The Kingdom Power of Prayer

I believe Isaiah put it this way, they that wait upon the Lord will have new strength. But Dr. Tony Evans says even when the waiting is wearing us out, the promise is getting better. What God does is He removes the weary while you wait. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. In its simplest form, prayer is just talking to God. But Dr. Evans explains from a kingdom perspective, it's so much more.

Let's turn to James chapter 5 as we join him. Before a major sporting event, they will often play the national anthem. Now the national anthem has absolutely nothing to do with what's getting ready to happen on the field. It doesn't affect the football game, it doesn't affect the baseball game, it doesn't affect points scored in the basketball game, but it is put there as a place of national honor, but totally unrelated to what you came there for. You don't go there for the national anthem.

That's an add-on. For many of us, prayer is like the national anthem before a sporting event. It gets it started but has absolutely no connection to what's happening in our lives. We do it because it's tradition.

We're supposed to. It's paying homage while being totally disconnected from the field of play of our lives. And yet, it is the dominant theme of James. In verses 13 through 18, you see the word pray or prayer in every verse.

So for James, this is a big deal. God has a conditional will and an unconditional will. God's will is what he determines to happen, but it can happen in one of two ways.

It can happen unconditionally or conditionally. God's unconditional will is when he determines what will happen irrespective of what anybody else does. That is, it's not conditioned on us or anybody else because he's going to decide that it happens and he's going to cause it to happen without any human involvement. But God's conditional will is different. There are many things he's decided to not let happen unless there is human cooperation with his desire and design. For example, the Bible says God desires all men to be saved, yet men only get saved when they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

So he has a will, but it's tied to a condition. Many things in your life and my life are tied to God's conditional will. One of the primary mechanisms that God has established to determine much of what he does on earth and in your life and in my life is conditioned by the absence or presence of prayer. James says in chapter 4 verses 1 to 3, you have not because you ask not.

It wasn't because I didn't want to give it, it was because you didn't cooperate with getting it because it was part of my conditional will. Prayer is relational communication with God. We are asking God to release his will from heaven to earth. The problem is you don't always know what's conditional and what's unconditional. Some things are clear, but other things you're not sure. That's why Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 17, you better pray without ceasing.

You better bring it all to God so you'll miss nothing. Because all the time it's not clear which way God is operating from. If I were to say to you, breathe without ceasing, you would understand what I meant because if you cease breathing, you'd cease. So if I said breathe without ceasing, you know that's just got to be how you roll. That's got to be how you roll. So when Paul says pray without ceasing, he's talking about this is how you roll.

This is how you roll, that it is a lifestyle, not merely an event. Now, let me explain. Prayer does not get God to do something he doesn't want to do because you can't make God do something. But what prayer does is access what he already wants to do. I love Isaiah 65 verse 24. Isaiah 65 verse 24 says, before you call, I have answered.

Oh, did you follow that? Before you prayed, I have already answered the prayer. So you are not praying to get God to do something, but to pull down something he's already predetermined to do.

Because if he's already done it, before you ask for it, then why don't I have it? Because it has to be pulled down, pulled from heaven into history, and that is done through prayer. Verse 13, is anyone among you suffering? Suffering meant to be going through a difficult period of time. Suffering means you are hurting.

It could be physical hurt, financial hurt, circumstantial hurt, relational hurt. All you know is you're in pain, you are suffering. He says, notice this, he must pray. Not he should pray, not it would be nice if he did pray. He says, you better pray. If life has fallen on you, pain is always an invitation to prayer. He goes on in verse 13, notice what he says.

Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Now a praise is a expression of value to the Lord. Praise honoring the Lord physically and verbally. There's no such thing as silent praise. You can have silent worship, but you can't have silent praise.

Praise is always visual and vocal. That's why he says sing praises to the Lord. God wants a connection ongoingly in every aspect of our lives, whether we're hurting or not. Verse 14, is anyone among you sick? Now the Greek word for sick means to be weary. That's what the word means, means to be weary. The idea of sickness here is not merely physical sickness.

It could be physical, but the word refers to its effect. It's created weariness. It's like when you say I'm sick and tired. I'm sick of this circumstance. You're expressing a weariness, but you're using the word sick. I am weary.

