“The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God — it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].”  (James 5:16 AMP)

Never underestimate or discredit the power of our prayer.   It envelops a wide variety of expressions such as communion, worship, praise, thanksgiving, declaration and decrees.  It even includes our thoughts being locked into His thoughts and our hearts beating in rhythm as His.  It is our connectedness with Him, tapping into His frequency crisp and clear where our confidence comes from, knowing that He hears us every time we pray at the same time we hear Him answer our prayers.  It is never one way.

The divine exchange was set up when God sent His only begotten Son to take what is ours and give us what is His.  He took upon Himself our filthy rags that we may have the robe of righteousness.  Therefore, meditating on the word in James 5:16 Amp (see above), you and I have been declared “righteous” by the power of the Blood of Jesus and armed us with a heartfelt and persistent prayer that is powerful and dynamic in its working.

Truly, the book of Acts was written primarily because the apostles ACTED!  I believe we are part of the harvest that they prayed, sowed, watered, cultivated and nurtured.  I believe, too, that we are here to take the gospel further into the generations to come.  We co-labor with God.  We cannot do this apart from Him and it’s not that He cannot do it without us because of His sovereignty, but He chose to partner with us.  He chose you and I to be the temple of the Holy Spirit that His kingdom, His reign and rule will never cease to increase until the whole earth is covered with His glory as the water covers the sea.  So, what are we waiting for?

A simple act of kindness to pray, to speak life, or to encourage someone causes His kingdom to invade people’s life.  We may ask how, when or who are we going to pray for?  Well, we ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our hearts, we shall SEE!

When we get into a good habit of seeking Him and His ways as we wake up each day, He truly does open our hearts and feel the love and compassion that He has for His people.  He opens our eyes to see whom shall we pray for.  He opens our ears to hear His voice. And He opens our mouths to speak what we hear.  We may not understand the extent of our spoken prayer but I so believe that our understanding is not a necessary tool or requirement for our obedience.   His word says, “Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and DO NOT RELY ON YOUR OWN INSIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING.  In ALL YOUR WAYS know and acknowledge and recognize Him,
And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way]. (Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP)

One day, I was driving to the office and I saw and heard an ambulance passed my way.  All of a sudden, I found myself speaking life, healing and wholeness to the one who was in there.  I simply caught myself unaware but thankful that the Lord captured my heart and consumed my very being to do it.  I may not know what happened after that but I surely was filled with joy having done that.  From that time on, it’s just but automatic now for me to engage myself to declare and decree healing every time I see or hear an ambulance.

I was walking one night just in my neighborhood and I heard this eerie sound of a dog.  It was strange and frightening yet I continued walking.  Without a doubt, it was an  unpleasant sound that brought fear to those who heard. Then in a moment I heard myself speaking and pleading the blood of Jesus over the dog to protect its senses from seeing or sensing what was uncanny.  Immediately the dog stopped.  Peace and joy filled me.

I heard two of my friends talking about the tests and trials of marriage.  One was about to walk out of her house just to keep her sanity and peace.  It was a moment were emotions were ruling and reigning in their hearts.  At first I wasn’t minding at all but after a few minutes my heart began to feel what they were feeling.  The Lord’s love and compassion hit me.  I asked Him to let me know how I may be of help.  Almost in such instancy, I was praying in tongues.  I asked the Holy Spirit to fill the place with comfort and love that only He can do and heal their broken hearts.  I prayed for His presence to embrace them.  And yes, after a few minutes I heard them giggling and laughing.  It was one delightful sound I’ve ever heard at that point in time.

We have been privileged to carry His presence and diffuse His kingdom’s atmosphere to invade ours by the power of our words. Why not exercise it?

“The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God — it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].”  (James 5:16 AMP)

If we look at this verse again, it denotes that when prayers are “put into action”, they are MADE EFFECTIVE BY GOD.  We co-labor with God in the sense that we PRAY and He MOVES!  But one thing I have learned in praying is that unless He puts love in our hearts to pray for someone, our prayers sound empty.  The love of God is the power behind our prayers.  Then we know that the effectiveness of our prayer relies on God and His love for His people flowing in and through us.  When people encounter us, nothing happens.  But when they encounter the presence of God in our lives, us dripping with Himself and empowered by His love, then we leave a mark and make a difference.  It is all about God!  It is all about Love!  After all, God is Love!

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.   And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,  but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  LOVE NEVER FAILS.”  (1 Corinthians 13:1-8 NKJV)

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us what love looks like by giving us Your only Begotten Son, Jesus, that we may be filled and flooded with Yourself Who is Love.  Teach us to love You more each day of our lives for ONLY in loving You empowers us to love those around us.  Thank You, Holy Spirit for always pouring Your love in us day in and day out that we may walk in it, giving us the love bullet that when we shoot our prayers, we hit the mark and not fail.  Thank You, Jesus, for always interceding for us that our faith always works in love.  Amen!