Hello again! Your love and prayers continue to carry me! This week, I have been very aware of the whole ministry of prayer. Interestingly, the prompting has come through some very 'down' and emotional moments. I read this devotional once; however the encouragement came through re-reading it again.
Not sure if you've heard of the classic, " Streams in the Desert". Let me share the one from April 29:
"Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly." (James 5:17)
Thank God Elijah was "just like us"! He sat under a tree, complained to God, and expressed his unbelief--just as we have often done. Yet this was not the case at all when he was truly in touch with God. "Elijah was a man just like us," yet "he prayed earnestly." The literal meaning of this in the Greek is magnificent: instead of saying, "earnestly," it says, "He prayed in prayer." In other words, "He kept on praying." The lesson here is that you must keep praying."
Climb to the top of Mt. Carmel and see that great story of faith and sight. After Elijah had called down fire from heaven to defeat the prophets of Baal, rain was needed for God's prophecy to be fulfilled. And the man who could command fire from heaven could bring rain using the same methods. We are told "Elijah...bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees" (I Kings 18:42), shutting out all sights and sounds. He put himself in a position, beneath his robe, to neither see nor hear what was happening.
Elijah then said to his servant, "Go and look toware the sea" (I Kings 18:43). Upon returning, the servant replied, "There is nothing there." How brief his response must have seemed! "Nothing!" Can you imagine what we would do under the same circumstances? We would say, " Just as I expected!" and then would stop praying. But did Elijah give up? No. In fact, six times he told his servant, "Go back." Each time the servant returned saying, "Nothing!"
Yet "the seventh time the servant reported, 'A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea'" (I Kings 18:44) What a fitting description, for a man's hand had been raised in prayer to God before the rains came. And the rains came so fast and furiously that Elijah warned Ahab to "go down before the rain stops you."
This is a story of faith and sight--faith cutting itself off from everything except God, with sight that looks and yet sees nothing. Yes, in spite of utterly hopeless reports received from sight, this is a story of faith that continues "praying in prayer."
Do you know how to pray in that way--how to prevail in prayer? Let your sight bring you reports as discouraging as possible, but pay no attention to them. Our heavenly Father lives, and even the delays of answers to our prayers are part of His goodness."
Thank you for holding on with me ... like Elijah -- in prayer that I will see His hand of mercy in my life.
