I Kings 18:41_46 -- “And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” “So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,” “And 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 it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.” “And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.” “And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”
James 5:17_18 -- “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.” “And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”
l. THE PURPOSE OF PASSION
-Every man needs to have a driving passion in his life. Men who are full of passion and drive are men who will accomplish the impossible.
Yesterday (12/11/04), I was in Sam’s Club in Mobile, Alabama. One of my favorite things about Sam’s is generally there is some serious cooking going on and some serious sampling of that cooking going on. So yesterday, I had the occasion to sample the jalapeno cheese poppers, some Swedish meat-balls, and some fine sausage on a cracker with a mixture of port-wine cheese spread (maybe that is why I was weaving a bit on the Pensacola Bay Bridge on the way home). But as much as I enjoy the food at Sam’s, there is one area that is more important than all the others to me. That area is where they keep the books.
I found a book written by Phil Jackson who coached the Los Angeles Lakers last year and whom had previously coached Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to six world championships. He was recounting in that book about some of the struggles that the Lakers had to deal with last season. But when I flipped over to the back half, Jackson had written some other books. The one that really caught my eye was More Than A Game. I have no idea what that book is about but I have a good idea. It is most likely about reaching for excellence and being motivated by a passion that will propel you to the top of the ranks no matter what that may be.
It is very obvious that Phil Jackson had a motivating passion in his life. That being basketball. Passion sets men on another level. It fires the soul. It keeps you awake at night. Passion and dreams are what preserves old men and allows them to remain young. If you ever lose your dreams, at that point you become old, no matter if you are in your 30’s or your 70’s.
-Carl Sandburg wrote a poem called, Prayers of Steel. It sums up the passion and energy that should be found on the inside of every man of God.
Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
Let me pry loose old walls.
Let me lift and loosen old foundations.
Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike.
Drive me into the girders that hold the skyscraper together.
Take red-hot rivets and fasten me into the central girders.
Let me be the great nail holding a skyscraper together,
Through blue nights and white stars.
-Men who are full of hunger and desire are those men who refuse to quit regardless of the obstacles and the challenges that life brings to them.
-Some men’s lives seem to be driven with the great event of some crisis. They thrive on the calamity. They challenge the status quo. They change the unchangeable. They destroy lukewarmness in their lives. They reach beyond today and into tomorrow which ultimately affects eternity.
A. The Passions of Elijah
-We never see Elijah when he is not subject to some passion:
• A passion of scorn and contempt.
• A passion of anger and revenge.
• A passion of sadness, dejection, and despair.
• A passion of preaching.
• A passion of praying.
• A heart full of love for God and hate for sin.
• A heart full of scorn for Ahab and sympathy for Israel.
• A heart full of sunshine but also at times a heart full of discouragement.
• The most anger and yet the most meekness.
• The most agony in prayer and yet the most victorious assurance that the prayer had already been answered.
-He was a man of like passion is what the Apostle James declares.
ll. THE BACKGROUND OF THE TEXT
-The background of the text finds us with one of Israel’s boldest and most daring prophets. Three and a half years earlier, Elijah had informed King Ahab in the capital city of Samaria that no rain would be coming.
-Israel’s sin of idolatry and waywardness from God would create a famine in the land. So Elijah’s prayer was that the heavens would hold the rain. No rain would create a famine in the land. In the Bible, famine is often a judgement that comes from the hand of God.
-In the last three and a half years, Elijah has had some great times of communion with God. He had become a man of faith.
A. Elijah, Moments of Faithbuilding
-He knew the power of some past victories.
-He remembered:
• Cherith -- The brook where the ravens had brought to him his meals. Sometimes God uses some dirty birds to accomplish His mission.
• Zarephath -- The widow had supplied the meal from the barrel. The cakes that she gave him was enough to sustain him until Carmel.
• Carmel -- His greatest victory to this point. God had answered by fire and many of the prophets of Baal had been destroyed.
-Faith can hide you at Cherith, faith can feed you in the famine at Zarephath, and faith can fight for you at Carmel. A king cannot stop the church, a famine cannot stop the church, nor can false doctrine stop the true church. All of these victories came in the middle of the dry season.
-The tenacity of faith will always be built amidst the difficulties of life.
lll. STEPS IN THE VICTORY
-There are certain steps that one finds during the victory that came when Elijah began to pray for the answer.
A. l Kings 18:41 -- “I hear the sound of the abundance of rain. . . . . .”
-It had not rained for three and a half years. . . . Now Elijah was claiming to hear something he had not heard for a long time.
-There are men who march to a different drummer. They see what others cannot see, they hear what others cannot hear. . . . it is something that is caught in the realm of the Spirit.
-It was something that was caught by the element of faith. Some might have said to him, “Be content with the victory of the day. You have seen fire fall from heaven why spend your time praying for water from heaven.”
-The reason that he could not quit was because the rustling was not so much from the rain as it was from the call to prayer.
-Revivals have their premonitions:
• An increased hunger and response to the Word of God.
• An increased effort at evangelism.
• An increased participation in private devotion and public services.
• An increased attitude toward unity.
