This scripture is in a context – Nation was in idolatry. The thoughts of Elijah at this point as seen in the previous chapter were in sync with God’s will. That is our first insight into prayer. Prayer is the union of our thoughts as believers with the thoughts of God. No wonder we were taught to pray for God’s kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven. In 1 Kings 17 we see Elijah declaring that there shall be no rain in the land. Verse 1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” It is pretty interesting that he says except at my word. We find this word of the LORD that has now become the word of Elijah in Deuteronomy 11:16-17 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain, and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.
Prayer allows us as stewards of God’s Grace to manage the affairs of God on earth. We see this in Daniel chapter 9:1-4 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, Here we see Daniel praying from Insight – understanding from the scriptures what the will of God is and entreating the LORD to intervene. Daniel is like the sons of Issachar who understood the times and seasons and knew what Israel ought to do. We ask God for this ability. As a matter of fact, Jeremiah 8 verse 7 tells us that Even the stork in the sky knows her time to migrate. The dove, the swallow, and the crane All take flight when the time is right. But not so with My people. They do not know or care about the Eternal’s commands.” Prayer is about movement – migrating to the spiritual position that is consistent with God’s will per time. Prayer facilitates “KNOWING.”
As Daniels sets himself to pray in chapter 10, we are made aware of a battle happening in another realm, he receives intelligence from the heavenly realm about systems and structures here on the earth.
Let’s talk about repairs for a minute. The word repair implies rectify ,mend , make complete, fit out , arrange , adjust – beautiful words that we want to become flesh in that our prayer life will be rectified , adjusted, and strengthened in the name of Jesus.
1 Kings 18:36-39 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—He is God! The Lord—He is God!”
We agree that without faith it is impossible to please God and Elijah demonstrates his faith in God and His Word. Important elements of this event.
Prayer is the culture of our kingdom Acts 1:14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Prayer and the Word of God go hand in hand. We said that the Word of God is His Breath, and in Romans 8 we are introduced to the Spirit who helps us pray – just like worship is in spirit and in truth we discover that prayer is also in truth (Word based) and in spirit. Romans 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
R.A. Torrey has always blessed me, and this is something he has said concerning prayer “It was a praying church. It was a church in which they prayed not merely occasionally, but where they all continued steadfastly in the prayers.'(Acts 2:42) They all prayed, not a select few, but the whole membership of the church.”
Let’s define culture for a minute- culture can be defined as the outcome of a citizen’s relationship with a kingdom’s authority, law, and government. Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Culture is a way of life adopted by the people of God in our context. It is about what we believe, our values, knowledge and how we transmit the knowledge of God and our way of life in Christ to generations yet unborn. Prayer is core to our civilization.
Let us Pray :
Father in the Name of Jesus here we are for the installation of Your Word , let it become flesh so that we can be continuously one with You at all times. Forgive us and adjust us , today break all type of fragmentation, mend every gap in our lives, families and as a church where the enemy has dug underneath our foundations and undetected we ask that You deposit new Grace for us to rebuild, repair and restore as families and as a church , today we ask that You release to us the technology that quickly detects secret enemy activities that ruin the foundations of lives, today we cry our for repair, reconstruction, and the reestablishing of that which was broken , we embrace being build by You and building the structures of our lives according to Your will and Your plan, We surrender to Your searching so that if anything in us offends You can be removed, from this day cause us to be burdened and mindful of Your agenda and affairs in the earth. We give You glory, honor, power and praise in Jesus’ Mighty Name. Amen
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