Pray in Faith

James 5:17 "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit."

Prayer is the language of the believing, yet most believers struggle to pray. Again and again, in my life, I’m brought to the place where I have to confess: I’m not that great at praying. I typically do it when I’m desperate. While we claim to believe in God, our actions reveal that the reason we don’t pray is that we don’t believe. See, prayer is the language of the believing.

In James 5 we are reminded of Elijah, a man exactly like us in character and tendencies, but who prayed and saw God move in massive ways. Most of us never see God do the kind of impossible miracles that He did when Elijah prayed. The difference between Elijah and us is that he believed in God. He believed that God answers prayers. He believed that God hears us when we pray. He believed that God moves when we ask Him to. Yet Elijah had a nature just like ours. He got tired and sometimes depressed. He got scared and sometimes frustrated, but over and over again, Elijah prayed.

Won’t you start practicing the language of believing? Won’t you start praying like Elijah did? Who knows? God might just answer you today.

Questions:

How’s your prayer life? If you believe that God answers prayers, how would that change your prayer life?