Irresistible Prayer

Red Community began in 2013 as a monthly prayer meeting for Christians in South Wales with a burden for the trafficked, exploited and enslaved. Prayer has remained central to what we do ever since as it expresses our sincere conviction that we are powerless in the face of the darkness of trafficking and modern slavery and apart from Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5). Furthermore, it is our commitment to prayer that helps to mark Red Community out as a distinctly Christian ministry.

Our passion for prayer is matched, however, by our love for God’s Word so, as you can imagine, it’s a good day when we stumble across a passage in the Bible that throws a log on the fire of prayer…and that’s exactly what happened this week.

I reached James 5 in my daily readings and was pleased to do so because it has some of the most encouraging words in the New Testament about the power of prayer:

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (verses 16-18)

These are such encouraging words for the ‘righteous’ to persevere in faith-filled prayer. However, it was a verse earlier in the chapter that really ‘smashed’ me on this occasion:

Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. (verse 4)

Read that verse again! What do you call someone who breaks their back working for a landowner only for their wages to be fraudulently withheld from them?

A slave.

Here in the fourth verse of James chapter 5 we are told that the cries of slaves reach the ears of the God of the universe – the Lord of hosts! WOW!! This incredible verse (followed by the encouragement to righteous prayer warriors) reminded me of Psalm 10 – in which the ‘righteous’ Psalmist stands in the gap and intercedes on behalf of the poor who are being mercilessly exploited by ‘wicked’ traffickers. The entire Psalm is a masterclass in how to wrestle with God on behalf of the vulnerable, oppressed and afflicted. But towards the end of the Psalm the writer acknowledges that their prayer is not the only one being offered:

to you the helpless commits himself…
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
(verses 14, 17&18)

Here again we find a biblical account of the Lord inclining His ear to the cry of the helpless. I particularly love the idea of God ‘hearing’ the desire of the afflicted – not even needing to hear coherent words but able to interpret the deepest longings of a broken heart. How amazing to think that a God so immense as to be able to preach a universe into existence is also humble and intimate enough to tune in to the desperate cries of the weakest and most vulnerable among us!

What a glorious thought that we serve a God who gladly responds to the prayers of the righteous (that’s us, if we are in Christ!) but is also drawn to the prayers of those we are burdened to be praying for – the desperate poor in the misery of their exploitation.

As a father I am often approached and petitioned by my kids: ‘Hey dad I was wondering can I have…?’ If their request is reasonable, achievable (and legal) I love to oblige if I can. However, there are also times when the whole tribe (I have 4 kids) will come and make their requests in unison: ‘Hey dad we were wondering if we can have…’ I have to confess that when they lift their voices together as one united unit I find it really hard to say no (unless there is a really good reason to do so!)

These scriptures in James 5 and Psalm 10 encourage us that when we join our voices not only for but also with those who are suffering the hell of slavery and exploitation, we are petitioning a perfect and loving heavenly Father whose heart burns to ‘do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.’

As the righteous and the desperate cry out together for mercy, surely such prayers are irresistible to the Lord of hosts!

So brothers and sisters, while injustice prevails, let us persevere in faithful prayer with and for the trafficked, exploited and enslaved. This is a labour of love that ALL Christians can be engaged in. What a privilege!

Written by Dai Hankey.