Amen. James chapter number 5 in your Bibles tonight. James chapter number 5. Of course, your outline is on the back of the bulletin. James chapter number 5. We've been talking about availing prayer out of the book of James. Moving toward maturity. See, a mature Christian is a praying Christian. And a praying Christian is a Christian who gets results from God. And we want to be a person who learns to avail in prayer and know that God is answering prayer in our lives. James chapter number 5. Let's find our place there in the pages of God's Word, beginning in verse number 13. He says, "'Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if ye have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. And we dealt with all of those verses last Wednesday night." Verse 16, "'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, Elias, that's the Old Testament prophet Elijah, was a man subject to like passions as we are. That means that he's a human just like us. See, we get the idea that for some reason that the men and women of the Bible were super saints. That God did something in their life that was just unique to them. And He doesn't work like that in people's lives today. But do you realize they were people just like you and me? Same frailties, same weaknesses, same issues that you and I face. But you know what? The God that worked in their life is the God that can work in our lives. And the God that answered their prayers can answer your prayer tonight. The God that did mighty things in their behalf can do mighty things in your behalf. We ought to believe that tonight. Amen? And notice he goes on to say, Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed. He was a man of prayer, earnestly, that it might not rain. It rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again. And the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit, brethren. If any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, that means one who challenges him and ministers to him and encourages him, and he turns from the error of his way, verse 20, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. Now I want you to key in on the last sentence of verse 16. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Availing prayer. Let's pray and ask God to help us. Father, I pray You'll bless Your Word tonight. Speak to our hearts. Challenge us from the Scriptures. And Father, I pray that we'll learn to be a people of prayer. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Notice, if you would please, that word availeth by way of introduction. It means to have power. It means to be a force capable of producing results. What I believe that simply means is that it's a prayer that God can answer. You know, God can't answer every prayer I pray. You say, preacher, why is that? Because sometimes there's sin in my heart, and it blocks the answer to prayer. Sometimes I ask amiss, as James says. That means I'm asking selfishly, and I'm praying my will and not God's will in my life. and therefore God can't answer that prayer. And there are reasons why, at times, our prayers are not effective. But I believe that God wants to answer our prayer, and I believe that God wants to answer those prayers in a powerful way. You see, availing prayer is effectual. It is effective. It's prayer that produces results. It gets something from God. Here's what Alfred Tennyson said. He said, more things have been wrought by prayer than this world dreams. Another said, prayer is the greatest power in the universe. You say, preacher, why is that? Hey, it's not just any kind of prayer. Do you realize that Buddhists pray and Hindus pray and Muslims pray? All kinds of people pray, but that doesn't mean that their prayers are answered. That doesn't mean they're powerful. Friend, listen, the Christian's prayer that's prayed in the will of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, Correct praying, prayer that gets results, it's powerful because we've got an all-powerful God. Amen? It's not that prayer is powerful, it's that the God of prayer is powerful. And that when you and I pray and we get hold of God, we get hold of the greatest force, the greatest power in our universe. Someone said prayer moves the arm which moves the world and brings salvation down. Prayer parted the Red Sea. Prayer brought water from the rock and manna down from heaven. It was prayer in Joshua's day that made the sun to stand still. It was prayer that brought down the fire on Elijah's sacrifice on Mount Carmel. It was prayer that has overthrown armies and healed the sick and raised the dead. Listen, friend. brings heaven's power to bear on our lives, our families, this church, our nation. And listen, you can do more than pray after you've prayed. You ever heard somebody say, well, you've asked them, say, what can I do for you? And they say, well, really, the only thing you can do is pray. And we feel like, well, that's it? That's the only thing I can do for you is pray? I mean, I really want to do something. But you know, the reality is that you can't do more than pray until after you've prayed. There's nothing more important than you're ever going to do in anybody's life than pray for them. