Prayer in Times of Trials Part-III

 Introduction:

God has been gracious to us in all these days. We have been blessed by God with this life; this is my constant thought in my life. It’s a short life we live in. we don’t know when the Lord will call us home. But as much as life He has given us; we ought to make the most of our life for His glory.

So, with that in mind I greet you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we are going on and on from the book of James; I believe you are finding much instruction to follow from this great epistle. Just in order to end all curiosity; I have decided to take on the Book of Acts after we have finished preaching from this epistle.

Let’s open our Bibles to James 5:13-18.

(Scripture Reading & Prayer)

Dr. Thomas M. Carter, an ex-convict, tells a thrilling story of his mother who constantly followed him with her prayers.  On one occasion while he was in prison, she received a telegram stating that he was dead and asking what she wanted done with his body.  Stunned by the news, she opened her Bible and laid the message beside it.  "Oh, God," she said, "I have steadfastly believed that You are a rewarder of them who diligently seek You. I felt sure that I would live to see Tom saved and preaching the Gospel; and now this wire says he is dead. Lord, which is true, this telegram or Your promises to me?"  When she rose from her knees, having won the victory, she sent this note to the prison: "You must be wrong.  My boy is not dead!"  And there had been a mistake -- Tom Carter was alive!  He was later converted and lived to preach!

The point of this illustration is that God answers prayers and He answers prayers of the spiritually strong as well as spiritually weak people also. Now, Thomas Carters’ mother must have been like each of us but still God honored her prayers.

So, before we get into the message let me ask a question to you. Do you pray everyday? Do you read God’s Word everyday? These are the most important questions to us as we listen to God’s word.  

In this message I want to challenge you for prayer; fervent prayer. I want to ask you to dare to pray like Elijah prayed. Not because Elijah was somebody great but the Bible tells us that he was a man like you and me.

So, here is the title for the message this morning.

Prayer in Times of Trials: Part-III

1.      The Human Nature of Elijah: vs. 17a

2.      The Fervent Prayer of Elijah: vs. 17b-18

1.      The Human Nature of Elijah: vs. 17a

Last Sunday we learnt from vs. 16. In this one verse we dealt with 2 points. The command for prayer and the purpose of prayer. I am sure you must have been spiritually benefitted from this message. The important thing in this message was the fact that James was writing to the similar group of people, but perhaps they had offended one another. Therefore in vs. 16 he asked his readers to confess their sins to one another. The purpose of such an action was so that they will be restored to one another and they will be restored to God.

Then in vs. 17 & 18 James is continuing with the same subject in his mind. In fact in these 2 verses he is going one step further and giving his readers Elijah as the example of prayer.

Notice vs. 17, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.”

Now, first of all we can see Elijah’s human nature was like ours. James mentions Elijah’s human nature for a purpose. He is actually connecting vs. 16 to vs. 17. In verse 16 he had said that, “…the prayer of a righteous man avails much.” And in vs. 17 James is giving the example of that truth.

And in this verse James is giving the example of Elijah; a righteous man. At the same time he is also giving the example of how much is availed in the prayer of such a man. So much so that he prayed and God stopped the rains for three and a half years, which we will look into the next point.

But we don’t know what specific nature of Elijah James had in his mind. We read the account of Elijah’s life in 1 Kings 17, 18 & 19.

In chapter 17 & 18 we have Elijah the prophet of God confronting King Ahab. What is so amazing about Elijah is that he appears on the pages of Old Testament from nowhere. We do not know the origin of Elijah. We do not have any history of his family. Elijah just appears out of the blue in 1 Kings 17:1. But he appears at a time when the nation of Israel was facing a spiritual darkness. That means the children of God were engaged in worshipping Idols; when they should have been engaged in the worship of Yahweh.

In vs. 1 of chapter 17, Elijah is confronting King Ahab. Notice vs. 1 he says, “Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” I want you to notice this verse carefully. In it Elijah boldly says, “…“As the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand…”

Why would Elijah mention that it is the Lord God of Israel before whom I stand; even when he was actually standing before King Ahab? The reason is even when Elijah was standing before King Ahab, Elijah was not afraid of him. Elijah did not lose sight of the fact that he fears God more; and he does not fear the king. Elijah had such great boldness when he confronted King Ahab.

You might say, what is the big deal about being bold in the presence of a King? It is a big deal because 1 Kings 16:3 & 33 give us the introduction of King Ahab. “And Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.”

