Elijah - Praying for Promise

Let's pray father. We thank you for tonight. We thank you for the word of the Lord We thank you that is it is the living and abiding word that speaks to us right where we are at And tonight Lord we ask that you'd use your word to challenge every one of us To be the men and women you want us to be in light of the life and times of Elijah the great prophet That we might understand your call upon our life in Jesus name. We pray. Amen First Kings chapter 18 is where we're at first Kings chapter 18.

We're gonna finish the chapter tonight help you understand Some more about Elijah and how he prays for the promise of God we know that the Lord God of Israel has been exalted and the false prophets have been exposed and Executed and now comes the promise of rain that somehow this dry parched land Will be moistened by the rains from heaven. It has been three and a half years and there's been no rain There's been no clouds only bright blue sky with lots and lots of sunshine to scorch the land so that there's nothing left in the land and so now the promise is going to come and God's going to send rain upon the land and there will be a great outpouring of God's blessing upon the nation of Israel But you know Israel should have known all of this, you know, God tells us what he's going to do when we obey God also tells us what he's gonna do when we disobey so it's not like it's rocket science for Israel or for us God said way back in the book of Deuteronomy these words Deuteronomy chapter 11.

He said The land into which you are about to cross to possess it a land of hills and valleys Drinks water from the rain of heaven Moses is speaking to the nation a land for which the Lord your God cares The eyes of the Lord your God are always on it from the beginning even to the end of the year It should come about if you listen Obediently to my commandments, which I'm commending you today To love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul That he will give the rain for your land in its season The early in the late rain that you may gather in your grain and your new wine in your oil He will give grass in your fields for your cattle And you will eat and you will be satisfied beware that your hearts are not deceived and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will shut up the heavens So that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit and you will perish quickly from the good land Which the Lord is giving you Israel should have known that God told them you obey me you honor me you love me You serve me and you will receive the blessings from heaven.

I will take care of you I will watch over you, but if you Disobey me if you turn against me if you worship other gods go a different direction No blessing No rain, and that's exactly what happened it had been a number of years that God had continued to bless Israel until Elijah came on the scene in first Kings 17 verse number one and God delayed his punishment That's the grace of God the mercy of God.

There are times when you disobey the Lord and nothing happens and That's a bad thing Because if nothing happens when you disobey the Lord guess what you're gonna disobey the Lord again and again and again And think wow, God is so gracious so forgiving and so good for me to live in disobedience Why don't his keep disobeying the Lord and all of a sudden? everything comes crashing down and God at his mercy and grace has let you live the way you lived but sooner or later your sin will find you out and The blessings will stop Well Israel had lived an idolatry ever since King Solomon and the nation had been divided and God had waited and waited To somehow somewhere Someone would come along take them back to Deuteronomy 11 help them to understand what God would do if they obeyed But they did not and under the reign of the seventh king of the northern kingdom King Ahab Who did more sin than anyone else up to that point led the nation further and further?

away from the Lord God of Israel so God says that's enough and sends Elijah and Tells the king it's not going to rain until My word is given and it didn't for three and a half years You know so many times We as believers in the Lord need to understand That God truly wants to bless us.

I firmly believe that I don't think God's Up there and the heavens thinking boy. I sure hope they disobey because I really want to get him good God's not that way God wants to bless his people He wants to honor his people. I Love what the the book of Proverbs says Proverbs chapter 3 Verse number 7 do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord turn away from evil. Okay? It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones If you fear the Lord if you turn away from evil Only blessings going to come And then it says over later in the book of Proverbs 28 chapter verse number 9 he who turns away his ear from listening to the law even his prayer Is an abomination You turn your ear away from listening to what God says When you go to talk to him Even your prayer is an abomination Because you're going to ask God to bless you when you're living in disobedience to his word God has spelled out all throughout the scriptures.

