Pastor Jeff Anders continues Elijah — God’s Praying Prophet on Wednesday evening. After walking again through what happened when Elijah prayed and kept on praying, and after reminding the church of nine things that will not happen if God’s people quit, he adds three more. Number ten: there is direction that just won’t be there if we don’t pray. Number eleven: wisdom we might lack. Number twelve: revival that may never come. The texts for the evening are Acts 1 and Acts 10, with James 1:5, 2 Chronicles 7:13–14, and Ezra 9–10.
When Elijah Prayed, Everything Started Turning Up
Elijah did more than say prayers. He got hold of God in prayer, and it showed in his life. Pastor Anders said that if you want to walk with God and experience His power, you have to walk with Him in prayer (James 5:16–18).
- The rain dried up — no rain for three and a half years (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17).
- The provision showed up — the ravens at the brook Cherith, then the widow of Zarephath, whose meal and oil never ran out (1 Kings 17:2–16).
- The dead rose up — the widow’s son (1 Kings 17:17–24).
- The sacrifice burned up — 450 prophets of Baal and one man of God on Mount Carmel. Baal never showed up, because Baal is not. Elijah prayed one simple prayer, and the fire of God burned up the sacrifice, the altar, and the water around it (1 Kings 18:20–40).
- The clouds opened up (1 Kings 18:41–46).
By the end of Carmel, everybody was confessing that the Lord is God and Baal is not. It was a real spiritual awakening in Israel, at least for a time. Elijah told Ahab to eat, drink, and get his chariot ready, because by faith he heard the sound of abundance of rain. Then he went back up Carmel, put his head between his knees, and prayed. Once, twice, three times, still no rain. By the fifth time, Pastor Anders said, many of us would have decided God’s answer must be no and moved on. Not Elijah. He knew the mind and heart of God, so he kept praying. After the seventh time his servant saw a little cloud the size of a man’s hand. It blackened the sky, a torrential rain broke the drought, and Elijah was waiting at Jezreel when the king arrived (1 Kings 18:41–46).
What if he had stopped? What if he had gotten discouraged, distracted by a ball game or a big sale, or disillusioned and decided God was not hearing? What would Israel have missed? And what will we miss if we do not pray?
Nine Things We Have Already Seen
Pastor Anders reminded the church of what he has preached so far in the series.
- Joy we might miss out on.
- Peace that might just be absent.
- Power — the power of God that may never be experienced.
- Gifts and blessings we will not receive. Ask, seek, knock (Matthew 7:7). God has set not only what He wants to bless us with but the means of receiving it, and prayer is that means.
- Fellowship with God that will never be what it ought to be if we do not spend time in His presence.
- Battles the enemy might win — watch and pray, Jesus told Peter, because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). Spiritual warfare is won or lost in the prayer closet.
- Lives that will never change — Moses prayed, God told him to lift the serpent on a pole, and lives were saved (Numbers 21). If Moses had not prayed, he would never have known what to do.
- Ministry that will be hindered — Herod killed James and arrested Peter to stop the gospel. The church prayed without ceasing, and God sent an angel to bring Peter out (Acts 12).
- Cleansing that won’t occur — if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse (1 John 1:9). David sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. He finally got alone with God and confessed, and Psalm 51 is the record. God forgave him and cleaned him up. As we pray, the Spirit puts His finger on areas we need to be honest about.
Number Ten: Direction That Won’t Be There
If I’ve got the right count, he said, here is number ten: there is direction that just won’t be there if we don’t pray. All of us instinctively know we need God’s direction. But there are times we do not want it, especially when we have already made up our minds. Pastor Anders admitted that if someone at church told him, “Pastor, I don’t think that’s the direction you ought to go,” he might not say it, but he would think it is none of their business. We get aggravated when people try to move us in a direction we do not want to go. We want God’s direction as long as it lines up with ours. If somebody says he is doing great, they are his buddy. If they say his direction is not so great, it takes him a few minutes to get over it. But he will.
Here is what he is still learning: God wants to direct every area of his life, not just one or two. God wants him fully surrendered to His direction, with his hands off his own life, so that God is the one providing direction and making the decisions. That is hard, because we like ourselves so much and like everything to go our way. When God brings your heart to the point where you want His direction, seek it, and yearn for it, and you ask how to find it, the answer is this: prayer is the absolute key to finding the direction of God. It comes by getting alone with God and seeking Him in prayer.
