Title: Elijah's Prayer (1 Kings 18:41-46)
Contents
Elijah's Prayer (1 Kings 18:41-46)
Today, I am thinking about Elijah, the man of prayer, and I am going to share grace with him. There are many people of prayer in the Bible, and among them, Elijah is selected as a representative person of prayer. As we know, at Elijah's prayer, heaven stopped the rain for three years and six months, and as he prayed again, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.
But thanks is recorded in James 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 earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced fruit.” The lesson is that it is not. When we pray, God answers us just like Elijah.
Then, what kind of prayer was Elijah's prayer, and how did the gates of heaven close or open?
1. Elijah's prayer was a prayer that held on to the promise.
The basis for holding on to the word of promise is 1 Kings 18:1. “After many days, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, Go, show Ahab, and I will make rain on the ground.” One day, when there was no rain for three and a half years, God gave Elijah a promise. “I will make rain on the ground.”
When we hold on to God's promises and pray like this, God's promises are fulfilled. That is the answer to prayer. Ezekiel 36:36 says, “I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.” But the next verse is also important. Verse 37 says, “Nevertheless, the house of Israel should ask me to do this for them, saith the Sovereign Lord.”
The promise itself is gracious. Promises are like traps that you catch yourself. Therefore, no matter how much you promise yourself, if you don't keep that promise, you will be condemned. Therefore, in view of God's character, we cannot help but listen to His promises. Therefore, hold on to the word of God's promise and pray. Why would you hear a prayer for the Holy Spirit? Because the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit is recorded in the book of Joel. So, holding on to that promise, all the early churches that gathered in Mark's upper room to pray were filled with the Holy Spirit.
2. Elijah's prayer was a prayer of humility.
That's why the Bible says in Psalm 10:17, "O LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble; you prepare their hearts and give your ear to hear." Even if we are human beings with the same disposition like Elijah, if we humbly pray before God, God will open the heavens to us in the same way.
Moody, a world-class evangelist and preacher, received only elementary school education. He learned little, so he was buried in saliva from Genesis to find the Gospel of John. It is said that Moody was rejected not only from regular schools but also from Bible schools. So Moody was always bullied by his friends. However, he realized his shortcomings and always humbled himself to give time to God. Then God gave him power and made him a worldwide evangelist. How full the Holy Spirit was on Moody. “God, please stop giving the Holy Spirit now.” I was told it was enough. Moody was probably the only person who prayed for a Christian company to stop grace. This is the power of prayer of humility.
3. Elijah's prayer was a continuous prayer.
Verse 43, “Then he said to the servant, “Go up and look to the sea. He went up and looked and said, ‘There is nothing. Seven here is literally seven, but we take it as a perfect number meaning the end.
We must continue to pray until the very end. At this point, the servant returns and reports. “There is nothing.” Saying that there is no prayer is a crisis of prayer that will stop praying. But Elijah is not disappointed and tells the servant, “Go again” and “Go back up to seven times.” Then, a small cloud arose only on the seventh palm, and it turned into a big cloud and began to pour. When you pray to the end like this, answers will come. That is why James 1:6 exhorts us to “ask in faith, and do not doubt at all”.
There is a beautiful story of the 4th century AD Father Chrysostom. Chrysostom was commanded by the Roman emperor to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ, but he resisted, saying that he would not give up Christ even in death. The emperor then gave the order to arrest him, and then instructed his servants to: "Put Chrysostom into a solitary prison cell so that he cannot talk to anyone." Then the servant cried and answered, "O Emperor, those who believe in Jesus like to be alone. All day long, we laugh and mumble. People who believe in Jesus, although we can't see them, talk with God. So if you leave them alone, you're only doing good things for him."
Then the emperor ordered again. "Then put him in a prison with heinous criminals!" Then the servant shook his head again and said, "Emperor, that's even worse. The person will rather enjoy the opportunity to evangelize, and sooner or later, all the people inside will become Christians." “Then take him out and behead him! right now!" Then the servant began to contemplate again and said, "Oh, Emperor, this is something you don't know. The greatest reward for these people is martyrdom. For that reason, among those who believe in Jesus, you will not find anyone who is afraid or weeps when they are executed. Rather, their faces become radiant and rejoice. That's what gives him the best." Then the emperor shouted, “Oh, what are you going to do with him?” We also need a life of faith like Chrysostom.
Dear saints,