Main Idea: We discover the power of God’s promises as we connect with them in prayer.

This morning in our series "The Days of Elijah" we are going to talk about how you and I can connect with the power of God’s promises. The Bible is full of promises--literally there are thousands of them. They are words that God has spoken through his human instruments in his written word. They are sources of life, hope and fulfillment for us. They are words that contain power waiting to be accessed by our lives. The question is, though, how do we connect our lives with their power. Well, we do it the way Elijah did it. How did Elijah connect with the power of God’s promises? He did it through prayer. What I want us to see today is that we discover the power of God’s promises as we connect with them in prayer.

When you think about it, Elijah’s life ministry began with a promise that God spoke into existence. The very first place we encounter Elijah is his coming to the palace of King Ahab in Samaria and speaking something that he had obviously been told to speak by God. Remember he told the king, "As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God whom I worship and serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years unless I give the word!" (I Kings 17:1) The dynamic of this is something that fascinates me. Think about it for a moment. God is observing all the actions of those supposedly claiming to be his people. The actions, especially of the king, are reprehensible. When he sees that they are not going to change on their own, he determines that his discipline is necessary. The method of his discipline is a devastating drought.

Now to communicate this message he chooses a human named Elijah to go to the king and tell him what God has said. We don’t know if there was any kind of internal struggle on Elijah’s part to go to Ahab with this message but the very first thing we see and hear of Elijah is his speaking a promise of God into existence. Elijah became the voice that delivered a disciplinary promise of God. When he spoke this message he had no knowledge that we are aware of, that it wasn’t going to cloud up and rain that next day. Yet in faith or through faith Elijah stepped forward and spoke a promise of God into reality. Once that occurred it was out of Elijah’s control. From that moment on it was at God’s direction and control as to when, how, and where the promise would be fulfilled.

You recall that immediately after Elijah had spoken this that the text records, "Then the Lord said to Elijah…" (I Kings 17:2) or as the NASV says, "And the word of the Lord came to him…" commanding him to go and hide during this time of drought. Elijah does and I Kings 17 is the record of Elijah’s own experience of this horrible drought and the famine that resulted from it. Day after day there was no rain. In fact we learn that it didn’t rain for three years for I Kings 18:1 says, "After many months passed, in the third year of the drought…." Elijah may have been wondering if God was going to relent his punishment and restore the land. But all the while God was delaying the rain he was developing Elijah for his use. God’s delay did not mean that God had forgotten only that he had a plan that would come about on his time. One thing Elijah learned was that God never forgets his promises.

One day after three years of drought, famine, death and disease, God spoke again to Elijah and told him, "Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain" (I Kings 18:1). Once again Elijah allowed himself to connect with God’s promises. God had said that it wouldn’t rain and it didn’t for three years. Now he has said that it would rain soon. He didn’t say when—just soon. However, Elijah’s only response was obedience so he goes and shows himself to Ahab.

We know from last week that Ahab was none too thrilled to see Elijah again (I Kings 18:17). In response, Elijah calls for a once-and-for-all showdown between the false prophets of the god Baal and himself. When he sets the terms of the showdown that the god who consumed the sacrifices by miraculous fire would be the winner, he had no personal experience that this would work! I mean we don’t know of him going off and practicing the "water on the sacrifice" routine. All we know is that Elijah had been so trained by God that he lived by what God said. Elijah had learned by life’s experience what Moses told the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:3: "…people need more than bread for their life; real life comes by feeding on every word of the Lord. " What he knew was that God could be trusted to keep his promises and if God said it then that was all he needed to survive.

After successfully winning the showdown and eliminating the priests of the god Baal, Elijah is ready for the actual fulfillment of God’s promise. In verse 41 Elijah knows that God’s eternal clock has begun to move again so he tells Ahab, " Go and enjoy a good meal! For I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!" (v. 41). He does this in shear, absolute, naked faith because there was nothing going on except the dry wind blowing the dust of a broken land. Ahab does what Elijah has said while Elijah humbles himself in prayer before God (v. 42). While he is praying he sends his servant to go and look toward the sea and see if there is any sign of rain. His servant tells him there isn’t but Elijah sends him back seven times (v. 43).

