Context, context, context....
James 5:15-18 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
That verse does not mean that the prayers of "saints" are more effective than ours.
Jesus Himself promised that when we prayed, God Himself would hear and answer our prayers.
Luke 11:1-13 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. ”
And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Why do we pray for each other? Because we are commanded to.
However, that command is never given in regard to praying to anyone who has already died.
If the saints in heaven are indeed capable of hearing us and praying for us, that indicates that they are aware of what's going on here on earth. If that's the case, then they don't need us to pray to them to pray for us. They would be doing it already, just like many of us do without being asked.
And the command is to pray FOR each other, not to each other.
The saints in heaven are more alive than us, because they behold the face of God.
They are not *more alive* than us. When someone is born again, they are already alive spiritually and seated in heavenly places with Christ.
Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We cannot be more righteous in God's sight because we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
BAh!
"Saints" are even more effective than JESUS!!
I've NEVER heard of any of THEM having to redo a MIRACLE.
Mark 8:22-26
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.
23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?”
24 And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.”
25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.
26 And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”