HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div
Devotional
In the New Testament, James makes an interesting observation about the story we looked at yesterday when he writes, “Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years” (James 5:17, The Message).
If we’re not careful, we can easily place the people in Scripture on a pedestal. We can feel they do live in a different dimension. But, the Bible reminds us again and again of what James makes crystal clear—men and women who populate the pages of Scripture, like Elijah, were just like us. They had the same struggles. They had good days and bad days. They had wins and losses. They had ups and downs. They were just like us, but James includes a critical component of Elijah’s life that led him to experience God’s power in his life. He “prayed hard.”
God didn’t halt the rain because Elijah was such a great guy. God halted the rain because he prayed with faith-filled passion. For James, Elijah is a shining example of what he writes in chapter five and verse six, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. ” (James 5:16b, NIV).
When we recognize that the heroes of the faith in the Bible were just like us, it will change the way we pray. We will pray with the confidence that the same God who came through for them will come through for us!
Scriptures
James 5:16-18
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
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Hebrews 4:16
Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Acts 10:34
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
