Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and author of over 100 books, booklets & Bible studies. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on more than 1,300 US outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit TonyEvans.org
the prayer offered in faith will restore
the one who is sick and the Lord will
raise him up and if he has committed
sins they will be forgiven him therefore
confess your sins to one another and
pray for one another so that you will be
healed the effectual prayer of a
righteous man can accomplish much Elijah
was a man with a nature like ours and he
prayed earnestly that it would not rain
and it did not rain on the earth for
three years and six months then he
prayed again and the sky poured rain and
the earth produced its fruit and now
father grabbed us with this theme of
contacting heaven through prayer forgive
our prayerlessness and caused us to see
why this matters and we will give you
the praise from meeting us this morning
in Jesus name Amen
before a major sporting event they will
often play the national anthem now the
national anthem has absolutely nothing
to do with what’s getting ready to
happen on the field it doesn’t affect
the football game and doesn’t affect the
baseball game it doesn’t affect points
scored in the basketball game but it is
put there as a place of national honor
but totally unrelated to what you came
there for you don’t go there for the
national anthem
that’s an add-on for many of us prayer
is like the national anthem before a
sporting event it gets it started but
has absolutely no connection to us
happening in our lives we do it because
it’s tradition we’re supposed to it’s
paying homage while being totally
disconnected from the field of play of
our lives and yet it is one of the
dominant themes of Scripture and as you
saw when I read each verse in this
passage it is the dominant theme of
James in verses 13 through 18 you see
the word pray or prayer in every verse
so for James this is a big deal I hope
to explain to us today why God has a
conditional will and an unconditional
will God’s will is what he determines to
happen but it can happen in one of two
ways
it can happen unconditionally or
conditionally God’s unconditional will
is when he determines what will happen
irrespective of what anybody else does
that is it’s not conditioned on us or
anybody else because he’s going to
decide that it happens and he’s going to
cause it to happen without any human
involvement that is his unconditional
will it’s not conditioned on our actions
or non actions because he’s the
sovereign he sovereignly decided to make
it come to pass all by himself
that is his unconditional will but God’s
conditional will is different there are
many things he’s decided to not let
happen until he gets cooperation from
earth there are many things that he’s
decided he will not bring from heaven
into history unless there is human
cooperation with his desire and design
for example the Bible says God desires
all men to be saved yet men only get
saved when they believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ for salvation so he has a
will but it’s tied to a condition many
things in your life in my life are tied
to God’s conditional will so things
happen or don’t happen based not on
God’s decision but on our cooperation or
lack thereof one of the primary
mechanisms that God has established to
determine much of what he does on earth
and in your life and in my life is
conditioned by the absence or presence
of prayer James says in chapter 1 verses
1 chapter 4 verses 1 to 3 you have not
because you ask not
or when you asked you asked with wrong
motives he says I wanted to give it to
you but you never came to me for word so
you don’t have it it wasn’t because I
didn’t want to give it it was because
you didn’t who operate with getting it
because it was part of my conditional
will prayer is relational communication
with God and the goal of prayer is to
draw from heaven into history the gold
of prayer is to get eternity to make a
statement in time it is to make heaven
visible on earth it is to get God to
touch humanity the gold of prayer is
that up there might do something fix
something or change something down here
when God makes a big deal about prayer
which he does throughout all of
Scripture we are asking God to release
his will from heaven to earth we’re
giving him an okay because we’re
cooperating because it is part of his
conditional will now the problem is you
don’t always know what’s conditional and
what’s unconditional some things are
clear but other things you’re not sure
that’s why Paul says in first
Thessalonians 5:17 you better pray
without ceasing you better bring it all
in God so you’ll miss nothing because
all the time it’s not clear which way
God is operating from in the mind of the
Bible prayer is a lifestyle and not
merely an event if I were to say that
you breathed without ceasing you would
understand what I’m at because if you
cease breathing you’d cease
so if I said breathe without ceasing you
know that’s just got to be how you roll
that’s got to be how you roll so when