B. 1 Kings 18:42 -- “. . . . Elijah, went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees.”
-Elijah went to the top of Carmel. From Amos 9:3, one finds that there was a blessing that came to those who “hide themselves in the top of Carmel.”
• Ahab went to eat, Elijah went to pray.
• Ahab went to a banquet, Elijah went to Wednesday night Bible Study.
• Ahab wanted a party, Elijah wanted a revival.
-The spiritual effect of an Ahab will sink you every time. Beware of the Ahab’s that seek to take your time and your energy.
-When we look at the ultimate end of Ahab, there are some specific trademarks that defined his life.
-At the height of the battle that he was encouraged not to participate in, the KJV declares that “at a venture” an arrow was placed in the bow and allowed to fly. This arrow found the heart of Ahab and caused his death on the battlefield.
-But as you discover, the crucial element was that Ahab had gone to battle in disguise. He had borrowed the garments of one of the footmen and he was in a place that he was not supposed to be.
• A life lived undercover.
• A life lived in deception.
• A life spent seeking the approval of the people.
• A life spent seeking an earthly throne.
• A life pursuing the wrong crown.
• A life pursuing too many gods.
-Because of his disguise, he walked in craftiness, deceit, and dishonesty. It is imperative in this day, that one devotes his life to walking with God. Those who choose to live in the place of dishonesty will ultimately be exposed.
-Ahab’s actions caused Elijah to walk on alone. So it was with Elijah, alone at Carmel. God will always have a man, he will always have a people, he will always have a church. That man may be all alone, but rest assured that God is going to have something to show for His efforts.
-The places of isolation:
• Elijah -- l Kings 18:42
• The Saints in the Palace or in the Barracks -- Php. 1:13
• The Saints in Caesar’s Household -- Php. 4:22
• The Saints in Rome -- Romans 1:8
1. Fervent Prayer
-Elijah’s prayer was earnest. He prayed in his prayer.
a. With all the heart
Psalm 119:2 -- “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.”
Jeremiah 24:7 -- “And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.”
b. Seeking Him early
Proverbs 8:17 -- “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”
Psalm 63:1 -- “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;”
c. Persevering prayer
Luke 18:1 -- “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”
Ephesians 6:18 -- “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
Colossians 4:2 -- “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;”
d. Diligently seek Him
Hebrews 11:6 -- “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
C. 1 Kings 18:43 -- “There is nothing. . . . . Go again seven times.”
-Elijah was now praying for something that God had already promised to him. The answer was immediate for the fire, now he was laboring in prayer for the water.
-Imagine after that first prayer. . . . What do you see? “Nothing.” After the second prayer. . . . What do you see? “Nothing.” After the third prayer. . . . . . NOTHING. . . . . . .
-Then the earnestness settled in on Elijah. God often keeps back on us the answers to our prayers so that we may be led to a point of intensity, which will bless our spirits for ever and forever change us.
• How often have we sent our desires running to find the answer and it return with an empty answer?
• How often have we prayed and saw no change in the condition the one we were praying for?
• How often have we prayed for spiritual direction and not found it?
• How often have we prayed for victory in our lives and not found it?
• How many times have we prayed and saw nothing?
-Elijah gains something near to a death grip on God and starts changing the enviroment with his prayers. The Bible is full of men who prayed similiarly.
• Jacob wrestling at Jabbok -- I will not let thee go unless thou bless me.
• Rachel wrestling with God -- Give me children or I die.
• Namaan dipping in the Jordan seven times before seeing the healing.
• The widow of Luke ll who kept on going to the judge until he sustained her need.
• The Syrophonecian woman who moved into the kingdom by getting a Gentile blessing.
lV. CONCLUSION -- A CLOUD THE SIZE OF A MAN’S HAND
-Notice something in a comparison between the text in 1 Kings 18 and the text in James 5. In 1 Kings, there is a very descriptive account of Elijah praying seven times and then the servant going to look seven times before seeing this cloud.
-However, when you read in the book of James, he simply mentions that he prayed for it not to rain and he prayed again for it to rain. There is a very valuable lesson in that comparison.
-We often look to the great revivals that have occurred in our nation and in our world and we perceive how easily that these things have occurred. We are like James, from a distance it looks like there was a prayer to stop the rain, and then there was a prayer to start the rain.
-Always remember that when one starts seeing miracles of this magnitude that up close there is work and sometimes even desperation involved. There will always be work involved in praying down revivals, in cutting out ministries, and in building lives to the point that we desire and long for.
-But once that persistent, prevailing prayer gains momentum the hand of God will pour out a blessing, a revival, a liberty in the Spirit, and spiritual unction that we cannot contain.
-Finally on that seventh prayer. “There ariseth alittle cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.”
-Great blessings come from small beginnings.
• The little boy’s lunch.
• The small stone that dropped the giant.
• The small vessel that poured oil into many pots.
• The small town of Bethelehem brought a Savior.
-For weeks and months before, the sun had been gathering up from the lake and river, from the sea and the ocean, the drops of mist, drawing them as clouds full of water. Now the gale was bearing down on them with a tremendous force. . . . .because of the plan of God.
-The glory was the last thing that fell in the Tabernacle. . .
Philip Harrelson
December 12, 2004
barnabas14@yahoo.com
