| |
And Elijah
said to Ahab, ‘Go and eat and drink, for there
is the sound of a heavy rain’. So Ahab went off
to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top
of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his
face between his knees. ‘Go and look towards the
sea,’ Elijah told his servant. And he went up
and looked. ‘There is nothing there,’ he said.
Seven times Elijah said, ‘Go back.’ The seventh
time the servant reported, ‘A cloud as small as
a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ So Elijah
said, ‘Go and tell Ahab, "Hitch up your chariot
and go down before the rain stops you."‘
Meanwhile the sky grew black with clouds, the
wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode
off to Jezreel.
(1 Kings 18:41-45) |
|
Two thousand nine hundred
years ago Elijah stood on the top of Mount Carmel and
cried out to God for fire to come from heaven. It was a
triumph of faith, and a mighty testimony to the power of
prayer. Had the contest on Mount Carmel taken a less
miraculous turn, Elijah would undoubtedly have perished.
Now that the fire of God had fallen, Elijah longed to
see the rains released. One hundred years earlier, the
Lord had appeared to Solomon in a dream. He promised the
king that if the annual rains were withheld because of
sin, then His people must humble themselves, pray and
turn from their wicked ways, so that He would hear from
heaven and heal their land.(1)
This is an important word for us today. God loves to
hear our prayers, and He has made us to be a praying
people. Elijah was able to triumph so spectacularly on
Mount Carmel because of the earlier spiritual battles he
had fought and won. He did not begin praying on the day
of the contest itself: he won the victory in the
heavenly places while the people were still making their
way to the mountain.
There are many in the body of Christ who are prophesying
days of revival ahead. There are equally as many who are
declaring that God’s judgements are coming on us. Which
of them is right? Who has stood in the council of the
Lord to receive His word?(2)
I believe both messages are true. God is warning us most
solemnly that judgement is coming – has indeed already
begun in our midst – but that in His mercy, He will
still pour out His Spirit on us in abundance.
|
 |
Perhaps we could say that
God is looking for reasons by which He may send the
grace of revival, rather than the fires of judgement.
This is where the concentrated prayers of God’s people
are vital.(3)
Limitless Power through Prayer
Mark Twain once quipped that he could think of no
foreign product which entered his country untaxed except
answers to prayer! Unlike any other power in the
universe, prayer can cross any distance and release any
blockage. There is, quite simply, no limit to what God
can accomplish through prayer.
Norman Grubb’s biography of the Welsh intercessor, Rees
Howells, has helped many to enter new dimensions of
prayer. During the Second World War, the Bible College
of Wales, which this former miner founded, became a
dedicated centre of intercession, exercising a crucial
influence over the bearing of world events.
While many books give a brief uplift, the Lord used this
one to touch the deepest chords in my heart. It was the
most stunning confirmation of everything I had already
come to believe the Scriptures taught about prayer, for
it showed how prayer can affect the lives not only of
individuals but also of nations. It was the starting
point for many adventures in prayer.(4)
If we are to move in the spirit and power of Elijah, the
Church must learn to pray together. Without prayer our
life together is shallow. A Chinese preacher declared,
‘Without prayer, I am like a sea diver cut off from
his supply of air; I am a fireman without a hose.’
We have so much to learn in this respect.(5)
Elijah knew that the king’s heart had not been truly
changed by the demonstration of power he had witnessed.
He also knew that God was more concerned right then to
send rain to the nation than to deal with Ahab. He
therefore urged the king to go and attend to his
creature comforts, while he himself climbed again to the
summit of Mount Carmel, and prayed for the fulfilment of
all that God had promised. While others may be looking
for entertainment, the intercessor knows that he, or
she, cannot afford to relax until the work is done.
The Power of Compassion
I believe the Church today urgently needs to heed
this call to pray. Scripture affords us plenty of
examples of urgent prayer, the Lord Jesus Himself being
our supreme example.
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered
up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to
the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard
because of His reverent submission.(6) ‘Cries’
translates the Greek ‘krauge’. It is a very strong word
which expresses the cry that is wrung from a man under
extreme mental or physical distress - such as torture.
Here we sound the depths of the compassion of God. No
wishy-washy sentimentalized emotion this, but rather a
heart-searing, sin-hating, gut-rending plea for mercy to
flow where darkness rules, lest judgement and disaster
otherwise ensue.
Many of the theological intricacies of prayer will
remain forever hidden from us. It is enough for us to
know that if the Lord Jesus cried out so often and so
loudly in prayer, then we must follow Him along the same
path – even if it takes a measure of desperation to
drive us to pray in¸ this way. It is when we seek Him
with all our hearts that we will find Him.(7)
The Call to Wider Prayer
Elijah’s life is a reminder that we are called to
share the Lord’s wider burdens. As a prophet of the
Lord, Elijah had to trust the Lord both for major
international issues, and for daily guidance in his own
life. The same is true in the ministry of his successor.
