In his letter James encourages us to pray “powerfully”, referring to the prayer of the righteous person, which is “powerful and effective” (NIV, James 5:16).

Two translations are possible here. We can simply translate “a powerful prayer”, but it is also possible to translate “a prayer that is made powerful”.

However we translate this text by James, the questions remains: how to make our prayer powerful?

Is it about perseverance, passion or perhaps repetition? It is clear in any case that James sees the power of our prayer in our faith. In verse 15 he mentions “the prayer of faith” and in 1:6 he admonishes us to “ask in faith, never doubting”. Our prayers are powerful when we send them up in faith, when they are reinforced with God’s promises and directed towards his will. We may rest assured that they will be heard “if we ask anything according to his will” (1 John 5:14).  

No book in the Bible tells us more about how God wants us to pray to him than the Psalms. In this book, the Spirit of prayer teaches us how to make our prayers powerful. We then discover that the praying faithful people of Israel brought much more to the table than God’s promises alone. While it is true that those promises are the foundation of their prayers (Ps. 89:2 etc.; 119:25, 58, 116, 170), this does not mean that they do not have more than one string to their bow when presenting their needs to the Lord. Many different arguments are brought forward to plead with the Lord!

In this article I will pay some attention – although not exhaustively - to these arguments. We can learn a lot from them for our own prayer practice, in particular concerning the question: how does our prayer become a powerful prayer? What may you bring to the Lord’s attention in order to insist urgently, to press upon his heart? It reminds me of what Martin Luther wrote: “Every Christian who wishes to pray with concentration, must let his psalm book be his daily prayer book.”

Appealing to Who God Is⤒🔗

The psalms are songs of the covenant, they resonate on the foundation of the covenant that God has with his people. The psalmists send up their prayers as people who, on the basis of the covenant, are allowed to find refuge with their God. They know of the promise in the covenant: “Call on me”…“I will deliver you” (Ps. 50:15), they know that for his covenant children the Lord is “You who answers prayer” (Ps. 65:2) and that “the Lord’s love is with those who fear him” (Ps. 103:17).

This loyalty encourages them to make their prayer powerful by reminding the Lord of who he is for his children. Because God is this and thus, he simply must intervene; he cannot turn aside without acting. For he is a God who “sees the trouble of the afflicted” (Ps. 10:14), and whose words “are flawless” (Ps. 12:6), one “who saves…those who take refuge” (Ps. 17:7), “God my Saviour”(Ps. 27:9, my rock and my fortress”(Ps. 31:3), “my help and my deliverer” (Ps. 40:17), “the Shepherd of Israel” (Ps. 80:1), “a shield” (Ps. 84:11), a God who is “forgiving and good” (Ps. 86:5), a God who will “answer me” (Ps. 86:7), “a God who avenges” (Ps. 94:1), “Judge of the earth” (Ps. 94:2) and “my strong deliverer” (Ps. 140:7).

Time and again the praying people of Israel introduce the Lord to himself and remind him of the manner in which he associates with his children. For them that presents a powerful pleading ground to move God to take redeeming action.

In addition, they also appeal to God’s virtues. They call his attention to his (redeeming) righteousness (Ps. 4:1; 25:9; 36:6), to his unfailing love (Ps. 6:4; 25:8; 31:16; 44:26; 51:1; 109:21), to his compassion (Ps. 25:6; 51:3; 69:17), to his faithfulness (Ps. 69:14; 115:1; 143:1) and to his long-suffering patience (Ps. 86:15).

This all connects in the calling upon God’s Name (Ps. 54:1; 79:9), which is at the same time God’s fame. Thereby the praying people of Israel throw the dice high: they remind him of his self-revelation at the burning bush (Ex. 3:14) and of everything He has done in the history of his people in accordance with that Name.

That is also why we continue to remind God of his work in the past for his people (Ps. 44:2f; 74:2; 106:43f; 126:1f) and sometimes also of what he had done for them personally (Ps. 61:4; 71:19). This reminder is intended to strengthen their call for relief, a plea to the Lord to take action.

Own Godliness←⤒🔗

We are faced with quite a strange prayer-argument when the psalmist points to his own godliness. While I do not think we would easily dare to bring that argument into the prayer, the praying people of Israel seem to do it quite frankly. They know that the Lord fulfils the desires of those who fear him (Ps. 145:19), therefore they mention their godly way of life when calling upon God. As they are faithful allies, the Lord cannot leave them to suffer their dire fate! For “I am your servant”

(Ps.143:12), am I not? This motif returns many times in the psalms as a powerful pleading ground, especially in Psalm 119.

