ELIJAH – THE POWER OF PRAYER 2
James 5:17 -18 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
What makes an ordinary obscure person a powerful weapon in the hands of God? Prayer.
Elijah was passionate in prayer; he prayed the word of God into natural reality, he prayed with faith. Elijah impacted a nation through prayer.
J.G. Ryle wrote: "Prayer is the simplest of acts. It is simply speaking to God. It needs neither learning nor wisdom nor book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will. The weakest infant can cry when he is hungry. The poorest beggar can hold out his hands for alms and does not wait to find words. The most ignored man will find something to say to God, if he only has a mind. "
Andrew Murray: "The powers of the eternal world have been placed at prayers disposal. It is the very essence of true religion the channel of blessing, the secret of power and life. "
Charles Spurgeon: "Prayers are the believer’s weapons of war. When the battle is too hard for us, we call in our great ally, who, as it were lies in ambush until faith gives the signal by crying out, ARISE a LORD!!"
Prayer is the slender nerve, which unleashed the muscles of an omnipotent God
Dr. Paul E. Billheimer: "Prayer is not begging God to do something which He is loath to do. It is not overcoming reluctant in God. It is implementing enforcing Christ’s victory over Satan. It is implementing upon earth Heavens decisions concerning the affairs of men. Calvary legally destroyed Satan and concealed all his claims. God placed the enforcement of Calvary’s victory in the hands of the church. "
Matthew 21:22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
ASK – BELIEVE – RECEIVE - FAITH AND PRAYER ARE INSEPERABLE
1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
ELIJAH THE PROMISE CLAIMER
Elijah knew rain was coming. The ear of faith hears what the eye of flesh cannot see! When a man reaches the place where the world is shut out, he can hear God. Blessed is the man who doesn’t have to see to believe - John 20:29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Elijah was a man who believed the promises of God. He believed them so much that he was willing to claim them and live in them.
There are promises in the Bible that are either conditional or unconditional. If I am going to claim a conditional promise, then I must meet all the conditions. Matt. 21:22 says, "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." If that promise is going to work for me, then I must pray in absolute faith. It is conditional. However, Psalm 119:105 says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Is an unconditional promise and is given without strings attached.
In these verses, we see that is claiming a promise that is both personal, and conditional, 1 Kings 18:1. With that little primer on promises in mind, let’s see how we can be active as a promise claimer.
Elijah’s confidence was based on:
The Word Of God -
In 1 Kings 18:1, God told Elijah to confront Ahab and He would send the rain. Elijah did as he was commanded, and he knew the rain was coming. Elijah believed God when God said something.
The Will Of God -
In 1 Kings 17:1, Elijah had been God’s instrument to bring the drought upon the nation. Elijah knew that the drought had been sent because of the idolatry of the people. The rain had stopped because the people were worshiping Baal instead of Jehovah. Now, the Baal prophets were dead, the people had repented and had returned to the Lord God. Elijah knew it was time for the rains to return. Elijah prayed the word of God Deut. 11:13-17 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’ Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
When God’s will had been revealed about a matter, it is settled already. It will be done! Some may ask, "Why bother to pray about it?" Because, God’s promises are not given to restrict our prayer life, but to energize it! When God reveals His will in a matter, we have direction, purpose and power in prayer. We can pray specifically about a situation with the confidence that God will do as He has purposed and willed.
The Evidence of Answered Prayer -
Elijah knew that he could trust God to send the rain because of all that he had already seen the Lord do. Remember, he had already witnessed the faithfulness of God at the brook, in the barrel, with the boy, in the bull and over Baal. He has seen the Lord work many miracles before and there was no reason to think that God could not continue to move in power and glory.