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't do other things, but you know what? You can do more than pray after you pray, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed. Nothing is more powerful in the life of an individual than prayer. Well, let me give you some things quickly about availing prayer tonight. Number one, availing prayer involves focus. Oh, we talked about, number one, when to pray. I think that was the last message. Excuse me. When to pray. And we gave you about five ways that we're to pray. And situations and circumstances. Of course, that's not exhaustive. That's just some that James gives you. Alright? Some general guidelines. He said you ought to pray when you're sick, when you're successful, for sinners, for saints. We need to pray about these different areas of life. Then talk about how to pray. And listen, availing prayer involves focus. Alright? It's what I would consider as definite, specific, pointed prayer. And you know what? James gave you a prayer list. I mean, right there it was. If you're afflicted, pray. If you're merry, sing psalms. That's praise and thanksgiving to God. If you're sick, among you. Then he talks about, over in verses 19 and 20, about praying for sinners and saints. And so, we're going to be praying in these different ways. You know, to pray when you're hurting, when you're happy, in these different areas. And so, prayer involves focus. So often, we're guilty of just sort of praying around the world. and not praying effectively. Notice what James says all the way back in chapter 4. Would you look there? Look at chapter number 4 and I want you to look at this verse in verse number 2. He said, excuse me, verse number 13. He said, you ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, but I'm trying to find my verse. Oh, there it is, latter part of verse 2. You have not, because you ask not. You know what prayer basically is? Prayer at its simplest is this, asking, John R. Rice wrote an entire book, and here's the title. Prayer, Asking and Receiving. That's it. Prayer is asking things of God and getting things from God. That's what it's all about. That is, at its basis, Prayer. But listen, if all we ever do is say, now, Lord, bless the missionaries, and bless the sick, and Lord, bless the saints, and Lord, bless America, and bless this one, and bless that, and we sort of pray around the world, we never pray for anything. We're praying in such generalities, we never know if our prayers are effective or not. That's why we ought to pray specifically. That's why we give you a prayer list. That's why we ought to have prayer lists. And you say, well, preacher, I can't read my prayer list with my eyes closed. Who said you had to pray with your eyes closed all the time? You don't learn a Bible that says you have to do that. As a matter of fact, I pray with my eyes open. Sometimes God reminds me of things I need to do and I write it down so I can go back to praying. And different things along those lines. And so, you pray specifically about these different things. I gave you a little outline to sort of help you in your prayer life. You can use a lacrostic ax. A, for adoration. Every prayer ought to involve adoration and thanksgiving and praise to God. Never pray without praising the Lord, without thanking Him. Throughout the Bible, when you see prayer mentioned, you will find oftentimes it's linked together with praise and thanksgiving. And our prayer ought to involve... Listen, you know what? I believe God would answer our prayers whether we thank Him or not. But you know what? Isn't it always nice to get a thank you when you do something for somebody? Well, you know what? I believe it's no different that we ought to be thankful toward our God for Him answering our prayers. Wouldn't you agree with that? Letter C would be confession. Prayer ought to always involve confession. Being honest with God in prayer. Here's what we do. God, forgive me of all my sins. Thank You. In Jesus' name, Amen. You didn't confess anything. Your sins are still there as a Christian. They need to be dealt with. You say, preacher, God said, if I confess my sins, that He's faithful and just to forgive them. Absolutely right. But you don't confess it when you say, God, forgive me of all my sins I might have committed today. Or I have committed. No, no. He said, if you get angry, name it. God, I lost my temper today. Lord, I used foul language today. God, I mistreated my wife today. God, I had a bad testimony on the work today. God, I had a wicked thought go through my mind today. You say, Preacher, how in the world can I remember all those things? Because I believe... By the way, do you know when you should confess your sins? When you're aware of it. Don't wait till the end of the day to do it. You know why? Because you're out of fellowship with God all day long. There's sin between you and Him. The moment God brings your sin to attention, bring it to Him in prayer. And you say, well, preacher, I'm on the job working, and I lost my temper on the job. Well, while you're still