Elijah – powerful prayer
Series: Like you and me | Bible text: James 5:14–17
Prayers are deeply rooted in an active relationship with God. They are based on asking God again and again what he wants to do, and then praying and acting on it. If we do not deepen our relationship with Jesus, our prayers are ineffective and do not hit the mark.
Wow, you saw it in the theatre, this sermon today is about prayer! And very classically it was shown on the prayer for healing. But I want to say right away that today is not just about prayer for healing, but it is about powerful prayer! And the letter of James knows all about this! We read the text in James 5:16b-17 together.
«A righteous man’s prayer can do much in its effect. Elijah was a man of the same disposition as we are; and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth three years and six months. And again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit» (James 5:16b-17 Elb).
Wow, you have to let that melt on your tongue again: «Much can the prayer of a righteous man accomplish in its effect!«That sounds like an encouraging text! Doesn’t it? Doesn’t it? Maybe you listened to the passage now and thought, «Wait a minute, am I experiencing that my prayer is doing much?» What does much mean anyway? And then there is also this example of Elijah praying that it should not rain for three years. I mean, «Come on», who among us has experienced that?
Do you know when a report/testimony is supposed to encourage you in faith, but it does the opposite? I see two dead ends that we often end up in.
The first dead end looks like this: We hear a report, we read a Bible passage and then we are discouraged because everything seems so unattainable. I call this dead end «dead end of discouragement».
The second impasse is the «Dead end of relativisation». Maybe you know this too: You read a Bible passage like «many things are possible through the prayer of a righteous man» and out of protection, you put it into perspective for your own life. «It worked for Elijah with the rain, but it doesn’t have to be that big for me» or «I like to pray for healing, but it doesn’t have to happen, after all, it’s not my business, it’s God’s.» Do you know these lines of thought?
Unfortunately, these dead ends do not lead us where the text wants to lead us. And the first clue we find is in verse 17, where it says: «Elijah was a human being of the same kind as us». Like you and me! Wow, Elijah was not more blessed than we are, he did not have more Holy Spirit at his disposal or any other advantage that we do not have. Wow, do we realise the magnitude of this comparison. Elijah was a human being of the same kind as we are. Perhaps we first need to look at who Elijah actually was. Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament. And not just any prophet, but pretty much the most important prophet of all. His mission from God was to lead God’s people away from the worship of gods. For example, he once challenged 450 prophets of Baal. The god who first answers the prayers with fire from heaven, this is the true god. While the priests broke off their prayers after several hours and gave up, Elijah prayed once and God answered with fire (1Kings 18). Later he sent word to the king that the rain would come again and shortly after it started to actually rain. Hey, this Elijah seems so special, but here he is called «a man of the same kind as we are». Do you understand what that means? This means that the whole range of what Elijah experienced can also be experienced by us.
In addition, this is in line with what Jesus says: «When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and the request will be granted to you, whatever it is»(Mark 11:24 NGÜ). It is also interesting here that a person of the same kind, means as much as «a person of the same sinful kind!» Or even «a person equally challenged in faith as we are.» Wow, James is incredibly expectant, in the same passage we can also read: «If any one of you is sick, let him be prayed for and prayer will save him» (according to James 5:14–15 Elb).
Can it be that we have lost this expectation? This expectation that prayers from us can really stop the rain for three years, that the sick will be healed immediately, financial problems will dissolve or people who have turned away from God will turn to him again. Often our expectations are reflected in our prayers. Do your prayers sound more like, «In Jesus» name be healed, or Lord, if you want you can heal him, but if not show him you love him anyway, etc.»? Often we try to cover all eventualities in prayer so that no matter what happens, God has answered the prayer. No, let us have high expectations, because James says to us that we are like Elijah. But now we still face the problem that often our prayers do not have the great effectiveness that Elijah had.
The good thing is that the text also talks about effectiveness and that is our second clue. «Much can the prayer of a righteous man accomplish in its effect.«Here, the German translation is somewhat unfortunate. In English it would sound more like this: «An effective prayer of a righteous man can do many things.«Often we only look at this «much», but the focus should be more on effective prayer. In Greek, effective means «inspired by the Holy Spirit». Prayers are not effective simply because we have an expectation or because we have no doubt that the Lord will answer our prayers. Rather, prayers are effective when they come from the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26 says something about this: «And the Spirit of «God» also intercedes for us with supplications and groans; he expresses what we cannot say with our words. In this way he comes to our aid in our weakness, because we do not know how to pray in order to pray properly.»(Romans 8:26 NGÜ). We don’t actually know how to pray, but the Holy Spirit knows, and when He tells us, we can pray for it and it happens!
This is the reason why Elijah is given as an example. Because the first thing we hear of Elijah is in 1 Kings 17, where Elijah says to King Ahab: «As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, when there shall be dew and rain in these years, except upon my word»(1 Kings 17:1 Elb). We do not even read that Elijah prayed. But it does not mean that Elijah did not pray, but the text shows more the relationship between God and Elijah. Elijah probably prayed: «God what do you want to do?«And God told him that there would be a drought. And thereupon Elijah reigned.
This shows us how strongly prayers are based on the relationship with God. If we do not deepen our relationship with Jesus, our prayers will be ineffective. It’s like playing darts blindfolded, our prayers just don’t hit the mark. And I know that many of my prayers have not hit the mark. That is hard! And this is where we might have to take a deep swallow! But we don’t want to stay here! Because that would be the dead end of discouragement, but our Bible text is encouraging. I believe that we can take off this blindfold, or even better, we can let God take it off. For it says: Much can one do Just Prayer in its effect. Hey, When the Bible speaks of the righteous, it does not mean the self-righteous, but always Jesus or those associated with Jesus. Yes, Jesus makes you and me righteous! He wants to give you the gift and take off your blindfold completely. «Him who was without sin God made to be sin for us, that through union with Him we might have the righteousness with which to stand before God.» (2 Corinthians 5:21 NGÜ).
Perhaps now you realise why I am a fan of this Bible text. This passage from James does not explain to us what we still need for a powerful prayer, but that we already have everything for it. So the core of this text points to the relationship with God: Do you have a relationship with God? And if so, what does this relationship look like for you? Because according to Elijah, this relationship is an active attachment to God. A relationship that always asks, «God, what do you want to do?» A relationship that begins to understand the Holy Spirit’s words and acts on them. Maybe you are saying, «I don’t have a real relationship with God, but I want one,» then I want to invite you to pray with me. Or maybe you think: «I have a relationship with God, but I want to deepen it», then pray with me.
Finally, I would like to encourage you once again. Now, if a prayer does not have its effect, do not say things like: «Maybe God wanted to do something else, I can’t know that, after all, everything is in his hands». Yes, it is true that it is in God’s hands, but it is in our hands to keep asking God what he wants to do. Powerful prayer comes from being connected to Jesus, asking him what he wants to do, and praying and acting accordingly.
Possible questions for the small groups
Read the Bible text: James 5:14–17
- Your own prayers reflect your expectations. How do you pray?
- How often do I ask God what he wants to do and what I should pray for?
- If I want to deepen my relationship with God, what are my concrete next steps?
