Today’s reading: Isaiah 14; James 5
It always sticks out to me that James doesn’t say that prayer has great power in general, but instead calls out that it is the prayer of a righteous person that has great power while it is working.
This is a truth that a lot of people seem pretty content to ignore. There are plenty of people who, day in and day out, couldn’t care less about God, but then when something bad happens or when a great need arises, they start praying. There are Christians who openly and carelessly live in sin, but then will seem confused or angry when they aren’t getting answers to their prayers. There are others for whom God is on the back-burner of their lives (they don’t ignore God completely, nor are they living in active moral compromise in some area, but other than going to church on Sunday morning and maybe praying with their family before dinner, their life doesn’t look all that different for knowing God), and they too will start praying when something comes up, expecting God will answer because of their consistent church attendance.
God is not a vending machine. You don’t tend to think about the vending machine in the break room at work until you’re hungry and want a snack, but when the hunger sets in, you remember the vending machine is there. You don’t stop by and talk to the vending machine when you don’t need something, and no matter what else is or isn’t going on in your life, when you put your money in, the machine will give you your food. It’s a simple and consistent transaction. How many people want God to operate this way? How many people, Christian and non-Christian alike, want to be able to go through life, largely ignoring that God is there at all, but then when the need arises, they want to put their dollar in and get their Twix?
Unfortunately, if this is what you're looking for in prayer, this is not the Biblical picture we get of it.
James tells us that prayer is indeed effective and powerful, but he specifically tells us, "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." It is not prayer generically that we should expect to be effective and powerful, but the prayer of a righteous person that leaves us with this expectation. And it's not just James that makes this kind of declaration either. In 1 Peter 3, Peter tells husbands to live with their wives in an understanding way, "so that your prayers may not be hindered." There is a correlation between our own personal righteousness before the Lord and the level of expectation we can reasonably have that He is going to answer our prayers.
Spiritually, we want to have our cake and eat it too. We want the benefits and blessings the Lord offers and promises, without having to actually follow Him or have Him impact our lives in any appreciable way (other than the ways we decide we want of course), but this really doesn't make any sense. If I am taking my kids to the zoo for the day and pack lunch for them, that doesn't mean any random child at the zoo can ask me for lunch. There are opportunities, gifts, etc. that I will gladly prepare for and gift to my children because they are my children, but that I'm not going to do for other people I don't know. Why would we expect anything different from God? Just because He is God, is He forced to act and operate on behalf of people who don't otherwise want anything to do with Him? He offers the opportunity for all people to become His children and enter into all of His blessings and promises by faith in Jesus, so why should we expect Him to bow down to the whims of those who won't accept that invitation? Jesus Himself had to go to the cross and die in order to pay for sin, so after paying such a high price, is He to bend over backward for the desires of those who treat sin so casually and carelessly?
It is easy to treat prayer with an entitled attitude, expecting God to work for me, when and how I want, regardless of whether or not I am pursuing a life that is pleasing to Him. And it is easy to treat prayer flippantly, like I don't actually expect it to do anything, but I might as well pray as a "backup" plan in case it does work. But the reality of prayer is that it can be incredibly powerful, it can accomplish great things, and we can pray with great expectation, but if we want this to be the reality of our prayer lives, James says that the way we choose to live, day in and day out, matters.
"The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
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