Message #4 (of 20) from the PrayerPower radio series "Confession"

by Kaye Johns

James writes that the "effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." [James 5:16] Isn’t effective prayer answered prayer? Prayer that makes a difference in our lives, and the lives of those for whom we pray? Not every prayer is answered right away, we know that. But Jesus believed so strongly our prayers would be answered, that He never even mentioned unanswered prayer.

Oh, sure, we say to ourselves. Some prayers are answered "yes," some are answered "wait," and some are answered flat-out "no." So if we pray and don’t see answers, we generally chalk it up to the sovereign will of God; for whatever reason, He chose not to answer the way we hoped He would. Sometimes, that is true. But not always.

Do you know what’s wrong with that approach to prayer? It lets us off the hook. Time and again, Jesus promises we can have "whatever we ask" when certain conditions are met -- and we conveniently forget the conditions. We act as though unanswered prayer is always because it wasn’t God’s will. Is that it? Or might we be part of the problem? He won’t even hear us with unconfessed sin in our heart.

One condition for effective prayers is that they come from a righteous man. A righteous man or woman is not one who’s perfect, but one who is cleansed of sins, and there is only one way to do that -- by naming them, one by one, and asking God’s forgiveness. What a loss it would be to go through life with prayers unanswered just because we didn’t take the need for confession seriously.

Pray with me now -- Lord, gives us an increased sensitivity to the sins in our lives, and the need to confess them daily as we go. Amen.

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