Elijah's prayer

  

    In the book of First Kings, chapter 18 we read the awe inspiring story of Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. I know you have heard the story of how Elijah, that great man of God, went to the evil king Ahab of Israel and challenged all those prophets to a duel of prayers. They all assembled at Mt. Carmel along with all the people of Israel to witness the prayer challenge. “And Elijah came to all the people and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.”

   Then he proceeds to tell the people that they both he, and the Baal prophets, will cut up a bull and prepare wood to burn it, but not set it on fire. Then they are to call upon the name of their god and Elijah will call upon his God to set it on fire. The god who answers will be the real god. So the prophets of Baal called upon their god from morning until noon. Elijah began to mock their prayers around noon and the pagan prophets danced and shouted all the more, cutting themselves with knives to get Baal’s attention.

  Then Elijah called all the people to him and took 12 stones, one each for the tribes of Israel, and built an altar, put wood on it and laid the pieces of the cut up bull on it. He then had them pour water on the wood three times so that the water overflowed the trench around the altar.

    “And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to you again.’ Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now all of the people saw it and fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!’” (1 Kings 18:36-39)

    Then at Elijah’s command, the people rounded up the false prophets of Baal and Asherah and executed them all. Then Elijah went up on top of Mt. Carmel to pray that the drought, which had plagued Israel for more than three years, would to come to an end. He bowed his head between his knees and sent his servant to look to see if there were any clouds seven times. On the seventh time a cloud appeared on the horizon and soon it was pouring down rain in Israel.

  Elijah was a great prophet, but what about you and me? James tells us in his book that, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months, And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” (James 5:16b-17)

Pray:

1.     Lord help me to have the faith of Elijah and pray with the fervency and faith that he possessed as he took on the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah.

2.     Lord, thank you that you use people just like me to cry out to you with great expectancy and joy to accomplish Your purposes.

3.     Lord, forgive me of my many sins and shortcomings that block my path to You when they go unconfessed. Help me to confess and forgive regularly.