ELIJAH THE PRAYER WARRIOR
Elijah Went To His Father -
Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel to meet the Father. Even though the Baal prophets were dead and gone, there was still work to be done. It was time for the man who believed God to call on His Name and finish the task he had been given. I want to examine Elijah’s prayer so that we can learn more about genuine faith praying. Why did Elijah go to the top of the mountain? Because those who are spiritual must separate themselves from those who are cold spiritually! If you allow yourself to be influenced by those who are cold in their walk with God, they will lower your spiritual temperature.
He Was Humble -
v. 42b, He bowed himself before the presence of the Lord as an intercessor before the Lord! God will honor the person who comes into his presence humbly, 1 Pet. 5:5-6; James 4:6; 10.
He Was Specific -
v. 43, James 5:17-18 tells us that Elijah was very specific in his prayer life. He did not waste time on mere generalities, but he prayed in faith specifically naming the things that needed to be done. God honors this kind of praying
He Was Earnest -
Elijah was sincere about his prayer, James tells us in 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ’He prayed earnestly’ -exact translation – ‘He prayed in prayer’ This was a prayer of tears, whispers and shouts, walking up and down body pressed to the ground, fists clenched Earnest prayer is dangerous. It is a bridge between interest and involvement - It is a springboard, a trigger it should come with a warning "Prayer is risky and may seriously affect your capacity for ease, comfort and mediocrity" He did not take a spiritless attitude toward his prayer life, but he prayed with fervency. His soul was moved with the need of the people. He felt the pressure of the thing he prayed for! May the church regain the desire for availing, fervent prayer! The purpose of prayer: to bring us to the same place God is at already in regard to our request!
He Was Persistent -
v. 43, eight times the servant is told to go and look toward the sea. Seven times there is nothing there. Yet, Elijah kept praying and kept believing. He did not allow the outward circumstance affect his inward assurance that the answer was on the way. He was persistent! Sometimes, like Elijah, we will experience delays in answers to our prayers. Why is this? One writer said it this way, "Ii s not that God is hard to persuade; it is that He will have us mean what we say." There are times when God will answer prayer immediately. However, there are times when the answer is delayed. When those times come, God would have us continue faithful in prayer, waiting on His answer. Let us learn to be patient! It is in perseverance in prayer that the flesh is brought low and faith allowed to soar to its highest heights! God would have us never give up! If he has put something in your heart, pray until it becomes a reality!
He Was Expectant -
v. 41, 43 - Elijah kept praying and kept sending his servant to look to the sea. Why? Because he was operating in faith in the promise of God. He knew the rains were coming. He was expecting big things from God! (Note: the word for "rain" in verse 41 refers to a heavy downpour. Elijah was expecting big things from a big God!)
If we are ever going to see real success in our prayer lives, we must learn to pray with expectancy! We must pray and believe that God will do what He has promised to do, Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
Expectation means to wait for something in suspense, to wait in hope. It means to continually remain in one place- maybe permanently- to receive something, you have faith that it will come to pass. Acts 1:4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; The birth of the church Acts 1:13-14 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
PROMISES WERE PRAYED IN
TO WAIT MEANS TO PRAY IN EXPECTATION - Five Greek roots meaning WAIT
• To anticipate
• Eagerly wait
• Look forward to
• Receive or welcome
• To look for
Isiah 64:1-4 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down that the mountains would tremble before you. As when fire sets twigs awake and causes water to boil, come down and make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you. For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
He Was Answered -
v. 44 - On the eighth trip, the servant saw a little cloud rising out of the sea. When this news is brought to Elijah, the prophet knew that God’s answer had come. His prayers had prevailed and God was sending the rains!
We serve a God who still answers the prayers of His children, He would have us know that real, faith praying is not a waste of time! God honors the prayers of His people, because the prayers of His people honor Him!
He brought those things, which are not seen, in the spiritual realm into being in the natural realm
Matthew 18:18-19 Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. Prayer opens the heavens 2 Chron. 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
The Elijah church must be a praying church if it wants to see the power of God released.
HOUSE OF PRAYER Matthew 21:13 And He said to them, "It is written, ’My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ’den of thieves.’ "
