Pray like Elijah

Introduction

On Sunday nights we have had..

Long story short series

Prayer meetings

Tonight is a combination of both of those as we continue in the book of James

James 5:17–18 (KJV)

17 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.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Remember where Luke told us he gathered his stories for the letter to Theophilus that became the Book of Luke? Luke 1:2 “2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;”

Could it have been from eye witness accounts from James, the brother of Jesus that we get some of the stories?

Luke 2:52 “52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”

This morning I shared with you that James was known as a man of prayer.

James practiced what he preached. Eusebius quoted an ancient tradition saying that James spent so much time on his knees in the temple praying for the people that his knees “became as hard as camels.”

Though we do not what all is true from history we certainly can trust God’s Word. We can pray through the book of James.

James 1:5 “5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

James 1:6–8 “6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

James 1:17 “17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

James 4:3 “3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

Would you not expect that if James was told he was given to prayer, he could have responded with you should have seen how often my brother prayed.

Prayers that are recorded

Thanking God for His revelation (Matthew 11:25, Luke 10:21)

Before the raising of Lazarus (John 11:41-42)

"Father, glorify thy name" (John 12:28)

His prayer in John 17

Three prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane

Three prayers on the cross

References to Jesus praying

At his baptism (Luke 3:21)

Regular time of withdrawal from the crowds (Luke 5:16)

After healing people in the evening (Mark 1:35)

Before walking on water (Matt 14:23, Mark 6:46, John 6:15)

Before choosing the Twelve (Luke 6:12)

Before Peter's confession (Luke 9:18)

At the Transfiguration (Luke 9:29)

Before teaching his disciples the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1)

Jesus says that he has prayed for Peter's faith (Luke 22:32)

James had Jesus as an example. We are told to look for the examples of the prophets and Job as we wait patiently.

James 5:10 “10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.”

We are given the example of Elijah.

That is remarkable from one standpoint because if there's any Old Testament prophet who actually is unique and whose life and ministry could not be an example to us, it would be Elijah.

He doesn’t die. 

Mount of transfiguration. 

He will return

Long Story Short

1 Kings 17:

Elijah’s prophecy: Elijah, a prophet, declares to King Ahab that there will be no rain or dew for years except at Elijah’s word.

Elijah fed by ravens: God tells Elijah to hide by the brook Cherith, where ravens bring him bread and meat, and he drinks from the brook.

Widow of Zarephath: When the brook dries up, Elijah is sent to Zarephath, where a widow is instructed by God to provide for him.

Miracle of provision: The widow’s flour and oil miraculously never run out, providing for Elijah, the widow, and her son throughout the drought.

Raising the widow’s son: The widow’s son dies, but Elijah prays over him, and God restores the boy to life.

1 Kings 18:

Elijah returns to Ahab: In the third year of the drought, God sends Elijah back to confront King Ahab.

Obadiah’s role: Obadiah, a servant of Ahab who secretly protected 100 prophets of God, meets Elijah and relays his message to Ahab.

Confrontation on Mount Carmel: Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a contest on Mount Carmel to prove who is the true God.

Failure of Baal’s prophets: The 450 prophets of Baal call upon their god all day to send fire but nothing happens.

Elijah’s offering and God’s fire: Elijah rebuilds the altar of the Lord, drenches the sacrifice with water, and prays. God sends fire from heaven to consume the offering, the wood, stones, and water.

Prophets of Baal executed: After the miracle, the people declare, “The Lord, He is God!” Elijah commands the people to seize and execute the prophets of Baal.

End of the drought: Elijah prays for rain, and after seven prayers, a small cloud appears, followed by heavy rain. Elijah runs ahead of Ahab’s chariot back to Jezreel.

I. The Centrality of the Word of the Lord in Elijah’s Ministry

1 Kings 17:2-3: Elijah is led by the Word of the Lord to the Kerith Ravine, where God provides for him.1 Kings 17:8-9: The Word of the Lord directs Elijah to Zarephath, ensuring provision through the widow.1 Kings 18:1: After years of drought, the Word of the Lord sends Elijah to confront King Ahab.1 Kings 18:31: Elijah rebuilds the altar with the stones, symbolizing Israel, to whom the Word of the Lord came.

Everything Elijah did was by the command and direction of the Word of the Lord. His ministry was built upon obedience to God’s Word, just as our church's ministry must be.

Elijah is led by the Word of the Lord to the Kerith Ravine, where God provides for him. 1 Kings 17:2–3“2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.”

The Word of the Lord directs Elijah to Zarephath, ensuring provision through the widow. 1 Kings 17:5 “5 So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.” 1 Kings 17:8–9“8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” 1 Kings 17:14 “14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.”