The praying people in Israel know they are sinners and have faults (Ps. 39:8; 41:4; 69:5) and do not pass by the fact that, should the Lord take their sins into account, no one would be able to stand before him (Ps. 130:3). But that does not make them refrain, in certain situations—as their King Hezekiah did (Isa. 38:3), from frankly calling the Lords attention to their faithful walk of life (Ps. 7:8; 18:21; 71:5; 86:2; 119:38, 51, 55, 58, 66, 97,121,153). It is brought to the fore very strongly in Psalm 17 and especially in Psalm 26, which has been called the ‘Psalm of innocence by excellence,’ It is quite something when David puts forward: “…I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered. Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.” This is not just about the poet standing upright before the Lord in a certain case, no his life and heart are upright before the Lord and comply with the covenant. That is what this prayer is presenting, while he realizes that he is absolutely not deserving of God’s help. It is not for nothing that he prays in verse 11: “be merciful to me”. The psalmists are able to present the argument of their faithful manner of living due to the covenant. They keep that covenant, they live according to it. Now they ask for protection of that faithful life according to the promises of that covenant. Their faithfulness becomes a powerful argument for God to listen. I refer also to the strong call in Psalm 7:8 “Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.”

In a milder form we also come across the appeal based on own godliness whenever the person praying speaks of his trust in the Lord (Ps. 25:2; 71:5), his refuge with the Lord (Ps. 25:20; 31:2; 57:1), his expectation of the Lord (Ps. 25:21; 130:5), of his crying out to the Lord (Ps. 31:17) and of his hope on the Lord (Ps. 33:22; 39:8).

Time and again we keep discovering how the praying people in Israel take the covenant seriously and appeal to the Lord based on what they do in accordance with that covenant! They know that the Lord has compassion on “those who fear him” (Ps. 103:13).

Own Situation←⤒🔗

It is surprising to see how the psalm poets also sketch their state of suffering in order to move God to intervene. They truly lay down their troubles before the Lord and do not hold back. They know that he sees their trouble and afflictions (Ps.10:14) and “remembers” the cries of the afflicted (Ps. 9:12).

Therefore they place their suffering before the Lord and call his attention to their miserable situation. A striking example of this can be found in Psalms 22, 31 and 55. Sometimes the suffering is illustrated in a truly Middle-Eastern manner. The praying people of Israel’s association with the Lord is so “confidential”/personal (see Ps. 25:14) that they do not mince matters. They explain their situation to him in order to move him to take intervening action. Where the apostle Peter calls upon you to “Cast all your anxiety on him” (1 Pe. 5:7), these psalms teach you to name these anxieties frankly and explicitly to the Lord. Heman takes this to the extreme in Psalm 88. His prayer is actually one long complaint that even ends with the word “darkness”. We also learn that the question of why need not be shunned (see Ps. 22:1; 43:2; 88:14) and that God’s children are allowed to have difficulty while taking his path.

Where personal need is brought to the table in many psalms, the need of God’s people is also often a pleading ground. The Psalms 44, 74, 79 and 80 contain complaints because the Lord has surrendered his people to the enemies and their mockery. Surely the Lord cannot bear that? Surely he must do something? We see the personal needs and that of God’s people connecting beautifully in Psalm 25. In verse 18 David prays: “Look on my affliction and my distress”, but he ends with the prayer “Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!” The praying people of Israel pray as members of God’s people. Which is why their prayers are time and again intercessions in which the distress of the people is lamented (Ps. 60; 74; 79), in which the distress is sometimes felt very strongly and personally. A striking example of this is that of Psalm 102: “the prayer of an afflicted”, which is written mostly in the first person, but is clearly about the sad situation of “Zion”.

It is remarkable how often the Lord is called to take notice of what “opponents”, “enemies” and “godless people” are doing to God’s people. Their haughtiness and mockery are mentioned in order to move the Lord to take action. Because the people praying know that, by attacking God’s children, they are actually attacking the Lord himself, that his Name is intertwined with the lives of his people (Ps. 69:9; 74:22-23; 89:51) and they do not want the enemy to say: “Where is your God?” (Ps. 42:10; 79:10). So they bring God’s Name into it, praying: “Help us, God our Saviour, for the glory of your Name” (Ps. 79:9). Because if God does not help, his Name will be desecrated by the enemies saying: a God like that is powerless, look at the state of his people!

We learn that the honour of God’s Name can be at stake in certain situations and that we may point this out to the Lord when praying for help.

God’s Praise←⤒🔗

Closely connected with the latter is the motif of God’s praise which we also repeatedly encounter in the psalms. The person praying promises to praise the Lord when he has helped him (Ps. 26:12; 35:18; 71:22; 86:12). In one or two cases we even hear the person praying say that the Lord will miss that praise should he not save the person from the threat of death. That argument is pronounced in Psalm 30 when David says: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?” In Psalm 6, too, we observe this motif:

“Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?” Heman also puts this forward: “Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction?” (Ps. 88:11).

We see here that God’s children from the Old Testament knew little of life after death as we do now. They often do not look beyond the grave, even if they know that death cannot have the last word as far as God’s children are concerned. What Moses was able to proclaim about God: “I put to death and I bring to life” (Deut. 32:39), guided them as a guarantee that God’s power would one day triumph over death and grave.

For did they not know the Lord as the God who “brings down to the grave and raises” (1 Sam. 2:6)? There are therefore places in the Psalms where we see this perspective shining through (Ps. 16:9f; 49:15; 73:23f).