You honor me. I will honor you You obey me I will bless you But if you decide to turn away from me and do your own thing It will cost you And yet so many times we continue down that path Israel did until the day That Elijah called for the prophets of baal to come There on mount carmel It was a monumental day It was a momentous day You go to israel today. They have a huge statue of elijah And he's got this sword in his hands and he's slain the 450 prophets of baal And they have a monument to that to this event But what makes this event so unique is not the slain of the prophets It's what happens after that Which so many people miss The slain of the prophets was a great event And can you imagine?

What would have happened or what happened when the people left that day? I mean they all went home Elijah didn't ahab didn't we'll see in a moment, but they all went they all went home And can you imagine the conversation on their way back to their homes? And how they would respond to those that weren't able to make it how they would relay the information to those people Wow, man, you should have seen what happened today all the prophets of baal They were they were dancing around the altar and they were cutting themselves and they were yelling and chanting and and calling upon baal To come and send fire, but he didn't it went on for six hours and nothing happened And elijah mocked the prophets of baal.

There were 450 of them and there was just one little prophet elijah And then elijah Beckoned us to come to him and we did He invited us to come and see and we put water all around the the altar and we We we cut up the bollocks and and he called and cried for fire and fire came right out of heaven and consumed it all and then and then we we cried out in in in in honor of the king and He told us to seize the prophets and we did we dragged them all down to the brook kishon And there he slayed them all he cut them up and they all died what a day man, this was amazing They would go home telling people and while they were going home It would rain They were caught in the rain going home And they didn't matter it didn't matter too much to them because it hadn't rained for three and a half years But they would go home and they would explain to their families to their friends What had happened on that day?

but in all reality What took place afterwards? Stands as the monument in the new testament By which elijah is commended Let me read it to you.

First kings 18 First kings 18 verse number 41 now elijah said to ahab go up eat and drink For there was a sound of the roar of a heavy shower So ahab went up to eat and drink but elijah Went up to the top of carmel And he crouched down on the earth And put his face between his knees He said to a servant go up now look toward the sea so he went up and looked and said there was nothing He said go back seven times It came about at the seventh time that he said behold a cloud as small as a man's hand is coming up from the sea They said go up say to ahab prepare your chariot and go down so that the heavy shower does not stop you In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind And there was a heavy shower And ahab rode and went to jezreel Then the hand of the lord was on elijah and he girded up his loins and out ran ahab to jezreel This is an amazing story to understand what took place let's begin by looking at elijah's command to ahab He commands ahab go eat And drink, why would he do that?

imagine ahab Ahab was a was a shallow man ahab was a hen pet man ahab was A weak man I mean he did nothing said nothing When the prophets of baal were unable to accomplish their task All he could do was watch from a distance as all those prophets that he had appointed Were being slain in the the brook tishan He didn't defend them Didn't try to stop elijah He just stood by And watched helplessly He did nothing He was unaffected by the miracle of the day Nothing in his heart changed He could have been the kind of man that said boy elijah boy was I wrong You are not the troubler of israel i'm the troubler of israel you were right I was wrong Everything that I had set out to do was wrong.

You're right. You're god The god of israel the god of abraham isaac and jacob. That's the true god I I repent I turn from my sin I want to worship your god As my god But he didn't He did nothing Because he was committed to the deeds of the flesh Elijah knew that So elijah commands him go and eat because he had already prepared what he would do to celebrate the fact that the prophets of baal would call fire down from heaven and They would stand supreme But they didn't So elijah knew about his fleshly appetites And sent him off to do what he was going to do anyway I think about that for a moment How many times do you know people that are unaffected?

By what they hear and see the lord doing unaffected It makes no difference to them They are not moved to follow the lord Their hearts are hardened to the truth that has been spoken They don't move That was ahab He was unrepentant He was unmoved by the events of the day He had seen what all israel had seen He'd experienced it firsthand up close personal. He was there but unmoved nothing Pricked his conscience He was the same Afterwards as he was before And therefore he was completely unaffected The only thing that concerned him were his earthly passions his fleshly passions Elijah knew that If ahab would have said, you know what elijah?

