About a year ago we began a series that has taken a little over a year to complete. During this time we looked at the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah. If you remember God called Elijah to boldly confront King Ahab and in doing so declare that a terrible drought was coming. The drought lasted three years and totally devastated the land. At the end of 3 years Elijah returns once again to confront Ahab and in doing so issues a challenge.
Upon Mount Carmel the reality of the False Gods of the land was placed into question. After hours of fruitless attempts the priests of Baal and Asherah saw no fire… Nothing happened… Not even a spark…
But when it was Yahweh God’s turn… well let’s read for ourselves what happened.
Turn to 1 Kings 18 now in verse 36.
Basking in this incredible miraculous victory… God doesn’t stop there. It’s time for the rain to come. After three years of no rain, It was time for the rain.
Turn once again to 1 Kings 18 verse 41
Here once again Elijah had to trust God for the impossible.
There was no sign or even hint of rain no wind, no cloud in the sky… Nothing. Yet God commands Elijah to declare to Ahab that a mighty rainstorm is on its way. Even after the mighty victory Ahab still scoffs and prepares a mighty feast. Elijah once again knows where his true strength comes and le leaves the king’s presence where he climbs on top of the mountain to pray and wait.
To wait for the impossible… To pray an impossible prayer. In our lives if we walk with God long enough, we too will find ourselves praying impossible prayers.
In our own lives Impossible prayers can be…
Prayers such as…
Salvation for family members who seem to have not even the slightest interest in God
Healing for different health issues- where a medical cure seems unlikely at best
Forgiveness for one who has betrayed and hurt us
A husband or wife for a single adult
A baby for a childless couple
Enough money to pay a mountain of bills and debt
Applying for a job that seems out of your league
Accepting God’s peace in the midst of unbelievable grief and sadness
And so on and more…
An impossible prayer is one where even in the praying we see no way that the prayer can be answered. If this morning you are facing an impossible situation or life event, then take note God wants you to give him this impossible situation, to offer an impossible prayer an await His answer- His call.
But as we make this prayer we must keep three important truths close to mind. Three truths that we glean from our friend Elijah.
First, The Impossible prayer must be initiated by God. It must be in the will of God.
After the incredible victory over the prophets of Baal and Asheroth, God tells Elijah to declare to Ahab that a mighty rainstorm is coming. The three year old drought was about to end. Once making his declaration Elijah retreats to the mountain top to pray.
As Elijah prays for rain, it becomes an impossible prayer because there is absolutely no sign of rain. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind, nothing. And yet on that mountain he prays.
But Elijah prays this impossible prayer because God told him to pray it. God Initiated it. It was God’s will.
Each day we have a audience with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We too have an opportunity to lift our impossible situations to God. Praying for God to do the impossible, but before you pray you must consider if God is initiating you to pray for the impossible. If God is asking you to await the impossible, then pray and wait.
A story is told of George Mueller who was known for his powerful prayer life . In the course of his ministry to the orphans of England, he never asked for financial assistance from men - only God... and he constantly received what was needed to the penny.
Once while on his way to speak in Quebec for a engagement. On the deck of the ship that was to carry him to his destination, he informed the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon.
As the captain related the story, he said "’It is impossible,’ I said. ’Do you know how dense this fog is?’"
"’No,’ he replied, ’my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of life. I have never broken an engagement in 57 years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.’
He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ’As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need for, you to pray about it.’
George Mueller said, ’Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 yrs. and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door and you will find that the fog has gone.’
"I got up and the fog indeed was gone, and on that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement."
God wants to do the impossible. He is calling many of you to pray for the impossible, will you pray. Will you dare to life up an impossible prayer.
Once the prayer is lifted, we are faced with the second truth.
The second truth is to wait and watch, wait and watch, wait and watch
While on that mountaintop praying. Praying for rain when there was no visible signs of potential rain. He sent his servant out seven times to go up to a height where we could clearly see the sky. Seeing the skyline for long distance. Each time the servant came back and replied Nothing, Nothing, Nothing… Elijah continued to pray and continued to wait.
As I read this passage, I have a hard time understanding why God didn’t bring rain faster. Why did Elijah have to send his servant out seven times before he saw even an inkling? Why did it take so long?