Paul says pray without ceasing he’s
talking about this is how you roll this
is how you roll that it is a lifestyle
not merely an event when you go into
another country they’re going to ask you
to show a passport the passport gives
you permission to go into this new realm
this new locality this new country it is
permission God has given every believer
a toll-free number you got an 800 number
it’s toll-free and it is designed to
give you permission to leave Earth and
into the sphere of heaven through the
mechanism of prayer so prayer is not
just saying some word it’s changing
locations when you pray as we will
describe in a moment you leave the
physical and you have now entered the
spiritual without prayer you become
limited to the physical but the only
reason you pray is to get the spiritual
God to enter into the physical the
passport to leave the physical and into
the spiritual is in one word in
Scripture and that word is prayer now
let me explain prayer does not get God
to do something he doesn’t want to do
because you can’t make God do something
but what prayer does is access what he
already wants to do that he has
conditioned on your participation and
mine
I love Isaiah 65 verse 24
Isaiah 65 20s for says before you call I
have answered oh did you follow that
before you pray I have already answered
the prayer so you are not praying to get
God to do something but to pull down
something
he’s already predetermined to do because
if he’s already done it before you ask
for it then why don’t I have it because
it has to be pulled down pull from
heaven into history and that is done
through prayer this concept of prayer is
distributing eternity in the time you
remember when the disciples were asked
by Jesus how are we gonna feed 5000 men
not counting women and children 15 to 20
thousand people and they said we don’t
know but they found a little boy with
two fish five barley loaves of bread
they brought him to Jesus because
there’s a problem I was gonna feed all
these people the Bible says Jesus looked
up to heaven and he prayed and he
invited God into the problem when
everybody opened up their eyes Moby Dick
is laying on the beach or gonna kill a
whale somehow there was supernatural
provision so that the scripture says
everybody ate till then till they were
full and there were 12 baskets filled
layer ben-tor baskets filled with
leftovers for them and the disciples
distributed the food to all that were
gathered Jesus Christ got heaven to
enter history but he prayed for that to
take place which answered the problem
and all men did was distribute what the
supernatural had provided so help me out
if Jesus had to pray to get his Heavenly
Father to do something up there to
change something down here
how much do you and I need to pray to
get God to do something up there that we
need him to do down here so we’re
talking about something serious we’re
talking about drawing heaven into
history so let’s break down this passage
and by the end of this passage I hope
you have will have been ignited for a
new fire regarding prayer and its power
to take the kingdom of heaven and invade
the kingdom of Earth through the
mechanism of Prayer verse 13 is any one
among you suffering suffering ment to be
going through a difficult period of time
suffering means you are hurting
something is hurting you it could be
physical hurt financial hurt
circumstantial hurt relational hurt all
you know is you’re in pain you are
suffering so just to make sure I’m not
wasting my time here let me ask you what
James asked his audience is anybody here
this more than suffering suffered good I
want to make sure we we could apply this
so for everybody who raised their hands
for those who are lying and didn’t raise
their hands and for those who will need
to raise their hand tomorrow even though
they may not need to raise it today is
any among you suffering you’re going
through a rough patch of life
he says notice this he must pray
now they should pray that it would be
nice if he did pray he says you better
pray if life has fallen on you
many of these Christians were being
persecuted many were going through
trials that were difficult to to handle
and they were hurting James says if you
are hurting because of circumstances you
must pray pain is always an invitation
to prayer came in whatever form it takes
is always an invitation to pray you say
well I’m hurting all the time that means
you should be praying all the time
because pain is an invitation to pray in
fact one of the reasons God lets pain
linger is to get more prayer from us so
we actually can lengthen pain time or
shorten pain time by lengthening prayer
time and not shortening prayer time if
anyone is hurting he not should not
could he must make contact with heaven
in the midst of the pain he must pray he
goes on in verse 13 notice what he says
is anyone cheerful he is to sing praises
so now we’re not talking about the
person in pain we talked about all and
folk who didn’t raise the hand that
should mean you’re cheerful it’s a good
day you’re happy today you’re not in any
excruciating difficulty right now
he says well if your day is going well
