James 5:16b. The Effectual Fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man Availeth Much. KJV
I have been in several meetings where we were told to pray fervently. On some occasions, fervency meant being physical in our prayer while at other times, we shouted at the top of our voices yelling till we almost lost our voices. Some have taken physicality in prayers to the extreme. Today, we have those that take canes to church to beat the devil while some do other physical things like using cutlasses to pray. Those practices stems from a gross misunderstanding of what fervency in prayer mean. So what is fervency in prayer? Does it mean being physical in prayers? Does it mean shouting and yelling to the highest heavens?
Cally Logan said, "Fervent prayer is a deep, focused, and passion-filled petition to God. Prayer in itself is aligning and communing with God the Creator, but delving into a prayer of deep fervor remarkably changes not only circumstances, but the person who prays as well. This is the kind of prayer that Jesus meant when he spoke of faith that can move mountains" (Matthew 21:21). So in essence, the mark of fervency in prayer is the depth, focus and passion put into it. It has nothing to do with how loud or physical you are in prayers. In some instances, the depth of fervency may make you to be loud or physical but doing those things is not what defines fervency save for the depth, focus and passion. The NIV replaces the word 'fervency' with 'heartfelt'. Prayer must be 'heartfelt'.
Hannah's prayer was so fevent to a point where her lips moved but her voice was not heard. Some may criticize her for not shouting but in her heart, she was lost in prayer(1Sam1:13). On the other hand, Elijah's fervency in prayer was demonstrated by his physical display(1Kings 18:42). He put his head between his knees. This is not because he was trying to impress God with that expression but because he got to a depth in prayer where he was lost and unconscious of his body and physical environment. He was passionate. Prayer is spiritual. Until you see it as such you cannot make much out of it. Do not define fervency on your own terms by using fleshly parameters, your duty in prayers is to be focused and passionate about your petition. Daniel's fervency led him into fasting because he was passionate about his request(Dan10:3). Let every of your prayers be wrapped in fervency.
Father, I receive the grace to be fervent in prayers In Jesus name.