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Effectiveness
Effectiveness—producing a result; causing a result, especially the desired or intended result, having a striking result; successful, especially in producing a strong or favorable impression on.
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).
The Prayer of the Righteous
- Draws them near to God (Hebrew 7:25)
- Opens the way for a spiritual life (Luke 11:13; Acts1:14)
If you are going to have an effective prayer ministry, whether it be personal, with a prayer partner(s), or corporately in the church, you need the following:
- Personal Relationship
- Purpose
- Passion
- Priority
- Power
- Principles
- Permanent Practice
When you understand and practice the above elements in prayer, then you are ready to:
- Plan strategies for prayer
- Prepare others to join you in prayer
- Promote prayer successfully
It is then that you will begin to see participation increase and passion to meet with God through prayer develop within others resulting in praise to our Lord.
Effectiveness in Prayer Requires Personal Relationship
If prayer is going to be real and meaningful to people, then you must help them understand that prayer is more than attending a meeting. It is connecting with their heavenly Father. It is more than a programmed event or activity. It is coming into the presence of the almighty God. It is more than a Christian discipline. It is communicating with a living and personal God. Remember in Luke 11:1–4 when one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He said to them, “When you pray, say ‘Our Father,’” Jesus was teaching the personal and intimate nature of prayer.
Make your prayer meetings or prayer efforts about relationship, not merely praying requests. Words are shallow and meaningless when there is no sense of connection. Make God Himself the main attraction.
Effectiveness in Prayer Requires Having the Right Purposes for Praying
You will undoubtedly find a greater level of effectiveness when your purposes are centered more on God than on you. When prayer is about Him and not you, you tend to come to Him with the right heart attitudes. Your role, though important, is not primary. Emphasize the following purposes and watch the difference it makes in your prayer ministry:
- Use prayer as a means of keeping focused on God.
- Use prayer as a means of acknowledging His grace in your life.
- Use prayer as a means of keeping His sovereignty in place in your life.
- Use prayer as a means of maintaining your relationship with Him.
Effectiveness in Prayer Requires a Passion for Prayer
What passionate prayer is not?
Passionate prayer is not emotion driven. Passionate prayer is not always impressive. High-sounding spiritual words or rhetoric may not be a part of this kind of prayer.
What passionate prayer includes:
- A devotion to prayer: being faithful and diligent in it; a commitment; a priority
- An attentiveness in prayer: being alert, watchful, clear-minded, self-controlled
- A persistence in prayer: never giving up, always keeping on, continual
- A fervency in prayer: being zealous; an enthusiasm or energy
- A spirit-propelled effort to prayer: walking in the Spirit; a motivation, a power source
- A wholehearted attitude to prayer: seeking and loving Him with all of who you are
- A faith-driven expectancy in prayer: being thankful before getting an answer; an anticipation
- A purpose in prayer: lining up with His will; a meaningfulness
What is at the root of passionate prayer:
“It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way” (Proverbs 19:2).
Passion in prayer needs to grow out of knowledge—both head and heart knowledge.
- Knowledge of who He is: His character
God is fully capable of answering our prayers—development of faith.
- Knowledge of how He works: His ways
God cares about us. Our good is at the core of His love for us and will affect how
He answers our prayers—development of perspective.
- Knowledge of what He says: His Word
God will always be consistent with His Word in the way He responds to prayer—development of discernment.
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