Question Please, What Is a Righteous Man?

[PhoenixRising]

I just responded to a post and I quoted James 5:16 about "the prayer of a righteous man availeth much". This got me thinking...WHAT exactly is a "righteous" man? I know we, as born again children of God are covered by and are seen through the righteousness of Jesus by God.

Does that then automatically qualify us as "righteous" and would James 5:16 refer to us, in spite of our stumbles, weaknesses and imperfections when it comes to walking before a Holy God?

Even when you've sinned or done something wrong and grieved God's spirit, does that still mean that you're "righteous" and that your prayers will avail much?

Can someone please clarify this for me and clearly define what "righteous" means?

All I know is God's love for me and it makes weep when I grieve His spirit because of my weaknesses. I find it difficult to face God a lot because of this. I always feel so bad when I fail Him, either by my thoughts or unloving ways or actions, even towards myself.

I'm not very good at praying because I don't know how and can't seem to find those wonderful words and powerful phrases that pastors and prayer warriors use.

 

[Kobecriss]

Righteousness stems from obedience to God. U are righteous when u follow Gods commandments. Even sinning doesnt disqualify righteousness as the Word says "the just man falls seven times and gets back up again". If and when we make mistakes God is willing to forgive as long as we are willing to get up and try again.

 

[Christ4Ever]

Where to start? Kobecriss pretty much has it in a nut shell when he says “Righteousness stems from obedience to God.” You can pretty much go from there. We’re not perfect so we do fail, we do sin. The fact that you feel bad shows that you are still changing to a Child of the Most High! We’re young, we stumble and fall, yet once again Kobecriss said it right “the just man falls seven times and gets back up again”. That you get back up, that you repent.
Just keep in mind that when you ignore or are unrepentant that is when the Holy Spirit is grieved. When you do something that you know is wrong yet you justify doing it; when you start seeing evil as good and good as evil; then you are grieving the Holy Spirit!
Dan 9:18 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.
Now this was Daniel praying! You had it correctly when you said “I know we, as born again children of God are covered by and are seen through the righteousness of Jesus by God.” That is why he will hear us. You don’t have to be a pastor, or a prayer warrior to pray! Tell him your thoughts, your feelings, stop hiding yourself, because you can’t hide from Him! He knows you inside and out already! No walls, no barriers, no play acting, no putting on fronts! Give Him your all that He can give you His all! It’s a relationship you’re building! Always remember, if anyone truly understands you, it’s Him! It's hard, but it will get easier! YBIC

 

[chicken little]

hebrews 11.

god answered samson prayers and even list samson as among the faithful, samson?? who failed every step, till the last step, who would have guessed it?
but he did caused himself and others tremendous pain and heart ache because of his choices.

or like david who failed big time but knew how to really repent when He realized he had done wrong.

both men finished well, one lived well/er.
but really we need to strive to be like samuel, who was god's man and mouth piece from his birth, and not strive to be a David or Samson. THOUGH A FREIND OF GOD IS A GOOD THING.. SAMUEL WAS THAT TOO THOUGH!

words mean nothing, THE heart means everything.
read old testament prayers like psalms etc. very cool stuff . one a day is good medicine .

 

[jiggyfly]

Can someone please clarify this for me and clearly define what "righteous" means?

It means to be right with God.


For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Gal.5:5

Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: Phil.3:8&9

 

[David777]

Dear PhoenixRising

Jesus Christ works in the business of saving the unrighteous.

Jesus Christ grants salvation to those who call out to Him.

Praying in a simple sense is talking to Jesus.

We all fail at different times, no surprises there, we are sinners after all.

If we rely on our own ability to be right with God I don't think any would be saved.

Give Glory to Jesus, He is our Righteousness. If you believe in Jesus then you have that elusive Righteousness.

 

[Hekuran]

From Ephesians 4

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.​

Being righteous is living in accordance with our new self. I don't think this passage is an attempt to define what righteousness is, but it gives some pretty important indicators as to how the righteous live.

At the very least we should be hardworking, honest, kind, and ready to forgive.

 

[Sam Canvas]

We do certainly have the righteousness of Christ – we are in right standing with God but only through Him.

The meaning of the Greek here is what we might expect: “...in a wide sense, upright, righteous, virtuous, keeping the commands of God...; used of him whose way of thinking, feeling, and acting is wholly conformed to the will of God, and who therefore needs no rectification in the heart or life.”

To “avail much” we need to be walking with God as well as wearing the righteousness of Christ. That doesn't mean we have to be perfect!

That’s a great verse Hekuran has shared: “to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

It is of course wrong to assume God could in any way to approve of us when we are living a lie or praying to Him with unconfessed sin in our life:

“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Ps. 66:18); “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him” (John 9:31).

If He worked in power through us when we pray and when we are out of step with Him, He would be contradicting His Own holiness. He would be living below His Own standards. If we aren’t for Him we are, in effect, against Him.

