Your prayer can have tremendous power. How often do you use it?

Today’s verse is from the Gospel of James 5:16b. The passage is given from the three versions of the Bible.

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
(version NIV)

The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. (version AMPC)

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (version KJV)

If you notice, the verse cited above is not the full verse. Quoted above is only the 2nd half of the verse, hence its is mentioned as James 5:16b. Here is the full verse in the AMPC version. Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

Thus, we can see the prayer of a righteous man is powerful. Let us understand this verse.

Who is a righteous man?
All of us have sinned. Thus, we are unrighteous.
Yet we become righteous the moment we :
a. Confess our sins to one another: It can be one to one in person, or you can confess to many at once when speaking to them as a group.
Many times, I have the grace to confess my shortcomings to my family members across the dining table or in a gathering. This can be done differently. I also confess one to one as well.You can choose the way you confess as long as we obey what is conveyed in the Gospel.

b.Receive righteousness through the cross: After we have confessed, with our heart we can receive the cleansing of our sinful nature by the crucifixion of our lord and saviour, Lord Jesus. All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; (Isaiah 64:6) It’s only through the cross, through the washing of the blood of the righteous lamb, we become clean again.

From the above points, remember we can have perfect righteousness through Jesus Christ.

As a righteous person, our earnest, heartfelt prayers become powerful and effective. You can change the course of events in the lives of loved ones around you, the cities and nations.

We know how the prophet Elijah prayed, and the rains stopped, the region became a drought – hit region, as well as how it started raining later( Reference 1 Kings 18:41-46). We know in many instances, natural disasters are averted due to fervent prayers, miraculous healing from sickness which is considered incurable takes place.

So pray earnestly and effectively today.