Sep 20, 2020 Elijah - The Power of Prayer... and Yes, It is Okay to Complain to God

Lord, link our hearts together in unity and love. Draw us into You, Your kingdom, and Your work. Thank You for Your love – because of that we give ourselves to You. Open our hearts, through Your word, to hear what You would have to say:

1 Kings 18:41 ⁴¹ Then Elijah told Ahab, "Go on up and eat and drink, for the sound of a heavy rainstorm can be heard." ⁴² So Ahab went on up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel. He bent down toward the ground and put his face between his knees.

That phrase – is the posture of prayer. The Role of Prayer in Elijah’s Ministry

Looking at 3 passages – the approach to prayer varies, depending on the situation and circumstances. Point 1 – there is not one RIGHT way to pray! At times, it will be fervent, intense, passionate, crying out to God. Other times, like here with Elijah – it is silent – just the bowing – sticking his head to his knees. At other times, the prayer is mostly praise and thanksgiving – and at other times, remembering God, who He is, and what He has done for us.

At other times, it is complaint – or to use a biblical phrase, Lament – where he is questioning or arguing with God. And each of these is completely appropriate – and this should show us how to shape our own prayer lives.

Prayer is much more than a method of ‘getting things from God’ – more than our Wish List.

Prayer IS about making requests to God – that is part of it, but it is only part of it. There is a lot more to it than that!

It is more than a spiritual exercise.

It is important to have regular times of prayer – but it has to be much more than something you check off your list – it has to go deeper than that.

Prayer is more than just talking to God. First, we should be listening to God. Especially in our prayer times. I understand there are times we are in a difficult situation and cry out to God – but other times, we need to cease and know that He is God – and let Him direct us based on what He knows. Let God lead us in prayer by listening to Him and find out what He might be saying.

Prayer should be as natural as breathing. It is something we should not have to think about! It should just flow out of us. The practice of prayer allows us to live moment by moment in God’s presence, hearing from Him and communicating with Him!

Back to chapter 17 – we looked at this story with the widow and her son – but I want to look at his prayer here:

1 Kings 17:20 ²⁰ Then he called out to the LORD, "O LORD, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?" ²¹ He stretched out over the boy three times and called out to the LORD, "O LORD, my God, please let this boy's breath return to him." ²² The LORD answered Elijah's prayer; the boy's breath returned to him and he lived.

This is a prayer of complaint – of lament! He is questioning – did you bring me here to kill this woman’s son. To pray like this might feel inappropriate! You can’t argue with God, can you?! But the Bible is filled with these kinds of prayer!

One psalmist said – Pour out your heart to him.

God wants us to vent!

He longs for that! And we need that!

I find there are seasons – I’ve had seasons where prayers of lament dominate. There are other seasons where we don’t even think about that – but there are times life becomes confusing – and I encourage you to go to the psalms of lament or Lamentations -and pray like they prayed. Pray their words. It is a practice all of us must learn when it comes to prayer – and it is hard, because we want to be polite and proper – but God is not interested in that!

PLEASE – Elijah prayed – and it is a form of desperate begging – knowing how much we need God. Go through the stories where Jesus answers requests in the gospels. People are pleading with Him – they have no other hope – desperate and begging – but in the understanding that God is the only one who can change things.

Think about this in our country – there is no other solution! Do you believe that about our country? There is only one solution and it is God.

The second prayer I want to look at – the time with the prophets of Baal

1 Kings 18:36 ³⁶ When it was time for the evening offering, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and prayed: "O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel

(the first thing we see is a reminder of WHO God is and what God has done – this isn’t just about who you know – but HOW God acted for those. There is praise, and thanks. We tend to want to just jump right into it. Remembering WHO God has been in the past will help us in the present)

… prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.

The next request – prove yourself! Reveal yourself! Show up! How we need that kind of prayer now, to ask God to show up in these circumstances we are facing.

³⁷ Answer me, O LORD, answer me,

Do something!

so these people will know that you, O LORD, are the true God and that you are winning back their allegiance."

Finally, his prayer is others focused. It is about other people – that God would act in others’ lives. We can ask that God would act in PHYSICAL ways – when someone is sick – we understand that is important – but we also need to pray for others’ spiritual lives – that they would know You are God!

⁴¹ Then Elijah told Ahab, "Go on up and eat and drink, for the sound of a heavy rainstorm can be heard." ⁴² So Ahab went on up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel. He bent down toward the ground and put his face between his knees.

In this position Elijah takes – a posture of prayer – a position of a servant to a master or a subject to a king. When we come to God in prayer – we know that there is a God and it is not ME! He is the one who reigns – we do not. What we are seeking in prayer is God’s mercy and grace for our own lives and for others. God loves to give His mercy and grace.

We are not winning points by praying a lot, we are seeking his mercy, grace, and compassion.

That story goes on:

⁴³ He told his servant, "Go on up and look in the direction of the sea." So he went on up, looked, and reported, "There is nothing." Seven times Elijah sent him to look. ⁴⁴ The seventh time the servant said, "Look, a small cloud, the size of the palm of a man's hand, is rising up from the sea." Elijah then said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up the chariots and go down, so that the rain won't overtake you.'"

As we have seen, Elijah’s prayers are varied in style – but also, are the ways God responds. In the altar story – there was this immediate and spectacular reaction from God – fire comes down and consumes everything! And we like those kinds of responses – and occasionally that happens.

But in this case – this is a slow working of God that requires patience and ongoing faith. I have found for me – that is usually what I get.

God likes to grow my character by making me wait in patience and persistence.

Prayer allows us to recognize the small, almost imperceptible workings of God.

If we understand prayer from what we have talked about in the beginning – moving into His presence, it allows us to discern His activity – Often we don’t see the small cloud because we don’t take the time to hear, observe, and listen.

It is just a small cloud in the distance – and Elijah knows what that means.

God has a lot of small clouds throughout our lives that He wants us to pay attention to:

⁴⁵ Meanwhile the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind blew, and there was a heavy rainstorm. Ahab rode toward Jezreel. ⁴⁶ Now the LORD energized Elijah with power; he tucked his robe into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

God poured his grace upon Elijah and he ran faster than the horse!

Each yielded different results – loud, and quiet – and one doesn’t yield more than the other!

Prayer and Spiritual Formation

Prayer is not so much about what those praying can cause to happen, but about what happens in those who pray. (H. Nouwen)

Prayer is FIRST – it first and foremost transforms US – and not God. God needs no transforming! We need transforming – all of us – continually – we need to be reshaped in our inner beings. Our inner beings have been affected by the Fall – and prayer allows us to partner with God in our spiritual formation and discipleship. When we take the attitude that prayer’s first job is to reshape me, it allows us to join Him in that.

Prayer and Kingdom Activity

Prayer is not a substitute for action, It is an action for which there is no substitute.

(M. Thompson)

We see in the gospels, Jesus getting alone with God for prayer – and afterwards, Jesus goes into massive kingdom work.

In praying for someone, prayer should thrust us into action!

If we are prayer for the work of the gospel to spread throughout the world, it should impel us to action!

Now is a great time to pray – more than that, a most-necessary time to pray – for so many reasons, and with that – a phenomenal opportunity to launch into what I would call Sermon on the Mount Kingdom work!

Doing the work Jesus taught us.

Lord, thank You that You are listening at this very moment – You hear from us – and are working in our souls, transforming our inner being into Your image – help us to engage in Your world fully as You taught us – not as we think, but as You taught us, that we might follow Your example and teaching!