Jesus replied,
“If you only knew the gift God has for you
and who you are speaking to,
you would ask me,
and I would give you living water.”
…those who drink the water I give
will never be thirsty again.
It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them,
giving them eternal life.”
John 4:10, 14
So I’m working to understand this verse better:
Confess your faults one to another,
and pray one for another,
that ye may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man (or woman) availeth much.
(King James’ version of James 5:16—beautiful poetic language that I often have to ponder in order to internalize)
Other versions use these words:
Powerful
Great power
Supplication
Wonderful results
Can accomplish much
Very powerful
Continual prayer
Heartfelt supplication
Insistent prayer
Very strong
I positively don’t want to waste my time praying wimpy limp-along prayers that don’t accomplish much. So I’m striving to be a better pray-er. (perhaps that’s a key; maybe it’s not so much praying better prayers, as it is being a better pray-er)
I read in Matthew Henry’s commentary that one needs to be careful to actually pray in prayer. I paused for much thought there. Then caught myself this morning saying words while my focus was really on the pictures I was taking; and I’m pretty certain there’s no such thing as half-hearted effectual fervent prayer.
God doesn’t want me to treat his listening presence as if I can contain it on the back burner.
And there’s not a cookie cutter design for prayer because God says:
“When you pray,
don’t babble on and on
as people of other religions do.
They think their prayers are answered
merely by repeating their words again and again.
Matthew 6:7
However, God was so meticulous when he gave his OT worship instructions to Moses that I have to believe some conditions and methods are more effective than others.
I asked some friends what they think the verse means:
Without ceasing (3 repeats)
With an honest heart.
Takes a lot of intentionality to be constantly aware of God’s presence during prayer.
Pray with conviction.
Just pray!
Be consistent.
Sometimes pray with a broken heart.
Desperate.
Honest.
Like you are on fire and you just want to burn hotter and you don’t want to stop or even have a slow down—if that makes sense.
Pray believing and often.
I even listened to one of Dr. David Gibbs, Jr.’s sermons on prayer:
Get clean
Be righteous & clean
Be faithful to pray
Expect answers
Expect God to do the impossible
My personal takeaway:
Lord,
please teach me how
to be a pray-er
who prays fervent
effectual prayers
that avail much.
Amen
“For God loved the world so much
that he gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
will not perish
but have eternal life.
God sent his Son into the world
not to judge the world,
but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17
But if you don’t believe me
when I tell you about earthly things,
how can you possibly believe
if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has ever gone to heaven and returned.
but the Son of Man has come down from heaven.
John 3:12-13
Father, please keep my focus on the important things–the ones for whom I pray–keep them safe, by night and day. Give each of us an intense hunger and insatiable thirst for you. And, Lord, thank you for your reminders; and please use my moment well.
We are here for only a moment,
visitors and strangers in the land
as our ancestors were before us.
Our days on earth are like a passing shadow,
gone so soon without a trace.
1 Chronicles 29:15
The wind blows wherever it wants.
Just as you can hear the wind
but can’t tell where it comes from
or where it is going,
so you can’t explain
how people are born of the Spirit.”
John 3:8
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth,
unless you are born again,
you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?”
exclaimed Nicodemus,
“How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb
and be born again?”
Jesus replied,
“I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God
without being born of water and the Spirit.
Humans can reproduce only human life,
but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
So don’t be surprised when I say,
‘You must be born again.’
John 3:3-7
…the law was given through Moses,
but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness
came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17
He came into the very world he created,
but the world didn’t recognize him.
He came to his own people,
and even they rejected him.
But to all who believed him and accepted him
he gave the right to become children of God.
they are reborn—
not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan,
but with a birth that comes from God.
John 1:10-13
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
John 1:4-5
