James 5:16

The Effective Prayer Of Faith

¹⁵ and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power]. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours [with the same physical, mental, and spiritual limitations and shortcomings], and he prayed intensely for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Good Man

Pray for

Pray for One Another

Prayer of a Righteous Man

Righteous Man

Righteous One

Sin

Genesis 20:17

So Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, and they again gave birth to children,

Psalm 34:15

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous [those with moral courage and spiritual integrity]
And His ears are open to their cry.

Numbers 11:2

So the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire died out.

John 9:31

We know [according to your tradition] that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone fears God and does His will, He hears him.

Genesis 18:23-32

Abraham approached [the Lord] and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous (those who do right) with the wicked (those who do evil)?

1 Kings 13:6

The king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat [the favor of] the Lord your God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before.

2 Kings 19:15-20

Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark in the temple], You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

2 Kings 20:2-5

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,

Job 42:8

Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him [and his prayer] so that I may not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job has.”

Psalm 10:17-18

O Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble and oppressed;
You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to hear,

Proverbs 15:29

The Lord is far from the wicked [and distances Himself from them],
But He hears the prayer of the [consistently] righteous [that is, those with spiritual integrity and moral courage].

Matthew 3:6

and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

Luke 11:11-13

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?

Acts 19:18

Many of those who had become believers were coming, confessing and disclosing their [former sinful] practices.

Romans 3:10

As it is written and forever remains written,

“There is none righteous [none that meets God’s standard], not even one.

1 John 3:22

and we receive from Him whatever we ask because we [carefully and consistently] keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight [habitually seeking to follow His plan for us].

Genesis 19:29

Now when God ravaged and destroyed the cities of the plain [of Siddim], He remembered Abraham [and for that reason], and He sent [Abraham’s nephew] Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He destroyed the cities in which Lot had lived.

Genesis 20:7

So now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her [to him], know that you shall die, you and all who are yours (your household).”

Genesis 32:28

And He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Genesis 41:9-10

Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I would mention my faults today.

Exodus 9:28-29

Pray and entreat the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail; I will let you go, and you shall stay here no longer.”

Exodus 9:33

So Moses left the city and Pharaoh, and stretched out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured on the earth.

Exodus 17:11

Now when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he lowered his hand [due to fatigue], Amalek prevailed.

Exodus 32:10-14

Now therefore, let Me alone and do not interfere, so that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you (your descendants) a great nation.”

Numbers 14:13-20

But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up these people from among them,

Numbers 21:7-9

So the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, so that He will remove the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

Deuteronomy 9:18-20

Then, as before, I fell down before the Lord for [another] forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water, because of all the sin you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger.

Joshua 10:12

Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord handed over the Amorites to the sons of Israel, and Joshua said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
And moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”

1 Samuel 12:18

So Samuel called to the Lord [in prayer], and He sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

2 Samuel 19:19

and said to the king, “Let not my lord consider me guilty, nor remember what your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem, so that the king would take it to heart.

1 Kings 17:18-24

So she said to Elijah, “What [problem] is there between you and me, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to mind and to put my son to death?”

2 Kings 4:33-35

So he went in, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.

2 Chronicles 14:11-12

Asa called out to the Lord his God, saying, “O Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and the weak; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in and rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”

2 Chronicles 30:20

So the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people [of their uncleanness].

2 Chronicles 32:20-22

But Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven [for help].

Psalm 145:18-19

The Lord is near to all who call on Him,
To all who call on Him in truth (without guile).

Proverbs 15:8

The sacrifice of the wicked is hateful and exceedingly offensive to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight!

Proverbs 28:9

He who turns his ear away from listening to the law [of God and man],
Even his prayer is repulsive [to God].

Jeremiah 15:1

Then the Lord said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me [interceding for them], My heart would still not be [turned with favor] toward this people [Judah]. Send them away from My presence and out of My sight and let them go!

Jeremiah 29:12-13

Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you.

Jeremiah 33:3

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.’

Daniel 2:18-23

in order that they might seek compassion from the God of heaven regarding this secret, so that Daniel and his companions would not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 9:20-22

While I was still speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,

Hosea 12:3-4

In their mother’s womb he took his brother by the heel,
And in his maturity he contended with God.

Matthew 7:7-11

“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 18:15-17

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens and pays attention to you, you have won back your brother.

Matthew 21:22

And whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Luke 7:3-4

When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Him, asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.

Luke 9:6

So they began going from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing the sick everywhere.

Luke 18:1-8

Now Jesus was telling the disciples a parable to make the point that at all times they ought to pray and not give up and lose heart,

Acts 4:24-31

And when they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “O Sovereign Lord [having complete power and authority], it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything that is in them,

Acts 10:38

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with great power; and He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.

Acts 12:5-11

So Peter was kept in prison, but fervent and persistent prayer for him was being made to God by the church.

Romans 5:19

For just as through one man’s disobedience [his failure to hear, his carelessness] the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one Man the many will be made righteous and acceptable to God and brought into right standing with Him.

Colossians 1:9

For this reason, since the day we heard about it, we have not stopped praying for you, asking [specifically] that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [with insight into His purposes], and in understanding [of spiritual things],

1 Thessalonians 5:17

be unceasing and persistent in prayer;

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [that is, separate you from profane and vulgar things, make you pure and whole and undamaged—consecrated to Him—set apart for His purpose]; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and [be found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:25

Brothers and sisters, pray for us.

Hebrews 11:4

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which it was testified of him that he was righteous (upright, in right standing with God), and God testified by accepting his gifts. And though he died, yet through [this act of] faith he still speaks.

Hebrews 11:7

By faith [with confidence in God and His word] Noah, being warned by God about events not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his family. By this [act of obedience] he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.

Hebrews 12:13

Cut through and make smooth, straight paths for your feet [that are safe and go in the right direction], so that the leg which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather may be healed.

Hebrews 13:18

Keep praying for us, for we are convinced that we have a good conscience, seeking to conduct ourselves honorably [that is, with moral courage and personal integrity] in all things.

1 Peter 2:24

He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you [who believe] have been healed.