James 5:16b-18 NKJV
16b ...The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 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. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
It's not easy to persevere in prayer. So often we give up if our prayers are not answered in the timeframe we consciously or unconsciously set as we cry out to God. We look at the example of Christ and the apostles being able to perform instantaneous miraculous healings, deliverance and provision when they prayed or exercised their spiritual authority, and we question why we don't get the same results.
The story of Elijah praying for rain on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:41-45) is one of the scriptures that has often come up during our prayer times and reinforced Gods message to us to persevere in prayer. When we take a look at the story of Elijah, God tells Elijah to present himself to Ahab and He will send rain. God didn't say present yourself to Ahab, "GO PRAY" and then I'll send rain. Yet this godly, spirit-filled man who had just called down fire from heaven and executed the prophets of Baal, knew that even though God had given the promise to send rain, Elijah still had to go up to the top of Mount Carmel, bow his face between his knees and travail in prayer for the rains to come. Elijah prayed seven times in this manner before his servant saw a cloud the size of a man's hand. Upon hearing this, Elijah sends a message to Ahab to basically take cover for the rains were coming.
In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow to teach His disciples that "men ought always to pray and not loose heart" KJV. The NIV says it like this: "they should always pray and never give up". In this portion of scripture faith is the key ingredient that ensures consistent, faith-filled, fervent, persevering prayers will be answered. The encouragement for us is knowing the God to whom we pray. We have a good, just, longsuffering, patient, kind, compassionate, loving Heavenly Father who wants to help us and answer our prayers, but we have to pray in faith. Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Many of us have promises yet to be fulfilled and prayers that we are still waiting upon God to answer. It would be wonderful if all were instantaneously met as soon as we brought them before the LORD, and we know that God can and does work that way. However, if God is requiring us to continue in persistent fervent prayer, then we can trust that it is for our benefit: to help us grow spiritually, increase our faith, develop our character, build our trust and draw us closer to Him. My encouragement to you is don't give up. God is a promise making and keeping God. If He has said it, then He will do it. Believe that you will receive the answers to your prayers and that God will meet your needs as you continue to persevere in prayer.
God bless you!
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