working, say, God, I wasn't filled with the Holy Spirit at this moment, and I got into the flesh, and God, I lost my temper, and Lord, it may have hurt my testimony. And God, would You forgive me for having a wrong spirit and a wrong attitude and losing my temper today? God, I want to be right with You. Would You please re-fill me with Your Holy Spirit? Let Him have control of my life. See, confession in our lives. Then letter T, here's another one as I pray, thanksgiving. Alright? Adoration is reverence for God. It's lifting God up and then thanksgiving. Adoration would be reverence in God's name, confession, confessing my sins, my faults, thanksgiving, being thankful to Him, and then the letter S, supplication. That would involve intercession. That's asking things of God. When you supplicate, you're asking God for things. You're saying, God, I've been sick, or God, I'm asking You on behalf of this individual, or whatever. You're supplicating. You're asking something of God. And so that enables us to pray a little more specifically as we fill in the blanks in these areas. And you can sit down and say, okay, what about God can I praise Him for or reverence Him for? How can I honor God in my prayer? What can I say to God that would reverence His name? Remember what Jesus said when we prayed, Hallowed be thy name? That's the same thing as adoration. You're hallowing or reverencing God's name. Alright? Confession. Is there any sin that I haven't confessed today to God? I write it down and confess it. Is there anything I need to be thankful for today? I hear this, I say, name one thing you're thankful for. And a lot of times, here's what I'll hear, and it may be a group setting. Well, boy, I'm just thankful for everything. Well, if you're thankful for everything, surely you can name one thing. Right? And so, write down some things you're thankful for. And then, supplication, there's where you'd write down on your list, or maybe you've got a prayer list that's already written out, or whatever, and those are the supplications that you're making to the God of heaven. And so, availing prayer involves focus. Letter B, availing prayer involves faith. Look in verse number 15. Notice the first words of that verse. And the prayer of faith. Do you know that prayer and faith go together like Siamese twins? Okay? Faith is what gives prayer its strength and its effectiveness. God answers prayer, but He does so in the response of the faith of His people. I gave a quote to our guys in staff meeting this week. Faith is my response to God's initiative. That's pretty powerful, isn't it? Faith is my response to God's initiative of what He's willing to do or what we're desiring Him to do in our lives. And we need to respond to Him in faith. Let me give you some verses. Matthew 22, 21. and all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive them." Now that's not like the Pentecostal movement and the crowd that says, name it, claim it, tab it, grab it. Boy, at the moment, if you just pray in faith, God's going to give you this and give you that, and He's a celestial Santa Claus to give me whatever I want. That's not what that... Listen, you have to put it all together. We're going to talk about praying in the will of God, because I believe God in prayer, but also coupled with that is the will of God in prayer. Amen? And so we understand that. But James makes it clear that faith is an essential ingredient to prevailing prayer. And let me say this, it's not the size of your faith. You say, but preacher, I don't have a lot of faith. It's not the size of your faith, it's the size of your God that matters. A little faith in a big God can accomplish great things and you can avail in prayer. You can. Faith takes hold of the promises of God. That's what it does. Let me tell you this. It takes hold of God's promises in prayer, that He's promised to hear us. Jot down Psalm 65 verse 2, "...O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." Psalm 34, verse 15, "...the eyes of the Lord upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry." Do you know that God's ears are open and waiting for you to cry out to Him in prayer? Psalm 116, verses 1 and 2, the psalmist says, "...I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications, because He hath inclined His ear unto me." and therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live." Isn't that good? You know what incline thine ear means? That means that God is leaning over. Here's the picture. God is leaning over the banisters of heaven with His ear tuned just waiting for you to call on Him. That's the picture. You inclined your ear. You leaned over to hear what I had to say. By the way, the older I get, the less I hear good. And therefore, when somebody's talking to me, I have to lean my ear. Well, God doesn't have hearing problems. Okay? He doesn't. But you know what he's saying? I care so much about what's going on in your life. And I care so much about what you're burdened about. And I care so much about you praying and talking to me that I'm going to lean my ear and incline it towards you. And here's the good news. Because our