The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. James 5:16 AMP God delights in the prayer of the upright (Proverbs 15:8; 1 Peter 3:12). God is interested in the subject of prayer! He set prayer in motion to begin with, and He wants us to do it.

Prayer is a discipline, but it's also this amazing sort of portal into the glory of God. It's our access point. It causes us to tap in and connect. Prayer is plugging in to the power of God. The Amplified Bible says, "The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]" (James 5:16).

One of the things I desire for our church is that our prayer life will be SO REAL. We aren't being repetitious (God, I thank You, God, Father God that You, God, hear us, God . . . ) or speaking in jargon or adding in "thees" and "thous" and 400-year-old wording that is out of the range of present reality. Can I just speak plainly here for a moment? That's just not how we converse with Someone we are close to and Whom we have the utmost reverence and respect for. If we can get all of the filler and repetition out of the way and really connect with God just as we are, we'll probably end up with 30% more time to pray, and we'll pray more effectively.

Effective praying happens when you speak sincerely from your heart to your Heavenly Father in a manner consistent with His Word and your own style. That communicates to the Lord: "I love You. I worship You. You are worthy of praise. You are great. You are my Father. I'm here to be with You."

Speak from the heart. And if you think there are layers of artificiality, just say so to the Lord and ask Him to help you pray with sincerity.

God knows the hairs on our heads. He knows what we are going to say before we say it. He accepts us just as we are. We can be comfortable being real with our Lord. I imagine He'd prefer nothing short of that.

Get real in prayer,
Pastor Jeff

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 1 John 3:21-22

© 2007 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.