Day 7: Prayer That Does Not Give Up
Bible passage: James 5:13–18; 1 Kings 17:17–24
One Week In
Today is Thursday 7th of January 2021. Welcome to Day 7 of our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Well done for completing the first week. Today we ask God to put fresh fire into our praying.
“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 (NLT)
To show what he means, James points to one man. Elijah, he says, was as human as we are (James 5:17).
A Man Just Like Us
No Superhero
We tend to put the people of the Bible on a pedestal. James takes Elijah down from his. This was a man who knew fear and discouragement, and who once sat under a tree and asked to die (1 Kings 19:4). What set him apart was not a different nature. It was that he prayed, and he meant it.
In an Upstairs Room
In 1 Kings 17, there is a famine in the land and Elijah is lodging with a widow in Zarephath. Her son falls ill, grows worse and stops breathing. She is beside herself with grief.
Elijah takes the boy from her arms and carries him up to the room where he is staying. He lays him on the bed and cries out to the Lord. He stretches himself out over the child three times and asks God to let the boy’s life return (1 Kings 17:21). The Lord hears him. The child revives, and Elijah carries him back down to his mother.
Three Times
Elijah did not pray once and give up. He came back to God again and again. Jesus taught the same thing. Keep on asking, He said. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking (Matthew 7:7). And He promised that our Father in heaven gives good gifts to those who ask Him (Matthew 7:11).
We do not persist in order to wear down a reluctant God. Persistence deepens our dependence on Him and makes us ready for His answer.
Praying with Fervour
What Earnest Prayer Is
Earnest prayer is not measured by its volume or its length. It is wholehearted. The mind and the heart are both engaged, and we mean what we say.
James also says that it is the prayer of a righteous person. In Christ we have been made right with God (2 Corinthians 5:21). And in the same verse, James tells us to confess our sins to each other and to pray for each other. A clean heart keeps the line clear.
Three Steps for Today
Go back. Is there something you used to pray for and have quietly stopped? Pick it up again today.
Pray with someone. The first Christians devoted themselves to prayer together (Acts 2:42). Ring or message a friend and pray with them.
Leave the timing with God. His answer may not look like what you expected or arrive when you hoped. Keep trusting Him.
Paul puts it in a single verse. Rejoice in our confident hope, be patient in trouble and keep on praying (Romans 12:12).
Prayer for Today:
Lord, teach me to pray. Thank You that You invite me to keep on asking, seeking and knocking. Forgive me for the prayers I have given up on. Stir my heart again. I bring You the needs I have carried for a long time, and I trust You for the answer in Your way and Your time. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Keep going
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