God is so great, He can incline His ear to you and me and everybody else in the world that's calling on Him all at the same time. Matter of fact, He's in tune to you as if you were His only child. Isn't that pretty powerful? So not only faith takes hold of the promises of God, but it takes hold of the fact that He promised not only to hear us, but He promised to answer us. I'll talk more about Jeremiah 33 in a minute, in the next message, calling to me, and I will answer thee. God didn't say, I might answer you. He didn't say, I could answer you. He said, I will answer you. God always answers prayer. Isaiah 65 verse 24, "...and it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer. And while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Have you ever had God answer a prayer before you pray? I mean, boom, there it was. God hadn't even prayed about that yet, and there it was. And you know what God's doing? He's priming the pump. He's saying, listen, I want to answer your prayers. I want you to pray. I want you to seek my face. I want you to avail in prayer. I love this illustration about Dr. Rosa Ver, a missionary to Zaire, and told the following story. She said a mother at the mission station died after giving birth to pregnant... it was an orphanage. and caring for women. And this was a lady Christian doctor there in Zaire. And she said, we tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children there in the orphanage to pray for the baby and for her sister. And one of the girls prayed like this. She said, Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, will you send a doll for the sister so she won't feel so lonely? That afternoon, a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it, and much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle. Immediately, the girl who had prayed earnestly began to dig deeper, exclaiming, if God sent that, I'm sure He also sent a doll. And she was right, said the Heavenly Father, knew in advance of that child's sincere request, and five months earlier had led a ladies' group to include both a water bottle and a doll in that shipment of stuff to that orphanage. You see, and it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer. Many times, God is already at work on His end, preparing to answer the prayer before we pray it. I wonder how much we miss out on because we fail to pray. All prevailing prayer has its roots in the written Word of God, because that's where you find the will of God. And listen, that doesn't mean that we can pray simply for some frivolous thing and expect God to grant it, because James has already told us, you ask not and you receive not because you ask me. If I'm asking selfishly, and I'm just praying for my own selfish ends, then God's not necessarily going to answer that prayer. But you know what? When I'm praying selflessly and I want God's will and God's desires, then God can answer that prayer. Let me give you some thoughts. If there's a need, God will meet it. Philippians 4.19, And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. If there's a fear, God will replace it. Jot down beside Philippians 4, 6, and 7, which talks about the peace of God that's involved in prayer. But 2 Timothy 1, 7, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind. That's what God gives us. Alright? If there's a burden, God can lift it. 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Let me ask you a question. How do you cast your burdens on the Lord? You pray. That's how you do it. As you pray, you roll your burdens over on Him. And He said, let me carry the load. Let me carry that burden. Oh, what needless pain we bear. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. You say, well, preacher, should I pray for the little burdens in life? Let me ask you a question. What's big to God? Just because your burden is big to you, doesn't mean it's big to God. See, here's what our problem is. We look at God through our problems. And we've got big problems and a little God. But when you reverse that and you look at your problems through God, you have a big God and little problems. It's all in your perspective. If there's a sin, God will forgive it, 1 John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And you know what? God said when we confess it, He forgives it. You ever done this? You ever ask God to forgive you of something and then five minutes later ask Him again? And then Sunday morning, maybe you feel guilty and you come forward and you ask Him to forgive you again? Then you come back on Sunday night, I mean, you're just so burdened about it. God, please, please, please, please forgive me. You know what God's doing? What are you talking about? I don't know what you're talking about. I forgave that a long time ago. That's already been dropped in the sea of my forgetfulness. Folks, listen, when we confess it, God forgives it. He forgets it. And guess what we need to do? We need to put it behind us and go on forgetting those things which are behind and pressing Don't let your past guilt rob you of present blessings. that not only does it lay hold of the promises of prayer, it