Christs Righteousness And Great Prayer

If there is one facet of spiritual life which is at the center of Biblical Christianity it is the place of prayer. The Bible speaks endlessly of the absolute need to pray. Our Great God does nothing in His church until He first does it in someone’s prayer closet. Nothing happens in our churches’ invitation to salvation until that soul has been birthed in travail of prayer. The Holy Bible declares to us, “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), “…men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” (Luke 18:1), and “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” (Ephesians 6:18) Our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ want us to commune with them continually. They cannot use us in the kingdom unless we live in fellowship together.

Prayer can easily become nothing but religious activity – flesh repetition of words – unless we are constantly filled with the righteousness of Christ. The Bible says much about “the prayers of a righteous man”, and the righteousness of which He speaks is not our self-righteousness. The greatest thief of power in ChristÂ’s church is self-righteousness. Self-righteousness effectively hides our own empty heart from us and destroys the altar of great prayer. The righteousness of Christ is not just imputed to us at the moment of conversion; it is GodÂ’s provision for us every day of our Christian pilgrimage. We have no capacity to be righteous in ourselves. Once the Spirit has led us into a solid holy lifestyle there will be great temptation to perceive that as our being righteous. It is a delusion that Satan would foster upon us to destroy the great power of ChristÂ’s righteousness in us.

The external walk of the believer must be set apart and holy in all action and conduct, in dress and attire, but it must ever flow from the righteousness within that only Christ, by gift and grace, can supply. A never-dying consciousness of this wonderful gift of righteousness, and a sweet surrender to that gift each day of our life will guarantee a beautiful saint of God. That saint will be driven to ever intercede and travail with the Father and the Son. This kind of travail will move Heaven and Hell and bring GodÂ’s Kingdom into our affairs. Praying without being possessed by the righteousness of Christ is helpless before our demon-filled world.

Multitudes of Christians are tired of unanswered prayers, and this is God’s answer for those hungering souls. James, the great apostle of prayer said, “…The effectual fervent prayer of a RIGHTEOUS man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” (James 5:16-18) Peter said, by the same Holy Ghost as James, “For the eyes of the Lord are over the RIGHTEOUS, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” (1 Peter 3:12-13) (Emphasis added)

There is no question of the righteousness to which they spoke. To that early church of who it was said, “…These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (Acts 17:6), there was no confidence in the flesh and/or its own righteousness. They called self-righteousness a “filthy rag.” These great saints had just come out of the Pharisaical system of Judaism and they knew the spiritual wilderness of flesh and self.

Jesus Christ’s most potent gift to the believers is His own righteousness imputed into our spirit, soul, and body. This righteousness is not some imaginary gift that exists only in an unconscious realm unaffecting of our daily actions. This gift is a transformation of the believer. The Roman’s road of salvation declares, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)

This gift of righteousness by the Risen Lord will render you a new creature, set free of the old life of self, and set apart to offer spiritual sacrifices unto Christ and God. The prayer life of a soul that is saturated with His righteousness will be legendary. Please read the testimonies on our website www.pawcreek.org/articles/testimonials (click here for direction connection). Remember the words of the Great Shepherd to us sheep, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Let’s stay before Him, “without ceasing”, until we are filled with a righteousness that exalteth all that is excellent; a righteousness that only comes from the Smitten Rock. It is the righteousness of Christ in us that begets great prayer.