Perhaps it’s because in the midst of the prayer god wanted to continue the process that had begun three years ago. God was continuing to shape the character of Elijah. He continued to use the tool of waiting.
In our own lives God is not on our time table we are on his. Days, weeks, months, years of praying may seem like a long for us, but for God whose larger clock is eternity. It is but a drop in the bucket. It is in the process of waiting where we grow, where we stretch, where we cry out to God.
Isaiah 40: 31 echoes this process when this verse was penned.
Even youths become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
You want to soar… You want to run and not grow weary… Want to live a victorious Christian life, well it all begins with waiting. Waiting clearly for God to answer, For God to call us to action, For God to give us new strength for the journey. We must wait on the Lord.
With my children waiting is incredibly hard. On our last trip Faith started crying are we there yet when we reached Holy Hill. When we tell Faith about trip or event, immediately Faith wants it be happen Now. Often in her impatience Faith prays to God make it be yesterday, or make it be time for the trip.
We may laugh, but if the truth we told we are a lot like Faith. We hate to wait. When we pray we want an immediate answer we want it now. But God knows what we need. He is more interested in building us to be like Himself than giving us a quick answer to our prayers. In the waiting we become strong.
When God calls us to pray we must wait upon God’s answer his response.
A final truth is that when the answer comes we must celebrate the victory. We must give God the glory.
When the rain came, Elijah celebrated the answer, celebrated the rain, by outrunning the King’s chariot. With special God given strength Elijah celebrated the victory.
When the impossible happens, we must thank God. We must praise God. We must give God the glory.
Praising God privately as well as Publicly.
One day a woman was rushing home from a doctor’s appointment. The doctor had been somewhat delayed at the hospital, and the lab work took a little longer than usual so by the time she left the clinic she was running quite a bit behind schedule. She still had to pick up her prescription, pick up the children from the baby-sitter, and get home and make supper, all in time to make it to the prayer meeting at her church that evening. As she began to circle the busy Wal-Mart parking lot, looking for a space, the windows of heaven were opened, as it says in Genesis, and a downpour began. While she wasn’t usually the type to bother God with small problems, she began to pray as she turned down the row closest to the front door. "Lord, you know what kind of a day I’ve had, and there’s still an awful lot to do. Could you please grant me a parking space right away, oh, and close to the building so I don’t get soaked." The words weren’t even completely out of her mouth when she saw the backup lights of a car come on at the end of the row. It was the best space in the whole parking lot, right next to the handicap spots and straight out from the front door. She made straight for it and as she pulled in, she said, "never mind God, something just opened up."
When God moves in our lives when he answers our prayers, when the impossible becomes possible, Give God the glory, Give him the credit. In the celebration never forget it is god who answered God who did it, nothing more nothing less.
Finally Max Lucado tells about living as an American in Brazil. One day, as he was walking along the street on his way to the University to teach a class, he felt a tug on his pants leg. Turning around, he saw a little boy about 5 or 6 years old with dark beady eyes and a dirty little face. The little boy looked up at the big American and said, "Bread, Sir."
He was a little beggar boy and Lucado said, "There are always little beggar boys in the streets of Brazil. Usually I turn away from them because there are so many and you can’t feed them all. But there was something so compelling about this little boy that I couldn’t turn away. So, taking his hand, I said, `Come with me’ and I took him into a coffee shop." Max told the owner, "I’ll have a cup of coffee and give the boy a piece of pastry…whatever he wants."
Since the coffee counter was at the other end of the store, Max walked on and got a cup of coffee, forgetting about the little boy because beggar boys usually get the bread and then run back out into the street and disappear.
But this one didn’t. After he got his pastry, he went over to the big American and just stood there until Lucado felt his staring eyes. Lucado said, "I turned and looked at him. Standing up, his eyes just about hit my belt buckle. Then slowly his eyes came up until they met mine. The little boy, holding his pastry in one hand, looked up and said, ‘Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.’”
Lucado said, "I was so touched by the boy’s thanks that I would have bought him the store. I sat there for another 30 minutes, late for my class, just thinking about a little beggar boy who came back and said, `Thank you.’"
God answered that little boy’s impossible prayer by providing prayer. But this little boy didn’t forget to say thanks.
When God moves in our lives… When the impossible become possible. Give God the glory… Give him the praise due his name.
This morning will you dare to pray… Dare to pray impossible prayers.