lays hold of the performances of prayer. He said, "...call on me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." And I just want to share some things with you. George Mueller operated orphanages probably in the mid-1800s. He was a contemporary of Charles Spurgeon. And whole books have been written about George Mueller and his faith. I mean, he was a man of unbelievable faith in God and a man of unbelievable prayer. And he operated his orphanages for 2,000 children in Bristol, England, and it was ran entirely by faith. It's said that George Mueller would pray in as much as $250,000 a year in that day to operate his orphanages. Early in his ministry, he determined that he would tell his needs to no man, only to God. He kept a prayer journal of two-page entries, one page to write the date of the petition, and on the opposite page to write in the date of its answer. By his middle years, in his mid-years, Mueller testified that he had recorded in his journal over 5,000 definite answers to prayer that had been answered on the day he asked for it. We're not talking 20 years later. We're not talking about 5 years later. That means over 5,000 times God answered his prayer the day he prayed it. I'd say that's effective praying. What do you think? That kind of praying doesn't happen overnight. That kind of praying is developed by the person that is serious about prayer and believing God and watching God grow their life. By the way, it's little. When we begin to trust God in the smaller areas of life, He grows our faith to trust Him for the larger things in life. He does. Let me give you some illustrations. There was a time that they were getting ready to have breakfast there for the orphanage and there wasn't any food. And a small girl whose father was a close friend of Mueller was visiting in the home and Mueller took her hand and said, come see what our father will do. Talking about God. In the dining room, long tables were set there and there were empty plates and empty mugs. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, there was no money in the account. Mueller prayed. He said, Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat. Immediately they heard a knock at the door, and when they opened it, there stood the local baker. He said, Mr. Mueller, I couldn't sleep last night. Somehow I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 a.m. and baked fresh bread. Here it is. Mueller thanked him and gave praise to God. Soon a second knock was heard, and it was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage, and he had to give the children the milk so he could empty the cart in order to repair it. You see, what George Mueller was saying is, listen, let's pray and trust God and watch Him answer. And you know what, folks? So often, we're so busy trying to fix everything in our lives, when what we really need to do is go to our Heavenly Father in prayer and watch Him work in our lives. Amen? Another time Mueller became aware that there would be no breakfast the next morning, he called his workers together and he explained it to them. They had prayer meetings. He said, after two or three prayed, he said, that's sufficient. He said, let us rise and praise God for answered prayer. The next morning, they couldn't push open the front door, so they went out the back door, walked around the building to see what was keeping the door from being opened, and stacked up in front of the front door boxes filled with food. And one of them later commented, we know who sent the baskets, but we don't know who brought them. He said, we know God sent Him, but we sure don't know the individual that brought Him. You see, I guess what I'm trying to say is, God answers prayer. Amen? And we need to be a people who are willing to trust God in our lives and know that we have a God who is able and a God who's willing and desires to answer our prayer. Hey, listen, I just want to remind you, there's not a problem He can't solve. There's not. Now, listen. There's problems we can't solve. There's not a problem that God can't. There's not a need that He can't supply. And there's not a soul that He cannot save. Now, let me talk to you about this matter of praying for sinners for just a moment in the remaining minutes that we have together tonight. I hear this so often. And here's what people will say. Well, God, if you'd just save Joe. God, if you'd just save Jane. God, if you'd just save so-and-so, as if for some reason God didn't want to save them. That makes absolutely no sense. Do you realize that God wants to save people more than we want to see them saved? God helped me in this area of my praying. Because I was praying like all of it rested on God. God's not the problem why they're not saved. God's already done everything necessary to save them. He sent His Son to die for their sins and rise again. He provided a free salvation for them. He has even invited them and said, Whosoever will, let him come. He even sends the Holy Spirit to convict them and draw them to Himself, doesn't He? God does all of that. God was at work here on Easter Sunday morning, drawing people to Himself. He's