Pastor Joshua Kiluba
Prayer is a powerful way to communicate with God. It is also an effective way to overcome all suffering, and sickness, while also keeping us from sin. James 5:16 alludes to the importance of fervent prayer, possessing the quality of fire. The account of the Pentecost, amongst other scriptural accounts, reveals that living with the fire of God, significantly changes a believer’s life. Through the power and effectiveness of prayer, we set ourselves on the hill as the light of the world, a burning fire casting out darkness and availing hope for the lost.
Through baptism in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God turns us into vessels of fire. We are therefore the light of the world because Christ lives within us (see Matthew 5:14). When we pray, we release this flame, emitting our light, just as Matthew 17:1-2 teaches us of how the Master transfigured on a mountaintop, shining as white as light, while praying. It is He, who has baptised us with fire and the Holy Spirit, that has empowered us to drive out the darkness and dispossess it, earning what was not ours by faith, through grace (see Matthew 3:11; Ecclessiastes 2:26).
Note that there is no light without fire. This fire of prayer purifies and energises right living and service to God. It is the power of Christ at work within us, which accomplishes infinitely more than what we might ask or think (see Ephesians 3:20-21). By this fire, we overcome all things by faith because the One who is in us is greater than the one in the world (see 1 John 4:4). This is the product of being true lights in Christ. As we shine through prayer, Jesus Christ, the hope of glory, is displayed.
Ultimately, no prayer can be effective without being soaked in the blood of Christ, the Perfect Lamb. James 5:16 highlights righteousness, which we must clothe ourselves with when making fervent prayers. Jesus Christ, the manifestation of God’s Word, sanctifies us by His blood, granting us righteousness. Hence, sin, illness, and suffering are completely overcome by prayers offered in the sanctification of the blood of Christ that grant righteousness. We gladly live out this righteousness by confessing our sins, making requests for one another to God, and enjoying the power of His Word in our youth (Psalms 119: 9).
So, when the blood of Christ intervenes, the prayers of the righteous have great power. In Exodus, plagues did not subdue Pharaoh and the Egyptians until the blood of the lamb was dripping on their door frames (see chapters 7-12). Furthermore, Pharaoh was swallowed up by the Red Sea – a symbol that represents the same blood that saved the Israelites in Egypt and delivered them from Pharaoh’s pursuit. With the same blood that destroyed the enemy, God also sanctified His people. Paralleling the end of the Israelites captivity, with the blood He defeated the power of sin and death, Jesus Christ sanctified us on the Cross, crying out triumphantly, “It is finished.” (John 19: 30)
This lesson can be applied to our own lives. Key to our ability to pray effectively is our understanding of God’s hand and the power of Jesus Christ’s blood. The same blood that sanctifies us also takes away our problems, just as it did for the Israelites. Furthermore, God will use the Red Sea in front of us – the issue ahead – to swallow up the Egyptians after us – the issue behind us. Therefore, let us be fervent in prayer and become the light we are called to be, accomplishing and overcoming all things through Christ, who lives within us.