So a righteous man who will accomplish much in prayer is someone who walks with God.

Sam

 

[Brighthouse]

Sister PhoenixRising,Blessing to you first! The above brothers and sisters have given us a great understanding of what righteousness is.

For me,knowing like you,we are so inperfect, I always begin, not by asking the Lord for anything,but in my humble opinion,we must first come into his courts with praise,Praise,for us even be allowed to come into his courts in the first place!

We have this right because Jesus himself!! gave us this right! Thank you Jesus for your love,your grace, YOUR mercy! In this area, our first area the enemy can attack us in,planting things in our mind like,hey don't forget,you have something to do later!!,

Oh dear remember this or remember that. Few believers ever get past this bombarment of attack to even get to the next level of our Prayer life. oh gee! I need a sandwich to!! Then we come back start all over again. This is what the enemy loves to do,to block our second step in prayer!

Here in this realm is a great battle with both our flesh,and our mind,here we are fighting self,and the enemy,why pray? You know you are to bad to expect anything from the Lord don't you!! ( eph 6:12) is here.( Gal 5:17) is here in this realm as well.

Now what we believe is what we have in Jesus,this is our battlefield,here in this realm, we must decide to take it,or lose it. How much time depends on how much we have renewed our mind in Christ,sometimes for me it can take as little as 20min,or at other times almost an hour. BUT!!! DO Battle!! because the next step in prayer is so worth it!!

You will know when you have crossed into the next realm of prayer!! You mind will get quiet,a peace comes over you,for Dear LORD sake! do not do what most do!! and STOP!! You are crossing over!! Into the next stage of prayer!

You my dear sister are getting ready to come towards the veil!! The holy of holy's!! You cannot enter here yet though!! NOPE!! you must first go to the second stage of prayer! Here in this realm,righteouness comes,or as the others have said right standing!

You can have right standing because you have battled through getting to this point!! NOW!! you are in right standing! Now you are receving the Power of the Holy Spirit telling you who you are in Christ!! a most comforting area! Here the enemy cannot attack you!! because you have fought hard enough to get past him, in both your mind and spirit being! Now scripture comes before your mind,example,Rom 5:19 Jesus made you righteous,and one of your favorites you have already read! James 5:15-16,you confessed back at the starting realm,now God has placed you in the righteouss realm! the realm of love, which covers a mulitude of sins!!( 1Peter 4:8)

So here you are bathing in the LOVE of jesus,and assurace realm,a realm of preparing for the final area of faith! THE HOLY REALM! Again you will know when you cross through the veil! Because in this realm GOD!!! himself is in! up till now,his Holy Spirit has been leading you to get to this place!! BUT NOW!! GOD himself covers this realm,and you are in Christ in this realm!(Col 1:26-27!) In this realm VERY FEW!! get to!!

Because this realm has required what so many are unwilling to do!! Give there time to! By this time you would have been praying for around 2 hours!! A long time!! But what you have accomplished during this time, is MUCH! and now you are ready!! Because God himself has moved you before him!! Here and here alone,does God speaks,it is here,and only here,there are no feeling only fact,feeling are good!! But in Faith there is fact,because here the unseen can become seen! 2 Cor 4:16-18!! the eternal is before you,and us being tempory become eternal!!

You will not wonder when you have reached here!This is where you know, that you know, amen that you know!! For here an all knowing God resides at,and that which he will make known to you comes forth from him!

And we are dust before him,we melt under his perfect love,and we blend with him. Forgive me for talking so long on this,but in the prayer realm, there are many parts,even like the body of Christ,but ALL yes ALL can do this IF!!! they are willing to do it! For many years I only could get to the second area!! I just could not find a way into the Holy of Holys,that was because I did not take the time necassary to get in!!

Please consider this,I know the Lord is speaking his love to you all who read this. I have been in this realm,and I can tell you,it is a realm, you never want to depart from once you arrive! There are no questions in this realm,only answers!! Praise Jesus forever!! In this realm right standing is no longer faith!! It is FACT! through Our MIghty and Everlasting God!! amen!

 

[MelodyC]

If you are a Saved Believer you are righteous before the Lord. It is part of your becoming washed and made clean and having your sins forgiven.

Your righteousness was given to you through the Blood of Christ.

2CO 5:16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You don't gain righteousness yourself through works as it is all part of salvation.

 

[jiggyfly]

Jesus Christ works in the business of saving the unrighteous.

Jesus Christ grants salvation to those who call out to Him.

Praying in a simple sense is talking to Jesus.

We all fail at different times, no surprises there, we are sinners after all.

If we rely on our own ability to be right with God I don't think any would be saved.

Give Glory to Jesus, He is our Righteousness. If you believe in Jesus then you have that elusive Righteousness.

