Skip to main content

Elijah, the vibrantly praying servant!

The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea.” 1 Kings 18 : 44

Good morning, friends. Elijah warned the King Ahab and the people for they were not faithful to God and won many souls for God at Mount Carmel.

Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.

We learn a lot from this passage.

One: There was no rain for three years, till the people and the king Ahab turned back to God and till the Baal and its prophets were slaughtered at Kishon valley. This clearly shows that there should not be anything between you and God to have your prayers answered. Anything should not be a prayer killer and nothing should be a barrier for your prayers to reach Heaven. When you throw away or stop giving high priority to the idols like statues, money, career, family, job, evil habits, etc… you’ll see the rain, i.e. the answers to your prayers.

Two: Elijah made the people realize that the Lord only is the living God. You and your life should convey the same to others. If your nation has to be blessed, not only you, but everyone has to turn back to God. What are you doing today to let this happen? At least, are you having a real burden that others should come to the Lord?

Three: Elijah asked the king to eat and drink. He asked the king to rejoice for the purpose of the drought was fulfilled. In the same way, when we leave all our idols, there is a great celebration in Heaven and the God will pour out His blessings on you and yours. And there will be no more weeping, but only feasts. This doesn’t mean you’ll have a smooth bed under your feet always; there will also be the path of problems, but God will give you peace and rest as He works out everything for your good.

Four: Even before the rain came, Elijah told that there was a sound of heavy rain. When Elijah’s servant looked up, he saw nothing. But Elijah was very confident on God and on His prayers. Friends, many times we too pray, but we keep on praying without confidence. And that’s why we’re not able to receive the answers. Elijah proclaimed the victory even before he actually saw the victory. So the Lord honored his faith and gave rain.

Five: When Elijah asked his servant to go and look up, his servant came and reported that he saw nothing six times. Elijah didn’t give up. He again asked him to go for the next time and there came the victory. There was cloud as small as a man’s hand. When you pray with lot of faith and when you see no immediate result, what are you doing? Are you praying a persistent prayer? I think some of us will pray a persistent prayer for ourselves. But are we praying persistently, till we get a ‘yes’ from the Lord for others?

Six: When we ask for something big like heavy rain, we may sometimes see only a small cloud as small as a man’s hand. But never give up. The big torrent is on its way. Our God is an awesome God. He can call everything out of nothing. Elijah knew it and the Lord reminds us today. Trust in Him for He’s a big God.

Seven: Can you guess the reason for such a heavy rain? It’s the prayer of the righteous man, Elijah. Just concentrate more on how he prayed. Climbed up to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees, he prayed. He prayed diligently and vibrantly for his nation. Today the Lord needs more and more people to stand in the gap and pray vibrantly. If you choose to fulfill His desires, He can use you like He used Elijah.

Comments

  1. "Five: When Elijah asked his servant to go and look up, his servant came and reported that he saw nothing six times."

    It's a fine point here, but Elijah told his servant to "go up" once and "go back" seven times, for a total of eight trips his servant made to wherever he went to look out to the sea. Why eight?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Your protective shade!

The LORD Himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade.  Psalm 121 : 5 I know it has been a very long time since I have sent God’s Word to you. Since this is the first email in 2014, I have been waiting to send you either my personal testimony or one of my friends’ testimonies. I have drafted several emails, but didn’t send anything. Today, I am not able to keep quiet when I think about what God has done for me over last weekend. If it is God’s will I will meet you again with a wonderful testimony of my friend, while I am sending mine to you now. Many of you know a bit about me. I traveled onsite in the year 2010 and returned to India for good in July, 2013. I got married in August, 2013 (this itself is a separate testimony) and started going to office from September, 2013. Since I had my visa valid for 2 more years I had been asked to take up an onsite assignment and was not offered a project at offshore. I had some concerns in traveling o

Lazarus' Deliverer

Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:18 Easter is the most special day in the history that gave hope to the mankind! Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary was dead four days before Jesus reached Bethany. Jesus loved that family and they loved him as well. He was not there when Lazarus was sick. Lazarus was buried when Jesus reached Bethany. His sisters were weeping. Jesus also wept. They told Jesus, “Lord, if you have been here, Lazarus would not have died.” They moved on to Lazarus’ tomb. There was a stone across the entrance. Surely there was bad odor. Yet, Jesus said, “Take away the stone. If you believed, you would see the glory of God.” He prayed and there came Lazarus alive with his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” God’s love is the same toward everyone! He doesn’t show favoritism. He love

Jehovah Jireh!!

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.   Proverbs 3:5-6 Good morning, friends! I'm here with a testimony. After returning from office, I was searching for my personal laptop at my house and I didn't find it for a while. Here the maintenance people can come in anytime even when we're not present. But they are trustworthy. So I didn't worry because I knew that I should have misplaced it today. Then I realized how much I'm trusting even the people whom I have never known before.  Many times I worry too much about what will happen to me in the future. But Bible asks me not to lean on my own understanding. I know I will first try out all the possible ways on my own strength before leaning on the Lord. When everything fails me, as I have no other go, I would submit myself and my cares on Him. It was just a day before I started from Nashville I got a confirmatio