I don't want to eat. I don't want to drink I want to be with you elijah. I want to do what you're doing elijah. I want to pray with you elijah Elijah probably would have spotted okay But he didn't Over in the book of isaiah, these words are spoken Isaiah 5 verses 11 and 12 Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink Who stay up late in the evening that they may? Or that wine may inflame them Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp by tambourine and flute and by wine But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the lord Nor do they consider the work of his hands And why don't they?

because their fleshly appetites Take precedent over everything else And that was ahab And elijah knew that So he commands him just go eat go drink do what you were going to do anyway ahab Because you're unmoved by the events of the day You're unrepentant Nothing's changed and so ahab goes and he he eats and he drinks When I think about that I think of the way it's going to be in the end when The tribulation is upon the earth And there are signs and wonders taking place because of what god is going to do through the breaking of the seven seals And the blowing of the seven trumpets and the pouring out of the the seven bowls upon this earth The bible says way back in the book of revelation the 16th chapter It says in verse number eight that the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun and it was given To it to scorch men with fire Men were scorched with fierce heat And they blasphemed the name of god who has the power over these plagues And they did not repent So as to give him glory They would be experiencing firsthand the plagues of the day And yet instead of repenting they choose to blaspheme the name of the lord It says in verse 10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became darkened and they gnawed their tongues because Of pain and they blasphemed the god of heaven because of their pains and their sores and they did not repent of their deeds They did not repent of their deeds In spite of the overwhelming evidence That the lord god of israel was at work They would not repent Why not Well back in luke's gospel.

We have a hint it says these words It says and just as it happened in the days of noah So it will be in the days of the coming of the son of man They were eating and they were drinking and they were marrying They were being given a marriage into the day that noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all It was the same as happened in the days of lot They were eating they were drinking they were buying they were selling they were planting they were building But on the day that lot went out from sodom and rain fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all It will be just the same on the day that the son of man is Revealed in other words when jesus comes again, and the tribulation is upon the earth In spite of all the supernatural events taking place upon this planet And the lord god enacting his judgment upon the people that that are here They go on as if nothing's happening the everyday events of eating and drinking and planting and and sowing and and And being married and being given in marriage.

They just keep doing what they've always done because they are unaffected by all the signs around them Instead they would rather not repent and rather blaspheme the name of god Ahab had seen the miracle of god on mount carmel He heard the nation That he had ruled over Say that the lord he is god And yet he was unmoved by any events that day He would not be changed So elijah commands him You go You do What you're going to do what you've always done you go eat you go drink you do your daily activities They have go on as if nothing's ever happened.

Go ahead Do your thing? he was Unrepentant there was no regret. There was no remorse He was unchanged Because elijah He had work to do And that moves us to our second point and that is elijah communes and converses with god Elijah is going to commune with the living god elijah Is going to do his spiritual exercise He's going to claim the promise of god God said at first kings 18 verse number one you go and you confront ahab you go and meet ahab Because i'm going to send rain So ahab already knew I mean elijah already knew what god had said about the coming rain It was time now for the rain to come But it hadn't rained yet.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky There hadn't been a cloud for three and a half years. It was bright Deep blue and the sun was shining down And so without a cloud the sky Elijah is going to claim The promise that god had given to him that he would send rain and so He practices his spiritual discipline He does What he was called to do And he begins to pray He tells a lot he tells ahab Go up eat and drink For there is a sound of the roar of a heavy shower There was no cloud in the sky But you see he knew it was coming Although he couldn't see it with his eyes.

He knew it was going to come because god had given him a promise And he was going to claim that promise God didn't say it was going to rain on that day He just said you go and confront ahab because i'm going to cause it to rain So elijah didn't know if it was going to be that day or or the next day or or the day after that He did not know but he didn't know what god had already said So he claimed that promise and he went up and bowed down And began to pray he said god's going to send a heavy shower that word shower is the same word used in genesis 7 To speak of the of the global flood that took place when rain descended heavy rains ascended upon the earth There was going to be a deluge it was going to be all kinds of of of water in the land of israel and so he goes he bows He bows With his head between his knees As he crouches down You see the reason Listen carefully the reason that elijah was bold Before the earthly king is because he bowed before his heavenly king You bow before your heavenly king you'll be bold before everybody else And that's why he was bold Because he lived a life of prayer and communion with the living god So he began to pray Ahab went up to eat and drink, but elijah went up to the top of carmel He crouched down on the earth And put his face between his knees He said to his servant go up now look toward the sea So he went up and looked and said there's nothing you remember carmel is a ridge That that descends into the the mediterranean sea And so he would send his servant to look over the sea to see if anything was coming.

