GOD’S PROMISE
When a believing person prays, great things happen.
—James 5:16 NCV
I accompanied Denalyn on some errand running recently. We stopped at a store called OfficeMax so she could buy a calendar. As we walked through the parking lot, I pointed at the sign and said, “Honey, this is my store. OfficeMax!”
She was unimpressed.
I hurried to the front door and held it open.
“Come into my store.”
She rolled her eyes. I used to think the rolling of the eyes was a gesture of frustration. After thirty-five years I now realize it is a symbol of admiration! After all, she does it so often.
I continued my posturing as we shopped, thanking her for coming to my store to buy products off my shelves. She just rolled her eyes at me. I think she was speechless.
When we reached the checkout line, I told the clerk my status. I arched an eyebrow and deepened my voice. “Hi, I’m Max.”
She smiled and processed the sale.
“As in OfficeMax.”
She looked at me and then at Denalyn, who rolled her eyes again. Such admiration for her husband. I was beginning to blush.
“I am the boss of this place,” I told the clerk.
“Really?” She looked at me with no smile.
“Why don’t you just take the afternoon off?”
“What?”
“Take the afternoon off. If people ask, tell them that Max of OfficeMax said you could go home.”
This time she stopped and looked at me. “Sir, you’ve got the name, but you don’t have the clout.”
She was right about me, but the same cannot be said about you.
If you have taken on the name of Christ, you have clout with the most powerful being in the universe. When you speak, God listens. When you pray, heaven takes note. “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action” (Matt. 18:19 THE MESSAGE).
Your prayers impact the actions of God.
For proof, consider the story of Elijah. He lived eight centuries prior to the birth of Jesus. The Northern Kingdom had twenty kings, each one of whom was evil. The evilest of the monarchs was Ahab.
His life is described in this sad summary: “There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel” (1 Kings 21:25–26).
This was as dark a time as we ever read about in the history of Israel. The leaders were corrupt, and the hearts of the people were cold. But comets are most visible against a black sky. And in the midst of the darkness, a fiery comet by the name of Elijah appeared.
The name Elijah means “My God is Jehovah,”1 and Elijah lived up to his name. He gave King Ahab an unsolicited weather report. “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1).
Elijah’s attack was calibrated. Baal was the fertility god of the pagans, the god to whom they looked for rain and fertile fields. Elijah called for a showdown: the true God of Israel against the false god of the pagans. How could Elijah be so confident of the impending drought? Because he had prayed.
Nine centuries later the prayers of Elijah were used as a model. “When a believing person prays, great things happen. Elijah was a human being just like us. He prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years! Then Elijah prayed again, and the rain came down from the sky, and the land produced crops again” (James 5:16–18 NCV).
James was impressed that a prayer of such power came from a person so common. “Elijah was a human being, even as we are” (James 5:17), but his prayers were heard because he prayed, not eloquently, but earnestly. This was not a casual prayer or a comfortable prayer but a radical prayer. “Do whatever it takes, Lord,” Elijah begged, “even if that means no water.”
“So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, ‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.’ But the people said nothing” (1 Kings 18:20–21). Elijah put the 450 prophets of Baal and the Israelites in a decision posture: How long are you going to waver between two opinions? The word translated waver is the exact Hebrew word used later for “danced” (v. 26). How long are you going to do this dance? You dance with God and then Baal. How long will this continue?
What happens next is one of the greatest stories in the Bible. Elijah told the 450 prophets of Baal: “You take a bull; I’ll take a bull. You build an altar; I’ll build an altar. You ask your god to send fire; I’ll ask my God to send fire. The God who answers by fire is the true God.”
The prophets of Baal agreed and went first.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” (v. 27)
(Elijah would have flunked a course in diplomacy.) Though the prophets of Baal cut themselves and raved all afternoon, nothing happened. Finally Elijah asked for his turn. He poured four jugs of water (remember, this was a time of drought) over the altar three times. Then he prayed.
LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. (vv. 36–37)
Note how quickly God answered.
Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!” (vv. 38–39)
No request for fire was made. Just the heart of the prophet was revealed, and pow! The altar was ablaze. God delighted in hearing Elijah’s prayer. God delights in hearing yours as well.
But why? Why would our prayers matter? We can’t even get the plumber to call us back, so why would God listen to our ideas?
Simple. Your prayers matter to God because you matter to God. You aren’t just anybody; as we saw in the last chapter, you are his child.
I have a friend who owns a successful business. He employs more than five hundred people in a dozen states. He appreciates each and every one of them. Yet he treats three of his workers with partiality. They are his sons. While he hears all requests, he especially hears theirs. They are being trained to run the family business.
So are you. When God saved you, he enlisted you. He gave not only forgiveness for your past but also authority in the present and a role in the future.
This life is on-the-job training for eternity. God is preparing you to reign with him in heaven. “If we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Tim. 2:12). We shall “reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10). We are part of God’s family. Ruling the universe is the family business. When the sons of my friend ask him, “Can we open a branch in Topeka?” or “Can we add a new product to our catalog?” or “What would you think if we brought on a new accountant?” the father listens. He has a vested interest in their development. Our Father has a vested interest in ours. When you, as God’s child, seek to honor the family business, God hears your requests.
