Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. -- James 5:13-16

Only the prayers of righteous people are powerful and effective. To be powerful and effective in prayer, we must be righteous. Jesus Christ makes us righteous, and we are righteous "in Christ." However, being "in Christ" must be relational, and not just positional. To pray effectively, we must actually be in a righteous relationship with God through Christ, and not claim to be in some mystical "position" that releases us from the responsibility of acting rightly. To be "in Christ" means that the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ is working within us to help us live according to the revealed will of God. Too many people have ineffective prayer lives, because they think they can live in sin and substitute a so-called "position" in Christ for maintaining a righteous, obedient relationship with God in Christ.

The Apostle Paul wrote: "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). And he indicated that being "in Christ" is the same as being a Christian (Romans 16:7). Since our attitudes and behavior can be "tested and approved in Christ," our righteousness must be more than some simple position of being "in Christ" (Romans 16:10). Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). New creatures in Christ have a new spiritual power within them, and they will behave differently from the way they used to: "in Christ" God gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to act righteously instead of being powerless in the face of temptation and continually practicing sin.

The Book of Revelation confirms this interpretation, because in it we see Jesus commended and worshiped for His righteous acts: "Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed" (Revelation 15:4). Jesus Christ will be worshiped because of His character, and the actions that flowed from that character. A part of our ministry demands that we commend and reveal God's character to an unbelieving world by our actions as well as our words, so some will believe and worship Him. God led many people from many nations to L'Abri, because He could demonstrate His righteous acts through the Schaeffers and their workers as they prayed and told the truth about Him.

We also read in Revelation that our righteous acts are important to God. In heaven, the white linen garments of the saints (Christians) symbolize their righteous acts: "Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints)" (Revelation 19:8). In heaven, God will reveal the lasting value of our righteous deeds, and demonstrate that our holiness depended upon and flowed from our being in Christ. Only in this way will our Lord and Savior receive all the glory for our righteous behavior in this life. Our righteousness must be real in Christ, and consciously sought through Bible study, prayer. and reliance upon the Holy Spirit to work within us. We must not think that some "position" of being "in Christ" can substitute for the righteous acts that God requires us to do in His strength. To misunderstand what it means to be "in Christ" will rob us of our power in prayer.

James also recognized that Christians will sin from time to time. They will sometimes succumb to the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. They will sometimes hurt God and one another through their sins. When this happens, James says that we must confess our sins to God and those we have harmed. We need to seek the forgiveness of those we have harmed and make amends whenever possible. When we confess our sins and forgive one another, we restore the power of prayer that we have lost because of sin. The Scriptures clearly teach that we will not have power in prayer, if we will not forsake our sins, confess our sins if we sin, and forgive those who sin against us.

Intellectually believing some facts about Jesus Christ and His life and work will never substitute for our actually loving God and others. John wrote that we must believe in Jesus and keep His commands: "And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us" (1 John 3:23,24). The Holy Spirit bears testimony that we our children of God, but the Holy Spirit will never lead people to think they can live in open rebellion to the commands of God and have Jesus living within Him. Christians are in a covenant relationship with God in Jesus Christ, and God will discipline His children to lead them to live righteously in Christ Jesus and remain in a right relationship with Him and others.

As the Schaeffers worked and witnessed in L'Abri, and as they kept an open home so anyone could evaluate their lives and see whether or not they lived consistently with their teachings, they tried to live in the spirit of the early apostles. They prayed for God's guidance and strength to enable them to practice Biblical Christianity in the power of the Holy Spirit moment by moment. They could have said with the Apostle Paul: "We know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience" (2 Corinthians 5:11). By living open and transparent lives before the world, their teaching had a moral urgency and persuasiveness not available to those who live in hypocrisy. As they tried to talk with others about the good news of Jesus, their lives day by day commended their teaching, but they could not have lived with this type of consistency if they had not prayed for the Holy Spirit to work within them to overcome the many temptations they faced. And they would not have been effective in prayer if they had not tried to read the Bible so God's Word would inform their conscience and make it so tender that they could live day by day in a way that would not offend God or their conscience.

Rather than pointing to themselves as examples, Francis and Edith Schaeffer let their lives and prayers speak for themselves. And others recognized they prayed effectively because they honored God by their obedience moment by moment in the power of the Holy Spirit. When they founded L'Abri and asked others to pray with them for their work, they could have honestly written: "Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way" (Hebrews 13:18). They prayed from a heart of love for God and others, and this overcame any tendency toward legalism and gave them power in prayer.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, help me learn about what you have made available for me in Christ Jesus. I know that the only righteous acts acceptable to you are those that flow from faith in Jesus Christ by your grace. Fill me with your loving Holy Spirit, and enable me to love more and more as you have commanded. Amen.

© Copyright L. G. Parkhurst, Jr. Revised Edition 2008
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