James 5:17-18- 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Who was Elijah and how did he demonstrate this rainmaking faith? Let’s look at his story in I Kings 18.
- In faith, Elijah heard and obeyed the Word of the Lord.
Look at 1 Kings 18:1-After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”
Ahab was a wicked king who considered Elijah to be an enemy. There had been a draught for over three years and that draught started after Elijah got in Ahab’s face in I Kings 17:1 and told him in God’s name that there wouldn’t be any dew or rain for a few years. Ahab had been searching for him ever since because he wanted to kill him (18:10). So, to be told to go seek Ahab out rather than hide from him in fear for his life could have sounded like a death sentence to Elijah. Nevertheless, at the Word of the LORD, Elijah set out to find the man who wanted him dead to tell him God was now going to send the rain.
God doesn’t give His people the silent treatment. He wants to communicate with us. He wants to tell us about that which is to come. He wants to give us messages that direct our steps and that comfort our hearts. God wants to speak, but we have to have a desire to hear from Him and a desire to act on what He says.
Elijah heard and obeyed the Word of the Lord. If we want to please God and experience His miraculous power, we need to do the same.
- In faith, Elijah confronted natural and supernatural evils.
Elijah ran into one of Ahab’s servants who happened to be a God-fearing man. His name was Obadiah. Even though Obadiah feared God himself when Elijah asked him to go get Ahab so that he could meet with him, Obadiah couldn’t believe what he heard. He knew Ahab wanted Elijah’s head. Why request a meeting? Why put yourself in harm’s way? If Elijah was up to some kind of trick and didn’t plan on following through with a meeting, Ahab’s servant might have been killed for trying to set it all up. Elijah reassured Obadiah that if he would set the meeting up, he would show.
Well, let’s pick up the story in 1 Kings 18:16-24 16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” 20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. 22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the LORD’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire–he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
The 450 prophets of Baal were told to pick a bull, cut it into pieces for a sacrifice and put it on the wood but not to set fire to it. They were to call on Baal to see if Baal would start the fire for the sacrifice. After they took their turn, Elijah was going to do the same thing. Everyone agreed.
The prophets of Baal set their sacrifice up, and boy did they work hard to try to win this contest. Verse 26 says they started praying and shouting in the morning and at noon still nothing had happened. They started dancing around their sacrifice in hopes of getting their god’s attention. The whole thing was entertaining for Elijah. Remember, the whole assembly of Israel was watching this too. Elijah started to taunt the false prophets. Look what he said in verse 27: “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So, they started shouting louder and they started cutting themselves in a ritualistic way with swords and spears. This went on for hours, and nothing happened.
Elijah had taken on the king who wanted to kill him, and he had taken on 450 people who opposed his God. One person had just taken on 451 people. Elijah knew something we must embrace: One is a majority with God!
Elijah wasn’t just confronting King Ahab. He wasn’t just confronting the powers of darkness. He was also confronting the Israelite people who had wondered away from God. The Israelite community assembled to watch the contest and Elijah had some words for them. God is an amazing multi-tasker! He is always working on multiple people at once. Look at 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.
In faith, Elijah was calling God’s people to decision. They had gotten off track with God. They were playing both sides of the fence. Scripture tells us that won’t work, and Elijah had the guts to call the people to make a decision about where their loyalty would be.
- In faith, Elijah didn’t waver.
If you waver in your decision to trust God, you will experience instability in the rest of your life for the rest of your life. (James chapter 1) It’s called being double-minded.
I love that there is a sequence to the way faith is pictured in this story. The need for the people to settle that God is God comes before the abundance of rain at the end of the chapter. There had been a physical draught in their lives, but there had also been a spiritual draught in their lives. Before the abundance of rain there had to be a re-commitment to the one true God. What was about to happen was just as much to dispel any credibility of the prophets of Baal as it was to convince God’s people that they needed to place all of their hope in Him alone.
Baal didn’t answer his false prophets, and Elijah was up to bat. Before he could offer his sacrifice, however, he had to do something. Look at verse 30: 1 Kings 18:30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. Commentators argue that some of the Baalites, some who had compromised faith in God, had participated in the tearing down of the altars which had been built to revere Jehovah God. The repairing of the altars takes us to the next point:
- In faith, Elijah rebuilt what the enemy destroyed.
We have all been vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. Maybe you we need to rebuild some altars. Maybe you need to consecrate some pieces of your life back to God. Maybe you need to see some things put back together, things that the enemy has taken from you.
When the Israelites built altars, it was to honor something God had done or to acknowledge something God had revealed about Himself. It became a sacred place, a reminder that they were His people, and He was their God. To destroy an altar was then, an attempt to undo the thing God had done or to try to discredit the everlasting faithfulness of God. It was a mockery of the holy. It was a black eye to the relationship God had with His special people.
When Elijah picked up twelve stones in verse 31, one representing each tribe of Israel, he was reminding all who were present that God had a people and that God had been faithful to His people. He was lovingly calling them back to the relationship, back to where God was held in reverence and honor by them.
I don’t know what altars have been knocked over in your life. I don’t know what once was sacred to you that has been torn apart and torn down. I don’t know what pieces of your faith have been scattered and given to something other than God, but God wants to remind you that He has a people. If you are in Christ, you are one of them. He wants to repair the broken altars in your life. He wants you to remember His faithfulness and everlasting love. Let today be a day of rebuilding and healing.
Well, Elijah placed his sacrifice on the altar, and he even poured water all over the sacrifice because he wanted to give God an opportunity to show off! Elijah called upon the God of Heaven, and fire fell and consumed the sacrifice. The people, after being reminded they were God’s through the rebuilding of the altar and after witnessing God’s mighty power again in that place, they recommitted to serving Him. They killed the 450 prophets of Baal.
Remember how chapter 18 began? It began with God telling Elijah to get to Ahab to tell him the rain was coming. God was doing a lot of teaching along the way, but we finally get to verse 41 where Elijah, still in control and giving commands, says to Ahab, (NKJV) “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, 43 and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.” 44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” 45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.
Here is point 5: In faith, Elijah prayed fervently without giving up.
Elijah was almost in a fetal position as his face was between his knees. He wasn’t doubled over in pain, but in prayer. He was humbling himself before the Lord. He prayed and then asked a scout to go see if any rain was on the horizon because he was expecting it to come. Time after time the answer was “No,” but Elijah didn’t give up. The seventh time, Elijah’s servant said, “I see something! It is a cloud as small as a man’s hand, and it is headed our way!” In a very short time, heavy rains fell.
Elijah didn’t just pray and hope. Elijah persevered in prayer and expected God to move. He believed the Word of the LORD that had come to him at the beginning of chapter 18, and he stayed in prayer until he prayed through and witnessed the answer.
Elijah got wet! He got poured upon. The land and the people of God received a huge refreshing. I want the kind of faith that makes it rain! How about you?
Is it raining in your life?
In faith, hear and obey the word of the LORD.
In faith, be willing to confront natural and supernatural evils in your life.
In faith, don’t waver.
In faith, seek to rebuild the altars in your life that have been destroyed.
In faith, pray fervently in faith without giving up.