There was nothing coming He goes back and says elijah There's nothing there now. We don't know who his servant is Some commentators believe it was the the son that of the widow that he raised from the dead I mean after all elijah didn't have any friends, right? I mean he was all by himself. So who would his servant be? Except for the young man that he raised from the dead So some would assume that that's the servant so he would run out and he would he would do what elijah said he'd come back And says there's nothing there.

He says go out and do it again. Go out and do it again. Do it seven times Keep going out there because it's going to rain Elijah was persistent Elijah was fervent He was going to pray because he knew that god had promised rain And it had to rain So he claimed the promise of god That's where james 5 16 comes in where the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man of man of much Elijah prayed and it rained Elijah prayed and it didn't rain I mean this was the the effectual prayer the fervent prayer of the righteous man That would cause great things to happen that would move the hand of god within a sovereign will begin to pray Because he knew exactly what god said say well if god promised rain, why even pray?

If god had promised him that it was going to rain does he really need to pray? Yes, he does why because the promises of god incite us to pray They motivate us to pray they revive us in our prayer life. They don't cause us not to pray They make us want to pray Let me give you a personal illustration Years ago when when my first wife went home to be with the lord, I began to pray I knew I had the gift of celibacy.

I knew that god had called me into my first marriage And so I began to pray lord. I need a wife I need a wife So as I began to pray I prayed psalm 1968 that says thou art good And do us good I said lord. You are a good god and you only do that which is good And you were good in giving my wife to me and you were good in afflicting my wife with cancer And you were good in taking my wife from me because you are good and you do us good And then later in psalm 119, I think it's verse number 72 it says or 76 it was good That I had been afflicted That I might learn your decrees So I said lord, I know that it was good for me to have been afflicted Because I needed to learn your decrees.

There was so much I needed to learn from your word I also know that romans 8 28 says That god causes all things to work together for good To those who love god and are called according to his purpose And so I begin to pray lord I know that you're a good god and I know That you work all things out for good to those who love you and have been called according to your purpose and that's me And then I said lord, I know that psalm 84 11 says no Good thing does the lord withhold from those who walk uprightly and the bible says in proverbs 18 22 That whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing So with all that goodness i'm praying for a good thing I'm asking you to provide for me in a way that only you can provide And god did And 30 years later eight kids later god has blessed me with the greatest good thing.

He could have ever blessed me with But I believe in what the word of the lord said But I would pray God's word. I would pray exactly what god said in his word Because I can only pray About what god has already spoken about And pray with assurance and confidence that he will hear the prayer and answer the prayer So I began to pray fervently and diligently and god provided You see it's imperative that we pray the promises of god I have a little book in my office called the promise book And it has all these promises that that god has has recorded in his word And as I was reading through those promises this week, I was reminded once again on how it motivated me to pray to pray those promises The promise like proverbs 22 verse number six where it says train up a child in the way He should go and when he was old, he should not depart from it Now the question comes what is the way in which he should go?

Well, if you read the book of proverbs the way is always the way of righteousness and so when you look at Proverbs 22 6 in context of the book of proverbs the way is always the way of righteousness Tramp a child in the way of righteousness and when he is old, he will not depart from that So you begin to pray those things asking god to do a a marvelous work in the in the heart and life of your children Asking god to do what only he can do listen to what the bible says in proverbs 28 verse number 29 verse number 17 correct your son and he will give you comfort He will also delight your soul correct your son He will give you comfort.

