The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16 (NLT)
When I first heard this verse, I thought "Well, there you go. I am not righteous so that won't help me." I thought being righteous meant to be good; you know, to follow all the rules.
It doesn't meant that. Righteousness is being right with God. How do you get right with God? You believe and follow his Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-24). When Jesus died for us, our sins were covered with his blood. When God sees us he sees his Beloved Son. He sees his righteousness.
So, if I believe and follow Jesus, my prayers are heard and they contain great power. In other words, they mean something. There is weight behind them. The weight of a child asking their Father for help.
Kind of simple really. The MSG puts it like this.
The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. (MSG)
Why do we make it so complicated when God made it easy?