you’re cheerful let him sing praises now
a praise is a expression of value to the
Lord it is honoring the Lord physically
and verbally there’s no such thing as
silent praise you can have silent
worship but you can’t have silent praise
praise is always visual and the vocal
that’s why he says sing praises to the
Lord
wait a minute let’s rewind if you in
pain pray if you’re not in pain you’re
not sad but you’re glad praise well hold
it you either one or the other you even
in pain or you’re cheerful if you’re in
pain
talk to God if you’re not in pain praise
God
which means that you always communicate
with God cuz even in pain or in praise
so God wants to hear from you all day
non-stop as a way of life he wants you
to thread him into every aspect of your
day either in pray prayer or embrace cuz
even in pain or game praise what does
that mean I mean you got a 24/7 thing
going on with God that’s why you can’t
get mad at your grandmother was she
walking around as was stated gonna
praise the Lord praise the Lord praise
God because God wants a connection
ongoingly in every aspect of our lives
whether we’re hurting or not verse 14 he
says is anyone among you sick sick
now the Greek word for sick means to be
weary that’s what the word means means
to be weary the idea of sickness here is
not merely physical sickness it could be
physical but the word refers to its
effect it’s created weariness it’s like
when you say I’m sick and tired or when
you look at the person next to you you
say I’m sick of you
alright that’s a form of sickness that
means you are tired of him I’m sick of
this job you know I’m sick of this
circumstance you’re expressing a
weariness but you’re using the word sick
okay you may not mean you you’re not
saying I’m sick of you I’m physically
sick means I’m tired of dealing with you
I am weary so the concept of sick which
could be physical or emotional or
circumstantial has to do with I’ve been
beat down broke down toe up from the
flow up because laia the weight of life
and I’m just tired I’m tired I’ve been
going through this for this long I’ve
been struggling with this I am just
weary I’m sick and tired so let me make
sure I’m being relevant here anybody
weary
all right just one make sure we relevant
so he’s speaking now there’s the
sufferer
that’s the person’s going to pain but
this is the weary one the one who
because of what they may be suffering is
not sure they can go on any further not
sure they can make it want to throw in
the towel what happens when you get
weary no matter what’s cause the
weariness then let him call or the
elders of the church and they are to
pray over him ah in verse 13 you are
praying for you anyone suffering let him
pray but in verse 14 you need help
because your prayers are not getting
through in fact you don’t even feel like
praying anymore
when light beats you down long enough
deep enough you can get tired of dealing
with God and that doesn’t sound
spiritual but all y’all know that’s true
you’ll feel like talking to God right
now God seems absent from you the
telephone line is off the hook it’s busy
you’re not breaking through you’re just
mumbling the same words over and over
again you you feel like you’re talking
to yourself he says okay now at that
point that you had weariness you need
more than you so he says go to the
elders of the church that should
represent the spiritual leadership of
the church to get support for a
breakthrough you have not been able to
get on your own every Sunday morning
before each of the services the elders
meet and on a regular basis we are
praying for some member that has called
to speak about their situation their
weariness or their suffering and so we
schedule them for a time of prayer
before the service that they come to
we had a prayer today from a sister
who’s here this morning and the one word
that was used in our time of Prayer was
I’m tired I’m tired
that’s this word that’s the situation
nothing is happening God hasn’t changed
anything yet and I’m just tired will you
pray for me this is when people want to
give up throw in the towel that means
you need some other folk who can cry out
for you because you are too tired to cry
out for yourself he says you go call the
elders of the church and let them pray
because you may not be able to that’s
why you were to be a part of a local
church so that when you can’t go on
somebody else can keep you going on
you’re not to be a lone ranger Christian
so that must be spiritual people since
they represent the church is talking
about the environment people who can
carry you when you can’t carry yourself
reminds of the story in mark chapter 2
verses 1 to 12 you got a lame man a
paralyzed man he can’t get up he can’t
get up he’d been laying there long time
and he can’t get up but he had four boys
he had four posse for his homies they
came and it says and they picked him up
and took him to the house where Jesus
was says they cut a hole in the roof and
let him down in front of Jesus and then
it says when Jesus saw their faith not
the man’s faith who was laying down when
he saw his homies faith when he saw the
four brothers who picked him up when he
saw their faith he healed the man
