PRAYING IN FAITH AND HOLDING ON

GLEANINGS FROM THE LIFE OF ELIJAH (BIBLE STUDY COLLECTIONS)

·         It is not the prayer that shut the Heavens that will open the Heaven…Ask Elijah! Every new dimension in life comes via a new dimension of prayer. Elijah shut Heaven with prayers and when he needed the Heaven to open, he did not depend on the prayers he prayed three and half years ago; the Bible says “And (Elijah) prayed AGAIN and the Heaven gave rain” (James 5:18). This is what it means to pray without ceasing.

·         This thing about Christians saying God will do everything for them isn’t spirituality at all, but perhaps ignorance. They simply say that since God has said it, whether or not they do anything about it, it shall come to pass. Sounds “spiritual” but indeed, it’s error. So, God will pray for you, fast for you, help you study the Bible to locate God’s promises, believe them for you, etc. Hmmm. This is not faith. God has said many things about you, but you have to establish them through prayers and faith. Every word of promise and prophecy would remain hanging until the prayer of faith is released. This is the law of divine establishment of God’s promises. Look at this: God told Elijah that He (God) will send rain upon the earth after three and half years (1 Kings 18:1). That was an assurance enough for anointed Elijah to perhaps go and sleep expecting the rain to come. But he did not…He knew that as much as God’s words are forever settled in Heaven, yet for there to be earthly manifestation there must be prayer connection. So, after he (Elijah) had declared to Ahab (according to God’s word) that rain was coming, Elijah went up and “cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees…and he prayed AGAIN, and the Heaven gave rain” (1 kings 18:41-42; James 5:18). The covenant of God to send rain was converted from its raw spiritual form into a visible earthly manifestation by the tool of prayer. Stop believing God to pray for you or do your responsibility; stop running from one prayer/spiritual house to another searching for who will pray to God for you…who says God cannot hear your voice? It takes the prayer (of faith) to establish your blessing. Pray! You are blessed.

·         Still on Elijah and manifestations of God’s promise to send rain. God promised to send rain, Elijah started praying, and then he sent his servant to go and see if there was any cloud symbolic that rain was coming. The servant went the first time and came back to say there was nothing. Someone would say, ‘but God promised me, but nothing is happening yet and whereas I am praying’. But Elijah did not stop praying. As much as he understood, once God had said it, and there is prayer connection, it was just a matter of time. Then he sent the servant the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth times, and the young man came back with the same report that there was nothing…but Elijah did not give up; he clung to God’s word, he hung unto prayers and faith. This is what it means to pray in faith and pray without ceasing. However, this is the moment many people give up and throw in the towel…they feel god is either unfaithful, too slow or doesn’t answer prayers. And then Elijah sent the seventh time, and this time there was a sign of manifestation, and then rain came. Let me explain something here; the time between spiritual ordination and physical manifestation is called WAITING. You wait in prayers, you wait in faith…God never lies.

It is not unlikely that there are some promises that God made to you at the beginning of this year that are yet to be manifested physically and you are already thinking perhaps God has forgotten. Friend, God never forgets. It is possible for a breastfeeding mother to forget the sucking child, but God says He never forgets you. Keep trusting Him, never give up…God is too faithful to fail. He has never failed, and you cannot be His first failure. God bless.

·         I feel God is trying to pass a message across to somebody about WAITING ON GOD’S PROMISES. Many know the story of Nehemiah, how he prayed to obtain favour before the king and how the king granted him his desires. It appears so serially that we usually think it this way; Nehemiah prayed and fasted yesterday, and God gave him favour before the king today. But, let us see more critically (but briefly). Nehemiah 1:1, he got the news in the month Chisleu. Nehemiah 2:1, and it came to pass in the month Nisan that the king favoured him. The month Chisleu is November in Greek, while the month Nisan is April in Greek. So, it is obvious that Nehemiah prayed in November…then December passed and that year ended yet nothing happened in the physical. Then January came and passed; February passed; March passed and still nothing happened. Then one day in April, the king was moved and favoured him…after 4 months. The big question is; when Nehemiah first prayed, did God hear? YES! But why did the answer seem to delay until 4 months later? This is what is called waiting period.

Friend, from the day you lifted up your voice to pray, God heard you and something took place in the spiritual realm, but the physical manifestation is based on God’s perfect timing…but it will surely come to pass. God is always on time; keep the faith! Anything that delays is coming big. God bless you.