Praying Wrong

James mentioned prayer in passing in his letter in two places that I would like to draw a point from: 4:3 and 5:17 & 18. In the first, he wrote that it is possible to pray with selfish intent and harm the effect of my prayer. In the second, he described Elijah’s prayers asking for famine and then rain.

In the first verse of 1 Kings 17, Elijah was quoted as having said to Ahab, Jezebel’s husband the king, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” That, James called “prayer.”

What Elijah declared as true, James called “prayer.” How many times are we declaring curses or blessings in what, because of the authority we have in the earth, James would call “prayer?”

“That’ll never happen!” “The next thing she’ll do is ______.” “The car will probably break down next.” “What’s going to go wrong next?”

Make your “declarations” of the likelihood of things you expect to happen be things that are good. Make them with faith. Make them be blessings to others. The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous sons and daughters of God will bring life and freedom and health and miracles (James 5:16).