Do your kids give you comfort? Or do they give you discomfort? They give you comfort if you correct them if you discipline them if you don't spare the rod They will give you comfort If you spare the rod, you don't correct them. You don't discipline them. You're going to have a lot of discomfort in your home So you pray the promise lord, I I I've I've disciplined my my son and my daughter and i've corrected my son and my daughter I've disciplined them lord. I need comfort in my home. I need you to to do that for me lord You see you begin to pray the promises of god You begin to pray the word of god Elijah could pray fervently He could pray persistently He could pray urgently He could pray without reservation because he knew what god had said Well, once you know what god says, you know exactly how to pray And that's what elijah did That's why he could keep sending a servant back.

You got to go back go back go back keep going back There's gotta be a cloud out there someplace. It's gonna happen sooner or later Because he believed in the promise That god had given to him and so he prayed and just because the rain was delayed Does not mean the rain would be denied Why does god delay It doesn't delay because of any other reason Than to see how serious and steadfast And sacred Your prayers really are That's why over in luke chapter 18 verse number one It talks about that persistent widow who would constantly knock at the door of the judge because there was an unjust situation That needed to be made right and only he could do that And the lord god says if an unjust judge who doesn't care about a widow will make an unjust situation, right?

How much more will a just king the lord god of the universe take your life somebody who cares about and make it right And then he says when the son of man comes will he find that kind of faith on the earth? Will he find that kind of persistent fervent prayer believing in what god has said when he comes again? Who are the people who live that way? Elijah was that man And that's why he's commended in scripture A man with a nature just like yours and mine, but when he prayed It stopped raining when he prayed again It rained But all those prayers were based on what god said But he was a righteous man He was a righteous man didn't say the effectual fervent prayer of an unrighteous man of edith much Or a sinful man of edith much.

It's the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man That avails much And so elijah prayed And he continued to pray persistently then it says verse 44 It came about at the seventh time That he said behold a cloud as small as a man's hand is coming up from the sea Servant came back There is a cloud It's about the size of a man's hand It's over the sea And he said go up say to have prepare your chariot and go down so that the heavy shower does not stop you Now, why would why would elijah do that? Why would elijah Tell ahab you better go It's going to rain Hasn't rained in three and a half years When it begins to rain, it's going to come down in buckets And if it does there's going to be flash flooding There's going to be a lot of mud your wheels are going to get stuck You better go if you're going to go back to jezreel.

You better get going now because jezreel was 20 miles away So you better get going That that's just the the grace of elijah Working in ahab to get him to come to a place Where he would realize That the lord god of israel needs to be worshipped But again ahab is Not affected So I want you to go to put him at three and see how elijah is carried to jezreel And so A little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind And there was a heavy shower And ahab rode And went to jezreel remember from carmel to jezreel is 20 miles listen carefully it says Then the hand of the lord was on elijah And he girded up his loins And out ran ahab to jezreel Do you understand that elijah's on foot?

Elijah doesn't have nike free trainers on He has sandals, but of course they could have been nike sandals. I don't know that But all he had was sandals And it was pouring down rain And he would run And he would pass ahab who was in his chariot with his horses He'd run right by him ahab never offered elijah a ride Because elijah was so much faster than ahab was I mean think about it. He blows by ahab 20 miles he runs remember he hasn't eaten all day There has been a famine in the land Who knows? What he had to drink that day So like most people he hasn't had much to eat or drink And yet he's able to run past ahab In his chariot blow by him and beat him to jezreel a marathon is a little over 26 miles, right?

He has to run 20 miles in sandals He has to gird up his loins. He has to because he you know, they they didn't wear, you know, levi jeans They had skirts on so he had to he had to pull up and wrap him between his legs before he before he would go He had to gird up his loins because he didn't want to be hindered by uh, That skirt getting wet and drenched in in the water in the mud and and and and slow down Tied that baby up and he was gone He was I mean like flash man. Boom. He blew by ahab and went to jezreel He was carried along born by the lord it says Then the hand the lord was on elijah The hand of the lord was on him He wouldn't let him get caught in a flash flood he wouldn't let him get caught and killed he just blew by ahab And went to jezreel And ahab was still unaffected Unaffected by that miracle as well He just was so hard-hearted He was so calloused.