Vs. 33, “And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”

The point of those 2 verses is; it is one thing to be bold in the presence of a King who is good. And it’s absolutely another thing to be bold in the presence of a wicked king. Many people say that King Ahab had a habit of making people tremble in his presence. But Elijah stood bold in the presence of a wicked King. He not only did it once but he did it for once more, in 1 King 18: 17-19.

 It’s because he was always mindful of God and His majesty. Elijah always believed that His God is powerful and Almighty.

E.g . Serena Williams the great Tennis player said this, “You have to win twice in order to prove that the previous one was not a chance.”

And this saying fits Elijah. Purely because he always had his eyes fixed upon His God.

Even though Elijah’s boldness was one side of his nature; there was another aspect of his nature. After Elijah called fire from heaven, and after God heard his prayers and sent rain on Israel. In chapter 19, we see another side of Elijah’s nature. When Jezebel (Ahab’s queen) heard that Elijah had killed all her prophets. She was angry. In 19:2, 3, “Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. Then vs. 4 tells us, “But he himself went a day’s journey into wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

That means Elijah was so afraid of Queen Jezebel that he went as far as possible from her. At one time Elijah was exceedingly bold at another he was absolutely afraid.

Application:

Both of these are two sides of human nature. Sometimes we are bold, sometimes we are afraid. But the point that I want to drive home to you is; God can still use you with your fear and with your boldness. Are you willing to be used by God with your fears and boldness?

Are you willing to conquer your fear with faith in Jesus? If you are bold; do you fear Jesus? I read a caption on a T-Shirt, “Real Men fear Jesus.” In fact I would add to that, men who fear Jesus are the bold ones. Do you know where can you find boldness? It’s on your knees. When you kneel before the all powerful King you will be bold before anybody. The Bible says, we have the boldness to approach to the Throne of Grace through Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters this is a great assurance for us that our prayers are heard by an Almighty God. He not only hears them but He answers them as well. Do you have that assurance in your life? But first of all let me ask you: Do you pray? Do you pray? There are two reasons why we feel prayerlessness; it’s because we think our sins are too heavy for God to deal with. If you think this way, then you are sinning brother and sister. Because the Bible tells us that there is not sin that a person can commit which cannot be forgiven. That means all sins can be forgiven. God forgave David’s sin of adultery; he surely can forgive your sins.

The second reason why we feel prayerless is because we don’t feel the need of prayer because of a lot of knowledge. Because of a lot of knowledge people lose the logic in prayer.

If you are going through this let me warn you to turn away from your sin of prayerlessness. Turn to Jesus Christ and confess your sin to Him.

2.      The Fervent Prayer of Elijah: vs. 17b-18

If you read 1 Kings 17, 18 or 19 we do not find any mention that Elijah prayed fervently. But then why is James saying that Elijah prayed fervently? In total there are only 3 mentions of Elijah’s prayer in those 3 chapters of 1 Kings. In chapter 17:21 Elijah is praying for the life of that widow’s dead son. He is asking God to raise her son from his death. Secondly, in chapter 18:36-37, here  he is praying so that the Lord would consume the offering on the Altar. In chapter 19:4, Elijah is praying to God to take away his life.

Apart from these 3 references we don’t see him praying fervently. But then why is James saying that Elijah was a man of prayer? I struggled with it and Phil Johnson’s book, “Prophet of Fire,” helped me in it. He says, “The prophets of God have to be understood as men of prayer. Whatever revelation or prophesy they gave to the people of Israel; they gave it as a fruit of their prayer.” And I fully agree with his statement. Because we cannot imagine the prophets of God without prayer. Whenever we read the book of any Prophets one common aspect we will find in them, and that is of prayer.

We must understand here that Elijah’s prayer did open heavens and closed the heavens as a fruit of his prayers. Because Elijah prayed according to God’s will.

The spiritual principle that comes out of this is; if we pray according to God’s will God will answer our prayers, just as He answered Elijah’s prayers.

Application:

I have heard many people say that, you have to hear God speak to you in prayer. And I don’t think it’s true. Simply because God has spoken whatever He wants to speak through His Word. Hebrews 1:1, 2,“ Hebrews 1:1-2  God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.”

The question is: do you obey His Word which he has reveled in the Bible? Or do you still seek dreams and visions and completely disregard what God has reveled in His Word? Do you know God’s most important will for your life is that you should be saved? If you are not saved and still claim to have revelations; you might be true. But that revelation is not from God; it’s from the devil. So, first of all ask yourself this question, am I saved? Do I want to be saved? If yes believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and He you will be saved.