Expectant Prayer

The Scriptures do not present the powerful God of the past to whom we have no access today. They reveal the great “I AM” who was, is, and will be. 

Every time you pray in Jesus’ name, you draw near to the God of the burning bush, the God who split the Red Sea, the God who poured out fire from heaven, the God who emptied the grave. 

This God sits on the throne of grace. 

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might now rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.” (James. 5:16-17)

God does not exalt the men and women of faith beyond our reach, so that we would admire them. He says they were just like us, so that we would practice their faith. 

Perhaps this is why we do not pray with the same devotion of the early church: we have magnified the greatness of the saints before us and minimized the greatness of the God with us.

God gave us biblical pictures of bold prayers and powerful answers so that we would pray the same way and expect the same answers. 

Do not gawk at Elijah’s faith and resign yourself to a lesser expectation of prayer. 

If Elijah’s power in prayer came from his piety, then we should admire him. But if Elijah’s power in prayer came from the greatness of his God, then we must imitate him. 

Pray just like Elijah.

Expect God to move just like he did.