It has been said about prayer that “Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes me.” Indeed, God uses prayer to teach us some things about ourselves to reveal things to us that can change our lives for the better.
This is what God used prayer to do for Elijah. Through prayer, God changed Elijah from being a victim to being a victor.
1. Elijah started out in a bad place - vs. 1-4
Elijah was in a bad place, and God wanted him to recognize it. So God asked Elijah a question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v. 9).
How did Elijah get to this bad place?
A. He was paralyzed by fear - vs. 1-3a
Verse 3 says that “Elijah was afraid.” What kind of fear crippled Elijah? The same kinds of fears that can cripple you and me.
1) Fear of the unknown - Elijah bravely faced the prophets of Baal because God had clearly spoken to him and he simply followed God’s instructions. But now, he had no idea what to do next.
2) Fear of failure - Although he had just experienced a great victory over the prophets of Baal, he feared that he might end up a failure in the future.
3) Fear of man - To be threaten by the king and queen intimidated Elijah.
B. He had isolated himself from others - v. 3b-4a
We can do the same when we’re plagued by fear, worry and anxiety. This is why when one of our brothers of sisters in Christ start missing the fellowship of the church, we need to check on them. Often, the pressures of life are causing them to isolating themselves from others.
C. He had adopted a victim mentality - vs. 4b
Elijah decided that he wanted to die, he had isolated himself from others, and had given in to his fears. That is how he had got into a bad place. Yet, despite all the wrong things Elijah had done, he did one thing right, he prayed! And that is what we need to do whenever we find that we’ve gotten ourselves in a bad place, we need to pray!
And notice how Elijah was honest in his prayer. Elijah asked to die. He told God what was on his heart, and we should do the same.
“Don’t worry about having the right words; worry more about having the right heart. It’s not eloquence he seeks, just honesty.” - Max Lucado
2. How Elijah started moving out of that bad place - vs. 5-14
God called Elijah to go on a literal journey to get to a place where God would give him the word he needed. In the same way, when we pray, God often calls us to a spiritual journey to get to a place where God can give us the word we need.
Elijah was call to persevere in his seeking after God and sometimes, God requires us to persevere in our seeking after Him in prayer.
“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.” - Matthew 7:7-8 (Amplified)
Why does God call us to persevere in prayer? Because prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us. You see, prayer isn’t about our overcoming God’s reluctance, but it’s about God overcoming our unreadiness. God was going to move Elijah out of the bad place he was in, but to do that, there were some things He needed to do in Elijah’s life through the process of prayer to get him ready to move on to a good place, the place where God wanted him. By the way, where ever God wants me to be is the best place for me to be!
So, in order to get Elijah where God wanted him to be, required a 40 day journey. In the same way, to get us to where God wants us to be sometimes requires 40 days or more of persisting prayer! Why? To get us in a position to receive God’s answer to our prayer.
It’s been said that there are 3 ways God can answer our prayers: Yes, No, or Wait a while. When he tells us to “wait a while,” it is to prepare us to receive the answer he has for us, whether it be “Yes or No.”
Sometimes, God needs to prepare us to receive His “Yes” answer. But more often than not, He needs to prepare us to receive His “No” answer. This was the case with Elijah. God’s answer to Elijah’s request that he be allowed to die was a “No” answer. God had other things for him to do, but He had to prepare Elijah to receive God’s “No” answer.
Two things:
A. God will provide what you need to persevere in prayer - vs. 5-8
God provided Elijah with what he needed to have the strength to persevere in prayer and get to a better place. He will do the same for us.
B. God will use things to get you where you need to be - vs. 9-13
God used the wind, the earthquake, and the fire to get Elijah to a place where he could receive God’s answer to his prayer (vs. 11; 13).
3. How prayer brought Elijah into a better place - vs. 15-18
A. Elijah was made aware of God’s presence (v. 11a).
“Fear not!” is the most repeated command in the Bible. In fact, it’s been said that there are 365 “Fear nots” in the Bible - one “Fear not” for every day of the year! Lloyd Ogilvie in “Facing the Future without Fear” even said there are 366 “Fear nots” in the Bible, one for every day of the year, including Leap Year! And most of those “fear nots” is tied to an awareness and assurance of God’s presence.
“Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” - Joshua 1:9b (NIV)
The fact is that God is always with us, but we are not always living with an awareness of His presence. But prayer draws us into God’s presence and consequently expels fear from our lives. For as 1 John 4:18 tells us, “perfect love casts out fear.”
Through prayer, God made Elijah aware of His presence with him and drove out his fear of the unknown.
We should never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
Elijah was going to need courage, because of what God tells him next.
B. Elijah was made aware of God’s purpose (vs. 15-17).
God still had plans for Elijah, and part God’s plan called for him to go back and face those he had fled from. But God assured him of victory and that all of his enemies would be dealt with.
In the same way, when we find ourselves in a bad place, if we will persevere in prayer, God will lead us to a better place, which often will include overcoming those things which before had caused us to be paralyzed by fear. As long as we are still here, God has a plan and purpose for us, and part of that included growing in spiritual strength and overcoming that which used to fill us with fear and dread.
Through prayer, we are led to quit focusing on our inability and start focusing on God’s ability.
Through prayer, Elijah was made aware of God’s purpose for his life and was enabled to move from a victim mentality to a victor mentality and drove our his fear of failure.
For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” - Hebrews 13:5b-6 (NKJV)
C. Elijah was made aware of God’s perspective (v. 18).
Through prayer, Elijah was made aware of God’s perspective on his life and was helped to see he was NOT alone! Being made aware of others who were with him, as well as the fact that God was with him, enabled God drove out Elijah’s fear of man!
“The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” - Psalm 118:6 (NKJV)
God can do the same for us, if we’ll look to Him in prayer. He’ll open our eyes to see how things really are, not how we imagine them to be.
“When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?’ the servant asked. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” - 2 Kings 6:15-17 (NIV)
Conclusion: As we said earlier, God needed to work in Elijah’s life to get him to where he could accept God’s “No” answer to his prayer request, which was to die. God didn’t want Elijah to die, because He had other things for him to do. But also because God said “No” to Elijah’s request to give him a better answer, for Elijah was one of only two men in the Bible (Enoch - Genesis 5:24), who, instead of dying, was taken directly into heaven in a whirlwind and chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:1-12).
Likewise, even when God says “No” to our prayer requests, it is often so He might give us a better answer. Besides, when Elijah started his prayer, he was in a bad place. But through prayer he was brought from a bad place to a better place, indeed, to the best place, for there is no better place to be then walking in the presence of God!
