LESSONS FROM 70 YEARS OF MINISTRY: ‘WHAT I HAVE RECEIVED I PASSED ON TO YOU AS OF FIRST IMPORTANCE.’ (PART 10) AVAILABLE ON ITUNES, SPOTIFY, GOOGLE PODCASTS, YOUTUBE.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 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 land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:16-18, NKJV)
Elijah could be called the greatest evangelist in the Bible (excluding Jesus), because he is the only man who could bring a whole nation to repent in one day. Elijah is an example to me, and I want to find the secret of his power, to learn how he could do what he did.
In the Bible the history of Israel shows how many times they forgot their God and began to adopt and worship other gods. God had to constantly bring them back to repentance. But where is the power of God in our land? Why do we cry out for a spiritual revival? Are we in danger of putting other gods before the Lord our God? Does the Church need repentance again today?
I want to know the God of Elijah! He had such authority, he called the whole nation together and then he gathered the false prophets of Baal. Elijah was not afraid to call all those who opposed him, all the demon possessed, to come. Then he said, ‘Let’s demonstrate whose God is real – your gods or my God!’ (1 Kings 18:21). And the power of God came down with fire, because Elijah knew not only how to pray with authority, but how to get an answer to prayer. Suddenly I find here is a man so different, who knew the mind and will of God, and could act so dangerously that if he failed, King Ahab, if not the prophets of Baal, would kill him, or worse still, Jezebel would!
Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal – because he really believed that literal fire would fall from Heaven and burn wood, water and the flesh of the sacrifice! Not just a spiritual experience, not falling on the floor or a vision, but literal fire – heavenly fire that is going to literally burn wood, water and sacrifice. He believed that God would do that. But nobody has ever before spoken to God with such faith and authority in such a dangerous situation!
Now, if we are living in the days of Elijah, and if you want the spirit of Elijah – prove it! Do something that nobody else can do, something nobody else has ever done before. Demonstrate a power and authority with God like he did!
Elijah started with dry wood, then commanded them to dig a trench all round, pour twelve big barrels of water over the whole sacrifice, so even if it was possible to have fire before, it’s not possible now! Elijah made it impossible for God to answer his own prayer! But look at the words, how Elijah prayed, ‘Oh God, hear me so that this people will know without any question that you are the Lord God,’ – 1 Kings 18:37. That’s the challenge! It’s time we got to know the real God, the God of the Bible, the God of power, the God of miracles. Elijah is saying, ‘Lord, hear me, so that the people will know two things. Firstly, that you are the true God, and secondly that they will know that you have forgiven them.’ Elijah is not actually praying for fire. He says, ‘Oh God, demonstrate to the unbelievers so powerfully that the whole nation will repent.’
With Elijah, immediately after he prayed, the fire came down and burnt up the wood, the sacrifice and the water – everything! Now that is God. It was a miracle.
I find some very unusual things about prayer in the Bible. I don’t read that Elijah went away for forty days and prayed – but he is about to see another, bigger miracle than the fire! He says, ‘Ahab, eat and drink, rejoice, I can hear the sound of abundant rain!’ But Elijah can’t hear it. Ahab gets up to eat, and Elijah goes off to the top of Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:42). No, the Bible doesn’t say he is fasting and praying. It says he got down on the earth, he put his head between his knees, then got up and commanded his servant, ‘Go up and look towards the sea. Look for the rain.’ The servant says, ‘There isn’t any.’ Seven times he sends his servant to look for the rain. You see, Elijah is living dangerously. When he said to King Ahab, ‘Get up and eat because there is the sound of rain,’ Elijah had not seen the rain. There was no evidence – but he knew God, and to me it is almost as if something strange is happening. It’s not because Elijah is praying, but he knows in his heart, he knows that God will send the rain.
All Elijah had to do was to say, ‘Oh God, I need another miracle, do it again!’ And God answered him. The more I read this in the Bible, the more I feel that I myself haven’t got the answer yet. Three and a half years before Elijah simply said, ‘Ahab, no rain’ and the rain stopped. Then he calls upon God, ‘Show Your power.’ Fire comes down. Now he says, ‘There’s going to be another miracle, there’s going to be rain’ – but there is no evidence at all! I don’t find a record of long prayers, but of a man who knows God. I have noticed something quite unusual: sometimes the shorter my prayer, the quicker the miracle. When you know it is going to happen, you speak the word and God does it.
We need to be more like Elijah. We have a prayer-answering God, but do we really believe Him? Do we believe the power of God? Well, if we do, then we must act. Faith is where your feet go, faith is what you do. But you can only be like that if you know God.
Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (Mark 11:20-24, NKJV)
Do you want to see revival? All God needs is one man or woman who can pray like Elijah, who can believe like Jesus said. You will get big troubles – and big miracles. Don’t be afraid. That’s the price we have to pay.
Nothing is impossible with God. You only need the spirit of Elijah. God never, ever fails.
‘Our God Reigns’ used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com