the man couldn’t get up on his own but
he had some folk in his life who cared
enough about him to reach over pick him
up lift him up
carrying the Jesus wrap him down and
when Jesus saw the four men he said I’m
gonna heal you for their sake because
you can’t get up on your own I wish I
could come in and tell you this morning
if you are committed Christian you won’t
get tired
oh but some of God’s most tired
Christians were committed Christians
Paul said he was ready to give up on
life in second Corinthians chapter 1 he
was ready to throw in the towel until
God lifted him up so just believing in
Christ and being a Christian doesn’t
mean you don’t suffer and it certainly
means you don’t get weary but God does
not want you to deal with your weariness
alone says let them pray he goes on and
he says and then let them anoint him
with oil
let them anoint him with oil oil had a
number of usages in the Bible as it does
today
oil was used medicinally it was a
medication if you got cut you would
anoint with oil anointment on like we do
in a more sophisticated way today when
you go to a massage if you get a massage
they put all these oils on you to
refresh you to to kind of make you feel
good and they try to get you to relax or
oil is used for that oil is used for
cooking you cook with oil so all of
these uses of oil are in the Bible
sometimes it’s not even referring to
physical oil in Psalm 23 verse 5 david
says he anoints my head with oil well
God didn’t come down and massage David’s
head with oil
he’s talking about the riff
she and the encouragement and the
stimulation he got from God when he was
facing a bad situation so oil has all
these multiplicity of usages in the
Bible he says when that member comes to
the elders you are to pray for them but
then anoint them in other words have the
church minister to them at the point of
their need pour oil on them we have
members who have driven people to the
hospital who couldn’t go themselves so
they prayed for them but then they
opened their car door and drove them to
the oil of healing by getting them to a
doctor then we have people who gather
with people who are hurting to provide
counsel and comfort or we have a group
when somebody loses someone in care and
comfort to encourage them through their
loss of a loved one
all of those are biblical ways of
expressing oil or the comfort or the
help or the refreshment of ministry
that’s why you’re being in a local
church is not just for you it’s you to
also be an oil provider for somebody who
needs some oil on them somebody who
needs some encouragement refreshment or
assistance everybody here ought to be
helping somebody sometime due to the
fact that they have become weary because
one day you gonna need somebody to get
some oil on you when life has fallen
through for you so it is absolutely
critically says let the elders make sure
that there is ministry going to the
people the church is not just a sermon
it’s not just a song it’s supposed to be
a place of ministry wait that’s why we
ask every member to be in a ministry so
you are serving and not just being
served because you are to be an oil
provider whatever whether it’s physical
or emotional or circumstantial so he
says when you can’t handle it yourself
come to the church call on the elders
get the ministry the oil and you do it
he says in the name of the Lord why
because we talk about Kingdom prayer
we’re talking about authority from
heaven the name means according to the
character the attributes and the
authority of Jesus Christ you do it in
Jesus’s name because he’s the one who
okay’s the answers to prayer verse 15
and the prayer offered in faith who will
restore the one who is sick the prayer
offered in faith his word I love this
word we need this word restores hmm
restores to restore something is to
bring it back to its original intent
when something breaks you restore it you
you you try to bring it back to its
original intent God is a restoring God
in the weariness is of life he makes an
astounding promise he says God will
restore now let me clarify we know that
everybody who gets physically sick don’t
always get well or they may get
partially well or they may be just a
little better
we know that perfect health is not
always restored in every situation we
know it is sometimes but it’s not all
the time we also know in the Bible
people got sick who are in the will of
God job was in the will of God when he
got sick all physical sickness is not
due to personal sin
when you catch a cold that doesn’t mean
you just send now it might but it
doesn’t necessarily mean that yes we
have an environment that’s have been
affected by sin but all sickness is not
due to personal sin that’s why often
disillusionment sets in when pulpits
make promises that God does not make
because then it looks like God has
failed the word sick is weary what God
does when you can’t lift yourself up
while you are praying for a change in
the circumstance is he removes the weary
while you wait it has to do yes
sometimes God takes you out but other
times he walks with you through other
times he he walks beside you he restores
