James (26) The Power of Prayer Unleashed (James 5:16b-18)
Jan 25th, 2010 | By admin | Category: Sermon NotesJames gathers all he has been saying on prayer to declare that prayer has great power, and that this is not the prerogative of a select few believers or ‘super saints’ but for all believers.
Of prayer James says that it “avails much”. There are two things we should notice here.
Firstly, these words are given the place of emphasis in the Greek sentence, that is at the beginning rather than at the end of the sentence. It is this that James is drawing our attention to; to the ‘much effect’ of prayer.
Secondly, this word “avails”, as Motyer points out, speaks of inherent strength or power to accomplish which makes a person or thing sufficient for the task. It is the same word we find in Jesus’ comment about salt which has “lost its strength” (Matt 5:13). In other words there is a power that is waiting to be unleashed; the power of prayer is very strong.