The Upper Room: They Needed Direction (Acts 1)
The early church found that out. After the Lord ascended, He told them to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high, the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4–9; Acts 2). It is easy to skip from the ascension straight to Pentecost and miss the ten days between, and miss a real blessing. They went back from Olivet to an upper room: the apostles, the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers, about 120 in all. They all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, bringing their needs to God (Acts 1:12–15).
We would like to think they sang hymns, had fellowship meals, and heard Peter teach, and maybe they did. Pastor Anders said a fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy dinner would be a good idea too. But the Bible does not say any of that. It says they were in one accord, praying. This was not calling on somebody for a few moments of prayer. They were continuing and persevering in prayer, and one reason was that they needed God’s direction.
Peter stood up and explained that what happened to Judas had been foretold by the Holy Spirit through David in the Psalms. Judas had a choice in the matter, yet God’s sovereignty was played out in every choice that was made, right in line with God’s plan (Acts 1:16–20). Now they needed a twelfth apostle, a witness with them of the resurrection, especially as they ministered to the Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 1:21–22). Two well-qualified men were put forward. They prayed for the Lord, who knows every heart, to show which one He had chosen. The lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven (Acts 1:23–26).
This was no small thing, and it should not be today. When the church chooses leaders, it ought to be serious. It is not a matter of finding out who is willing and telling them to have at it. They needed exactly the person God wanted in that position, so they prayed. If they had not been praying, how would they have known? They would have missed the direction of God. The same is true of us. If we do not pray, and keep on praying like Elijah, we may make a bad decision, take a wrong turn, and go in the wrong direction.
Peter on the Housetop (Acts 10)
Peter, who prayed and led that decision, found it true again later. Apparently Peter was a prayer warrior. About noon he went up on the housetop to pray, likely a cool spot but also a private place to get alone with the Lord (Acts 10:9). Men sent by Cornelius were already on their way, because God had spoken to Cornelius. While the meal was being made ready, Peter fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and a vessel like a great sheet let down, full of animals, many unclean under the law. A voice told him to rise, kill, and eat (Acts 10:10–13).
Peter answered, “Not so, Lord” (Acts 10:14). He recognized the voice, because he knew the Lord, before and after the resurrection, and still he said no. Same old Peter. It recalls Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus said He would go to Jerusalem, be killed, and rise the third day. Peter said not so, and the Lord rebuked him for savoring the things of men and not the things of God (Matthew 16:21–23). Even after Pentecost, filled with the Spirit and preaching with power, Peter still had character flaws, and God uses people like that all the time. The One who made the law can make an exception to it. The voice spoke a second time: what God has cleansed, do not call common (Acts 10:15). It was done three times (Acts 10:16). Peter was that strong-willed. God, who is sovereign and knows everything, was teaching a man who thought he knew everything to listen and simply take God at His word. All of it happened in his prayer life.
While Peter puzzled over the vision, the men from Cornelius were at the gate. The Spirit told him three men were seeking him, to go down and go with them, doubting nothing (Acts 10:17–20). A Jew was going into a Gentile’s house, because God was moving to save Cornelius. This was a huge moment for the early church. The gospel was about to go not just to the Jewish world but to the Gentiles. Cornelius would be saved and filled with the Spirit, a sign that God was saving the Gentiles too (Acts 10:44–46). One of the biggest moments of Peter’s life was Pentecost, when three thousand were saved (Acts 2:41). The second was Cornelius’ household, when the gospel door opened to the Gentiles. That direction came while Peter was praying.
What if he had not gone up on the rooftop? What if there had been a good show on TV, somebody posting on Facebook for him to scroll through, or a sale he had to get to before it sold out? He might never have had the vision or received God’s direction. So we have to ask ourselves what direction we are missing when we do not pray. What did God want to say to us, and we are just not in tune with what He is saying, because we don’t pray?
