Where Are the Elijah's of God?

1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

Elijah’s word was God’s word! His word became an event on the earth. Such is the power of a praying man! Do your prayers move God to action ?

Elijah was a man who connected heaven and earth with his prayers. One praying man is a majority with God. Elijah was a natural man with just passions as ours, but the Holy Spirit saw it important to pen these words in James 5:17-18 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently…then he prayed again.”

So, “Where are the Elijah’s of God?” If we are honest, we are men of like passions but not men of prayer like he was. God is looking for a man who stands in the gap for a nation. Many are being passed over because of their self-sufficiency. Although God gives each one abilities, many times these abilities become our greatest handicaps. Our talents become our greatest stumbling blocks. Elijah was sent among a people who professed Abraham as their father. The nation of Israel had been delivered repeatedly by God, but the people had slipped back into their self-sufficient ways. Into that community, God sent a man, who prayed. Not a preacher, but a man of natural passions like ours, who would stand in the gap between heaven and earth.

Today, churches have many planners, but few prayer warriors. We have many committees, but few agonisers. If the church today had as many agonisers as advisers, there would be an awakening in the church and in our cities and nations.

Elijah knew the mind of God. He knew God’s voice, tasted its power, sized up the enemy, and with God on his side, wrought a victory. The tears he shed in silence, the agonies of his soul no man knew off, the groans he uttered, are all chronicled in the Lamb’s book. He knew God’s mind. One man who knew the mind of God, used the key of faith, to lock heaven for three and a half years, and made Ahab tremble. It is wonderful when God moves upon a life, but it is greater still when mortal man lays hold of God. The church likes talking of Elijah’s accomplishments but is not prepared to suffer his separations. Today, preachers go with the crowd, but not a prophet like Elijah. They go against the crowd. John the Baptist did not go with the crowd. He went against it. This has always been Christ’s call to its followers. The church needs to listen!

Elijah saw the sin of a nation like God. He grieved over sin and spoke against sin like God. He had no smooth preaching, but a passion that fired his words. They were like molten metal on their flesh.

Elijah was radically obedient to the voice of God. The “steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” (Psalm 37:23). The Lord said, “Hide yourself” and again, “Show yourself.” It would be wrong to hide when we should be presenting ourselves before the kings of this world; it would be wrong to preach if the Spirit is calling one to wait upon the Lord. The church must learn like David, “my soul waits only upon God” (Psalm 62:5). God ordered Elijah to brook Cherith and then to Zarephath- not to stay at a comfortable hotel, but the home of an impoverished widow, who had nothing to give.

Later, this Elijah’s prayer on Mount Carmel was a masterpiece “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” (1 Kings 18:37).

Short prayers are the outcome of long secret intercession. Elijah prayed not for the destruction of the prophets of Baal, but that the glory and power of God might be revealed. Our prayers are many times trying to help God out of difficulties. Abraham tried to do this, and to this day the earth is dealing with the repercussions. Elijah on the other hand made it difficult for God. He wanted the fire, but he soaked the sacrifice with water! God needs and loves such holy boldness in our prayers. “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Psalm 2:8). Most would stop with the fire. That would be enough to fuel a worldwide ministry. But not Elijah. He pressed in for the rain! Seven times he commanded his servant to go up the mountain, until finally was seen a cloud, the size of a man’s fist. Where is this kind of praying today? Does the church understand what it means to bring healing to the nations through prayer? God has promised through Jeremiah that the days are coming, when the harvest of Israel and the nations would be so great, that the exodus from Egypt would look ordinary. The exodus was one nation delivered from bondage, but the harvest that is coming is the ingathering of nations under God. This comes with much praying and agonising!

Much of the church’s praying is giving advice to God. It is discoloured with personal ambition. The Elijah’s of God have no such thought. Their goal is God alone. It is God’s honour that is tarnished, His name profaned, His truth forgotten, His house made a den of thieves. As you look into your heart, what do you see?

Does God ever need more patience with us than when we are praying? We tell him what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. We pass judgements and appreciate ourselves in prayer. In short, the church does everything but pray. No seminary can teach us this discipline of prayer. Many leaders and their congregations do not pray, shed no tears, know no travail. Can they teach what they do not know?

One man who can get God’s people back to prayer will usher in the greatest awakening that the world has ever known. This is the time we are in today. it is time to pray, to intercede, for something bigger than our little problems. When we do, God is “able to do…according to the power that works in us.” (Ephesians 1:19).

The Lord Jesus Christ modeled for us a prayer centered life, in total dependancy on the Father. At His baptism, he prayed (Luke 3:21), on the mount of transfiguration, he prayed (Luke 9:29). Finally on the cross, taking the sins of the world upon Himself, he prayed. (Matthew 27:46). Today, the ascended Jesus, our Great High Priest, intercedes for us. (Hebrews 7:25). When the Lord sends Ananias to Saul of Tarsus, it is recorded that Ananias would see Saul praying. (Acts 9:11)

It is not enough to claim the title of a believer, it must be demonstrated in a life of prayer. Prayerless living is sinful living. It just shows that a child does not trust the father. Many live like this and call it Christianity!

Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?

Got any mountains through which you cannot tunnel?

God specializes in things thought impossible, and He can do what no other power can do. Seek popularity where it counts- at the court of God!