Sovereignty and Prayer part 2

I want to come back to prayer and sovereignty, make sure you read yesterday’s blog, but this time let’s go back to 1 Kings 18.  James points out Elijah’s example in terms of prayer, but this passage fascinates me.

18:1 says, “After many days the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, ‘Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.’”  God is going to end the drought…He could just send rain, but He involves His prophet.

You can read the chapter, but after the showdown with the prophets of Baal, verse 41 says, “And Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.’”

Keep reading, but 42-46 shows Elijah on top of Mount Carmel.  He bows himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees.  He is praying for the rain God said He would send.

He sends the servant to go and look toward the sea and see if the rain was coming…verse 44 says it was seven times before he saw the rain.  Why did Elijah have to pray seven times for something God said was going to happen?

I simply don’t know, but I do know this…James, under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, says, he was man just like us, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it didn’t rain for three years.  And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced fruit.

God works through the prayers of His people.  Even when He initiates the idea…He works through our prayers.  Andrew Murray said, “God’s giving is inseparably connected with our asking…”

So, if God prompts you to pray…pray and keep praying until He removes the prompt or answers the prayer.