Just as Elijah had known that he could call down both
fire and rain from heaven, so the prophet Elisha would
likewise know when his servant Gehazi fell into
temptation - not to mention the times when enemies were
planning to attack Israel.(8) These men were not
psychic; they were simply in close touch with the Lord,
who reveals such details to His friends.
There are seasons in the life of prayer just as there
are in nature. Elijah was not usually called to the
intense degree of spiritual warfare that he experienced
on Mount Carmel. Since wrestling is one of the most
strenuous forms of exercise known to man, it stands to
reason that God will refresh us from our bouts in the
wrestling ring by giving us lighter burdens to bear, and
times of greater peace and intimacy.(9)
I am left, however, with the uncomfortable impression
that many of us have shortened Paul’s teaching that we
wrestle not against flesh and blood to the more
convenient, ‘We wrestle not!’ Such would certainly
appear to be the conclusion of a survey which revealed
that the average evangelical spent a dismal three
minutes a day in prayer.
I sometimes wonder if much of our busyness is not
perilously close to what the New Testament would call
worldliness. Which of us would be happy to spend a mere
three minutes a day in the company of our dearest
friend? Do the interests and priorities of the Kingdom
really mean that much to people who ignore them for all
but a few seconds a day?
We will be far more fruitful if we can learn to harness
information, and convert it quickly into prayer. Almost
every time we meet together as Christians we share
matters that are worthy of prayer. Times without number
we have found that it is when we say, ‘Let’s pray
together!’ (even in the course of telephone
conversations) that what had hitherto been an ordinary
time of fellowship is transformed into an encounter with
the Lord.
Someone once wrote that ‘prayer is not conquering God’s
reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.’ It
requires courage and determination to overcome our inner
reluctance and to pray together. There are barriers to
overcome, both of enemy opposition and of human
embarrassment. But the Lord honours those who develop
the habit of prayer.
Persistence in Prayer
From the summit of Mount Carmel, a lofty
watch-tower, Elijah could survey both sea and land. With
his head between his knees, his whole demeanour
expresses the attitude of a man aware of his continuing
dependency. Elijah may have stood boldly before the
people, but in the presence of his Maker he could only
kneel.(10)
It had required the miracle on Mount Carmel to bring the
Israelites to a point where God could again move on
their behalf. Now, after three years of longing, Elijah
sensed the release in his spirit to pray for God to send
the rains and spare the nation. |
 |
Tradition has it that the boy who Elijah had raised from
the dead grew up to become Elijah’s servant:
effectively, his adopted son. He would therefore have
been the one who ran to the top of Mount Carmel to see
if he could see any sign of the promised rain clouds. It
is a pleasing and a fitting thought. But put yourself in
Elijah’s shoes, when this same servant brought him back
a negative report six times in a row. Would you not have
found it easy to fall into the expectation that nothing
was ever going to change?
I consider it highly significant that Elijah had to send
his servant back no fewer than seven times. Just as his
stay by Cherith and Zarephath had been a prolonged one,
so there would be no instant victory even now. The best
things in life do not come easily.
Failing to understand this, many have allowed delays and
disappointments to discourage them from going further
along the intercessory path. But why should the Lord
always answer our prayers the first time round? Do not
His delays teach us to look even more fervently to Him?
Surely the Lord waits to be gracious to us!(11)
If we did not need to persevere in prayer we would soon
become self-sufficient. A great deal depends, therefore,
on our willingness to refuse the pangs of discouragement
that come our way, and to keep praying until the power
of God breaks through.
Shortly after my conversion I felt a burden to pray for
an old school friend. My clumsy and ineffective attempts
to witness to her met with no success, and for the next
twelve years I lost all contact with her. Indeed, I
often wondered how much my prayers really were the
leading of the Lord, and how much they were just my own
desire to see her come to the Lord.
Over the years, however, the burden regularly returned,
so I continued to pour out my heart to God. One night, I
dreamt that she had committed her life to Christ. I
shared this with Rosalind, hoping, but by no means
convinced, that it might be true. The very next day we
received a letter from her (the first in over twelve
years) letting me know she had recently been converted,
and had already led several people in her village to the
Lord!
How good God is, not only to answer our prayers, but
even to let us know that they have been answered. One of
the great surprises of prayer is that we never know what
God will accomplish through it. I had thought I was
praying for one person, little suspecting that she
herself would become a fervent soul-winner. The destiny
of many other people is bound up in the prayers we pray.
Breakthrough
Revivals are less the fruit of good techniques than
of groups of people covenanting with the Lord and with
each other to pray, and to keep laying hold of God until
the heavens open and souls are saved.
