Powerful Prayers

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

My Facebook feed has been filled with prayer requests lately. Big ones, life changing ones. So I look at this verse and think, "I need to be righteous, so that my prayers will be effective." But what does that look like, what does that mean?

Often times, we strive to attain righteousness on our own. We try to live good lives, do good things, avoid bad things. But is that really how we attain righteousness?

Paul says in Philippians 3:8-9, "That I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

True righteousness cannot be earned. We cannot do more good things or do less bad things in order to gain the kind of true righteousness that connects us to the heart of God. 

We see in Philippians that true righteousness comes through faith in Christ. Yet, it is also our understanding of righteousness that builds our faith. 

Why is understanding that we are righteous powerful and effective? Because the righteous person understands his/her identity in Christ. Righteous men and women understand that because they have faith in Christ, their identity is in Him. This means that when God looks at the righteous man or woman, it is as if He is looking at Christ. 

Therefore, the righteous man and woman can pray with confidence that God hears them and will answer their prayers just as if Jesus was praying. They can believe that they have the same access to God that Jesus would have. Jesus paid that price so that we can have relationship with the Father. 

Righteousness says, when God looks at you, He sees Jesus. Therefore, if Jesus would pray and God would answer, then you can pray and God will answer. 

For example, if you believe that Jesus could pray for your healing and you would be healed, then you can believe that you can pray for your healing and you will be healed. 

Or, if you believe that Jesus could pray for provision and it would be provided, then you can pray for provision and believe that it will be provided. 

Now there are some things that Jesus prayed for that he didn't receive. When he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion, he prayed that if possible the cup would be taken from him, but it was not. Persecution and suffering are not things that we can pray with absolute faith that they will be removed from our lives. However, we can still pray with confidence that God hears our prayers and that He will never leave us or forsake us in our suffering. 

Why is understanding righteousness so important? Because it builds our faith when we pray. I can pray with confidence that God hears me, that He cares about my request. It is as if Christ is praying for my request. When God sees me, he sees Jesus. I can believe that if Jesus would pray for my situation and get an answer, then I can pray for my situation and get an answer. 

The minute that you surrender your heart, your life, your desires to Christ and exchange your old sinful nature for a beautiful new nature, you become the righteousness of God. You can not earn it, you can not be more righteous one day and less the next. You are righteous. Our struggle is believing it. We know the things we do everyday and we have trouble believing that all our mess was paid for on the cross.

This is why the Bible talks repeatedly about having a clear conscience. When we feel guilty, we can't pray with as much faith. We will have a little doubt in the back of our minds, sometimes it is huge consuming doubt, that says, "Do you really think God will answer YOUR prayer? Do you remember what you did?"

Guilt causes us to focus on us instead of on Jesus. We begin to think that we play some part in our salvation, instead of realizing that it is ALL JESUS! We cannot add to it and we cannot take away from it. The Blood of Jesus shed on the cross was and always will be sufficient payment for my sins. 

II Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 

The righteousness of God. 

It sounds beautiful, doesn't it?!?

The Long Way

When we moved to Texas three years ago, we were sure it was the plan of God. For the most part the move went very smoothly. Sure, we had to live in a hotel for three weeks until our apartment was ready, but that was ok. Brad's job was a blessing from the start. His salary was exactly what we had prayed for. We knew which church we were supposed to go to after trying only two and at the first church we tried I met the person who became one of my closest friends. It seemed like God had it all taken care of. He faithfully answered every prayer and then some.

So when we felt called to move again, I expected the same thing to happen. I expected God to handle all the details with ease. To sell our house, to provide the salary we were needing, to lead us to the right church, and basically make everything fall into place like He did the last time. 

I had so many people tell me their testimony of how God told them to move and then He sold their house in record time for above what they were asking. Of course God would do that for me too! Right?!?

Wrong. Our house did not sell right away. It has been on the market for 82 days. (Which I realize is not really that long, but when you are expecting God to sell it in 3, it starts to test your faith. Especially, when I am now the proud owner of two house payments. )  Thankfully, we do currently have a contract on it that is supposed to close in August, but after one failed contract already, I'd say we're a little gun-shy. 

We also haven't found a church yet. It's hard. It's hard to know where God wants us to go. Trust me, I have prayed about it, but I just don't feel like I've gotten a solid answer yet. 

There have been some other bumps along the way that I don't feel comfortable sharing on here. Things where we expected one thing and the opposite happened. Things that didn't pan out the way we were hoping. 

It's so easy to start to doubt. Did we hear wrong? Did we make a mistake moving? Why aren't things supernaturally falling into place? Would it have been better if we had just stayed where we were? What if the house contract falls apart again? What if? What if? What if?

What ifs are faith killers!

I know that God told us to move to Fort Worth. I know that it is His plan and that He has not forgotten us. I know that He did not move us here just to leave us to ourselves. But, why then is this the path He had us take?

Maybe this is how the Israelites felt when they left Egypt. Here God had done all these miracles to get Pharaoh to let them go and they leave Egypt with their arms loaded with gold and silver and head out toward the desert only to come face to face with the Red Sea. "What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?" they questioned Moses. All they could see was the enemy behind them and nowhere to go. 

But what they thought had been their biggest miracle- God leading them out of Egypt- and then the betrayal that they felt at facing the Red Sea- was only setting them up for an even more amazing, fantastic, awe-inspiring miracle. The parting of the Red Sea. 

It says in Exodus 13:17 that "God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country though that was shorter. For God said, 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.' So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle."

It strikes me as ironic that although the Israelites left Egypt armed for battle, God knew they were not ready to face war. Therefore, He led them on a longer route. Sometimes we get frustrated with the long route, but God knows what we are ready to handle and He is protecting us. 

I feel like I'm on a longer route this time around. Perhaps I am not headed directly for my destination and maybe there will be a giant obstacle in the way. But, my God is Faithful! He will provide. 

Are you feeling like you might have missed the plan of God? Are you feeling that you are walking a path that isn't leading exactly where you thought you were going? Is it taking longer than you expected? 

Have hope! God has not forgotten you. He is not leading you astray. He has you right where He wants you! Your biggest miracle is yet to come!