James 5:16b “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
I love this verse and I committed it to memory as a young believer. I think I was a little weird in high school as I LOVED English and especially diagramming sentences. Is that weird? Guilty! So let’s diagram this beautiful encouragement.
Every sentence has a subject, which states the doer of the action and a predicate or predicate verb, which is the action of the sentence.
Stripped down, the verse reads, “prayer avails”. The descriptive words, called adjectives and adverbs, are expressions that add depth of meaning to its truth.
“Prayer” is defined as a request or expression of thanks. “Avails” means assists. The two adjectives to describe prayer are “effectual”, meaning effective and “fervent”, which means passionate.
The preposition (important part of this diagram) “of” means showing relationship.
“Righteous” describes the one who is praying as one who is acting in accord with divine law. The adverb “much” means to a greater extent.
So with all the descriptive expressions that add meaning and clarity, James 5:16b reads, “The effective, passionate request or expression of thanks of one who is acting in accord with divine law assists to a greater extent.”
This verse reveals what prayer is and how to sharpen the effects. It deals with our relationship to the Supreme Listener. That’s important.
Praying according to God’s divine law is paramount to an effective request or offer of praise. Thank you, Lord, for your very instructive promise.
Vickie Richey
~Christ Fellowship