In 1858 a great revival broke out on both sides of the
Atlantic. It is, perhaps, less talked about today than
the earlier one in John Wesley’s day, but it added a
million people to the Kingdom in Great Britain within
the space of a year, and revived a further million
within the Church. There were no big-name speakers; it
was a ‘grass-roots’ movement which began with groups of
people coming together to pray.
The powerful work of Teen Challenge, that David
Wilkerson pioneered among drug addicts, likewise owes
its origins to prayer. This simple country pastor made a
crucial decision to turn his television set off, and to
spend the final two hours of the day instead in prayer.
Or take the example of a missionary called James Fraser.
Despite the repeated discouragement of seeing not a
single soul attending his meetings, Fraser kept on
praying, year after year, for the Lisu tribe. His
astonishing determination ‘not just to rest in the
faithfulness of God’ (the armchair mentality) but to
take hold of the faithfulness of God to secure big
results for God kept him believing the specific promises
of God’s word. And how his faithfulness was rewarded!
The power of God broke through and a wonderful and
far-reaching revival touched the Lisu tribe.(12)
The chances are that we ourselves have come to know the
Lord Jesus because someone prayed for us. I know that I
owe my own salvation in no small measure to the power of
intercession. The Lord told the people leading the
student mission in which I became a Christian that they
would reap a great harvest if they would rise in the
night to pray for souls. Over one hundred and fifty of
us committed our lives to the Lord during that week.
Many are now in full-time service for the Lord.
I think of another friend, who has long exercised a
world-wide ministry. While he was still a boy, a
missionary visited his school and felt led to promise
that he would pray for him every day. Through a ‘chance’
meeting eighteen years later the missionary was able to
see at first hand the ministry he had been so
instrumental in praying into being.
Though he could have had no way of knowing it, his
prayers for one obscure school boy would one day lead
thousands of people, in places as far apart as America
and Indonesia, to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus. The
missionary was faithful to his call, and he will have
his reward. So too will we, as we give ourselves to the
ministry of prayer.
Burden Bearing in Prayer
The life of prayer requires perspective as well as
persistence. If we feel as though we are not getting
through on some particular issue, it is often helpful to
try approaching it from some other angle. For example,
if you have been getting to the prayer, ‘Shall I do such
and such, Lord?’ why not try phrasing it the other way
round? ‘Lord, is there any reason why I should not do
this?’ He will not fail to warn us if we are in serious
danger of going off course. The change of angle often
makes all the difference.(13)
As a man of like passions to ourselves, we can imagine
that Elijah must have wrestled with all sorts of
misgivings as he looked up at the cloudless sky. Just as
he had faced and conquered the temptation to worry about
whether the ravens would come to feed him, now he had to
trust the Lord to send rain from a cloudless sky. What a
fool he would look in Ahab’s eyes if nothing happened!
Resolute against these
plaguing thoughts, Elijah laid hold of God’s Word with
that peculiar combination of boldness and urgency that
is the hallmark of the true intercessor. The sight of
the merest wisp of cloud far out to sea was enough to
convince him that God was about to answer his prayers
and fulfil His word. He promptly sent his servant to
warn Ahab to set out before he was stranded by the
flash-floods that would soon be on them. The proud
monarch, who clearly trusted Elijah’s insight more than
he feared Elijah’s God, obeyed without hesitation.
The Lord is looking for His people to come forward and
offer themselves to stand in the gap for the welfare of
this land.(14) He has granted us the immense privilege
of being able to win God’s blessing for others through
prayer, and so extend His kingdom. The Lord wants this
to be a living adventure for us, and to give us joy in
His house of prayer.
Reflections
The Lord Jesus ‘is at the right hand of God,
interceding for us.’(15) Through prayer we are
permitted to share in the ministry of heaven. Amin
Gesswein wrote, ‘Our generation has yet to see prayer
as a ministry, and to take God at His word on this
subject. It is while we pray that God works, not merely
before or after prayer . . . Prayer is our real work.’
Talk to the Lord about the quality of your prayer life.
What specific burdens has He given you? Have you been
faithful to them? Pray to make your own home, and
church, ‘a house of prayer for all nations.’(16)
Selah
Lord, I want to
take this call to prayer seriously. Forgive me
for putting other pursuits and concerns ahead of
seeking You. Forgive me too for not wanting to
pay the cost involved in seeking You. I cannot
change myself, but I am willing to be changed.
Here and now I ask for the gift of faith-filled
intercession. Grant that my authority and
anointing in prayer may increase from one year
to the next. May I pray the prayers You most
desire me to pray, and take the opportunities
You send to pray with others. I ask this for the
glory of God, and in Jesus’ name. Amen. |
 |
|
|