He was so cold to the things of god That's why the writer of hebrews says in hebrews chapter 3 today If you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the day of provocation in the wilderness Don't do that beware of not responding to what god says Beware of seeing and watching and looking and listening and learning about god, but yet it have no effect on your soul Because it will bring great detriment to your soul Sure enough it would For ahab See ahab had a problem He was married to jezebel And he wasn't about to go home and tell jezebel.

Hey, listen I know your dad eith ba'al the man who lives for baal We know that your father was instrumental in this whole baal worship kind of thing And I know that you had set up these things, but you know what honey? We got to turn things around We got to go back and we got to realize that elijah's god is a true god He wasn't about to do that because he was scared to death of his wife Well like men are today Men don't lead their families spiritually because they're scared to death of their wives They won't make their wives go with in the church They won't lead their families to church because they're they're scared to death of how their wives will respond We have a lot of ahabs in the church And they're married to jezebels And they won't stand strong They won't say you know what honey what I saw today Was evident of the true and living god We have been worshiping the wrong god.

It's over We're leading i'm leading you the right way. We're turning things around. We are going to worship the one true god of israel Where's the men today who do that Say honey, we're going to a church that preaches the word of god We're going to go where the word of god is taught We're going to go because we need to grow on our walk with the lord, honey. Get out of bed, honey Let's go kids get up. We're going But you know what dads do today? They let their wives do whatever they want Let their kids do whatever they want They're modern day ahabs scared to death of what their wives might say or do Instead of being the man standing strong and leading their families Ahab was a weak man He was a scared man He was a hand-pecked man He would not be able to stand against jezebel.

And that's why as we see next week that jezebel sends out a decree That elijah's got to die ahab didn't do that But jezebel did She wasn't about to let this guy rule in her land And ahab could have said honey, you're wrong. You can't do that Because elijah's god is the true god Wasn't about to do that And that's that's shameful Because you see he's the king of israel He could have turned The family he could have turned the nation He could have led the nation properly He could have sided with elijah he could have repented of his of his wicked ways And he could have stood strong in the truth of god's word But he didn't because he knew that when he got back to jezreel Jezebel Was there and he could not stand against her How shameful is that But that's exactly what happened The fourth thing I want you to see is that elijah was commended by god He was commended by god.

Remember last week. We told you about uh, first kings 18 verse number 36 There were there were three principles.

We gave you last week one Was that uh, elijah passionately Was passionately consumed with the glory of god He was profoundly convinced of his identity in god as a servant and he was powerfully confident in the authority of god There's a fourth principle and this this one. He was prayerfully certain Of the veracity of god He was prayerfully certain of the veracity of god he knew about the truth of god And therefore with certainty he could pray because he knew exactly what god had said And that's what we need to understand Prayer is a sacred a sacred element of our spiritual lives And god this is god wants to answer prayer God is not a reluctant answerer He wants to answer prayer And so he has given us the guideline in scripture to assure that we have answers to our prayers So, let me get them to you, okay They're not hard to understand There are three principles that god gives us remember Elijah was commended by god because he was the one who prayed in james 5 16 and it and it did not rain He prayed again and it did rain and that in that context It's the effectual prayer of a righteous man that availeth much.

He was a righteous man He was a righteous man because he was he was clothed with the righteousness of god positionally and he lived a righteous life practically so when when you become born again because you have repented of your sins and because you have Recognized jesus christ as lord and savior and as king of your life And you rely solely on his sacrifice on calvary's tree for your salvation You are clothed in the righteousness of christ He knew the sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of god in him Now once you are clothed with his righteousness, he sees you as righteous before him now you are to live out Practically that righteousness We had to seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness.

