Power in Prayer (1 Kings 18:41-46)

Introduction

· Please turn to 2 Kings 18.

· Today is an answer to prayer. Since the first day of the pandemic, we have been praying for all of you, and longing for the day we could be back together again. It is so good to be back together, even though many are still attending online. This is the beginning of hopefully will continue to be a great reunion. Today we will be talking about prayer.

· Read 2 Kings 18:41-46.

· This is a powerful prayer! How appropriate that on Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, who prays with us and for us, that we should talk about prayer.

· Would you like to grow in prayer? I know I would. And apart from Jesus, and perhaps Paul, I can think of no better person in all the Bible to teach us how to pray.

· Let me show you THREE FEATURES OF POWERFUL PRAYER, so that we will take fuller advantage of this wonderful privilege of prayer, and learn how to pray more effectively.

Humility in Prayer

· Elijah seems to be kneeling low to the ground, head tucked down between his legs. The mighty Elijah is now low to the ground, recognizing he is but dust. What a refreshing example of humility. Many people let success go to their head, becoming arrogant, proud, self-reliant, and above correction. Elijah here lowers himself.

· Prayer itself is an expression of humility.

· The posture of bowing. A sign of reverence and respect.

· Gen. 19:2 Abraham 3x to visitors

· Ruth 2:10 Ruth bows to her master Boaz

· (common in many eastern cultures. maybe a new practice in this era of social distancing)

· Josh 5:14 Joshua fell on his face before the captain of the LORD

· Micah 6:6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

· Psalm 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

· Ephesians 3:14–15 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

· Philippians 2:9–10 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

· As we pray, we are not there to make demands. We are there to petition, to ask, to beg, to worship, to yield.

Perseverance in Prayer

· Six times – “there is nothing.” The servant must have begun to wonder, how much longer are we going to do this? What if Elijah had stopped then?

· How often we get discouraged in prayer! Our mind wanders. We don’t know what to pray. God doesn’t seem to hear, or at least he doesn’t answer.

· Even the psalmist David struggled with this, and wrestled with God in prayer. Psalm 13:1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 13:6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

· Our tendency to give up too early.

· But on the seventh time… just a small cloud.

· Jesus tells a parable of a widow who was being mistreated, and no one was doing anything about it. She kept nagging the judge over and over. See Luke 18:1-8.

· Cf. also the “impudent friend” in Luke 11:5-3 who knocked late at night for bread. He had a “shameless boldness” (CSB).

· So we also must “always pray and not lose heart.” Has God not answered? Maybe you are praying for an unbelieving relative, or your resources are depleting and you are praying for special provision. Don’t give up. God knows your needs. If he has elected and saved you, how much more will he take care of you and provide daily bread.

Expectancy in Prayer

· Each time, Elijah prays, then instructs, “Go up now, look…” Even when we pray, we often forget to look for the answers to pray. Or when God answers, we forget to pause and give him thanks. I believe that God answers us far more than we realize, but we often move along too fast, already burdened with our next concern or crisis, rather than pausing to give God thanks and recognize his blessings.

· Dr. Jim Rosscup, one of my seminary professors, has written a commentary on all the passages in the Bible that deal with prayer. I love how he retells this part of the story, and would like to read it for you: “The servant returned from his seventh vigil at the crest. This time he descended with a quickened step and excitement in his words. In today’s phrasing, he reported: “Hey, would you look at that! It’s coming—a cloud away out there, so far about the size of a man’s hand. But it’s getting closer!” Elijah may have breathed a quick word of further thanks. Then he said, still in a crouch, or having risen: “Get to Ahab: fast. No time to lose. Urge him to have his chariot made ready and get out of here ahead of the downpour, or he’ll bog down.” Perhaps he continued to pray, and gazed out at the coming storm. It was growing darker from oncoming night and the overcast, and he could feel wind tugging at his robe. Then the rain came, and it laced the land in sheets. Elijah reached the road, saw the king’s chariot streaking toward him, and raced ahead. As his strides lengthened, he felt the surge God gave him, knew the strength was coming from on high. The hand of the Lord was on him as his legs pumped tirelessly on, in a marathon of about 25 miles to Jezreel. As he ran, his thoughts may have been as active as his legs. God had shown him great answers to prayer this day!”

· You say, “Yes, but Elijah was a prophet. He was very close to God. A very spiritual man. I could never pray like that.” But see James 5. In one of the classic passages on prayer in the NT, the Book of James mentions this specific story as a lesson in prayer. Elijah was a man “with a nature like ours.”

Conclusion

· Our life lesson for today: God uses our simple prayers to accomplish his sovereign purposes.