you emotionally even though you’re
waiting for him to restore you
circumstances
or physically sometimes he does both
but the restore here is to remove the
weariness why you still trust him for
the solution he says in that he can
guarantee you he’s guaranteeing that one
he will restore he will get your
get-up-and-go that has gotten up and
gone back
he says the prayer of faith that
believes God that acts like God is
telling the truth it reminds me of the
story these folks who were praying for
rain they were praying for rain because
it was dry their prayer for rain and it
didn’t rain they went on prayer for rain
didn’t rain so that disappointed at God
a little boy came out a few days later
by himself in the center of town he
praying for rain
God you control the heavens and I
believe you can make it rain he just
stood there God I know you can make it
rain
all of a sudden the sky got caught Carly
a little bit later started raining all
these adults were praying for rain no
rain this little boy comes from praying
for rain it rained
what was the difference between all the
adults with a little boy little boy
brought an umbrella see the little boy
was just talking he was expecting he was
expressly see when the prayer of faith
is a present acts like you believe God
can do something man it is that they’re
not just talking in air it’s it knows
who you’re talking to and you know what
his ability is to pull what you asked
for and whatever is the appropriate
thing to do because you believe you’re
willing to do he says the prayer of
faith will heal the sick it will remove
the weariness and the Lord will raise
him up and if he has committed sins
because maybe he didn’t but if he has
they will be forgiven him why do we pray
for one another that our circumstance
has changed and if necessary that sin
get addressed because sin can keep you
sick all sin is that all sickness does
not due to sin but sickness can be
caused by sin first Corinthians 11 makes
it clear many are sick many are weak
among you why because of unaddressed sin
so the reason why you need to be in
fellowship with some people who are
spiritual and so that they can help you
face sin so that you can get over sick
because if you’re unwilling to deal with
sin you will have to stay sick or weary
or defeated or whatever it is because
you’re not willing to address the sin
you’re not willing to repent but he says
if you will deal with it spiritually
your sin is forgiven
therefore confess your sins to one
another he says in verse 16 acknowledge
the sin that’s created the weariness for
which you need to repent to the
appropriate other now how do you know
who the appropriate other is because
some people you can’t tell you stuff too
okay it’d be all over town how do you
know who the other is when you need help
out of weariness and you need victory
over sin but you need another who is the
other can’t just be any and everybody he
actually tells you he says confess to
one another and then he says and pray
for one another so you only confess to
somebody who’s gonna pray for you not
talk about you if they not a prayer you
shouldn’t be a confessor if they not a
prayer if they’re not somebody who’s
gonna wrap themselves around you come
alongside of you pray for you walk with
you spiritually all they want is gossip
news and information that’s not who you
talk to you talk to prayers because this
is about prayer this is about getting
you to heaven not just trying to throw
stuff up on earth so the confessed to is
to pray for he says that you may be
healed that you may be delivered from or
through whatever is taking place in your
life the word if he has committed in the
Greek as the perfect tense the perfect
tense means past action with abiding
results so what that means is if he has
committed a sin that he keeps on
committing in other words this is a
habit of sin that they haven’t broken
it’s a pattern
they started and they weren’t able to
stop so they need to be delivered healed
delivered from this so you you you get
help from folk who go pray and get to
God with you and for you
now he makes a summary statement stay
with me here in verse 17 this verse 16
the effective prayer of a righteous man
can accomplish much the effective the
word there means energized remember the
Energizer Bunny
the energized prayer so this is not Lord
bless this food to my body nourish it to
me in Jesus name Amen
eat not my grace because you don’t need
energy to say grace you say grace out of
habit in fact we’ve said the same grade
so long your mind doesn’t even need to
be in gear when your mouth is saying it
cuz it don’t be the same words but thank
you for this food I’m about to receive
nourishment of my body in Jesus name
Amen
BAM that’s not an energized prayer in
fact when we pray that prayer we don’t
even care whether God is listening we
want to get to the food before it gets
cold
that’s not an energized prayer an
energized prayer is a focused prayer it
is a prayer that is God centered it must
be accompanied by righteousness the
effective prayer of a righteous man a
person who is living to please God
nobody is perfect but you can be
righteous that is your living to please
