The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. (James 5:16b-18)

There are two kinds of lessons that we can draw from a flawed man of God. We can be inspired to imitate him because of his failure; that is, since even Elijah had his imperfections and moments of weakness, we are encouraged to persevere in our struggles. But James takes us in a different direction – he points us to Elijah’s success, and to his power in prayer as an example for our own. The emphasis was not that, although Elijah was a great prophet, he was nevertheless flawed like us; rather, since Elijah was a man just like us, this means we can be like him! The lesson is not that because he ran away and wallowed, we should not feel hopeless when we find ourselves doing that as well; instead, it is that even in our weakness and human frailty, we can aspire to the prophet’s power.

There is a third way to allude to a man of God, and that is when preachers and theologians tell us, “You cannot do this. You cannot be like him. He was an apostle.” In this manner, they attempt to restrain our boldness, to smother our faith, and to quench the Spirit, even as the gift of God stirs within us. It is the call of unbelief seeking company. They have not learned this from the Bible, and James does not teach us to think this way. Rather, James would say that Paul was a man just like us, and Peter was a man just like us, and since they did wonderful things for the Lord, so can we, because “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” We trust in the power of Christ, and he is greater than any apostle or prophet. If God heard Paul and Peter and Elijah, then he hears us as well. James refers to Elijah not to pull him down to our level, but so that we may rise to his level.

How should we answer those who teach unbelief? We say, “Right, he was an apostle, and evidently you are a nobody. So I would rather follow his example of faith and power, and his boldness of speech, than to follow some loser like you. He was an apostle, and that is precisely why I will imitate his success as much as I can. But you want me to become a weakling and a failure, and powerless like you. That is not going to happen.” Now if the Bible teaches us to imitate even Jesus, who is more than a man like us, then it teaches us to think like spiritual winners and achievers. Thus we will learn the faith of Abraham and Rahab (2:20-26), the endurance of the prophets and of Job (5:10-11), and the faith and power of Elijah (5:17-18).

Our preachers and theologians are so fond of Nehemiah, and they refer to him as an example of reliance in God’s hidden providence. I have no objection to this. Nevertheless, James does not cite Nehemiah to illustrate the kind of power that is available to us in Christ. He cites Elijah, who prayed and the rain ceased for three and a half years, and again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. Let us always keep in mind that we will not be judged by unbelieving leaders and scholars, but by the Lord Jesus in how we respond to his words, that is, to what the Bible actually teaches. False teaching from men is never an excuse, for if we are so easily swayed by unbelief, then there must be some attraction in it for us in the first place. But James speaks the truth, and he encourages our faith. Jesus Christ has set us right with God, and now our prayers can be powerful and effective, even like the prayers of Elijah.