If you’re anything like me, you’re wondering “how do I
pray?” I’m by no means eloquent. I’m not like everyone else in the pop corn
circle of prayer at the end of small group every week. I don’t sound like them.
I don’t have those words… So, how do I pray?
The enemy loves to freak us out when it comes to this
subject. Prayer is one of the most powerful things we can do. We get the chance
to speak directly to God. And for that, the devil does everything and anything
to stop it. So he over complicates it: you don’t know enough scripture, you
have no anointing, no power, you’ll sound stupid. Such lies.
Prayer is actually very, very simple. Take for example the
prophet Elijah. Here is a man who just spent the past 3 and a half years
praying for it not to rain on the earth – and it hasn’t. Now, he’s going to
pray for it to rain…
“And Elijah said to Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for
there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And
Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth,
and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, Go up now, look
toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he
said Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he
said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.
And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that
the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven
was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.” 1 Kings 18:41-45
“he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face
between his knees…” Elijah put himself into the most humble posture before the Lord. The position of your heart before
the Lord as you pray is more important than any beautifully illustrated and
grammatically correct set of words. God is not impressed by how well you know
English…or any other language for that matter. God judges the heart, and this
kind of posture is what matters.
“Go up now, look toward the sea…” Elijah was praying in
expectation. He had faith that the Lord was going to answer his prayer. So much
so that he put action into his prayer. Go, check, search, look. Not just
praying and doing nothing. But praying and actively
seeking the answer. So many people pray for things and wait for the answer
to just slam them between the eyes. Sure God can and will most certainly do
that at times. But that doesn’t show much heart, faith, or care on that
individual’s part. No. God seems to be impressed by the one who prays and then seeks.
“and he said go, seven times…” SEVEN TIMES. Elijah. One of
the most powerful prophets. This man stood before the Lord. He never tasted
death, being carried away into Heaven by chariots of fire. At this mans word
fire would come down from Heaven. Through his prayer, God brought a child back
from the dead. Elijah. He had to say “go again” seven times, before he got an answer from God. Diligent and unyielding. He wasn’t going to stop
until he received the answer. He diligently prayed for whatever it was that he
was seeking. He prayed for it over, and over, and over, and over again. Did
that feel annoying to read? That was only 4 only’s. He went 7 times. It got
repetitive. Most likely tiring. It doesn’t say how long this whole process
took. How long did he pray before he sent his servant the first time? How long
did he pray between each time before that? My guess is that this was no short 5
minute prayer time. Elijah spent a lot of time in diligent prayer.
In this passage, did we get to see what Elijah was saying?
Nope. My theory is that it really didn’t matter…how he worded his request,
where to put certain emphasis, making sure he properly opened and closed the
prayer (i.e. Dear Lord and Amen).
I think what God saw was the posture of his heart, his
active seeking, and his diligently unyielding pursuit. This is prayer. So
simple.