God the effective focused energize
prayer can accomplish much a whole lot I
remember some years ago we have the
daughter of one of our members dying of
cancer
things look hopeless pastor Hawkins and
I went to the hospital I’ll never forget
this we we went to the hospital and we
have grieving parents in a hopeless
situation and we were we went there to
pray I mean it was hopeless and I never
forget what we did we were working all
day here at the office we dressed in
suit and tie we got in the car together
we drove to the hospital when we looked
at the child when we saw the desperate
situation he and I both did this we
unbuttoned our jackets and took off our
coat we unhooked our tie and took our
tire off we opened up the top button of
our shirts and we got on the floor
because this was not this dissident now
I lay me down to sleep pray the Lord my
soul will keep if I die before I wake I
pray the Lord my soul will take no we
needed some effect that we needed we
this was a desperate situation
I’ll never forget it we took out all my
stuff got down on the floor and say God
we need you to come down now and
intervene in this situation why because
this is a serious suffering a serious
sickness and this is not regular
business as usual and through some
supernatural means things got turned in
that girl’s life and the cancer
dissipated
[Applause]
that wasn’t because we had something
special all we did was we went to God
serious minds hearts focus wasn’t gear
he says that prayer can do can can can
blow your mind it can accomplish much
not a little bit a whole lot the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man he says can accomplish much and then
he gives an illustration so stick with
me because this is the doozy
he says in verse 17 and 18 Elijah was a
man with a nature like ours translation
he wasn’t from Krypton okay
he wasn’t super prophet he was a regular
ordinary flesh-and-blood individual he
didn’t have any unique thing over any
other human being ever made he was a man
with a light nature so whenever he’s
getting ready to say about Elijah is
true about you cuz he just like you he’s
just a man that’s all he is he said
however this ordinary man was a prophet
it says he prayed notice the word
earnestly he wasn’t being casual he
prayed earnestly that it would not rain
and it did not rain on the earth for
three years and six months mister and a
half years then he prayed again verse 17
says and the sky poured rain and the
earth produced its fruit
so what since then he prayed and he
closed heaven down for three and a half
years
he’s on earth but he praying to heaven
and he shut heaven down when it came to
rain three and a half years later he
prayed again
and he opened heaven up heaven didn’t
just closed and open on his own it says
he prays and it closed he pray and it
opened ah so let’s go back and see what
really happened in 1st Kings chapter 18
because that’s where this event took
place so if you turn your bibles back
the 1st Kings chapter 18 we don’t
discover some things about his prayer
that should affect our prayer so that we
see a lot more of heaven entering into
our history than we are currently seeing
as believers in chapter 18 he prays
beginning in verse 36 but then he comes
to verse 41 and he lies you said to Ahab
go up eat and drink for there is the
sound of the roar of a heavy shower he
says I hear thunderstorm coming off now
let me start stay with me why did he
pray this I mean what made him pray to
us in the first place well look at
chapter 17 verse 1 now elijah the
tishbite who was of the settlers of
Gilead said they have as the Lord the
God of Israel lives before whom I stand
surely there shall be neither do nor
rain these years accepted my word
oh now reach up to 18 verse 1 now it
happened after many days that the word
of the Lord came to Elijah in the 3rd
year saying go show yourself to Ahab and
I will send rain on the face of the
earth
Oh in chapter 17 verse 1 God said it’s
not gonna rain in chapter 18 verse 1 God
said it is gonna rain so why do you need
to know that cuz he lied you didn’t just
make this up he was praying based on
what God had said God said it’s not
gonna rain God said it is gonna rain so
he prayed what’s this based on God’s
Word so the first thing you need to know
is you need to pray with your Bible open
you need to pray say God you said this
let me show you in case you forgot God
you said this and I’m holding you to
your word you said this I believe this
so i’ma prayed this the Bible is full of
prayers that you should pray when you’re
struggling then psalm 42 you pray psalm
42 when you repented that Psalm 51 you
pray Psalm 51 when you are afraid this
Psalm 34 you pray Psalm 34 you point God
back to his word because God has held
his word high above his name so you
start with the Word of God about the
situation that you faced alright let’s
go on he goes on to say I hear the sound
I hear the sound as a storm coming on
verse 42 and AM went up to eat and drink
but Eli Shaw went up to the top of Mount
Carmel and crouched down on the earth
somebody say crouched down crouched down
on the earth and put his face between
