James 5:17-18 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Our thirst for superheroes gets in the way of what God wants to accomplish in our prayer lives. Think of it - do the sounds of the words "cancer" or "AIDS" (or ...) make us search for the right prayer warrior, healing service or traveling miracle worker instead of filling us with the sense of battle and steadfast determination that they should?
Elijah was contending for the faith of the nation; his prayer for famine was not to have people go hungry, it was to turn them away from following a false gods. The battle was, from the outset, much more than he could handle, since he was "just a man like us." But it was a battle that Almighty God wanted fought and won because He cared about His people.
We must make sure we're fighting God's battles (a separate discussion, but we must contend for His Kingdom and not our own), but then, whatever the battle God lays before us, praying for Him to "go before us" (Isaiah 52:12), we can stand with the confidence of Elijah and see the power of God to save.
The lesson in James 5 is to build up the prayer lives of each believer, not for self-reliance but for God-reliance and vital faith so that our joy can be complete (John 16:24).
Let us pray ...
Our thirst for superheroes gets in the way of what God wants to accomplish in our prayer lives. Think of it - do the sounds of the words "cancer" or "AIDS" (or ...) make us search for the right prayer warrior, healing service or traveling miracle worker instead of filling us with the sense of battle and steadfast determination that they should?
Elijah was contending for the faith of the nation; his prayer for famine was not to have people go hungry, it was to turn them away from following a false gods. The battle was, from the outset, much more than he could handle, since he was "just a man like us." But it was a battle that Almighty God wanted fought and won because He cared about His people.
We must make sure we're fighting God's battles (a separate discussion, but we must contend for His Kingdom and not our own), but then, whatever the battle God lays before us, praying for Him to "go before us" (Isaiah 52:12), we can stand with the confidence of Elijah and see the power of God to save.
The lesson in James 5 is to build up the prayer lives of each believer, not for self-reliance but for God-reliance and vital faith so that our joy can be complete (John 16:24).
Let us pray ...
