When the Lord drives you into intercession and prayer, you find that you become more effective every day that you pray. At first you do not have the momentum and the answers you need because of a certain cross-out principle, but as you continue you become more effective in prayer.
The effectiveness of what you do can be crossed out by the presence of certain things that put you on a wrong basis and drain away the energy and focus of your prayers. To begin with, you must realize that righteousness is very much related to effective prayer. James 5:16b says, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Generally, Christians are taught that prayer is answered because they have faith, and that the degree of their faith determines the effectiveness of their prayer. This is true. However, righteousness also is a result of faith; and if you have not had enough faith to counteract the inner conflict of evil within you, you certainly do not have enough faith to move mountains. Faith begins by appropriating the righteousness by which you stand before God. This does not mean that as you stand before God, God looks to see your relative degree of righteousness before He will answer your prayer. You must understand that if you have faith, you are going to stand before God in righteousness to begin with.
A man who stands before the Lord with a great deal of carnality within his heart may wonder why he is not effective. Is it because he is not righteous? Is he not good enough to have God answer his prayer? That is not the idea. If he has faith, he is not standing before God with a record of defeat in his own personal walk; he has already appropriated righteousness. If he is righteous, he has already appropriated faith.
We are righteous because we believe. By grace we are saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). It is a righteousness which comes from God by faith (Philippians 3:9). In these familiar scriptural phrases, Paul was speaking about the righteousness of God that comes by faith. In no way was he speaking about our assuming that we have righteousness by faith, without our seeing any evidence of a change of character and nature. With the true righteousness that God would impart, there will always be every evidence of a new nature.
James gave this key for being effective: Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. James was saying, “Get rid of your sin first!” Then he spoke of Elijah as an example: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit. James 5:16–18. Elijah was effective in controlling the weather; he controlled the rain and the drought. Because he was a righteous man with a great deal of faith, he was able to say, “Nothing will happen except by my word” (I Kings 17:1).
Elijah was a man of like passions as we are. But because of the righteousness and the fervency of his prayer, he was able to stand before God. James did not say that Elijah was a man guilty of error and sin because he had like passions as we have. He simply meant that he had the same problems within his flesh that we have within our flesh, and he had the same nature to fight as we have; yet his was the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man.
It is not enough to have ten percent of our prayers answered. Who wants to pray hour after hour to see little accomplished? Travail is necessary, and it sometimes involves long periods of time because of spiritual battles such as those described in the book of Daniel. Daniel finally received an answer when the angel broke through and said, “We heard your prayer twenty-one days ago when you were fasting, but the prince of the power of Persia withstood me until Michael came to help” (Daniel 10:12–13). There was a delay of twenty-one days while Daniel was fasting.
What is behind some of the delays that come in this day? Sometimes people pray without answers for years, and yet the help from angels could not be that ineffective. A battle may exist in which their efforts are being crossed out. Something may be affecting them so they cannot be effective, because their energies are going in another direction. For example, a young man who is going to school may do well if he is studying and working hard. Suppose that he falls in love. When he falls in love he can no longer study, because he is focused emotionally in another direction. There is nothing wrong in what he is doing; he is simply distracted and his focus has been shifted. It is more difficult for him to concentrate on his studies. For this reason, parents encourage their children to finish their education before other interests come along, such as courtship and all the other obligations that will follow in their lives.
You will find that you cannot do very many things at one time. To be effective, you have to focus all of your energies, all of your attention, and all of your emotions in one direction at a time. Luke 11:34 says that if your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. There is a principle by which you cannot allow your life to be crossed up and your prayers to be crossed out by certain things of the flesh getting in the way. A minister especially may find that his sermons, his prayers, and his counseling are ineffective and he is not getting the job done if he is being crossed out by an inner civil war. It consumes all of his energies and time, and it stirs his emotions into many directions.
Notice the struggle an individual has when he enters into a battle to overcome the flesh nature. He weeps before the Lord and has times of utter defeat. He comes to the house of God depressed and discouraged, and spends half of the worship time trying to get the kinks out of himself, such as withdrawal or passivity. He may be trying to overcome weariness. He thinks, “What is the matter with me? If only I could get a blessing tonight!” Everything he receives from God goes into his battle against the flesh. How much does he have left to give to anyone else? How much can he focus on anything else?
Sometimes people grow spiritually by focusing more on intercession and prayer for someone else than on their own situations. God seems to help them get rid of their problems, and they do a better job of overcoming and breaking into a real walk with the Lord.
