The Book of Jude is amazingly chock full of more nuggets than a San Francisco 1849’er could ever find in his gold mine. There is more substance, more power and more truth packed into 25 short verses of this book, than half of the books in your average Christian book store. Before looking closer at these Truths therein, we must marvel at just who Jude really is! He is the other half-brother of the Lord Jesus and full blooded brother of the Apostle James (writer of the book of the same name). Both Jude and James were sons of Mary and Joseph, after Jesus was born of the virgin, as ordained by God. Jesus, James and Jude also had two other brothers and three sisters, but there is no mention of who the sisters were in the rest of the Canon of the Scriptures.

It is noteworthy here that NONE of the Lord’s siblings believed in Him and His Work while He was alive! It was only after the Lord’s Resurrection, when He appeared to 500 followers AND JAMES (1 Corinthians 15:6-8) that James believed and then Jude.  Both of the Lord’s natural brothers (via Mary) were radically saved. James became the head of the founding church in Jerusalem. He became known as “Camel Knees” from praying so much to the Father, in Jesus’ Name and eventually gave his life for the cause of Christ. Matthew gave the names of all four of Jesus’ half-brothers who were born of Mary, after the birth of Christ. There were Joseph (Jr. presumably); Simon; James and Judas (who was called Jude for obvious reasons. Judas was a popular name before the betrayal). James and Jude were the best known evangelists of the family, after their Great Brother, Lord and Savior – Yeshua!  These names are found in Matthew 13:55. The Lord’s three half-sisters are not named….

CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF  THIS ARTICLE

METHODOLOGY CONCERNING: EFFECTIVE PRAYER

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16a).
When a righteous man (a saved person- male or female) prays, God hears and remembers. Even if the answer is to be sent from Heaven 20 years later, God has it. Conversely, scripture tells us that God will not listen to the prayer of an unrighteous man – unless that person is crying out to Him for forgiveness of sin, the first step to salvation. From the Word of God:
– But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:2)
– Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him (John 9:31). 

As just an example, these two verses above prove that there is no doubt God will never listen to the “prayers” of the unsaved. However, God will not pay attention to a Christian who is out of fellowship either. That is, one who is currently going through a season of rebellion and is not praying or reading the Bible….or even attending church, on purpose. The Apostle Paul said “should I keep sinning that grace may abound? May it never be!” Think if the fuel injector in your car. If it is clogged by the impurities (sin) of the gasoline going in through it from the pump (the human), there is no way the internal combustion engine can function as was meant by the automaker.

Therefore, we must be free AND forgiven from current sin. We should never be like the person whom James talks about here in James 1:6-7 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord”. 

So what about about the “effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man“?…..READ MORE HERE: