“Elijah was a man with human frailties, just like all of us, but he prayed and received supernatural answers.” James 5:17a (TPT)
Most of us do not think of Elijah as one of us. He is in a league of his own. After all, it was Elijah that met with Jesus and Moses on the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17:3) and it was Elijah who took on the prophets of Baal and defeated them on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:16-40). Yet James tells us that Elijah was just like us. Meaning, he had his flesh to contend with. He had his doubts and fears. Remember, after his great defeat over the prophets of Baal, he believed the report (threat) from Jezebel and ran for his life.
Elijah, a man just like us, prayed and God moved. He prayed for the heavens to stop rain and it did for three and a half year and Israel went into a drought. He prayed again, and the skies open and “the earth produced its crops” (James 5:17-18). His prayer was not simply something he wished for, or hoped God would do. He prayed with earnest, not giving up until the answer came. Check out 1 Kings 18: 41-46 to get the full story, but it says he kept praying even when there was no sign of the answer. In fact, he had his servant go back to see if a cloud had formed, not one time, but seven times! He persisted in faith-filled prayer, and God answered. God still answers when we ask in faith and persevere until heaven responds!
Ask God to stir up your faith to believe what you ask for. Take a risk today, and ask God for something huge, and begin pressing into for the answer until it comes. God responses to these types of prayer as long as it comes under Jesus’ name (and will). Ask God to bring heaven’s alignment to your praying, that your prayers would match God’s heart. Ask God to awaken faith-filled, persevering prayer in your church and across our city. Ask God to awaken a faith-filled, persevering prayer movement across our city!