If you focus on seeking first the Kingdom and His righteousness, all the other things will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). If you seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, in that focus you will not be crossed out by a lot of diverse attitudes. However, if you are only looking for His promises, you will give the Lord only a little token of seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness. The other things to be added may actually be your first love, the real quest of your heart. If that is the case, you are not seeking first the Kingdom or His righteousness, and you will be ineffective. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much because he has the good sense to seek righteousness before he seeks anything else. He has the needed leverage and position before God.
Once your life is rid of all conflicting, draining emotions and focuses, and once you eliminate the things of the flesh, by the righteousness that you attain, you will be able to focus and become far more effective in God than you would be otherwise. A good habit to establish when you approach God is to repent first. What should you repent of? It does not make any difference; just start repenting. God will show you a thousand things to repent of if you get started. Just open the door to repentance, and He will start putting His finger on everything that has to be eliminated from your life. A man who is not repentant never sees anything to repent of, but a true repenter always has plenty of ammunition for his gun. A true repenter, just like a true worshiper, always has many things for which he can glorify God. When a man has difficulty praising God, it is obvious that he is not a man of praise. When he has difficulty worshiping, it is because he is not a man of worship. It is not in his nature to do it.
Get into the flow of seeking righteousness through the door of repentance. It is not the back door—it is the front door. Repent and seek God. It is the way to get into the place of effectiveness. A man must not have the pharisaic attitude that he cannot pray to the Lord unless he is really good. He must know that he comes to God by faith in Christ Jesus. He approaches the problem of his inner conflict first and attains that which means the crucifixion of the old nature and the prevailing of the new. Then his effectiveness is assured. Then the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
In the book of Galatians you can see how the old flesh crosses you up and keeps you from really being what you want to be in the Lord. Galatians 5:13: For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. This Scripture is speaking of that cross-out principle. What is your motivation behind God setting you free? For what reason do you try to overcome? Is it because it is the general standard of the group, what everyone ought to be doing? Or do you really hunger and thirst after that righteousness? For what purpose do you want to be free? Do you want to be free so that you can really serve the brethren? Do you want to be a little freer so that you can serve the Body of Christ in a greater measure? Search the motivation of your own heart in this. Paul spoke of this motivation of heart in Galatians 5:1: It was for freedom that Christ set us free … do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Your motivation for freedom must be the drive of true righteousness. For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Galatians 5:13–18.
We see two natures working in the believer. The flesh is warring against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. You can determine to pray for the Kingdom and all of the leaders and places that are involved in God’s bringing it forth. However, if you try to bypass the crucifixion of the flesh, you will reach only a certain point, and just as if a button were pushed, you will slide right down the ladder. When you come walking back up, old Split-hoof himself will push a button, and down you will go again. He knows how to keep you from being effective. All he has to do is activate your fleshly nature and it will cross out your spirit. He will let you crawl up out of the slime and back up the ladder—then suddenly he pushes the button and down you go again. If that is the kind of record you want, that is what you can have. Everyone has had that kind of an experience. Just about the time you are really sailing, you are shot down again. The seed of the defeat is in you, and all the enemy has to do is activate your old nature against the Spirit and you will have a cross out.
The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, so that you may not do the things that you please. You reach a certain place where you are crossed out in the goal you want to achieve. You might as well face the fact that because this cross-out principle is operating, you will never see the greater works and the exploits done that will move the world until first the inner nature is taken care of in the ministries who speak the Word of the Lord. You can defend yourself by saying that you believe in the grace of God, but you had better believe for grace to help you overcome in your inner conflict—not just to overlook it. You can struggle and struggle and struggle and never get anywhere. Believe for grace, not to overlook your inner conflict, but to actually overcome it with strong faith. It cannot be emphasized too much that you do not overcome through personal discipline; you overcome through faith in God. That is where righteousness is really established. It is a righteousness that comes by faith. Believe to become totally righteous.
If you have never thought about becoming totally righteous, it is because you still delight in the pleasures of the flesh. The flesh still intrigues you, and righteousness is still abhorrent. You still do not want to hate sin as much as God hates it. You only want to hate it enough so that you will not be crossed out so much; you do not yet hate totally the thing that defeats your life. Wouldn’t it be fine if you could find someone else to blame for your lack of righteousness? You could drag him in and tar and feather him and say, “He’s the culprit; he is the one who is doing it!” But that would not be the case. Only one person holds back your walk with God; and he walks around in your own shoes. Take a look at him. You must cleave to righteousness. Love it, believe for it, contend for it, seek it first, hunger and thirst after it. That becomes the first issue of eliminating the cross-out principle that stops you.
