He  Prayed with  Expectancy

1 Kings 18:41  And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” (NIV)

1  Kings 18:43 “Go and look toward the sea, “he told his servant.  And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there, ” he said.  Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” (NIV)

Elijah kept praying.  Elijah kept sending his servant back to look to the sea.  Why?  Because he was operating in faith in the promise of God.  He knew the rain was coming.  The word for, ‘rain’ in verse 41 refers to a heavy down pour. He was expecting BIG THINGS from God.    If we are going to see results in our prayers, we must pray with expectancy!  We must pray and believe that God will do what He has promised to do.

Mark 11:24  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

    His Prayer was Persistent

1 Kings 18:43b “Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” (NIV)

 Seven times Elijah tells his servant to go and look to see if any rain is coming. Elijah did not allow the outward circumstances affect the persistence of his prayer. Sometimes, like Elijah we experience delays in answers to our prayers. When those times come let us continue to be faithful in our prayers, waiting on God’s answer. Let us learn to be patient. If God has placed something in our heart to pray about, pray until it happens. Elijah had to pray until the job was done. Let us be persistent in our prayers.

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.(NIV)

His Prayer was Earnest

James 5:16-17

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.(NIV)

 Elijah was sincere about his prayer. He prayed with great passion and fervency.  He was moved to a place of prayer that many of us fail to go to. His  soul was moved with the need of the people. He felt the pressure of the thing he prayed for! May the Lord deliver us from weak  prayers that avails nothing! May the church be a place of fervent prayer!  As we are praying sincerely, specifically and unselfishly, God is answering the prayers of his people.   Yes, there are many more request that we need to continually bring before the Lord, but stop and give thanks right now for what God is doing.  That is one important reason to come to church.  When you are still believing God for something in your life, your faith is built up when you hear of how God is moving in other people’s life.  Continue to pray for God to BreakThrough!! 

His Prayer Was Specific

James 5:17-18 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.(NIV)

 The bible tells us that Elijah was very specific in his prayer life. He did not waste time on mere generalities, but he prayed in faith specifically naming the things that needed to be done. God honors this kind of praying! If you do not pray specifically, you will never know when the Lord answers your prayer! Pray specifically about the things you want to see done!

  1 Kings 17:1a “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead,“

The lack of information about his background only adds to the Mystery of Elijah`s.  Because he suddenly appears on the pages of scriptures many have tried to fill in the blanks and speculate about his background. But it almost seems that the lack of information was for a reason. It seems to point that he came out of obscurity, not with a lot of family connections, not with great education, not someone who was a celebrity. He was a man that did extraordinary things, but he was just an ordinary person. It this not the way that God operates so often. He relishes in taking people who are not know to man and using them in powerful ways. In doing this people will recognize that it is God who is working through man and not a work of man.

Who was this prophet Elijah that made such an impact on history, that he was still talked about hundreds of years later at the cross where Jesus was being crucified (Matthew 27:47-49).

Elijah and his successor Elisha lived in an time when, the miraculous was evident in their life in exceptional ways. Healing the sick, raising the dead and calling down fire from heaven was just some of the powerful supernatural miracles that had not been seen since the time of Moses. It seems that some had even had looked at Elijah as more than a prophet. This is why some had mistakenly thought Jesus would call upon him to help him. Because some had elevated Elijah to more than a man, James address this in the New Testament

 James 5:17a “Elijah was a man just like us.“ James 5:17b“He prayed earnestly“

 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.  He prayed again and the rain came. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.  If Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, then we can be men and women with the power of prayer like him.