After years of drought, the Word of the Lord sends Elijah to confront King Ahab. 1 Kings 18:1 “1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”

Elijah rebuilds the altar with the stones, symbolizing Israel, to whom the Word of the Lord came. 1 Kings 18:31–32“31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: 32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.”

James believed that Elijah serves a great example to us.

James 5:17–18 “17 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. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves

He prayed earnestly.

His prayers were not small.

His prayers were effective

We should align our wants with His will.

Proverbs 3:5–6 “5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Relationship between prayer and the Word of God.

Over and over we see how Elijah was led by, directed by, guided by, empowered by the Word of God.

1 Kings 19:9 “9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?”

1 Kings 21:28 “28 And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,”

1 Kings 17:2 “2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,”

The picture here, prayer of a righteous man, this is a picture of praying in alignment with God.

1 Kings 18:1 “1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”

God determined when the rain would stop and when it would return.

He was using the prayers of Elijah to accomplish His Word.

Elijah’s desire, the will of God.

Elijah’s desire, came from the expressed will of God.

Elijah’s desire, came from the Word of God.

Encouragement to pray Scripture

1. You should pray Scripture because it helps you express yourself appropriately.

Last week we said of Abraham that through intercessory prayer he saw himself appropriately.

Genesis 18:27 “27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:”

You should sound like yourself but when you pray Scripture, you can use God-breathed verbs and nouns and adjectives and adverbs and prepositions and connectives.

You could pray, “God, you’re really big and kind and powerful.” There’s nothing wrong with that.

But you could be more expressive. You could express yourself even more vividly, more richly. For example, you could pray Psalm 145:1–3 “1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. 2 Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.”

Or if you’re not quite sure what to do, you could pray 2 Chronicles 20:12 “12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”

2. You should pray Scripture because it keeps your prayers fresh and specific.

We are creatures of habit. And that’s not a bad thing. But sometimes that can be a bad thing.

Sometimes we can get in bad rut when it comes to spiritual disciplines such as Bible reading and prayer: our routine may become dull and boring and even unproductive.

Don Whitney observes,

One of the reasons Jesus prohibited the empty repetition of prayers is because that’s exactly the way we’re prone to pray. Although I don’t merely recite memorized prayers, my own tendency is to pray basically the same old things about the same old things. And it doesn’t take long before this fragments the attention span and freezes the heart of prayer. The problem is not our praying about the same old things, for Jesus taught us (in Luke 11:5–13; 18:1–8) to pray with persistence for good things. Our problem is in always praying about them with the same ritualistic, heartless expressions.

3. You should pray Scripture because it keeps your prayers in scriptural proportion.

Topical preachers tend to talk about the same few issues over and over and over.

Expositional preachers are forced to talk about a rich variety of issues in scriptural proportion, namely, every time the text addresses various issues.

Similarly, we may tend to pray about the same few issues over and over and over. If we pray Scripture as we read through the Bible, that will force us to pray about a rich variety of issues in scriptural proportion.

4. You should pray Scripture because it helps you understand Scripture better.

When you pray Scripture, you must think carefully about what you are saying.

In order to pray Scripture, you need to have an idea of what Scripture means in its context.

This often requires that you use biblical theology, especially when reading the OT.

We should ask for what we want.

Don’t skip step 1.

You must know what you want if you are going to ask it.

What do you know that God wants?

You know that God wants glory to be made known.

You know that God wants His servants strengthened and comforted and helped in their time of weakness.

You know that God wants His gospel advanced.

“I know that you are trustworthy and you’re good and you’re wise. I know you have the power to heal but my ultimate desire is that you would get glory, that you would strengthen this brother or sister. We would uphold them and you would do whatever is best for the advancement of your gospel in their life. And I’m confident any day, in the end, you’re going to raise this brother or sister up for all of eternity.”

Instruction for Prayer Time

Let’s pray like Elijah

Let us ask boldly for the things that God has told us are ours in His Word

On the back page I have given some examples of themes that we often pray for.

Pray the prayers of Scripture. The Bible presents us with actual examples of prays that we can pray. Think of the Psalms.

Pray the commands of Scripture. Think of the different things Scripture commands God’s people to do, from the Ten Commandments to Paul’s commands to put off the old man and put on the new man. As you pray for God’s people, ask God to help them fulfill what he requires of them.

Pray the “ambitions” of Scripture. Consider what Scripture is ambitious about for the lives of God’s people.

For example, praying for someone who is ill involves praying that God would comfort and heal the person, but it also means asking God to use that illness for that person’s spiritual good and God’s glory.

Pray the promises of Scripture. The Scriptures are filled with promises for God’s people.

Isaiah 41:10 “10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Now we write out requests on the left and work together to put correlating verses on the right side.