his knees
oh okay alright he goes up to Mount
Carmel and it says he crouched down put
his head between his knees you didn’t
see that see he went up the malcar no he
crouched down and he put his head
between his knees one more time he went
up to Mount Carmel he crouched down and
he put his head between his knees
what’s the crouching down and they had
between your knees all about it well in
biblical days when women were having
babies they didn’t have stirrups they
didn’t have the sophistication saw a
normal way for a Jewish woman to have a
baby
what’s the crouched down put her head
down and push and push and push and push
until that baby came out so he took the
posture of a pregnant woman who was in
labor
the Bible calls it trouble
he was in labor and he said I mean
terrain
I was serene I’m gonna push and push and
push till I get some rain oh you know
what God wants you to do he wants you to
birth his will from heaven in history by
calling it down drawing it down pushing
it down until that baby of deliverance
that baby of healing that baby of
victory comes forth
this is serious praying this is not
casual praying this is crying out why
why do I have to work so hard because
Satan is trying to block your prayer for
getting through he’s putting static on
the line already up there if you have
DirecTV they already have the programs
the programs are already out there new
shows movies entertainment shows comedy
shows music it’s already out there but
until that receiver is turned on you
won’t see a picture on your screen God
has already got out there what he plans
to do but until the receiver calls it
down you don’t see a picture on your
screen or but I’m not finished yet cuz
look at what it says it says he said to
his servant go now look toward the sea
so he went and looked and said there is
nothing he said servant go to the sea
and look for the storm sir he went out
and said oh yeah there’s no storm out
here but wait a minute we just read
Elijah heard the sound of a storm but
for servant went out and he didn’t see a
storm see that’s why you got to be in
touch with God so you hear stuff before
you see stuff because faith is not what
you see faith comes faith is what you
don’t see but if you can hear the voice
of the Holy Spirit if you can hear the
voice of God you can hear stop before
you see stuff
cuz somebody had can testified God told
me before I saw so he told his servant
he told his servant to go back seven
times he says I want you to go back
seven times in verse 43 why 7 because 7
in the Bible is the number of completion
whenever you see the word 7 it means
something has been brought to completion
sometimes people say how long should I
pray for something how long should I
talk to God I’ve been praying about this
for years and nothing has happened how
long should I pray well let me explain
something God only has three answers yes
no or wait if he hadn’t said yes and he
hadn’t said no that means wait so what
you do why you wait your pray till you
get a yes or no
you pray to completion when he went out
the seventh time he said I saw a cloud
coming out of the sea
like the size of a man’s fist he’s not a
smaller cloud that is he said I just saw
a little cloud I won’t say it’s long I
just see a little fist-sized cloud
Elijah said he said after the seventh
time and he saw the cloud and prepare
your chariot verse 44 and go down so the
heavy shower does not stop you he didn’t
let him see a shower
he let him see a cloud see sometime when
God’s ready to move angles as you see
the whole thing it does let you see a
little something something to give you a
taste that’s why the Bible says o taste
and see that the Lord is good he may not
give you the whole meal it may just give
you a sample plate that means that the
meal sometimes God gives you an
appetizer he ain’t ready to feed you the
whole meal he just given you a sudden
something so did you know what you have
to look forward to
so he says we only got a fist but
there’s a shower so watch this now he
tells a HAP getting your chariot and go
cuz this storm is gonna get ready break
out so get your chariot and go that
means a horse is pulling the chariot so
he gets on a horse he’s got to go 15
miles from where he is to Jezreel
so a.m. gets in there and he’s riding
his horse but I don’t want you to miss
the end of verse 46 then the hand of the
Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his
loins and outran a day he had to just
real no you didn’t hey Abbas on horse
hey Happy’s riding the horse oh he lies
you picks up his cloak ties it up and he
Huff’s it he option and he runs a horse
to DES really I believe Isaiah put it
this way they that wait upon the Lord
will have you strength they will mount
up with wings like eagles they will run
and not get weary they will walk in that
faith somebody here ought to be willing
to pray somebody ever be willing to cry
out to God somebody are be willing to
touch happen because the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much
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you
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amen
I love to hear your sermons.