Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."
James 5:16-18 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 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.
Lois Anne William wrote this about prayer.
I sat and gazed in silence at the azure sky overhead.
In the glory of that moment, a simple prayer was said.
I thanked God for all the grandeur, for His beauty everywhere.
I praised the Great Creator, as I sat in silent prayer.
I found an inspiration, and a peace within my soul.
I took the time to worship, and I felt myself made whole.
In reflecting on the life of Elijah, James, the brother of Jesus, thought of Elijah and thought of prayer. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James tells us that Elijah was a righteous, fervent man of prayer. Yet, James also says he was a man with like passions as we have. Do you ever think that you are like Elijah? He was one who prayed for drought and rain, raised a boy from the dead end called down fire from heaven to consume an offering to God at a contest of gods on Mt. Carmel. He was even taken up in a whirlwind and a fiery chariot.
Does that sound like someone of whom it is said “He had like passions as we do?” He represented all the prophets on Mount of Transfiguration when he and Moses met with Jesus in that miraculous manner. It was the prophecy from Malachi that Elijah would come again. That is why some people thought Jesus was really Elijah returned.
1 Kings 17 introduces us to Elijah confronting sins of Israel. King Ahab, incited by wife Jezebel, led the nation of Israel into extreme idol worship. Elijah, incited by the sin was moved by the Spirit of God to pray. He couldn’t just stand by and be quiet. God put within him a strong rebuke to warn the people before the ultimate punishment that comes from rejecting God. He was very jealous for God.
We will also discover that Elijah was not exempt from incredible stress, intense fear, anxiety, and crippling anger and depression. What was it that made him tick? It was the Spirit of God and seems to begin with a prayer life.
Application: Take time to re-evaluate your prayer life and allow your time with the Lord to grow your faith. It might make a big difference in how you live in 2024.
Prayer: Revive us O Lord, that we might be like Elijah in our prayer life and be open to Your Spirits leading to warn those in our Nation who are rejecting God.
