Prayer of Distinction
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· 59 viewsElijah had a special call on his life as a prophet, and his life is filled with incredible stories of faith and passion. If we practice humble obedience the way Elijah did, we can be like him: we can fulfill our unique purpose for God’s glory and find significance for our lives.
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1 Kings 18.17-24
According to a 2017 Barna Survey entitled:
To Whom / What Do You Pray?
Though the vast majority of praying adults (89%) direct their prayers to “God,” they don’t all pray to the same god (if they pray to a deity at all). Praying to “God” is by far the most common response among almost every segment, even between the most active church attenders and unchurched adults, both of which are just as likely to pray to God (89% and 88% respectively). But as no specific definition was given for “God,” the widespread response may be a product of an equally wide interpretation. As the options get more specific, the numbers drop. For instance, only half of praying adults (50%) pray to Jesus, and less than one-quarter (23%) pray to the Holy Spirit.
Small percentages pray to the Saints (5%), a higher power that is not associated with a specific religion (5%), ancestors (3%), the universe (3%), divine power within themselves (3%), nature (2%), YHWH (2%) and Allah (1%). There are a few standouts here worth noting. For example, a larger than average amount of Hispanic Americans (10%) pray to their ancestors. Americans who aren’t Christians are more inclined than any other group to pray to a higher power that they do not associate with a specific religion. This includes those who claim no faith (28%), those who don’t self-identify as Christian (25%), and those of other faiths (15%). Those who follow religions other than Christianity are most likely to say they pray to the universe (13%) and nature (12%).
https://www.barna.com/research/silent-solo-americans-pray/
Elijah is an amazing character in Scripture...Ravens bring him food; God uses a widow to provide daily bread for him in Baal’s territory; Elijah prays and God raises the widow’s son from the dead. Elijah wins the showdown against the prophets of Baal at Carmel; he called down fire from heaven; and he struck down 450 false prophets. Plus, he was an athlete! He ran seventeen miles from Carmel down to Jezreel, outrunning horses and chariots.
Elijah was like...
Elijah was like Moses
Elijah was like Moses whom he later appeared with at the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1–7). Like Moses, Elijah
went eastward for a season, after an initial confrontation.
he lived on God’s abundant provision of bread, meat, and water (Exodus 16).
Elijah was also like John the Baptist, whom he is associated with in the New Testament (Malachi 4:5; Luke 1:17).
Elijah is a mega prophet, whose coming was to pave the way for the Messianic Age.
Elijah was like John the Baptist
According to Barbara Latta there were several characteristics shared by these to preachers...
They Both Preached Repentance When Israel Had Turned from God. Times of rebellion called for a bold message to shake people out of their apathy, unbelief, and sin.
Their Appearance Was the Same. Most people wore robes of some type of cloth, not many wore animal hair.
They Were Both Fed from the Wildlife of the Desert.
They Both Were Separated from the False Religions of Their Day.
They Both Preached Against the Behavior of Evil Kings
Elijah and John’s courageous attitudes gave them an authoritative voice to speak against the sin of even a king.
They Both Had Their Lives Sought by Wicked Queens.
They Both Suffered from Depression and Doubt. Both these men were anointed prophets, but they were still human.
And of course God would call men like Moses and John the Baptist to stand up against wickedness.
And . . . Elijah is like Jesus.
In confrontation with Satan Jesus depended on the Word of God.
He was called out to confront the unbelieving Israelite.
He cared for the widow (Luke 7:11–17)
He raised the dead (John 11:25);
His prayers were effectual (John 17)
He fasted forty days and forty nights.
And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.
Elijah was God’s Response to Wickedness in Ahab...
Elijah was God’s Response to Wickedness in Ahab...
So gross was the leadership of Ahab - when he is gone we will use him as a description of wickedness.
But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself:
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counseller to do wickedly.
Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellers after the death of his father to his destruction.
If you want to know how destructive Ahab was look at the fear in his servant in
And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
Those under Ahab’s reign wanted a little bit of everything — a little goddess worship, a little Baal worship, a little Yahweh worship, and throw in some male cult prostitution. Exclusive worship of God was absent in most places. We live in a similar time, in which people worship a little bit of everything, but not the living God exclusively — a little God, a little horoscope, a little TBN, a little pop psychology, a few conspiracy theories, aliens, New Age, naturalism, and more.
One thing that is missing from the people of Israel is prayer.
- You may say well there was plenty of prayer in I Kings 18 the Baal priests prayed for hours. This is true Uneffective, but fervent prayer. But what was missing was real faith filled prayer.
Elijah Stands against Ahab in Prayer
The context James describes is found in 1 Kings 17–18. Appearing out of nowhere, Elijah speaks to King Ahab boldly: “As the Lᴏʀᴅ, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
Tony Merida points out...
Although the text in 1 Kings 17 never says Elijah prayed for a draught, we do find Elijah pictured in prayer in 1 Kings 18:42 for the draught to end. Other examples of his insane prayer life exist in the Kings narrative (including a prayer in the same chapter for God to raise a boy from the dead), but James focuses on the famine. Even though we don’t read of him praying, Douglas Moo is surely right in saying, “It is a legitimate inference to think that he prayed for its onset as well.”
I think the prayers of Eljiah preceded his proclamation to Ahab. Elijah had been before God in the prayer closet, prior to being before Ahab in the palace. Because he knew of the real King, before whom he stood, he did not fear standing before this mere mortal.
What do we learn from Elijah’s prayer for this draught? Surely, there are many lessons about faithfulness, persistency, and passion, but I want to underline one very important lesson. Elijah teaches us here to pray according to God’s word.
There are things we should not be a part of...
Elijah Stands with Scripture
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.
Eljiah knew his Bible. He knew that the punishment for idolatry was famine. He could pray for a famine, and proclaim the certainty of the famine because God said it. Eljiah’s prayers were not rooted in his own imagination. He wasn’t asking God to perform neat tricks. He was boldly asking God to act on his own word.
There are things we should stand for…
We can say wow how great is it that Elijah could do this great work.
Yet, in the New Testament James makes an extraordinary statement when he says that Elijah was a “man like us.” Us? Yes. While Elijah does hold a unique place in redemptive history, James focuses on the fact that every believer can have an effective prayer life like Elijah.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 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.
Elijah is like us…
Elijah grew up in obscurity (like many of us). Yet, God chose him out of obscurity in order to confront apostasy publically.
Therefore, Elijah is a model for us. We live in an evil day; we worship the Living God; and we can pray according to God’s word. Read, pray. Read, pray. Fill your prayers with the word of God, and cry out to the Father to act for the good of others and the glory of his name.
Elijah is like Moses. He is like John the Baptist. He is like us.
Here is the difference...
Jesus died,
Jesus rose again
Jesus is seated with his Father
Jesus is interceding on our Behalf
Jesus saves
Jesus sustains your prayer life
Elijah can be a pattern of prayer, but Jesus is the power in our prayer.
Work of Prayer is highlighted when in 40 words Elijah does what Baals prophets could not.
Learning from an Insane Prayer Life
June 4, 2013
Article by
Tony Merida