Oh, I love this next verse: "Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, "I saw a little cloud about the size of a hand rising from the sea." Then Elijah shouted, "Hurry to Ahab and tell him, 'Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don't hurry, the rain will stop you!' " (v. 44) Do you see the power of believing God’s promises here? There is nothing happening except one small cloud off in the distance but that is all Elijah needed to hear. He tells Ahab to hurry because it is going to rain so hard he may not make it back! What faith Elijah was demonstrating!

Notice what it says next: " And sure enough, the sky was soon black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm, and Ahab left quickly for Jezreel." (v. 45) It was rain! Rain that hadn’t been seen for three years. Rain that sprang from a tiny cloud had become a torrent now flooding every dry creek bed and reviving the crops and the land.

Can you picture what it says Elijah did? God’s power so came upon Elijah that he pulled up his robe, tucked it in his belt and took off running. He was so caught up in the fulfillment of God’s promise that he outran the chariot of Ahab! Elijah had dared to believe three years ago that what God said was exactly what God would do. He had realized the power of God’s promises in real life and there was no way to contain the excitement and joy of being part of that. James writes of this moment so simply: "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years! Then he prayed for rain, and down it poured. The grass turned green, and the crops began to grow again." (James 5:16b-18)

How did Elijah discover the power of God’s promises? James says he did it by effective prayer. What I want us to see for ourselves is that very same thing: We discover the power of God’s promises through effective prayer. How do you do that? Let’s look at some principles that I find in Elijah’s experience that can guide our own.

The first thing that I observe here is that Elijah was willing to risk the adventure of living life by God’s direction. (I Kings 17:1, 2-3, 8-9, 18:1). Repeatedly in chapters 17 and 18 there is one phrase that recurs: "The Lord said…" or, "The word of the Lord came…" God was speaking to Elijah and God’s speaking to Elijah was an open invitation to join God in what God was wanting to do. Once Elijah encountered the voice of God it was his choice to either risk obeying what he heard God say to him or to reject that. If he risked obedience, then the opportunities suddenly became limitless. If he rejected God’s word then his life would ever be lived in the limits of his own choices and decisions.

The wonderful mysterious thing about being a follower of Jesus Christ is that we are given the opportunity to risk living life by God’s direction. Now you and I don’t hear God speak to us as he spoke to Elijah because today God speaks to us uniquely through his word, the Bible, by the inspiration of the Holy Sprit. The sad reality is that most Christians never experience this adventure because they never place themselves in a position to hear what God says to them about his plans and purpose for their life. As long as they ignore the words of God in the Bible they will forever live wondering what it means to risk the adventure of living life by God’s direction. What is the best way for us to encounter God’s invitation to risk living under his direction? You have heard me say it so many times but we do it by reading the Bible in some manner every day.

Most of you are aware that we are without three key staff positions in our church: Children, Youth and Education ministers. We have excellent committees that are prayerfully and earnestly searching for persons that God wants to fill those positions. Back in May, while reading in Jeremiah, I came across this verse: " I shall also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the Lord." (Jer. 23:4) Now that scripture became God’s voice and his promise to me that he knew that what he said to Jeremiah 2800 years ago was a comfort to me in 2006. I have gone back to this verse many, many times. That verse became for me an invitation to risk the adventure of living my life under the direction of God’s direction! Is it easy to be in a position where you are living your life out of your control? No, but it is an adventure and it is never boring! God wants you to live your life under his direction but you will never know that unless you put yourself in a place to hear his voice speak to you through his word.

Another thing that Elijah did that allowed him to discover the power of God’s promises is that he didn’t try to control or determine God’s actions or decisions (I Kings 18:1). Recall that it was three years from the time Elijah pronounced the drought until God told him that it was going to rain again. God told him to tell Ahab, "I will soon send rain." All Elijah was was the spokesman. He was the voice. God was the one in control of the weather. All Elijah did was show the computer graphics! Over three years Elijah learned that there was nothing at his control. He was totally dependent on what God did or did not do and all he could do was wait.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have a song called "The Waiting" that says, "The waiting is the hardest part...you take it on faith, you take it to the heart, the waiting is the hardest part." That’s true in life but it is especially true when we risk living life under God’s direction. Choosing to live by God’s direction means we give up control of our own directions and our plans. Once we give up control of our plans and our desires, it means that we are challenged to wait on God to do what only God can do and "the waiting is the hardest part."