Nice post David777

 

[Christ4Ever]

Nice post David777

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

[jiggyfly]

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Yes, very nice scripture post, He is the Alpha and Omega, Hallelujah!

 

[PhoenixRising]

Sister PhoenixRising,Blessing to you first! The above brothers and sisters have given us a great understanding of what righteousness is.

For me,knowing like you,we are so inperfect, I always begin, not by asking the Lord for anything,but in my humble opinion,we must first come into his courts with praise,Praise,for us even be allowed to come into his courts in the first place!

We have this right because Jesus himself!! gave us this right! Thank you Jesus for your love,your grace, YOUR mercy! In this area, our first area the enemy can attack us in,planting things in our mind like,hey don't forget,you have something to do later!!,

Oh dear remember this or remember that. Few believers ever get past this bombarment of attack to even get to the next level of our Prayer life. oh gee! I need a sandwich to!! Then we come back start all over again. This is what the enemy loves to do,to block our second step in prayer!

Here in this realm is a great battle with both our flesh,and our mind,here we are fighting self,and the enemy,why pray? You know you are to bad to expect anything from the Lord don't you!! ( eph 6:12) is here.( Gal 5:17) is here in this realm as well.

Now what we believe is what we have in Jesus,this is our battlefield,here in this realm, we must decide to take it,or lose it. How much time depends on how much we have renewed our mind in Christ,sometimes for me it can take as little as 20min,or at other times almost an hour. BUT!!! DO Battle!! because the next step in prayer is so worth it!!

You will know when you have crossed into the next realm of prayer!! You mind will get quiet,a peace comes over you,for Dear LORD sake! do not do what most do!! and STOP!! You are crossing over!! Into the next stage of prayer!

You my dear sister are getting ready to come towards the veil!! The holy of holy's!! You cannot enter here yet though!! NOPE!! you must first go to the second stage of prayer! Here in this realm,righteouness comes,or as the others have said right standing!

You can have right standing because you have battled through getting to this point!! NOW!! you are in right standing! Now you are receving the Power of the Holy Spirit telling you who you are in Christ!! a most comforting area! Here the enemy cannot attack you!! because you have fought hard enough to get past him, in both your mind and spirit being! Now scripture comes before your mind,example,Rom 5:19 Jesus made you righteous,and one of your favorites you have already read! James 5:15-16,you confessed back at the starting realm,now God has placed you in the righteouss realm! the realm of love, which covers a mulitude of sins!!( 1Peter 4:8)

So here you are bathing in the LOVE of jesus,and assurace realm,a realm of preparing for the final area of faith! THE HOLY REALM! Again you will know when you cross through the veil! Because in this realm GOD!!! himself is in! up till now,his Holy Spirit has been leading you to get to this place!! BUT NOW!! GOD himself covers this realm,and you are in Christ in this realm!(Col 1:26-27!) In this realm VERY FEW!! get to!!

Because this realm has required what so many are unwilling to do!! Give there time to! By this time you would have been praying for around 2 hours!! A long time!! But what you have accomplished during this time, is MUCH! and now you are ready!! Because God himself has moved you before him!! Here and here alone,does God speaks,it is here,and only here,there are no feeling only fact,feeling are good!! But in Faith there is fact,because here the unseen can become seen! 2 Cor 4:16-18!! the eternal is before you,and us being tempory become eternal!!

You will not wonder when you have reached here!This is where you know, that you know, amen that you know!! For here an all knowing God resides at,and that which he will make known to you comes forth from him!

And we are dust before him,we melt under his perfect love,and we blend with him. Forgive me for talking so long on this,but in the prayer realm, there are many parts,even like the body of Christ,but ALL yes ALL can do this IF!!! they are willing to do it! For many years I only could get to the second area!! I just could not find a way into the Holy of Holys,that was because I did not take the time necassary to get in!!

Please consider this,I know the Lord is speaking his love to you all who read this. I have been in this realm,and I can tell you,it is a realm, you never want to depart from once you arrive! There are no questions in this realm,only answers!! Praise Jesus forever!! In this realm right standing is no longer faith!! It is FACT! through Our MIghty and Everlasting God!! amen!

WOW! Thank you for this marvelous post. It certainly explained a lot and opened my eyes. I knew nothing about a realm and I always feel stuck when trying to pray because I was convinced that I didn't know how.

 

[PhoenixRising]

I want to thank everyone who responded to my "righteousness" question. I've always struggled with it and now I understand better.

All the scriptures given me are wonderful and don't you just love that cool thing that TalkJesus has where you can mouse over a scripture link and get to read that verse right away?

Talk about getting knowledge two ways, from members AND the Bible, at the same time! Cool.

 

[Brighthouse]

Amen Phoenix!! We sure do find why we always need to pray,because we all know that without Jesus and HIS righteouness,we can never have any in HIM!! amen!! blessing.