“God, grant me deeper faith so I can serve you.”
“God, please grant my promotion so I can honor you.”
“God, show me where we can live and best bring glory to your name.”
“God, please give me a spouse so I can serve you better.”
God hears these prayers as quickly as they are offered. Why? Because they come from his child.
Will God do what you ask? Perhaps. Or perhaps he will do more than you imagined. He knows what is best. Stand firmly on this promise: “When a believing person prays, great things happen” (James 5:16 NCV). You are never without hope, because you are never without prayer.
A dramatic illustration of this promise is found among the Christians of Russia. For eight decades of the twentieth century, Christians in Russia experienced systemic persecution from the communist government. Schoolteachers would hold up a Bible and ask kindergarten students if they had seen such a book in their homes. If a student said yes, a government official would visit the family. Pastors and lay people were imprisoned, never to be heard from again. The government required pastors to visit their offices once a week to report on any new visitors. Pastors were required to present sermon topics for approval.
This was the world in which a man named Dmitri practiced his faith. He and his family lived in a small village four hours from Moscow. The nearest church was a three-day walk, making it impossible for them to attend church more than twice a year.
Dmitri began to teach his family Bible stories and verses. Neighbors got wind of the lessons and wanted to participate. When the group grew to twenty-five people, officials took notice and demanded he stop. He refused. When the group reached fifty people, Dmitri was dismissed from his factory job, his wife was fired from her teaching position, and his sons were expelled from school.
Still he continued. When the gathering increased to seventy-five people, there wasn’t enough room in his house. Villagers squeezed into every available corner and closed in around the windows so they might listen to this man of God teach. One night a group of soldiers burst into the gathering. A soldier grabbed Dmitri and slapped him back and forth across the face. He then warned Dmitri to stop or something worse would happen to him.
As the officer turned to leave, a small grandmother stepped in his path and waved a finger in his face. “You have laid hands on a man of God and you will not survive!”
Within two days the officer was dead from a heart attack.
The fear of God spread, and one hundred fifty people showed up for the next house meeting. Dmitri was arrested and sentenced to seven teen years in prison.
His jail cell was so small that he needed only one step to reach each wall. He was the only believer among fifteen hundred prisoners. The officials tortured him, and the prisoners mocked him. But he never broke.
Each morning at daybreak Dmitri stood by his bed, faced eastward, raised his arms to God, and sang a song of praise. Other prisoners would jeer. Still he sang.
Whenever he found a scrap of paper, he scribbled down a verse or story from memory. When the paper was completely filled, he took it to the corner of his cell and affixed it to a damp pillar as a sacrifice to Jesus. Officials routinely spotted the papers, removed them, and beat Dmitri. Still he worshipped.
This went on for seventeen years. On only one occasion did he nearly recant his faith. Guards convinced him that his wife had been murdered and his children were wards of the state.
The thought was more than Dmitri could bear. He agreed to renounce his faith in Christ. The guards told him they would return the next day with a document. All he had to do was sign it, and he would be released.
The officials were sure of their victory. What they did not know was this: when believing people pray, great things happen.
Believing people were praying for Dmitri. A thousand kilometers away, that night his family sensed a special burden to pray for him. They knelt in a circle and interceded passionately for his protection. Miraculously, the Lord allowed Dmitri to hear the voices of his loved ones as they prayed. He knew they were safe.
The next morning when the guards came for his signature, they saw a renewed man. His face was calm, and his eyes were resolute. “I am not signing anything!” he told them. “In the night, God let me hear the voices of my wife and my children and my brother praying for me. You lied to me! I now know that my wife is alive and physically well. I know that my sons are with her. I also know that they are all still in Christ. So I am not signing anything!”
The officials beat him and threatened to execute him, but Dmitri’s resolve only increased. He still worshipped in the mornings and posted verses on the pillar. Finally the authorities had all they could take. They dragged Dmitri from his cell through the corridor in the center of the prison toward the place of execution. As they did, fifteen hundred criminals raised their hands and began to sing the song of praise they had heard Dmitri sing each morning.
The jailers released their hold on him and stepped back. “Who are you?”
“I am a son of the Living God, and Jesus is His name!” Dmitri was taken back to his cell. Sometime later he was released and returned to his family.2
You’ll likely never find yourself in a Russian prison, but you may find yourself in an impossible situation. You’ll feel outnumbered and outmaneuvered. You’ll want to quit. Could I ask you, implore you, to memorize this promise and ask God to bring it to mind on that day? Write it where you will find it. Tattoo it, if not on your skin at least on your heart: “When a believing person prays, great things happen” (James 5:16 NCV).
Prayer is not the last resort; it is the first step. God has power you’ve never seen, strength you’ve never known. He delighted in and answered Elijah’s prayer. God delighted in and answered the prayers of Dmitri and his family. God delights in and will answer ours as well.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to. I need to check on RE/MAX, CarMax, and Lotto Max. It’s not easy keeping up with all these businesses.