Elijah wasn’t equipped with unique-to-him abilities. He wasn’t embedded with superpowers. James says, “Elijah was a human being just like us. He prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years!” (James 5:17 NCV). Elijah became Elijah by praying that way.

Let a man spend a night fasting and praying at the bedside of his sick child, and that father will not be the same man. Let a young mother pour out her complaint to God over the death of her young child, and that young mother will be forever changed.  Let a church challenge God to purge sin and send revival, and there is no way that church will be the same.

Prayer changes the heart of the one who prays. And prayer touches the heart of the One who hears it.

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When the son of his friend died, “Elijah stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him’” (1 Kings 17:21 NKJV). Elijah had no precedent upon which to base this prayer. Up to this point in Scripture, no person had been brought back to life. He did this because he believed in a living God.

There are occasions in which we rest in prayer. There are other occasions in which we wrestle in prayer. Elijah wrestled. Elijah did first what mattered most: he prayed…passionately, dramatically, thunderously. Let’s do likewise. Let’s heed the command of Scripture: “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God…” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT).

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“Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing…Elijah lay on top of the boy three times. He prayed to the Lord, ‘Lord my God, let this boy live again!'” (1 Kings 17:17, 21). The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer, the boy began breathing again, and was alive.

What if Elijah holding the dead boy is a picture of you and me in the midst of a sick society? Did you know that nine out of ten young people in Great Britain believe that life has no meaning? What happens when ninety percent of a generation find no reason to live? Anxiety, anger, depression, despair, suicide. We, like Elijah, have been handed a corpse. Elijah shows us what to do. Prayer was his strategy for the tragedy.

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No verse in the Bible promises the absence of struggle. Quite the contrary. Scripture is stained with tears, problems, injustices, immorality, and wars. Tough times come with life. But troubling times don’t have to take the life out of your life.

God gives us this invitation: “Pray it through.” It is what troubles you, fatigues you, shames you. It won’t have the last word. God will. Prayer slaps handcuffs on the culprit. Prayer marches the problem into the presence of God, the One who can solve it.

The prophet Elijah is remembered as an example of radical prayer. He is living proof that “when a believing person prays, great things happen” (James 5:16 NCV).

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We’d prefer to fill a storehouse with a lifetime’s worth of courage, cash, and convictions. Yet God wants us to trust him day by day. Elijah’s word to the widow is God’s word to us: “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry” (1 Kings 17:14 NIV). Elijah spoke to her with faith; she responded in faith. She turned and obeyed.

In order to swim upstream in a downstream culture, we, like the widow, have to make a choice. Will we obey God? When you are weary, God is your strength. Lonely, God is your friend. Weak, God is your provider. Fortitude follows faithful obedience. Do what the widow did. Go to the kitchen, empty the jar of oil and flour, trust. The God who filled it today will fill it again tomorrow.

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Soon after I began following Jesus, I sensed a desire to write Christian books. I cobbled together a manuscript and mailed it to fifteen publishers. Fourteen rejected it. I was beginning to think I should take the hint when one said, “Yes.” Before I knew it, my writing ministry was airborne.

It’s been over forty years and nearly fifty books. I seem to have more book ideas than I have time to write them. I am a testimony to God’s provision. Trust him. If he calls you, he will equip you. He will give you what you need when you need it.

“God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV).

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“There was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:15-16 NIV). Each day Elijah, the widow, and her son gathered around a table and had a miracle for a meal. Heaven’s delivery system continued as long as the trio needed it.

Jesus spoke of God’s faithful generosity. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you…?” (Matthew 6:30 ESV). You aren’t one scoop away from empty. It’s not just you and your depleted energy. It’s not just you and your concerns. You don’t face the assignment alone. If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill.

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Zarephath was a Gentile city occupied by Baal worshippers. The chief of the city had a daughter named Jezebel, Elijah’s archenemy. Elijah arrives with nothing. His purse and tummy are empty. Elijah spots a woman. Emaciated. Destitute. I envision Elijah stepping in her direction, and beneath his beard a smile is taking shape as he reviews God’s blessings. Protection in the court of Ahab, provision in the paucity of Kerith, and a shield of safety during the trek to Zarephath.

In your case would the God who gave you grace last week not give you grace again? Unbreakable courage requires good recall. Spiritual amnesia makes spiritual wimps. Spiritual remembrance makes spiritual giants.

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God sees the needs of tomorrow and, accordingly, creates the training of today.

He did so with Agnes. As a young girl she was on fire for her faith.  She left her home, her family, and country and became a missionary. She gave God everything, and God gave her a test: loneliness. She felt as if God had left her. On and off for fifty years, she battled a secret pain. Only late in life did she come to see her suffering as a way to understand the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all the people who feel unwanted. It was only then that Agnes—Mother Teresa—saw her test as part of her call.

Your test is a part of your call as well.

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The prophet Elijah was headline news in the nation. He was also a sitting duck for a big head. So, in a preemptive measure, God led him to a creek where Elijah would be utterly dependent upon a brook for water and some birds for food.

The enemy of the saint is pride. We must fight it like the foe it is. Take note of your “hat size.” Are you getting a big head? Then volunteer for menial tasks—wash dishes, sweep floors.

You are loved but not indispensable. You are God’s child but not God’s golden child. You have a place in God’s plan, but you are not essential to God’s plan. The smaller we are, the more room there is for God.

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