It is striking to see how, in the aforementioned texts, praising the Lord in this life forms a powerful argument. The psalmist really considers himself a quitter if he were to stop praising God and puts that forward in order to be saved. From this we can learn how God’s praise ought to determine our lives and that a child of God should first and foremost praise that Name. We, however, who know that death is but an “entrance” into eternal life (see Q&A 42 of the Heidelberg Catechism), cannot argue in the same manner as in these psalms.

But there are situations in which God’s children may possibly ask to be saved, not in order to stay with their loved ones, but because of the charge the Lord has given them in this life and the service they wish, in his Name, so dearly to fulfil. I think that the Psalms teach us that this is not improper.

Sometimes we hear that the person praying promises the Lord an offering of thanks and praise:

“I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good” (Ps. 54:8); “I will present my thank offerings to you” (Ps. 56:12); “I will sacrifice a thank offering to you” (Ps. 116:17). The law of Moses allowed room to praise and thank the Lord with a specific offering (see Lev. 7:12ff.). It had the character of a voluntary offering and was spontaneously promised to the Lord. The Israelite then did not suffice with words, but accompanied his praises with an action of thankfulness. With such an offering he at the same time displayed his thankfulness in public.

Once again we find here a prayer argument that has long been forgotten in our times. In order to plead with the Lord we may also promise to give him extra praise when he saves us. Whereby we may also suit the action to the word, even though we no longer bring an animal to the altar. There are many ways to actively display our thankfulness. I bring to mind what Calvin wrote regarding vows in the psalms concerned: “Similar vows may also be used by us in the present day, whenever the Lord has rescued us from some disaster or dangerous disease, or other peril. For it is not abhorrent from the office of a pious man thus to consecrate a votive offering to God as a formal symbol of acknowledgment that he may not seem ungrateful for his kindness.” (Calvin: The Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV, 13, 4). At the same time, for us the Word is also still valid: ‘When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfil it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfil your vow...” (Eccl. 5:4f.).

Summary←⤒🔗

As I mentioned earlier, my list does not presume to be exhaustive. One can encounter other arguments of prayer too in the Psalms. For example, there is also a plea on the covenant (Ps. 74:20), on God’s joy in his people (Ps. 106:4) on a broken heart (Ps. 51:19), on being a stranger (Ps. 39:12). But what I have mentioned is sufficient to teach us how we can make our prayers more powerful. The Spirit of grace and supplication (Zach. 12:10) teaches us, in the prayers of the saints of the Old Testament, what we may put forward to supplicate to God. The constant use of the word “for” in these prayers is revealing in this respect. In this we see how much prayer is a covenant conversation between the Lord and his children. He takes the “confidential”/personal relationship (Ps. 25:14) so far that we are even allowed to present arguments to empower our supplications. In all this we should not forget that we, as New Testament believers, have an outstanding pleading ground when we plead on our Redeemer. In the words “in Jesus’ Name” we present to our heavenly Father the work of his own Son. Is there a more powerful pleading ground imaginable than this one? Is there not the promise that the Father will give us all we ask for in Jesus’ name (see John 16:23)?

But even though this is the most powerful pleading ground, we are permitted to put forward even more , depending on the circumstances. That is what the Psalms teach us. Calvin says that grievances, annoyances, fears, and other kinds of trial are God’s means of stimulating us “to pray earnestly whenever the occasion requires” (Institute, 111, 20, 7). That earnest prayer is what we observe here with the psalmists. They put quite a lot forward in order to be heard. We discover what it is to “call out” to the Lord, to “knock” on his door, to “plead”.

Pleading...how often we encounter that in Scripture! The Lord was moved by the pleas of Isaac (Gen. 25:21), of David (2 Sam. 24:25), of the tribes of Israel (1 Chron. 5:20), of King Manasseh (2 Chron. 33:13), of Ezra and his people (Ezra 8:23).

Our God is someone who truly listens to his children and is moved by what they present to him. That is what the psalms teach us and we would do well to give them a place in our prayer life and in our worship services. Because — and this is their advantage above songbooks—they are the training method of the Spirit of prayers, who teaches us by them how we may, and should, pray.

A. Kuyper rightly wrote that in the psalms we are not dealing with individual expressions but with God’s work in the lives of his children and his revelation therein.

I would like to conclude with, once again, a remark by Luther: “So that you may truly call the Book of Psalms, a little Bible; for in it all things that are contained in the whole Bible are given to us in the most wonderfully brief and sweet manner, and condensed into a most beautiful manual…Be assured then that the Holy Spirit himself has written and handed down to us this Book of Psalms, as a form of prayer, in the same way as a father would give a book to his children. He himself has drawn up this manual for his disciples; having collected together, as it were, the lives, groans, and experiences of many thousands, whose hearts he alone sees and knows. If, therefore, thou canst not read the whole Bible, behold! Thou mayest, by reading the Book of Psalms only, have not only a summary of all godliness, but all godly excellences, and the most spiritual experiences.”