The Great Power of Prayer

 

Mary, Queen of Scots, is reputed to have said, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.” Her words reflect the perceived power and influence of John Knox's prayers during the Scottish Reformation; his prayer was considered more formidable than any military force. From a human point of view, it was the prayer of Knox that sparked the Reformation in Scotland.

John Knox was born in Scotland about 1514.  Knox lived during the time when it was often very dangerous to be a follower of Christ. His unwavering commitment to preaching  and prayers was a bright and shining light amid the darkness in a nation steeped in doctrinal compromise. His powerful preaching and fervent prayers were believed to have a significant impact on political and religious events.

His fervent prayers were seen as a potent force which shook the land of Scotland, causing a revival among God’s people. He reinvigorated God’s servants throughout the nation; this in turn reformed the church and revived the country. His prayer life was a driving force and fuel of the ongoing reformation during his time. His most famous prayer is “give me Scotland, or I die”. 

He consistently lived out his theology, believing that “one man with God is always in the majority.” Knox was known by those close to him as “an eminent wrestler with God in prayer” and he certainly expected God to answer his prayers. Using scriptural examples and personal testimony, Knox argued that God does hear the earnest prayers of His people and will answer them. He prayed as one who knew that God does act on the prayers of His people.

However, he also knew that God’s answer was not always immediate deliverance. God’s answer may include sustaining the Christian through suffering and assurance of future deliverance. He noted that in the midst of anguishes, the goodness of God sustained a person, so that the present tribulation was tolerable. And, the infallible promises of God so assured him of deliverance, that his fear was partly mitigated or gone.”

For Knox, prayer was not an occasional activity, it was consistent. He took the command in scripture to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) seriously. In his definition of prayer, he called prayer an earnest and familiar talking with God. Knox remained prayerful even to his dying hours. In 1572 while very ill he called his wife and said, "read me that Scripture where I first cast my anchor." After he listened to the prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, he began to pray and as he prayed he died.

Elijah is given as a model of prayer. James 5:16-18 says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails 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 land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit”. The prayer of a righteous person has great power”.

1 Kings 16:30-33 tells us that Ahab did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him (1 Kings 16:30-33). Ahab moved the nation away from the worship of Jehovah to this heathen idol, Baal. The land swarmed with the false prophets (1 kings 18:19). In the whole of Israel only seven thousand people had not bowed to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). The prophets of Jehovah were paralysed with fear and were hiding in the caves (1 Kings 18:4).

What was God to do in a day of such massive departure? At this crucial time in the history of Israel, the Prophet Elijah suddenly appeared. But what could one man do against such a tide of evil? Elijah was no superhero. He was “a man with a nature like ours”. In the confidence that God would honour his prayers, Elijah went into Ahab‟s presence and said “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1).

Ahab had the power to have him executed, but Elijah faced Ahab fearlessly because the living and true God was on his side. Everyone else may have felt that God was dead, but for Elijah the God of Israel was alive. Elijah stood in the presence of Ahab, but he was conscious of the presence of someone greater than any earthly king. He was standing in the presence of the living.

As soon as he left Ahab God said to Elijah  “get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith...so he went and did according to the word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:2-5). There God miraculously provided food for him when everyone else was starving. The escape to the Brook Cherith was for more than protection. God wanted to train Elijah dependence upon the LORD.

Elijah saw the flow of the brook slow down until it dried up. He did not pray for rain to come again, even for his own survival. He kept the purpose of God first, even when it adversely affected him. When the Brook Cherith eventually dried up, God sent him to Sidon, a foreign country (1 Kings 17:8-16). Jesus said “I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel... but to none of them was Elijah sent (Luke 4:24-26).

God led Elijah to a desperately poor Gentile widow. God had told him “I have commanded a widow there to provide for you”(1 kings 17:9). This woman seemed unaware of the command but she did what Elijah asked.  This shows how God’s unseen hand often works (Prov. 21:1). God promised he would provide a never-ending supply of food for the widow, her son, and Elijah himself and he fulfilled the promise (1 Kings 17:15-16).

Those happy days were eventually covered by a dark shadow; the sickness and death of the widow’s only son (1 Kings 17:15-24). Elijah brought this seemingly unexplainable tragedy to God in prayer. When God answered Elijah’s prayers the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth”.As Elijah saw God working in different ways, his faith became stronger and stronger.

 As the time for the end of the three and a half year drought drew near, God told Elijah to present himself to Ahab. Elijah obeyed and immediately set out to find Ahab. Elijah showed no fear in stating God’s message to the powerful king. He told Ahab, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.” 1 Kings 18:20-40 records the climax of Elijah’s service for God.

Elijah told Ahab to summon the people from all over Israel to Mount Carmel. Such was his God-given force that Ahab did as he said, even though Ahab counted Elijah as his enemy. Elijah challenged the other prophets to a contest that would be an unmistakable proof of which deity was superior. He was standing alone against 450 prophets of Baal in the contest.  But, the contest was not really between Elijah and the 450. It was between God and Baal.

To put God and himself on the line before the gathered nation of Israel took a lot of faith. Elijah had plenty of reasons for confidence in the LORD God. First, he was following express instructions from the LORD (1 Kings 18:36). Second, he knew from the history of Israel that God could and would send fire from heaven  (Judges 6:20-21; 2 Chron. 7:1-7). Third he had built faith over the many months of daily dependence on God, both at the Brook Cherith and at the widow’s house at Zarapeth.

The prophets of Baal called on the name of Baal from morning until evening but there was no answer. Towards evening Elijah took twelve stones and built an altar. He poured water on everything. Clearly Elijah had unlimited confidence in God. He knew the power and the faithfulness his God. In this extreme circumstance, alone in front of so many people, Elijah’s confidence in his God never wavered.

He stepped forward and prayed: ““Lord God …let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to you again”( 1 Kings 18:36-37). Answer me, so these people will know that you are are the living, prayer answering God.

Answer me that they may know that you rule the fire, flesh, wood, stones and the rain. Answer me so that when your people turn back to you, they will know that it is you who turned them back. God immediately answered that prayer. Elijah’s petition was brief but it produced spectacular results. When the fire of God fell, its worked beyond expectation. The fire consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and it licked up the water that was in the trench (1 Kings 18:38).  

Whereas the people had had nothing to say when challenged earlier by Elijah to choose between God and Baal, they now fell on their faces and said, “the LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:39) . At this moment, the people were completely persuaded. Baal was a false god with no more power or life than the pile of stones and wood. Elijah’s God was alive, an all-powerful Creator God. Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”

 Elijah knew that once the official worship of Baal had been defeated, the purpose for the drought was fulfilled. Rain was on the way. He bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees. This was an unusual posture of prayer for Elijah. A few hours before, he stood erect as an oak; now, he is bowed as a bulrush. Then as God’s ambassador he pleaded with man; now as man’s intercessor he pleads with God.

Elijah said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked. Seven times he said, “Go again.” This was a persistent prayer. Elijah had confidence that God’s will was to send rain. The sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. The long drought was over and it was demonstrated that the prayers of Elijah both withheld the rain and then subsequently brought the rain. Prayer is powerful, you can pray like Elijah because he was just like you.  Don’t underestimate the power of your prayers!”