Recently I have become anxious for God to give us someone to lead our Children’s Ministry on a permanent basis. Our committee has searched for over a year. We have a wonderful interim but we have not found that one person. If I am honest with you, while waiting on God I had become resentful of God. This past Tuesday God invited me, very early in the morning, to a "come-to-Jesus" meeting with himself. While in study and prayer, he reminded me of this verse, " For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." (Jer. 29:11).

What was he saying? "I care more about the church, its ministries and its children than you ever thought about. I know what I’m doing. Your job is to wait, obey me and not to make your own plans. I know the plans that I have for you!" Has God said he would provide leaders for us? Yes! Am I or are you in control? No! Once we say "yes" to God’s direction then we release our right to determine God’s decisions.

Now here is where it gets good. Elijah had been so prepared by God over there years that when God was ready to act Elijah was ready to join him. When God was ready to act, Elijah was ready to connect to God’s promise by prayer. (I Kings 18:41-44). There was something for Elijah to do and what God wanted him to do was pray. What you see is that Elijah got alone with God, humbled himself on his face before God, specifically asked God for what he had promised, persisted when it seemed nothing was happening and was expecting God to do what God said he would do. James said that when Elijah prayed for it not to rain, not a drop fell. When he prayed for it to rain, "down it poured!"

This is where the human side of our connection with God’s promises comes on the stage. While there are many human things for us to do in connection with God’s promises, the main thing God wants us to do is pray! Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened." (Matt. 7:7-8) E. M. Bounds writes, "By prayer we bring these promises of God’s holy will into the realm of the actual and the real…If it is to be asked what is to be done in order to render God’s promises real, the answer is that we must pray…" (The Best of E. M. Bounds, p. 16). You may think, "Is that it? Is that what it comes to?" If that is your question, then my answer is, "You don’t truly understand prayer." The Message translation of James 5:16 says, "The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with."

So are you ready to connect with God’s promises? Then pray – get alone where you can express your desire fully to him, allow yourself to be broken before him, get specific about what’s going on, stay at it when it seems like nothing is happening and just start looking for God to show up! If you are ready to connect with God’s promises, then pray and that prayer becomes more powerful than you ever dreamed.

I still marvel at the expectant faith of Elijah. All there was was a tiny cloud in the distance and that’s all it took for him to know that God was answering his promises. Elijah’s expectancy was, in turn, answered by God’s extravagance – "the sky poured rain" (James 5:18). Aren’t you ready to have God do something extravagant in your life? Then start looking out on the horizon. It may seem at first as something small but it is the beginning of God’s answer to his promise. All he is wanting from you is to believe.

There is a scene in the first Lord of the Rings movie where the fellowship of travelers must enter the ancient mines of Moria for a perilous but ultimately redemptive journey. It is their one and only way through the treacherous mountains to safe haven. Only, the huge stone doors leading into the mines are sealed shut. Over the arch of the door is written, in Elvish, this inscription:

The hobbit Merry asks the de facto leader of the party, the wise and ancient Gandalf, what his means. "It’s quite simple," he says, "If you’re a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open." Gandalf musters his powers and in his deepest and most solemn voice utters some ancient incantation.

Nothing. He speaks again, with command authority. Nothing. He pushes against the door. He shouts. He gets angry. Nothing. Hours later, they’re all still there, bored and anxious, Gandalf muttering away. The door hasn’t budged. Gandalf sits down, his back to the door, weary, defeated. Frodo the hobbit looks and reads the inscription once again: "Speak friend and enter." "It’s a riddle," he says, "Gandalf, what is the Elvish word for friend?" Gandalf looks at him, puzzled, annoyed. "Mellon," he says. And with the uttering of that one word, the door swings open." (The Holy Wild, Mark Buchanan, p. 31-32)

When it comes to the promises of God sometimes we try so hard to see them fulfilled. We push, we shove, we shout, we declare, we plan and design our best ideas in order to bring them into reality. And all we do is wear ourselves out. When all God intends is for us to speak to him in prayer and enter. We discover the power of God’s promises as we connect with them through prayer-and what a discovery it is!

Sunday, July 9, 2006

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org