James offers a bold word: “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16 ESV).

Wow. Let’s unpack that a bit.

First, what does it mean to be “righteous”? In the New Testament, that word can have different nuances based on the context. Here it most likely refers to living in a way that is pleasing to God. It’s about faithfulness.

The prayer of that person “has great power.” Awesome.

Note also that it has great power “as it is working.” To me, this is really helpful. We can’t always see the immediate effects of our prayers. Nor do we fully understand God’s will, or what his timeline might be. But as we seek to live in a way that is pleasing to God, we can trust and know that our prayers have great power as they are working!

Isn’t it amazing that God—in his great love and concern for us—gives us a way to talk to him and bring forward our greatest needs?

What do you need to pray for?

An ailment?
A friend?
Wisdom?
Someone in your house?
An injustice?
A problem in the wider world?
A fear?

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

By Matthew Ruttan 

—NEW BLOG: “Tradition vs. Traditionalism.” That’s my latest post for a tradition-rich month. You can read it here. Reading time is under 2 minutes.

–This Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 10:01am EST I will lead worship at Westminster church. We’ll celebrate Communion (virtually) and I’ll offer the final instalment in the Down-To-Earth series—a line-by-line journey through the book of James. If you don’t already have a church home, click here to sign-up for a weekly email reminder that takes you to our service live on YouTube.

–“Up!” is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on December 7, 2020.