11/12/2018
Can we pray like Elijah? Do our prayers have the ability to reach up to the heavens and let not just drought come and go, but answered prayer rain down? Well, scripture tells us that Elijah’s nature is the same as ours... so how is it that his prayers are so powerful? Elijah had one more characteristic... righteousness. When we pray, do we possess that fullness of faith? How is our righteousness? How is our prayer life?
“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.”
James 5:16-18 ESV
It is important that Elijah didn’t pray his own will in this story being recounted by James, but prayed God’s instead. As a matter of fact, James is referring to not just one, but two miracles which occurred here at the hand of Elijah as he prepared for God to end the drought. Elijah first set the stage for God to dramatically defeat the prophets of Baal, and then he prayed for rain to come and for God to end the three year drought that had been ongoing... both of these were prayed for in the will of God that he had been told before he uttered the first word.
“After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth."”
1 Kings 18:1 ESV
So Elijah went to Ahab, and challenged the prophets of Baal, to build an altar and have their god light it afire, and after they had prayed and cut themselves for quite some time there still was no fire, but when Elijah prayed over the altar he had made the fire of God fell on it immediately, and completely consumed not only the offering and wood, but the very stones of the altar, the water that he had asked be poured on it, and the even the dust beneath it.
So Elijah didn’t pray His will, but prayed God’s as he had been told to do. This is how we should pray... within God’s will. Then something else of note occurred; Elijah waited. He waited until the time of the offering of the oblation. Quite often we do all of the things that God asks of us when we pray, except this one... we neglect to wait. Elijah’s waiting wasn’t an afterthought... he waited first. How often do we jump right into our prayers without first seeking the will of God, and then waiting for God to tell us that His time is right... and to “pray now.”? How often do we pray, and when no answer comes we pray again, and again, and finally say that we are waiting on God... using this explanation as an excuse for our lack of receiving an answer? Elijah waited first.
“And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.”
1 Kings 18:36 ESV
Sometimes however, God does ask us to pray repetitively. This happened in this story as well. When praying for God’s Fire to fall on the altar the answer came right away, but as Elijah prayed for the drought to end he prayed seven times...
“So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." And he went up and looked and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go again," seven times. And at the seventh time he said, "Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea." And he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.'"”
1 Kings 18:42-44 ESV
When Elijah first asked the servant to look toward the sea for rain, and the servant said that there was none on the horizon, what did Elijah say? He didn’t say “Son of a gun, are you sure? Go look again!” And then when still nothing, “Dang, go look again; certainly it is there now!”, and then “Really? You have got to be kidding me! Look again!” and “again”... and “again”, no he said go look with full expectation and certainty, knowing that on the seventh time the rain would be coming. Sometimes God uses repetition as part and parcel to the lesson He is teaching us, or to increase the blessing He is giving us. Waiting, whether we wait to begin, or wait in prayer as part of the will of God, hones our faith to a fine edge. Waiting helps to circumcise our heart and makes the blessing burst forth when it comes... it is as if we are children waiting on Christmas morning... how much more the excitement of the gift. In our case, how much grander the blessing, and the glory God receives!!
When God makes us wait it isn’t meant to be torturous, but as an amplifier of the lesson, the gift, and of our faith. How do you receive waiting when it comes?
So we most certainly can pray with the same power as Elijah, we have the same nature, but to do so we must pray as he did... we must be acting and praying in the will of God, we must be righteous in our faith, and we need to wait in accordance to God’s timing. How do you pray today?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for revealing your will to us, and allowing us to participate in it through our prayers and obedience. Thank you Holy Father for your perfect timing, and help us to be patient as we wait upon you. Give us the ability to resist our own will as we pray, and to be persistent when you demand it of us. Whether our prayers need to be repeated seven times, seventy times seven times, or prayed all night long until you answer in the morrow, give us the resolve and the strength to carry out your desire. Speak your will to us Father as you did Elijah, and instruct us in precisely how you wish us to act and pray within it so that your pleasure and glory will be made full. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who shares His will, and answers our prayers within it. Great are you, and greatly to be praised. All glory and honor rest in you now and forever, without bound or ceasing.
Rich Forbes