"After many days, the Word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, 'Go, show yourself to
Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.' So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine
was severe in Samaria... Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down upon the
earth and put his face between his knees and said to his servant, 'Go up now, look toward the sea.'
And he went up and looked and said, 'There is nothing.' Elijah said, 'Go again seven times.' And at
the seventh time the servant said, 'A cloud as small as a man's hand is arising out of the sea...'
In a little while, the heavens were black with wind-swept clouds, and there was a great rain."
(1 Kings 18:1-2; 42-45)
The drought and famine had lasted three long years when God brought the promise of rain to Elijah. This was the moment when Elijah would have to choose what he would do with this promise from the Lord. Would he focus on the dire circumstances that surrounded him or would he continue to "pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1)?
Time continued to pass and still there was no rain. Yet, Elijah persisted in his faith and expectant prayers that God would fulfill His promises. After the seventh time of praying and looking for the rain, a small cloud finally appeared in the sky. And after that, the deluge of rain ensued.
Elijah believed that God would do what He said He would do. In addition to that belief, there were three things that Elijah understood about his role in God's plan: that God's power was within him, that God's power would be released through his prayers, and that God would add His holy fire to Elijah's prayers in order to accomplish His purposes.
So he persisted. And persisted. And persisted. He built himself "up in his most holy faith" (Jude 1:20), and he waited for God's timing.
Elijah understood that God was "able to do abundantly more than all [he] could ask or think according to the power that was at work within [him]" (Ephesians 3:20).
In this scripture, the Greek word for the word according is kata. Kata means "to measure out". This means that we are responsible for measuring out God's unlimited power and resources into the circumstances He has given into our hands.
We do this through our prayers. As God's children, we have access to all the power and authority we will ever need to live victorious lives in Christ. The book of Ephesians tells us that God "has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing (given by the Holy Spirit) in the heavenly realm!" (Ephesians 1:3).
We receive our power from heaven and then release it on this earth. When we truly understand who God is and who we are in Him, we will rise up and release that same power and authority into our circumstances. Then, in faith and with expectancy, we stand strong until we see God move on our behalf.
The book of Revelation tells us that God adds holy fire to our prayers. In the fifth chapter, we are told that incense is added to the golden bowls in heaven, which are filled with the prayers of believers. Then we are told that an "angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints,
went up before God and out of the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightening and an earthquake" (Revelation 8:3-5).If ever there were a time when the world needed God's fire, it is today. We need God's fire to burn brightly within us. Just as God is a consuming fire, we, too, can burn brightly for His glory. Even while we wait. Even when life is hard.
There are many believers today who are being tried and tested in their faith. There is a special promise that God gives through the prophet, Zechariah, for such testing. God says, "I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My Name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is my God'" (Zechariah 13:9).
Persistence brings God's blessing to our lives. The parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) describes the difficulties believers will face in the last days. Despite injustices, this parable teaches that prayer is a matter of faith and that as we wait on God's deliverance it will be our persistent prayers that sustain us. Power is released from heaven when we persist!
"We can do nothing without prayer. All things can be done by importunate prayer. It surmounts or removes all obstacles, overcomes every resisting force and gains its ends in the face of invincible hindrances."
E.M. Bounds
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