“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
James 5:16 KJV
Prayer is one of the ways of heaven that we have been given to communicate with our Heavenly Father, it is a channel where children of God get to speak to Him and He does the same. Sometimes it can be in an Informal manner, for example , you are driving and just having a conversation with Him. A lot of times it’s going to be intentional, where you specifically make time to be with the Lord and hear all that He wants to tell you. There are alot of things that happen when we pray, those we are aware of and the supernatural that we are not aware of. The most important thing to do is to always pray, no matter what. I understand that life can overwhelm us sometimes, but even in those stressful moments we never forget to breath, so pray. Pray because your life and everything around it depends on it. We are children of the Spirit, prayer is our life. Without it we will just be living and not knowing where we are going.
An effectual prayer is prayer that is persistent, it’s not depended on what the human eyes see but rather on what God has said. Prayer has the ability to transform us from the inside. A persistent prayer changes us into God’s likeness. It positions us for the moment to come and causes us to see what God sees. When Haman influenced the king to kill the Jews, Mordecai found out and wanted to stop this plan. The word went out in every city and a lot of Jews came together to pray and fast, believing for a miracle. The news reached Esther and Mordecai asked her to plead to the king on their behalf. But Esther feared going to see the king without her being summoned, this could result in her being killed. “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”” Esther 4:14 NLT. Then in the next verse we see Esther ready to fight for her people but needed God’s wisdom and help to do so; ““Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.””Esther 4:16. The bible shows us how beautiful Esther was and how much the king favoured her, yet she couldn’t rely on her beauty to approach the king. “Pray for me”, she requested. While others prayed for her she also prayed, whatever that needed to happen through her had to happen in her first. In this 3 days God renewed her mind, extended her vision, gave her ways to speak to the king in order for him to focus on everything she will be saying. Favour fell on her, this made the king to even forget about the laws put in place. This reminds me of Proverbs 4:35; “For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord.” Favour from God opens doors that no man could open, it causes the unqualified to become qualified. A persistent prayer does that, it bestows favour on you. These are not tricks or magic that will eventually run out at some point, but it’s a heavenly work that God does in you so that whoever sees you prefers you. This is more than what looks can do, favour gives you value. It transforms your simple way of living into an influential one. Those with spiritual eyes will even see the company of angels that moves with you.
An effectual prayer does the good work of the Lord in you, it aligns you to His will. Through an effectual prayer we are able to overcome fear and anything else. Esther gained courage and boldness while in prayer, the woman who God prepared during the 3 days of prayer and fasting had an everlasting impact on her nation. God positioned her for victory, she saw it first in her Spirit. For her to step out and go see the king before she was summoned, meant that her time of consecration and devotion had birthed something powerful from within. She didn’t just see the beautiful Esther anymore but also saw a vessel of Heaven. One who had been chosen for such a time. Sometimes God will use people to remind us that we were born for a purpose, they will open our eyes to the reality that God made for us and through prayer that truth will be awakened in us. Find out why God places specific people in your life, He has beautifully brought a lot of people in my life for a reason. To pray with me, to walk this journey with me and many other reasons. I don’t believe that anyone I’ve met, we met for no reason. God always has a reason. How we can discover that, it’s through prayer.
I encourage you to be a person who persists in prayer, whatever comes let it find you on your knees. Immerse your whole life in prayer, be so serious about it that even when something is not right in your life, the first thing you do is run to Him to fix you, to cleanse you and to heal you. He wants you whole, so I am confident that He will make you whole. Those scars that you carry, that heart you think is permanently broken, there’s a God in heaven who can heal it and give you a new name. Set aside time to fellowship with Him. Let Him mould you into everything He has called you to be, So that when the promise is fulfilled, you are in the right position. Allow God to remove anything that might be on your way, He said ““ ‘I will march out in front of you and level every obstacle. I will shatter to pieces bronze doors and slice through iron bars.”Isaiah 45:2 TPT. Have absolute confidence in Him who is, who always was and who is still to come; Revelations 1:8 calls Him the Almighty One!
As you set your gaze on Him through an effectual prayer, I pray that He transforms your heart and heal you from anything that might have tried to steal your joy. I pray that He restores your peace and Joy, causing you to see Him always. As you dwell in prayer, May pain and heartbreak have no room in your life. I pray that the Holy Spirit brings into your remembrance all that Jesus said and did. May all those that God has destined for you to meet and connect with come your way, carrying good news from our Father! Surely goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life, and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen!!!