The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much

James tells us that "the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16).

This passage in Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God Day by Day" just fell open in my book. Well, I opened the book at random and this is what I found. Funny that it's yet another passage on prayer, when here I am this week trying to bring myself into the presence of God through prayer.

Blackaby says that if it seems like our prayers are not being answered, it's because we don't hold ourselves accountable to the Scripture. He says we should examine ourselves to see if we meet the conditions of the scripture.

Fervent - Do I quit easily? Do I spend sufficient time in intercession? Do I cry out to Father, sometimes in tears, with my heart and soul? If we are fervent, the Holy Spirit itself assists us.

Righteous - God's standard is different from ours. He goes right to our hearts. How is my heart? Am I right with God? Is my heart forgiving? Am I holding grudges? Amd I hiding secret sins? Do I "fly, like the angels, to do God's bidding, immediately, without reservation?"

Well, this is the point, isn't it? On my spiritual journey of the last two years, I sort of lost faith. Not over any big thing, just over little gripey things. And then it was so easy to quit immersing myself in the scriptures, which I used to love -- to quit journalling, which used to bring me so much insight --- and to even quit praying. And, of course, to quit being responsive to requests to serve.

I'm on the way back. God has never held it against me that I struggled. He knew that I would give my heart and soul for two years as a Relief Society President and that it would wound me to have people be who they are... some were takers and complainers and criticizers and gossipers. He knew that I was not prepared for that. He showed me some tremendous strengths, and he needed to show me my weaknesses. It will only make me stronger, less able to be moved from a position of faith and power and witness. And it will make me humble because I no longer take faith and obedience for granted.

Here I thought I was going to do this great prayer blog to pray for people in the world who needed deliverance. And it very quickly turns out to be a blog about my journey through my own deliverance.