“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.” – James 5:17

There are a lot of things that we put maximum effort into: Our jobs, our families, our hobbies. If we ask ourselves how much effort we put forth to maintain our relationship with God, what would our answer be? I think we can all agree that our prayer life is not what it should be. But is that okay? Is the excuse that “we don’t have enough time” legitimate? I find that I make time for the things that I want to do. The fact is that we don’t have a desire for prayer which is a harsh rebuke but true nonetheless.

Prayer is our direct line to the King of Kings! You would think that He would have to take our number and call us back with His schedule being the way it is, but sadly it seems to be the other way around. If we study the importance of prayer throughout the Bible, and also the dangers of not seeking the Lord, you would think that we would then make an effort to have a more fervent prayer life. Sadly, we fall short of even attempting to strengthen our bond with our Lord through the discipline of prayer.

Spurgeon puts it this way:

“So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua… You must wrestle with your sin, but the major part of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God… Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it.” – Morning & Evening by C. H. Spurgeon

We often work toward holiness externally by doing the practical steps to appear holy but we seldom cry out to God alone like the tax collector who beat his breast while begging for mercy.

Earnest prayer is effective prayer. How many of us can say that we have prayed earnestly about something in the past month?

How about the past 6 months?

or a year?

When someone is hurting we say “Oh, I’ll pray for you” as a way to end a conversation because the situation is difficult. We wonder why God feels so far away when it’s really that we have made no effort to cultivate an intimate relationship with Him.

When we are waiting to hear from someone we wait by the phone, we wonder if they are going to call, we drive ourselves crazy in expectation. The God of the universe is waiting by the phone hoping for a call from YOU. No appointment necessary.

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” – James 5:16b