Number Eleven: Wisdom We Might Lack (James 1:5)
The same letter that holds up Elijah’s effectual, fervent prayer opens with this: if any of you lack wisdom, ask of God, who gives liberally and does not scold, and it will be given (James 1:5; James 5:16–18). Wisdom is spiritual insight, knowing the will, mind, and heart of God. It is more than knowing how to operate in this world. Pastor Anders said that just about every time he prays, even when he thanks God for his food, he asks God for wisdom, because he desperately needs it. God gives it through the prayer life, by getting alone with Him and persevering in prayer. Prayed for wisdom and did not get it? Do like Elijah: pray a second time, a third time, and keep on praying.
Number Twelve: Revival That May Never Come
The desperate need of our day, in our church, our personal lives, our community, and our nation, is real revival and spiritual awakening. The key is God’s people praying and continuing in prayer until God begins to move. At the dedication of the temple God told Solomon that if He shut up heaven so there was no rain (that sounds like Elijah), or sent locusts or pestilence to chasten His people, then if His people who are called by His name would humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, He would hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:13–14). Not just saying prayers, but seeking Him until revival comes.
Ezra Prayed Until God Moved (Ezra 9–10)
After the captives returned to Jerusalem, Ezra the priest came to re-establish worship. Leaders reported that the people, the priests, and the Levites had not separated themselves from the peoples of the land. Even the princes and rulers had led the way in marrying idol-worshiping women, much as Ahab married Jezebel and brought in Baal (Ezra 9:1–2). Ezra tore his garment and mantle, pulled hair from his head and beard, and sat astonished. Those who trembled at God’s word gathered around him. At the evening sacrifice he rose, fell on his knees, spread out his hands to the Lord, and prayed (Ezra 9:3–5). His prayer is recorded in Ezra 9.
The result is in Ezra 10:1. As he prayed, confessed the sin of his people, wept, and cast himself down before the house of God, a very great congregation of men, women, and children gathered, weeping bitterly. No text went out and nobody was messaged. One man prayed and kept praying, agonizing before God, and the Spirit of God began to stir hearts. Shechaniah spoke up: we have trespassed against our God, yet there is still hope in Israel. Let us make a covenant to set it right according to the law. Arise, Ezra, this is your matter, we are with you, be of good courage and do it (Ezra 10:2–4). They were repenting and saying they would do whatever it took to get right with God.
That is what spiritual awakening looks like: God’s people who have sinned start getting honest with Him, seeking Him, and obeying Him. It happened because Ezra began to pray and kept on praying until God began to move. What if he had said his prayers and then gone to a sale, a new restaurant, or a ball game? That revival would never have happened. We talk about revival, but it does not come until God’s people pray, keep on praying, and do not stop. Elijah set the example: keep on praying until God sends the rain, until God sends the revival.
He closed by asking God to work in their hearts and stir them to prayer, and to raise up men, women, and young people willing to stop playing and start praying.
Take-Homes
- Elijah got hold of God in prayer and kept praying until the cloud the size of a man’s hand became rain (James 5:16–18; 1 Kings 18:41–46).
- Nine losses so far if we quit: joy, peace, power, gifts and blessings, fellowship, battles the enemy wins, lives never changed, ministry hindered, and cleansing that won’t occur (Matthew 26:41; Numbers 21; Acts 12; 1 John 1:9; Psalm 51).
- Number ten: there is direction that just won’t be there if we don’t pray. We often want God’s direction only when it matches ours.
- God wants to direct every area of life. Prayer is the absolute key to finding His direction.
- The upper room church prayed with one accord because it needed direction, and the choosing of Matthias shows that choosing leaders is serious business (Acts 1:12–26).
- God’s sovereignty was at work even in Judas’ choices (Acts 1:16–20).
- Peter received direction that opened the gospel to the Gentiles while he was praying on a housetop, even while saying “Not so, Lord” (Acts 10:9–20; Matthew 16:21–23).
- TV, scrolling, and sales can keep us off the rooftop. What direction are we missing when we don’t pray?
- Number eleven: wisdom we might lack. Ask God, and keep on asking (James 1:5).
- Number twelve: revival that may never come. Humble yourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn (2 Chronicles 7:13–14).
- One man’s weeping, persevering prayer brought Israel to confession and repentance (Ezra 9–10).
- Stop playing and start praying. Keep praying until God sends the rain, until God sends the revival.