who see themselves in desperate need and ask for mercy and grace to help in that time of need.

May God bless this to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White