Prayer is communion with God! When we see children enjoying interacting with their father it is very attractive! Their healthy connection is demonstrated in the ease and closeness of sharing something together, whether a meal, an observation, an event, or a task. There communication has a context that appropriately implies they have a good relationship. In James 5:13-18 we are taught that Elijah was a man with passion just like us, and through prayer he stopped the rain in ancient Israel for three and a half years, and then prayed again for it to rain, and it did. The Holy Spirit underscoring through our relationship with the Lord, it should be expected powerful situation altering prayers to God be spoken by us. These prayers bring healing, comfort hearts, express joy, and generally make accessible the life and power of the Holy Spirit.
Elijah declared it would not rain to King Ahab, and it didn’t for forty-two months. Wow!!! It is amazing something so powerful, and impacting can occur as a result of a person walking in relationship with God. This is more than a unique weather or nature anomaly. It is about how when God and people are in good communication, nothing is impossible. God called Elijah to join Him in dealing with the radical systemic rebellion in Israel from the king and queen down to the common person. Elijah prayed God’s purpose and declared His truth in harmony with the Holy Spirit. As this is walked out, God unfolds His plan to provide for Elijah and eventually tells him when to confront King Ahab again. God and Elijah did this together! Jn 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” Elijah abided with God and His Word in the Old Testament and could pray for rain to cease, and then months later pray for the rain to come. Jesus encourages us to abide in Him, and ask for what we will. The potential for radical personal and community altering activity is staggering!
It’s amazing and humbling that God offers to share such power, glory, and intimacy with us! Through prayer we really do join Him in all the business and details of life. You may have some misguided expectations that could hinder your experiencing the vibrancy and blessing that comes from a living relationship with Jesus Christ. God clearly wants to share Himself and life with us. It can look and feel differently than we expect. Elijah’s promised provision first came from ravens bringing somebody’s bread to him as he watched the stream dry up in the drought. Next God told him to go to a widow that will “provide for him”, sixty plus miles away (walking), in a community given to idolatry (Jezebel’s home town), and the supply is bread flour that multiplies in the bottom of a container. More WOW! Centuries later, God used a corrupt legal system to give Paul the opportunity to preach to kings and courts, while additionally leading prison guards to Christ, while also being a great blessing to the first century church. If we could converse with Paul or Elijah now, neither would be complaining about God’s ways of leading and providing.
Can we trust God without understanding how the provision will come? I hope so! I hope we can recognize that to “… abide in Me, and My words abide in you …” is a great doorway, we have only opened a little. Yet this is ours to receive now, in 2019, if we are going to know Him like He desires, and if we are going to live in this world as Kingdom of God difference makers. I encourage you to have a conversation with others of faith regarding the steps you’re contemplating or already taking to walk with God more like Elijah, Paul, and Jesus. Because Jesus did, so can we!