Ministry of Grace Church

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.

Truth to Learn

The heartfelt prayers of a submitted Christian are powerful.

 

Behind the Words

The word translated “with a nature like” is homoiopathēs, which is a compound word made up of homoios, meaning “similar” and a form of pathos, which comes from paschō meaning “suffering,” but which can refer to strong emotion either pleasant or painful. Hence, here it means that Elijah had strong emotions just like you and I do.

The expression “he prayed earnestly” is from the Greek proseuchē prosēuxato, which literally means “he prayed with prayer.” It is a Greek way of saying that he prayed with intensity or that he prayed earnestly.

“Land” is from the Greek word ghay, which refers to the dirt under our feet. By extension, it refers to a region of land either locally, regionally, or world-wide.

 

Meaning Explained

James now gives us an example of a righteous man whose prayer had great force. He starts off by telling us that Elijah had strong emotions just like you and I do. We sometimes think of the Old Testament prophets as men who were so controlled by God that not only did they speak the words of God, but they behaved like Spirit controlled robots. We tend to lose sight of the fact that they were not altogether different from you and me. They experienced spiritual highs and lows. Like Jonah, they were sometimes obedient and sometimes stubbornly disobedient. Like Elijah, they were sometimes firm and confident in their faith and sometimes weak and lacking in faith. They were real people just like us.

When Elijah was standing up to evil King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel, he prayed to God that it would not rain. These were his words spoken to Ahab:

… As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these three years, except according to my word. (1 Kings 17:1)

You will notice if you read 1 Kings, chapter 16 that the reason for this prayer on the part of Elijah was not for personal gain. Rather, it was performed as punishment on the land of Israel for the idolatry which prevailed at that time. The culmination of this period of drought was the confrontation between Elijah and the Prophets of Baal on top of Mount Carmel. This was one of Elijah’s greatest spiritual victories for God because of his complete obedience to God. Read it in 1 Kings 16-18.

When we are being obedient to God, when we have our sins confessed, when we are following his leading, and when we are humbled before Him, the works that we do, and prayers that we pray, for His glory, will have great effect!

 

Application

God may not have called upon us to pray for a drought as He did Elijah. However, He definitely has commanded us to pray for each other, as James has just told us. And you may not have the training or talents to be in a visible leadership position in your church, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a vital part in the success of God’s work. Your prayers could be the very power behind the successful spreading of the gospel. If God calls on you to be a prayer warrior, don’t hold back!