Not many will be brought into a real walk with God because most people delight in being on the outer fringe. They like to keep one foot in the world. God’s people will never be effective in bringing forth the Kingdom until they are purer than they are now.
Do you grieve over the impurities that you see among God’s people? How effective are you in praying about them? If you merely grieve without praying about them, you are worse than the people you see fall. When the people who are critical start interceding with a whole heart day and night for those who have stumbled, then you can believe in their righteousness too. The flesh is like a chameleon, a lizard that is ever changing its color. The flesh is like a hydra-headed monster—cut off one head and two more grow in its place. You may be able to eliminate certain drives of the flesh, but you must go further—you must crucify the flesh. It will take on religious aspects if you are not careful. Your religious flesh may grieve over a situation being wrong, but you still may not face the involvement of intercession day and night before God.
How can you believe in any man’s righteousness if that righteousness has not totally involved him in love for his brother? Paul said that the whole Law is fulfilled in one statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” With this righteousness and love, a man finds himself being driven to intercede and cry out to God day and night. In the New Testament, you will not find a man with any measure of spiritual maturity who was not on his face continually. This is a rebuke to those in this day who think they are mature because they minister in the gifts and the wisdom of God. Are they projecting the image of Paul? Are they crying out to God, praying all night for the flock? Are they ministering like Paul who said, “I cease not to pray day and night for you, crying out to God” (II Timothy 1:3). He had reached the place where there was no longer any conflict within him. Then he was able to reach out and become effective, because that was his whole motivation.
You are set free to serve your brother. You are set free to pray all night for him. You are set free to help him. When you have won the war within, then you must win the war within the Body of Christ. God will help you to win that war for your brother and sister too; so you must pray for them until they prevail. This concern for others is what it means to grow up. This is what it means to reach the place where you are no longer being crossed out by something within you.
When your flesh is warring against the Spirit, you cannot do the things that you want to do. You find your heart yearning day by day in a frustration, because you know how much of God you could be walking in. If you yearn to be totally effective in your life, one thing you must do is to repent and seek God. Follow one little simple course: every time you hear a living Word, repent. Repent over any Word you have heard that has not been operative in your life. Do not draw back from becoming introspective for a little while. The focus on the Word requires that you find out what is holding it up within you.
It is true that you have to be work oriented in order to learn something about the living works of faith, and God has to rid you of a lazy spirit first. You must really want to accomplish the greater works. The spirit of work will come forth in you. But there has to be a love of righteousness in you too. Do not be satisfied when you just begin to love righteousness and holiness, and you move a few impasses out of the way. There must be a real burden for people to overcome the barriers in their lives. Sometimes it seems as if no one cares; no one is focused on it. Within you there must be a yearning after the Word, a listening after the Word, a seeking for it with all of your heart. You must spend time repenting and seeking the face of God. You are missing the will of God if you fail to do that.
If you do not follow after the course of righteousness with all your heart, then time after time you will come up only so far; the button will be pushed, and you will come down. If you arc not wholehearted, you will be like Israel, and perish in the wilderness, fighting circumstances. God will never give you the victory over circumstances until there is victory over the murmuring heart within. Israel murmured, and therefore the circumstances overcame them. They refused to walk in faith; they walked in unbelief. They were continually crying out in their unbelief, no matter what God did for them. Until you take care of the old nature within where you doubt and draw back, you will not fulfill what God has set before you.
What is slowing you down? You will have to lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets you (Hebrews 12:1). Just fall on your knees and talk to God about the state of your heart. Start seeking the face of the Lord. Within the course of one day, you could break through your former defeats and have the righteousness which comes by faith. You have to believe there is one time that the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse you and loose you. You will receive righteousness to the extent that you believe for it. If you believe only up to a certain level, and beyond that you keep the Canaanites and Gibeonites alive as the Israelites did, they will become a thorn in your flesh. You could be rid of them all at once if you would. God told the Israelites not to spare a one. Those who were left alive rose up to harass and harass, until eventually the Israelites were overcome.
This is the day to reach for a faith for righteousness. Let everything that has been wrong, every liberty of the flesh, end right now. Let it end, not by a legalistic decree, but by a cry of your whole heart hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
You will not be helped merely by going through some simple motion of praying for a few minutes about righteousness. You must earnestly seek a change of life, a change of attitude, a love of righteousness. You need to repent that you have not loved righteousness with a total dedication. Take this attitude toward the righteousness of God: it is His nature you want more than anything in the world. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.