Want to throw in the towel, what happens when you get weary, no matter what's caused the weariness? Then let him call on the elders of the church and they are to pray over him. In verse 13, you are praying for you. Anyone suffering, let him pray.

But in verse 14, you need help. Because your prayers are not getting through. In fact, you don't even feel like praying anymore. When life beats you down long enough, deep enough, you can get tired of dealing with God. Now that doesn't sound spiritual, but all of y'all know that's true. You don't feel like talking to God right now.

He says, okay, now at that point that you hit weariness, you need more than you. So he says, go to the elders of the church, that should represent the spiritual leadership of the church to get support for a breakthrough you have not been able to get on your own. Every Sunday morning, before each of the services, the elders meet. And on a regular basis, we are praying for some member that has called to speak about their situation, their weariness, or their suffering. And so we schedule them for a time of prayer before the service that they come to.

We had a prayer today from a sister who's here this morning. And the one word that was used in our time of prayer was, I'm tired. I'm tired. That's this word. That's this situation. Nothing is happening.

God hasn't changed anything yet. And I'm just tired. Will you pray for me? This is when people want to give up, throwing the towel. That means you need some other folk who can cry out for you because you are too tired to cry out for yourself. He says, you go call the elders of the church and let them pray because you may not be able to.

But God does not want you to deal with your weariness alone. Says, let them pray. He goes on and he says, and then let them anoint him with oil. Oil was used medicinally.

It was a medication. If you got cut, you would anoint, put oil anointment on like we do in a more sophisticated way today. Oil is used for cooking. You cook with oil. So all of these uses of oil are in the Bible. Sometimes it's not even referring to physical oil. In Psalm 23 verse 5, David says, he anoints my head with oil. Well, God didn't come down and massage David's head with oil. He's talking about the refreshing and the encouragement and the stimulation he got from God when he was facing a bad situation. So oil has all these multiplicity of usages in the Bible. He says, when that member comes to the elders, you are to pray for them but then anoint them.

In other words, have the church minister to them at the point of their need. Because you are to be an oil provider, whether it's physical or emotional or circumstantial. So he says, when you can't handle it yourself, come to the church, call on the elders, get the ministry, the oil. And you do what he says in the name of the Lord.

Why? Because we're talking about kingdom prayer. We're talking about authority from heaven.

The name means according to the character, the attributes, and the authority of Jesus Christ. You do it in Jesus' name because he's the one who okays the answers to prayer. Once that happens, it opens the door to an amazing promise. Dr. Evans will tell us about that when he comes back in a moment with more of this lesson from his powerful series, Igniting Kingdom Prayer. This two-volume, 12-message collection will take your prayer life to the next level so you can experience more of the intimate connection and two-way communication it's intended to provide. We'd like to send you a copy of this powerful series as our gift so you can review it on your own or share it with your family or Bible study group. All we ask is that you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. Get a copy today when you visit tonyevans.org or reach out to our resource center for some in-person help at 1-800-800-3222.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans, we'll be back right after this. Alaska is truly one of God's masterpieces, an unspoiled paradise where you can see the magnificent creativity of God on full display. And from August 6 to 13, you can experience Alaska with Tony Evans and the Urban Alternative on a cruise that will pamper you with luxurious accommodations, incredible meals, and a large variety of leisure experiences. Take in the wonder of God's creation and God's Word as you learn from Dr. Evans and other gifted teachers.

Spots for this August 6 to 13 cruise are filling up fast, so find out more and book your spot at tonyevans.org. Verse 15, and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. To restore something is to bring it back to its original intent. When something breaks, you restore it.

You try to bring it back to its original intent. God is a restoring God in the wearinesses of life. He makes an astounding promise. He says, God will restore.

Now, let me clarify. We know that everybody who gets physically sick don't always get well. Or they may get partially well, or they may be just a little better. We know that perfect health is not always restored in every situation. We know it is sometimes, but it's not all the time. We also know in the Bible, people got sick who were in the will of God. Job was in the will of God when he got sick. All physical sickness is not due to personal sin. When you catch a cold, it doesn't mean you just sinned. Now, it might, but it doesn't necessarily mean that.

