Are Your Prayers Answered?

James 5:16, 18; 1 Kings 18:41-46

A deacon had a parrot that said, “lets kiss, lets kiss.”

The Pastor had a parrot that said, “lets pray, lets pray.”

So the deacon asked the preacher if he could leave his parrot with the pastor to influence his parrot so that it wouldn’t say, “lets kiss . . . .”

So the pastor kept the deacons parrot and it began to recite, “lets kiss, lets kiss.”

The pastors parrot immediately began to say, “praise the Lord my prayers been answered.”

God invested His power in promises. How do we extract them?

A. C. Dixon

“When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence we get what eloquence can do . . . but when we rely upon prayer we get what God can do!”

Are all your prayer answered? We excuse the unanswered ones with clichés like, “No is an answer.” Wouldn’t it be great to have the power of Elijah? Are we supposed too?

James 5:16 “. . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

The example of Power: Elijah. The specific incident. When he prayed for rain.

1 Kings 18:41-46

verse 41. Elijah was so confident that God was going to answer his prayer that the storm was already rumbling in his ears! Wouldn’t that be nice? Do you have that kind of confidence in your prayers? Should we?

The Ineffectual Prayers of the Baal Priests (18:23-29)

Introduction

We were challenged to choose decidedly to follow the true God. Now we come to the test proposed to prove who the true God really is. The principle is simply once the true God has manifested Himself and is known, it is foolish, indeed it is absurd to follow the false man-made gods of idolatry.

In this chapter we have three illustrations of prayer:

1. The Prayers of the Baal Priests: But NO Answer from Heaven (vss. 26-29)

2. The Public Prayer of Elijah: FIRE from Heaven (vss. 30-40)

3. The Private Prayer of Elijah: RAIN from Heaven (vss. 41-46)

I. The Earnestness of Elijah’s Prayer, (1 Kings 18:42)

Earnestness not indicated by its language, loudness or length.

You may have heard the story about evangelist Dwight L. Moody who was quite perturbed when a brother in Christ at one of his meetings continued to pray on and on and on. The man became so lost in his own eulogy on the Almighty that people in the audience became restless. As Moody saw no end in sight, he suddenly rose and said, “While our brother is finishing his prayer, let us sing number 75.”

This seemed quite rude and brusque, and Moody was criticized for it, but few know the rest of the story. In the audience was a medical student who was so bored that he reached for his hat and was ready to leave. When Moody suddenly switched the audience from trying to follow the tedious prayer to singing a song of grace and blessing, the young man’s attention was arrested by the music, he put his hat down, and remained in the service. At the close, he was among those who came forward to receive Christ as Savior. That student convert later became the world-renowned missionary—Sir William Grenfell!”

Mat 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Mat 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them...” Jesus connects this with the pagan ideas about prayer and states “Do not be like them.” In contrast, Jesus gave a clear, rational, and intelligible Lord’s Prayer as a proper example to follow.

word for “use vain repetitions” = battalogeô, Gingrich defines as “babble, to speak without thinking.”

Jesus connects with the pagan ideas about prayer and states “Be not like them” then said, vs. 9 “After this manner therefore pray”.

In view of this statement of Jesus, it is improbable that God would give a gift of unintelligible prayer to men. Jesus also said not to pray “as the heathen do”

1. The Earnestness of his prayers. Verse 42. James 5:16, 17

A. Earnestness not indicated by language, loudness or length

B. The Earnestness indicated by his posture

The actual words are not recorded. There are no specific instructions on prayer posture.

▸ Standing: Nehemiah 9:5

▸ Kneeling: Ezra 9:5