![]() ![]() Romans 4:17(ASV) says that God “ giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were.” We also have been given the same spirit of faith so that as God does, we will call things that are not as though they were.Ģ Corinthians 4:13(NRSV) …we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture-“I believed, and so I spoke”-we also believe, and so we speak… So before he even prayed, Elijah declared God’s word as a fact. Elijah heard the sound of a rushing rain by faith, because God spoke to him. And then:ġ Kings 18:41 (NRSV) Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink for there is a sound of rushing rain.” After that, the nation turned to God and they killed the prophets of Baal. We read of that provision in the rest of chapter 17.ġ Kings 18:1-2 (NRSV) After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year of the drought, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab I will send rain on the earth.” So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.įollowing this, we read of the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, where God answered by fire and consumed not only Elijah’s sacrifice, but the wood, the stones, the dust, and the water in the trench around it. After this, God supernaturally provided for Elijah during the drought. But when we read the story in 1 Kings we see that Elijah did not only pray-he boldly declared God’s word. James says that Elijah prayed and it did not rain for three and a half years. We will see from this story that the prayer of faith is accompanied by action and declaration.ġ Kings 17:1 (NRSV) Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” But let’s go back to look at the story of Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 17 and 18, which James is referring to here. ![]() He commanded them to lay hands on the sick, anoint them with oil, cast out demons, and heal them. Jesus never commanded his disciples to pray for the sick either. But when he encountered the sick, he healed them. Jesus did pray-sometimes he stayed up praying all night. Although we often may talk about praying for the sick, we don’t read about Jesus praying for the sick in scripture. This is actually the only place in the New Testament that commands us to pray for the sick. Notice that the context in James 5, where it talks about asking God for rain, is especially in relation to healing. And He brought power out of my weakness, and I began to see miracles happen much sooner than I expected! God can do what you can’t! He can work faith in you even though you may feel that you are powerless to believe! Not only that, he promises to work in you, enabling you to will and to work for His good pleasure! ( Philippians 2:13) The Story Of Elijah But I believed that God could do the impossible of bringing me to a place where I would be able to have faith for people to be healed. I was convinced that God wanted to heal people, but I felt like I was far too weak and discouraged, and just couldn’t believe. ( Hebrews 4:15) But God brought strength out of their weakness, and he can do the same for you! I remember when I first started to see healing miracles happen. Even Jesus was tempted in every way as we are. But these men had the same weaknesses as we did. A lot of times we may feel like we don’t have the same superhuman kind of faith that Elijah and other great “men of God” had. James says that Elijah was a man just like us. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ![]() James 5:14-18 (NRSV) Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The signs also pointed us toward meditating more on these scriptures. ![]() These experiences were triggered by thinking about what scripture says in James chapter five about Elijah. We had experiences both with it raining supernaturally inside and with it not raining although there was rain all around. Last week I shared the story of how the Lord used supernatural signs with rain to point us to focus on the story of Elijah. ![]()
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