We had a hunger and thirst after his righteousness Proverbs 15 9 the lord loves those who pursue Righteousness first peter 2 24 tells us that he died on the cross that we might no longer live to sin But live to righteousness So we are to pursue righteousness and the effectual fervent prayer of that righteous man Who has been declared righteous by god and who demonstrates a righteous life regularly that prayer accomplishes much Okay And so there are three elements to that Three elements that help you understand how god wants to answer your prayers It says in verse 21 of first john chapter 3 beloved if our heart does not condemn us And it doesn't because romans 8 1 says there is no condemnation for those who in christ jesus We have confidence before god.

Okay. Here's the confidence and whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments And do the things that are pleasing in his sight We have confidence So the bible says in first john chapter 5 verse number 14, this is the confidence which we have before him That if we ask anything according to his will he hears us And if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask we know that we have the request which we have asked from him So principle number one is that you always pray according to his will You pray according to his will that's why the lord said when you pray pray this way Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy Will thy kingdom come thy will be done Okay, it's your will not my will So when you go to prayer you go to prayer based on the will of god What is god's will for your life?

And so you pray in line with that will you know that he hears you and because he hears you you know He will answer your requests See our problem is our will We have our own will and we just can't relinquish our own will our own desires We want so much to have things go our way that it just it just corrupts our prayer life But we are praying according to the lord's will Okay, not only that you pray Not only according to his will but you pray according to his name Okay, the bible says in john's gospel 14 chapter 13th verse whatever you ask in my name That will I do?

So that the father may be glorified in the son If you ask me anything in my name, I will Do it wow, how much plainer can that be? So when you ask in the name of jesus, it doesn't mean that you tack at the end of your prayer in jesus name We pray amen. That's not what it means It means that you pray in conjunction with the character and essence of the god you serve In other words when you pray in the name of jesus You pray as if jesus is actually praying your prayer That's what it means to pray in the name of jesus because everything is in line with the essence and character Of who he is So you pray in his will you pray in his name?

And lastly you pray with the knowledge of his word John 15 verse number 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish And it will be done for you in other words God's word must remain in you In other words, you must have the knowledge of what god has already said Our prayer is based on the truth of god's word. Listen, if you don't know the word of god You don't know how to pray and commune With god because he's given you all that you need to understand his word And his will according to his name so you can pray in a way that he longs to answer So I pray in his name according to his will In line with the knowledge of scripture So that I don't get off base I pray god's Word And when that happens psalm 37 says Trust in the lord Do good dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness Delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires Of your heart commit your way to the lord trust also on him He will do it Delight yourself in the how do you delight yourself in the lord?

You pray according to his will You pray in his name You pray with the knowledge of scripture on your lips You will delight yourself in the lord He will give you the desires of your heart because your desires will be in line with his desires and he wants to give you Everything that he has so that you might experience his life in your life So you might have the joy That he wants you to have That was Elijah That's what that's the kind of guy he was Just like you and me Puts his pants on one leg at a time If he had pants, he had a skirt.

So You stepped it on like you and I was stepping on. Okay, nothing ever seen. I lied you and us Yeah, he was a prophet. You're a priest, right? You're a priest in the kingdom of god You know more of the word of god than elijah did Because you have it right here in your hands You know more of god's will than elijah did Because god has revealed his will to you in his word And so we Should be effectual prayers we Should be the kind of men and women That bow before our king So we are bold before every earthly king Let me pray with you Father, we thank you for your word.

Thank you for elijah a man who teaches us. Oh so much And our prayer father is that we would be men and women of god Who understand your will your word? And we understand your name So when we go to prayer We have this confidence That if we ask anything According to your will you will hear us And if you hear you will answer We want your word to abide in us We want Your will to be accomplished. We want your name to be glorified and honored So father we delight ourselves in our lord We come before you And we ask that you do a mighty work I don't know what's happening in everybody's life.

That's here tonight Personally their families, but you do You know everything And my prayer is that every one of us will be motivated To learn the promises and the precepts of our god That all of our prayers would be in line with the will of god And in the name of god We pray in your name amen