Praying For FaithSample

DAY SIX: Don't Give Up!  

God will use the difficult seasons in our lives to bring about a desire to seek Him and to have faith in His deliverance.

Take, for example, Elijah. Elijah knew that his prayer would bring about unprecedented hardships upon the nation. This was necessary because the king of Israel had led the people down a sinful path. In essence, Elijah wanted the nation to turn back to God and was prepared to pray to that end, even if it meant it would take three and a half years to be answered.

Basically Elijah was saying, “Whatever it takes, Lord, whatever it takes! If it takes hardships to break them away from the grip of a sinful direction, do it.

When you read about the whole event in 1 Kings 18, Elijah’s prayer was answered immediately when he prayed it, but God had a special timing for Elijah to see his prayer completely fulfilled. For three and a half years all false comfort would have to be taken away from Israel. The people had become satisfied living without God. They needed to go through hard times to realize that they needed God. Once the Lord dried up their crops and emptied the bread from their cupboards, they would discover life without God was difficult.

When Elijah prayed a second time after the three and a half years of drought, the floodgates of heaven opened and gave the land rain. The earth produced its fruit, and the people knew it was from God because their hearts had been turned back toward the Lord.

This kind of faith says, ‘O God, send the rain of heaven. O God, send your Holy Spirit. God Almighty, let Your glory fill the earth.’”

In other words, “Don’t give up if you don’t see the answer immediately.”