THE POWER OF PRAYER

James 5:16 "The EFFECTIVE fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

(Effective) has to do with the active operation or working of power and its effective results

Amplified Version reads
James 5:16  "Confess to one another therefor your faults - your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sis; and pay for one another, that you may be healed and restored-to a spiritual tone of mind and heart.  The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available - dynamic in its working."

WHAT IS PRAYER

1. Prayer is RELATIONSHIP with the LIVING GOD...A HOLY CALLING.
   (It must not be neglected in the name of ministry...for our ministry flows out of
   our relationship with our God
2. Jesus did only what He saw the Father doing.  It was out of His RELATIONSHIP and PRAYER with the Father that Jesus ministered.  AND SO VERY SUCCESSFULLY!!
3. There is NO HIGHER CALLING than prayer!
4. Prayer is UNLIMITED.  We can go ANYWHERE in prayer...to the richest palace, to the poorest slums, into any school, government building, business, prision, into our neighborhoods - anywhere in the power of the Lords' Name...Anywhere HE directs us.  (We can go into the hearts and lives of the people we minister to - through prayer)...that is an awesome responsibility.  Prayer is a necessity in ministry.  I believe we should not be in ministry if we are not willing to let the Lord do a work of prayer in our lives.
5. KNOW WHERE AND FOR WHOM God has called you to pray.  What boundries has He given to you?  What sphere of influence has He given you?  What is YOUR call in your ministry of intercession."  I ask the Lord for a Strategy each year.  I do not take on things God does not call me to pray.  What is God's priorities for me?  For you?  Get God's strategy.
6. God looks for intercessors who will pray forth HIS WILL onto the earth.  Who will do HIS WILL.  If we are not in prayer we may become presumptive.  esecially after we have had a great victory (Joshua 7 - Battle of Ai; Joshua 9-made an alliance with the enemy, the Gibeonites because they did not seek the Lord and were deceived.  Joshua was a good leader...but failed to seek God.

CHALLENGE

1. To make prayer a priority in your life.
2. To be an example of prayer to those to whom you minister
3. Encourage those around you to pray...Prayer should be the heartbeat of a Christian and those who minister God's Word.