Elijah's Fervent Prayer: Prayer Note # 9

    

Dutch Sheets tells us, “In 1 Kings 18 we find the story of God needing and using a person to accomplish His will through prayer. 

It is the account of Elijah praying for rain after three years of drought…we know that not only did Elijah’s prayers bring rain, but they also stopped the rain three years earlier.

     In verse one of 1 Kings 18, after three years of this judgment, God spoke to Elijah and said,  "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth." 

     Then at the end of this chapter, after several other events have occurred, Elijah prays seven times and finally the rain comes.

     According to the statement in verse one, whose idea was it to send rain?...whose will?...Whose initiation? Answer: God’s, not Elijah’s. 

     Then why, if it was God’s will, idea and timing, did it take a human’s prayer to ‘birth’ the rain? 

     (Elijah was in the posture of a woman in that culture giving birth, symbolizing the concept of travailing prayer.)

     And finally, did Elijah’s prayers really produce the rain or was it simply coincidental that he happened to be praying when God sent it?”

 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  James 5:16b NKJV

Prayer Note # 9 Elijah’s Fervent Prayer - Taken from Dutch Sheets’ book, Intercessory Prayer  (pgs 29, 30)

Next Prayer Note Feb. 2^nd- Elijah Was a Man With a nature Like Ours: Prayer Note # 10

 Tomorrow’s post: I Need Rest by Gwen Smith