Scripture: James 5:16b CEB “The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.” Over the years there have been some really great movies made about comic book characters. The resurgence of Marvel Comics and DC Comics characters in movies over the past ten years. The most recent movie to come out is Black Panther. The common thread I have noticed throughout these movies is that of powers. Every character in these movies has some unique power that makes them special, unique and different. Some are strong, some can fly, some turn into a different character when they get really angry, and the list goes on. This makes for some really fun movies. The other common thread is that they all choose to use these powers for good. There are always other characters with powers who have chosen to use their powers for harm, these are the villains. The heroes choose to use their powers for good. If they had not made this choice the movies would be very, very different. Did you know that you can be a superhero also? Alright, you will not be in a movie and you may not save the world in the Hollywood sense. But God, through James, says you too can be a superhero in the faith. This is what James writes in chapter five verse 15. James writes, “The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.” Let’s dig a little deeper into this thought. First, prayer is communication between God and believer. The righteous person is anyone who has accepted the gift of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This is all of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ. This implies that every prayer we pray, as those who are in a right relationship with Jesus Christ, has power. So our divinely given superhero power is prayer. Have you ever thought of prayer this way? According to James your prayers are powerful. I should probably take a second here to be clear. We are not superheroes! We do not have capes, we cannot fly, and we do not have superhuman strength or x-ray vision. But I also want to be clear that every faithful follower of Jesus Christ has the ability to pray powerful prayers. We do not need to enter into the prayer moment timidly. The prayers we pray have power and when we pray we must acknowledge that there is power being transmitted. God is offering us a literal conduit between Creator and created. We are talking to God directly and our prayers are not just one way. God hears our prayers AND answers our prayers. There is divine power being transmitted between parties in the moments we pray. So our prayers should not be timid and wimpy. We come to the throne room of God in prayer boldly. We come to God in prayer and praise God’s holy name, we confess our sins and seek forgiveness, we share with God the desires of our heart, and we intercede in prayer for those we love. All of these prayers have power. The challenge for all of us is to pray bold prayers that embody the power that is present. This week pray bold prayers. This week approach your prayer time with confidence. Enter into your prayer closet with the confidence of a child of God and a joint heir with Christ. The promise in James is that “the prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.” So what will your prayers achieve this week? I pray that the powerful prayers of the righteous people of St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church achieve much. Go and be a prayer superhero! Prayer: Holy God, thank you for desiring a relationship with us. We are overwhelmed that the One who created everything would be faithful to hear the prayers of the righteous. There are so many things we want to pray for today. Guide and direct us to pray bold prayers today in the confidence that there is power being transmitted. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.