at work every service doing that in some form or some fashion. Here's what we need to start praying. God, would You I'm praying right now that Joe would open his heart to you and that Joe would make a decision. God, would you work in his heart so that he'd trust you? See, the problem is not God, it's Joe. It's Jane. Does that make sense to you? God wants to save them. He's done everything necessary to save them. And so what we need to do is stop as if we're blaming God for the matter, and start putting the burden where it really lies, and that's on the individual, and say, God, I pray that their heart would be melted. God, I pray that their heart would be softened. God, I pray that they would respond to You in prayer. And that's how we ought to pray for sinners to be saved, or for people that are wayward in their hearts to God to come back to Him, because God's not the problem, they are. There's the issue. Because we don't believe that God picks and chooses who He saves, do we? No. God will save anybody who calls on Him, won't He? And so God's not saying, okay, well, I'm going to save Jane, but I'm not saving Joe. He's not going to do that. That would be the false doctrine of Calvinism, wouldn't it? Sure it would. How is it that three people, three sinners, can be sitting in the same building, hear the same message, experience the same conviction of the Holy Spirit, and one come and two stay? Was it that God somehow wanted to do something in their life that He didn't want to do in the other two? No. It was that this person was willing for God to work in their life and the other two weren't. I'll give you one more illustration and I'll close. Two kids running wide open across the playground. You call their names. Hey! Hey! Come back! Get over here! Stop! Turn around! Come back! And one... They both hear you. You know they do. You're yelling at the top of your lungs. And one just keeps... One turns around. Mom's hollering. Boy, I better get back." And one just keeps on running like they never heard anything. How many of you know what I'm talking about? What was the problem? The mama? No. It's one wanted to hear and respond, and the other, they were pretending like they didn't want to hear. And so they just kept on going. And that's the same way it is with the hearts of sinners. one's willing to hear, they're allowing their heart to get soft and the other's responding no. And folks, that's why we pray for God to respond to their heart. We've got a few extra minutes tonight. I'm going to finish a little bit early and everything. And Michael, I'm sure, is still preaching back there because he's more long-winded than I am and everything. There's stuff going on in the back. But you know what? Maybe tonight what we need to do is close with a prayer meeting. See, too often we preach on prayer, but we don't practice prayer. And maybe tonight you've got a burden, or you've got a need, or you've got a loved one, or you've got someone that you need to pray for that's not saved, or maybe they're wayward. And why don't tonight we just take a moment, those that would like to, if you want to remain in your seat, that's fine, and then for just about five minutes, let's have a prayer time. Why don't we do that tonight? Let's pray about this church parking lot. that God will help that thing to go smooth. Let's pray that God would... We planted a lot of seeds on Easter Sunday. It was 940 people on our property. The house was packed. There was a lot of lost people here that heard the gospel. Why don't we pray for a harvest? How about that? Why don't we pray for David and Amy Smith tonight and Mary Ann and Andrew's visa? Why don't we pray for some of these other things that God put... So I tell you what tonight, we're just going to stand to our feet for a moment and we're going to have our... We're just going to say... I tell you what, if you want to, why don't you just sort of slip forward to the altar. If not, you just want to pray in your seat, that's fine too. But you feel the need to just come up here and bow right here before the Lord here at the altar. You just want to come up, you want to talk to God tonight, then why don't you just come and make yourself here available to pray. All right? And then I tell you what we're going to do. We're going to take about five minutes. We're just going to pray as a church. When we pray God's blessing upon Calvary Baptist Church, when we do that, we'll say, thank you for praying for me tonight. And God's answered prayer there. I'll give you a little update right before we close tonight. Okay? And others, you'd like to come. Others, you can remain seated for a moment because we're going to be praying for a little bit of extended time. That way you don't have to stand for the entire time while we're having prayer. Okay? Why don't you just pray silently as God leads you to pray? Pray for God's will. Pray for God's direction. Pray for God's help. Pray for His guidance. Pray for a need in your life. Pray for a need in somebody else's life. Pray for that friend that needs to be saved, that daughter or son that needs to come back to God. Let's take some time.