My Encounter with Effective and Fervent Prayer - Pastor Nancy Sleger - Christian International Ministries Network
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” — James 5:16
I am writing about this scripture because I lived it!
A little over four years ago, I fell and broke my right arm. I had it X-rayed at the ER and they gave me sling and told me to follow up with an orthopedic specialist, which I did the next day. After his X-rays, he gave me the same diagnosis — a fractured right arm — and I returned back home again. Three days later, I was admitted to the hospital with acute respiratory failure. Long story short, there was more happening in my body that wasn’t caught, and unfortunately, it sent me into a serious downward respiratory spiral.
I was placed into a medical coma and put on a ventilator immediately. As time passed, I was eventually weaned off the ventilator and given a feeding tube, but the tube shifted upward one day and filled my lungs with the liquid food mixture. From there, I deteriorated very quickly. I was put back on a ventilator and contracted double pneumonia where I then became septic. My family was called in and told that I was the sickest person in the hospital and probably would not make it through the night.
Around that same time, I had an encounter with God. I remember walking up to a line and heard a voice say, “You can cross over if you like, or you can turn back.” I pondered for just a second, but ultimately knew that I hadn’t finished my race yet. I turned and began the journey back.
I write my testimony because as all of this was going on,
unbeknownst to me since I was in a coma, I had a growing number of intercessors
who were praying “fervently” on my behalf. It truly was the effective, fervent prayers
of the righteous saints of God, who I believe, prayed me from death to life. As
I recall, I remember literally feeling and knowing that it was the prayers of
the saints who lifted me up and over, like riding the top of a huge wave and
then setting me on dry land — set on a pathway to life.
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone
cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for
the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and
the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be
forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one
another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a
righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours,
and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the
land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven
gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
At the end of this passage, we find the prophet, Elijah, praying fervently and he shut the heavens from raining down upon the earth for three years. Again, he prayed fervently and his prayers opened the heavens and the earth began to bear fruit.
In this day, now as never before, the saints of the Most High must engage with God with fervent prayers. Truly, they can release His miracles, turn circumstances from death to life, and see the fruit of effective and fervent prayers.
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