Prayer that Get's Results

by Russell J. Schmidt

James 5:16 ...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

I like verses like James 5:16, short and to the point! James said this in reference to healing and the prayer of faith, but of course, it's not just healing that prayer is effective against— a prayer of a righteous man is effective against anything that comes against us— anything that is contrary to God's best for us. 

What is God's best for us? Well, I can give many Scripture verses relating to that, but let's take a look at a verse where God promised His best to His chosen people if they chose the right way, and that of course would include us today. Deuteronomy 30:19, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live." Here God is telling us that we are free to choose between life and death. Sounds like a no brainer, right? You would think so, but the majority of people have chosen death. If we choose life, we're choosing God's best and that's life with God for all eternity.

But, you don't have to wait for eternity to receive the benefits of choosing life, you can have it all now! The benefits of choosing life is prosperity (verse 5, 9), health and well-being (verse 5, 9, 20), protection from our enemies (verse 7), and of course, "life"— He tells us that right at the end of verse 19.

At the time God spoke this, it was to the Israelites at about 1400 BC. toward the end of Moses lifetime. But, it is certainly relevant to us today, the only difference is that we have it even easier than they did. God took the 613 commandments and statutes that are found throughout the Old Testament law that made it impossible for a carnal man to uphold and widdled them down to just one— that one is Jesus Christ. Putting our focus squarely on Him we are choosing life and blessing. And when we pray we can shake the foundation of the earth (Acts 4:31 ).

But, we can only do this if we are righteous. One definition of righteous is, "morally upright." The problem is that Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one." That doesn't sound like it bodes well for us now, does it? In Revelation 5:4, John speaks of this when he says, "So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it." But, verse 5 gives us wonderful news! "But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals."

That lion of the tribe of Judah is Jesus Christ— He is "I Am" (John 8:58 ), referring to What God told Moses His name was when Moses asked God, in Exodus 3:13, "Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?" God replied in verse 4, "I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'" In John 8:58, Jesus equates Himself to God by saying, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." The Jewish leaders whom Jesus was speaking to, knew exactly what Jesus meant and that He was comparing Himself to God— this must have infuriated them because, in verse 59, it says, that they pick up stones to stone Him with, but Jesus slipped away from the temple through the crowd and they lost Him.

What does this have to do with us? Because of who Jesus was and what He did for us, if we accept Him as our savior and let Him rule our lives, we are righteous in the eyes of God. Wow! There is no way possible for us, as human beings, to ever be able to become righteous to God in any other way. On the contrary, the Bible tells us, if it were not for Jesus Christ's sacrifice, our penalty would have been death— but Jesus took our death penalty, as well as our sicknesses, diseases, and any other possible burden you can think of, upon Himself.

What that does is that it changes everything! If you have read any of my other studies here, I know this next verse I have beaten into the ground with use, but I believe it is such a powerful statement made by Jesus, that it needs to be quoted over-and-over so it becomes a part of you in word and in meaning, with that said, let's take a look at John 14:12-14, "12) Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13) And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14) If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

There are no asterisks here, no footnotes, no indication at all that this verse, said by Jesus, was limited by time, or by "work" (meaning a godly activity), or by persons involved. On the contrary, Jesus said, "he who believes" will do those works. As I've said in other writings here, many will try to pin-point a particular verse and put their own spin on it to try and say that these gifts are not for today. My question to them is, why is it so hard to believe that God wants us to utilize these gifts? We are told in Scripture that these gifts are available to us for God's glory (2 Corinthians 1:20 ).

But, I will tell you the true answer and one that the skeptics will never admit. It's not so much that the wouldn't believe God is all powerful and would want us to be examples for Him today by using these gifts, their problem lies in the fact that these gifts are not working for them and they are to proud to accept the fact that they may have to look in the mirror to locate the reason for their weakness with these gifts. So, instead, what they do is manipulate Scripture and say that those gifts were limited just to jump-start Christianity, to get the ball rolling, if you will. That would be like a mother going through nine months of pregnancy and once having the baby, tell the baby, "OK from here on out, you're on your own." It just doesn't make sense.

Just as a mother is the most important ingredient in a new born babies life, so too was the Holy Spirit to this new born Christian way of life. Now, you might say, that the Holy Spirit wasn't taken away, but it is drastically reduced and weakened when you remove what God instituted to bring glory to His name. Just take a look at Christianity in the world today. Statistics show that Christian lives are not much different than that of non-Christians. That should not be the case. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."

Christianity overall is not the salt of the earth today that it was meant to be. The salt lost its flavor when the spiritual gifts, that we are talking about, lost their effect in society— they have been trampled underfoot by men. Sadly, those men who trampled it underfoot, were the same men who were supposed to glorify God through those gifts.

That's what the gifts of healing, prophecy, and the like, are for. Oh sure, they benefit us, but that wasn't God's first priority for applying those gifts to the Holy Spirit. His first priority was to bring glory to Himself, so the unbelievers would see that He is God and they would turn to Him and worship Him.

And, how do the skeptics explain the fact that it is working for those Christians who do believe today. I've had at least three physical healings in my own body through praying the way I am teaching here, or are they going to call me a liar or say I just imagined it? No! God is real! Jesus is real! And the power is Real! Even today.

If John 14:12-14 didn't convince you, Acts 1:8 also confirms this power through the Holy Spirit, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Skeptics will say that Jesus was talking just to His disciples at this time, but the point I've made in past studies on this verse, is that, when Jesus said, "to the ends of the earth", He was prophesying future events. The apostles certainly didn't go to the ends of the earth— it has not been until recently where some form of Christian representation has been established in every country of the world, but we still have not reached all the far corners of the earth. So, this prophecy of Jesus still has not been accomplished, although it is getting close.

Enough with apologetics, trying to excuse our faith and our God, let's get down to the business at hand and see what prayer has to do with all this. I know I always seem to be on the defensive in my writings in reference to these gifts. But, it's not that I need to defend what I am teaching, because I have enough evidence in my own life to prove that it works today. My reasoning for constantly defending these gifts is for the benefit of people like yourself who may be reading such information for the first time and will have at least a little something to grab onto to validate even considering such a revelation.

There is so much resistance out there in Christianity against these principles today, because of the fact that they have become almost entirely dormant. Your physical five senses are constantly monitoring your physical surroundings, I know before I came into this understanding I found it difficult to believe in these gifts today. That was society, my Church, and my physical senses telling me this. It is so important to overcome these physical senses and believe the Holy Spirit. It is the only way to move forward.

-- Continued on Page 2 (click here) --

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