The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Does our verse for today imply that, in order to get good things from God, we must search for a righteous person and convince them to pray for us? Do the only prayers that have great power and produce wonderful results come from someone who lives close to sinless perfection? Is that why James referenced the prophet Elijah as an example of a righteous person in the following verse?

Praise God that the answers to these questions is “No”! These thoughts are a misunderstanding of what it means to be righteous. The Bible teaches that it is not the outwardly pious people who are righteous in God’s eyes. The Bible teaches that no one is righteous in that way (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:10), not even Elijah. Instead, the righteous are those who have been MADE righteous by the blood of the Lamb. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ has been “made right with God through Christ,” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

With the righteousness that we have in Christ Jesus, anyone in Christ may come before God in prayer with a clear conscience and without fear of condemnation. In fact, anyone in Christ may come before God with the expectation of good results. Hebrews 4:16 says “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” We don’t have to grovel before God or find someone better than us to pray for what we need. Every Christian may come before Him with great confidence.

James referenced Elijah not as a holy man who was more righteous than anyone else, but as a mere man who was as “human as we are,” (James 5:17). Elijah is not an example of holy self-righteousness, but an example of the righteousness that comes from God. It was for this reason that his prayer was powerful and effective.

Although it’s always good to gather in prayer with others (Matthew 18:20), you don’t have to find an Elijah to pray for you, or hold off on your prayers until you reach Elijah’s level. Your prayers can be powerful and effective today.