James 5:17-18, 1 Kings 18:41-46
The Necessity of Prayer
James 5:17-18
17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Elijah was a great prophet. He was probably the prophet that has experienced the most miracles in his life. Yet when James talked about him, he did not mention the many supernatural feats that Elijah has done. He talked about his praying.
Elijah was known as a man who prays. This is quite amazing. Even though Elijah has seen many miracles, he did not take for granted that God will always do His work without man having to pray. In fact, the Bible says he prays earnestly.
Sometimes, we wonder why the need to pray, when God can do His work so well. Since God is sovereign, do my prayer really matter all that much? Isn’t God going to do what He wants anyway? Most people believe that, but we do not to admit it. We feel that even if we do not pray, things will be fine. That is why most do not feel a need to pray.
Can my prayers actually change things? Can God’s will on earth be frustrated or not accomplished if I don’t pray? Does God need me to pray or does He just want me to pray?
We want to look at Elijah’s experience today, and understand why the Lord wants us to pray.
17Elijah…prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
We read in 1 Kings 18 the account when Elijah prayed for rain and it came.
The first truth we understand here is that God acts in response to our prayers.
This is the truth revealed to us in the Scriptures. This is God’s promise to us. He wants us to pray and He says He will listen and response.
And that was the case we see 1 Kings 17-18. Elijah prayed and rain came.
God acts when His people pray. God has chosen to work through people. Jesus chose 12 disciples to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. God wants His will to be done, but He wants to do it through you. He wants the world to be saved and He calls you to be His ambassadors, to preach the Gospel. He wants people to have an abundant life - to have joy, hope and peace in life, and so He asks us to pray. When we pray, God acts.
God works in response to our prayer. God is sovereign and all-powerful. He can do what He wants, yet God has chosen to do things in response to our prayer.
James 4:2 “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” John Wesley says, "God does nothing on the earth save in answer to believing prayer."
If that is true, then we can afford to lose some sleep in order to pray. We can stop the things we are doing and spend time praying. Why, because God acts in response to our prayers.
DADDY, I CAN’T
A father and his young son were trimming the garden of their home. Right in the middle of the lawn there laid a big stone. The father tells the son, “Johnny, roll this stone out of the lawn.”
Little Johnny tried very, very hard to roll the stone out, but trying as much as he could, he did not manage to move it. After many tries, in despair the child cried out, “Dad, I can’t. I can’t roll it out!”
The father, who has been standing beside and watching, said, “Son, I saw that you have been trying very hard to move the stone. But you have forgotten one thing. If you do that, you will be able to succeed.”
The child asked, “What’s that?” With a smile, the father replied, “Can’t you see that I’m standing here next to you? I am willing and able to help you roll the stone, yet you did not ask me to give you a hand. Ask me and you will see what will happen.”
The child replied, “OK dad, help me roll the stone out!
Now, both father and child put their hands to work and together they rolled it out of the lawn in no time. And in delight, little Johnny cried out, “Daddy, we did it! We did it!”
That ASKING is critical to the success of the task at hand.
God asks us to pray, not because He does not know our needs and He needs us to inform Him. God wants us to understand our need of Him. It is only in this way – praying – that man understand he is weak and in need of God’s help.
Prayer is not meant to inform God of things He does not know or is not willing to do. Prayer is meant for us, to remind us that we need Him.
- We need to pray if we want to see our children do well at school.
- We need to pray if we want to see our problem solved.
- We need to pray if we want to see success in our work.
We are not dealing with an unwilling Father, but a loving God who is standing by our side and who is willing to help. Today, we need to know that we need Him.
Look at the incident in 1 Kings 18:41-46 – the land needs rain and we see Elijah praying. In 18:1 that Bible tells us very clearly, that after more than three years of drought, God wants to send rain. He spoke to Elijah and said, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth." (18:1)
God is willing to send rain. He knows the need, and this is what He wants to do.
And then we see in 18:42 Elijah begins to pray. He climbed to the top of Mt Carmel. He bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees – and started praying for rain.
He prayed for quite a while, because his servant went to look for rain clouds seven times. And even on the 7th time, the cloud was just the size of a man’s hand. But the rain did come.
Notice something here - whose idea was it to send rain? Not Elijah’s. It was God’s plan all along (we read that in 18:1). Yet Elijah prayed. He persevered in praying for something that God has already promised.
He was praying that God’s will be done. Today, we do not pray to twist God’s will and change His plan. We are taught to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” in the Lord’s Prayer. So we are praying that God’s will and God’s work be done. We are praying, that what He desires to see, happen - that our loved ones will come to know Christ soon, that our children grow up loving God and being good. We are praying that God’s will be done in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
It was God’s plan and time for the rain to come back, after three and a half years of drought. But man must pray. When man prays, God’s work is done.
Elijah learnt to pray earnestly and with faith. He learned to persevere and wait.
What gave him confidence? Not the cloud over the horizon, because for 6 times the servant saw nothing. His confidence is in the goodness of God. His confidence is in God’s Word – because God said so.
Today we pray with confidence, because we have a good God and His promise is sure, because His Word says so. We hold on to His promises and pray.
Elijah held on what God has promised and prayed. He did not give up, even though he did not see any sign of God’s answer on the first time, the second time… the sixth time. He didn’t doubt God, until he saw the answer.
God wants us to pray until we see the answer; to persevere and wait. Our confidence is in His Word. Our faith is not in the clouds, not in the signs, but in His promises. We trust what He has said. And we pray until the task is accomplished.
We need to pray. Andrew Murray writes, "God’s giving is inseparably connected with our asking.... Only by intercession can that power be brought down from heaven which will enable the Church to conquer the world."
That puts a lot of responsibility upon our shoulders. God is not powerless to do anything, but He has given us the great responsibility to bring about a change in our world today through prayer. People’s lives are changed because of prayer.
This responsibility is a privilege. Prayer changes things, because God acts in response to our prayer. Do you want to see a change in your life, in your family, in your friends’ lives? We’ve got to pray. Start today.
If you do not know Him today, pray. He listens. God will respond to you. Ask the Lord to show Himself real to you. Study the Bible and you will find Him. He loves you and He wants you to know Him. You need to put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you are not sure today, you can pray and ask God to show you what is true, and give you the faith to trust Him.