Yes, we have an environment that's been affected by sin, but all sickness is not due to personal sin. That's why often disillusionment sets in when pulpits make promises that God does not make. Because then, it looks like God has failed. The word sick is weary. What God does when you can't lift yourself up while you are praying for a change in the circumstance is he removes the weary while you wait. Sometimes God takes you out, but other times he walks with you through. But the restore here is to remove the weariness while you still trust him for the solution.

Now, he makes a summary statement. Stay with me here in verse 16. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. The effective, the word there means energized.

Remember to energize a bunny? The energized prayer, an energized prayer is a focused prayer. It is a prayer that is God-centered. It must be accompanied by righteousness, the effective prayer of a righteous man, a person who is living to please God. Nobody is perfect, but you can be righteous. That is, you're living to please God. The effective, focused, energized prayer can accomplish much. And then he gives an illustration.

So stick with me, because this is a doozy. He says in verse 17 and 18, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Translation, he wasn't from Krypton. He wasn't super prophet. So whatever he's getting ready to say about Elijah is true about you, because he's just like you. He's just a man.

That's all he is. However, this ordinary man was a prophet. It says, he prayed, notice the word earnestly.

He wasn't being casual. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. That's three and a half years. Then he prayed again, verse 17 says, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

So watch this now. He prayed and he closed heaven down for three and a half years. He's on earth, but he praying to heaven and he shut heaven down when it came to rain. Three and a half years later, he prayed again and he opened heaven up. Heaven didn't just close and open on its own. It says he prayed and it closed. He prayed and it opened. Ah, so if you turn your Bibles back to 1 Kings chapter 18, we gonna discover some things about his prayer that should affect our prayer so that we see a lot more of heaven entering into our history than we are currently seeing as believers. In chapter 18, he prays beginning in verse 36, but then he comes to verse 41. And Elijah said to Ahab, go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.

He says, I hear a thunderstorm coming over. Verse 42, and Ahab went up to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel and crouched down on the earth. Did somebody say crouched down? Crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees.

Alright, he goes up to Mount Carmel and it says he crouched down. What's the crouching down and the hair between your knees all about? Well, in Biblical days, when women were having babies, they didn't have stirrups.

They didn't have the sophistication. So a normal way for a Jewish woman to have a baby was to crouch down, put her head down and push and push and push and push until that baby came out. So he took the posture of a pregnant woman who was in labor.

The Bible calls it travail. He was in labor and he said, I need some rain. I want some rain.

I'm going to push and push and push till I get some rain. You know what God wants you to do? He wants you to birth his will from heaven in history by calling it down, drawing it down, pushing it down until that baby of deliverance, that baby of healing, that baby of victory comes forth. This is serious praying. This is not casual praying. This is crying out. Why?

Why do I have to work so hard? Because Satan is trying to block your prayer from getting through. He tells Ahab, get in your chariot and go because this storm is going to get ready to break out. So get in your chariot and go. That means a horse is pulling the chariot. So he gets in a horse.

He's got to go 15 miles from where he is to Jezreel. So Ahab gets in there and he's riding his horse. But I don't want you to miss the end of verse 46. Then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and out ran Ahab to Jezreel.

No, you didn't. Ahab is on a horse. Ahab is riding a horse. Oh, Elijah picks up his cloak, ties it up, and he hoofs it. He hoofs it. And he out runs a horse to Jezreel.

I believe Isaiah put it this way. They that wait upon the Lord will have new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get weary.

They will walk and not faint. Somebody here ought to be willing to pray. Somebody here ought to be willing to pray out to God. Somebody here ought to be willing to touch Heaven because the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails as much.

to make the arrangements. Or, if more convenient, call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members assist with your request. Once again, that's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. And that's the same online location where you can discover how to stream the popular film Journey with Jesus. Shown last year in theaters around the nation, Journey with Jesus brings the New Testament Gospels to life. As Dr. Evans and his adult children visit the locations of Jesus' earthly ministry, connecting them to their significance for humankind today.

Plan on making this film part of your special reflection for Easter this year. For information on how to take advantage of the Journey with Jesus limited-time streaming opportunity, visit tonyevans.org today. We've been learning recently about the spiritual authority available to those of us who follow Christ. But on Monday, Dr. Evans will explain that God only grants us the power to use it when we meet certain conditions. Find out what they are when you join us next time. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.