To study the life of Elijah is to study prayer. When he prayed, crazy things happened. It stopped raining. A dead boy came back to life. Fire fell from heaven. It started raining again. Another word for crazy might be supernatural. When Elijah prayed, the supernatural resulted. But that is what prayer is. When we pray we ask God to do what only He can do. Prayer defies the laws of physics and common sense. We ask God to intervene in our world. That is supernatural. That is prayer.

The writer of James wants to make sure that we understand that all of us can pray like Elijah. We, too, can see supernatural consequences to our prayer. So we should take lessons from Elijah and learn to pray like him.

When God speaks, take a stand on what he says.  Elijah heard the sound of heavy rain. He knew that sound was God telling him to pray for rain. His faith demanded that he proclaim to the king that rain was on the way. No playing it safe. No keeping it to himself. He publicly and boldly stood on God’s word.

Invest yourself in prayer. Assume the posture. Spend the time. Humble yourself. Continue in prayer. Do the work. Though we can pray our way throughout ever day…as we live it, there are times prayer requires deep personal investment. Engagement. Not casual, drive-by prayer.

Pray for as long as it takes.  Who can predict how long it will be until the answer comes? But if God has promised, the answer will come. Six times, Elijah sent his servant to look for rain clouds. Six times the servant reported nothing. But Elijah did not quit praying.

Watch closely for God to move. The answer to prayer may come initially in the smallest of beginnings. For Elijah, it was a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising out of the sea. How many people even noticed? Only those paying attention…only those watching…will see the initial stirrings of God’s Spirit. But notice we must and act we must!

(These are the teaching notes from 8/19/12 based on 1 Kings 18:41-46.)