# Elijah’s Prayer Life

May 25, 2026

To see everyone out on a Sunday night, and thrilled to see you all here. We have a graduate, and this here is a graduate. He actually is graduating in December.

We thought, well, if we don’t get it in now, we might not get in it at all. And not the typical kind of halfway through the year type graduate. Some people just have to be different on everything. This is a great young man. He’s been coming to church here now—how many years, Ethan? Six years. Wow. And praise the Lord for that.

We’re glad Ethan is a part of our church. Graduating in December, and you pray for Ethan. God spoke to him a year or so ago about preaching, and he’s just praying about God’s will for his life. So you pray for Ethan, would you do that? And pray for a good young man. And he works at Hardee’s.

If you ever go to Hardee’s in LaVerne, stop by there and say hi to Ethan. And while you’re there, get a Frisco Burger, amen. Ethan’s a good young man. We’re proud of him. Congratulations—a little early, but it’ll be here before we know it, his graduation. We don’t want to miss it. Let’s give Ethan congratulations a little ahead of time. Congratulations, I love you, Ethan. Amen. Pray the Lord for Ethan, and I truly am proud of him. He’s a good, good young man.

Ushers, come for the offering, and pray for Brother Gary Mortman. I think most of you know about him. He was in a motorcycle accident—he rides a scooter, and really he’s learning the language, but he doesn’t have a down path, and so he just—he’s passed out literally hundreds of thousands of gospel tracts.

And he grew up, grew up. If you remember, every once in a while, I’ll mention a story about our very first service. I try to have everything planned out, but you know, when you do everything—taking an offering and all that—I missed the invitation song.

I got to that part there and was looking for, you know, “Just As I Am” or whatever. And Gary Maltman, he had never been in an independent Baptist church, but he came and was sitting down here in that first service. And he said, “So, at such and such page. That’s exactly what I needed.” And I just felt like God was saying, “We’re going to supply the workers and people you need.” About three months into it, they joined the church and just grew. He’s on the mission field now. I’ve been over there almost six years. He texted me a couple weeks ago—five years and so many months—and he’s getting the gospel to thousands. I texted this morning. I haven’t heard back from him, of course, probably surgery and whatnot and all those things. He texted son this afternoon. Probably get back something pretty soon on that. But pray for him.

Pray they won’t get his curse. He’s over there by himself. He’s a single man now. Just pray for Brother Gary—mentally, physically, but then emotionally and mentally. I don’t know if his son Caleb—Caleb’s about to get married, his son—and so I don’t know if he’s going over there or whatnot. So pray for him, if you would, in the mix of all that. That will be a great, great blessing. Look in your bulletin. I’m trying to change over from announcements to bulletins. I’ve had two people kind of say, “Hey, can you get this?” And I’ll just put a plug or two in.

Let’s make sure we’re working at that bulletin. The PA meeting, I think, is Friday, if I remember right. The Nashville Sounds ballgame is coming up. If you sign up for that quickly, Brother Rick can get the tickets early, and it won’t cost quite as much. Y’all will have a good time going to the Nashville Sounds ballgame, and there’s a men’s activity coming up. Make sure you jump on board on those things, and that would be great. I think you’ll get a benefit from it.

I appreciate the Renix. What a blessing. They were in here years ago, moved away, slid back, and they got right with the Lord, came back, amen. Back to the promised land. We’re glad they’re back.

Brother Jim, we were talking this morning. We don’t have the time for all of them. We’re going to get that men’s Sunday afternoon prayer meeting started back. Brother Jim’s going to head that up, and boy, that’s so key. If you’re in choir, stay in choir. But if you’re not in choir, that’d be a good, good place for you to go Sunday afternoon. I’ve made his prayer beat and I’m excited about that. Brother Jim, would you at least lead us in prayer for the place, brother?

And once more, turn to number 378. Number 378, “It Is Well With My Soul.” 1378. That was great singing. Y’all do a wonderful job of it.

I appreciate that. We’re going to preach on prayer. Lord, let my heart be that way. Earlier in the week, Tim and Jennifer sang a good special about prayer. I want you to listen to the words. They do a wonderful job with this song, but I want you to listen—of course, enjoy it—but focus on the words. I thought we could just kind of get our hearts and minds going in the direction we’re heading ahead of time about prayer. So if Tim and Jennifer come and sing forth at this time, you’ll enjoy that.

You say I’m not able, I’m too young or I’m too old And I can’t sing or preach, and no title do I hold Lord, what can I do? For I want to do my part Oh, I want to help the hurting with all of my heart

Till the walls come down, till there’s healing That’s something in my secret Family shows no interest, my child has gone so far Though I try my best to reach them, their heart just seems so hard Lord, what can I do?

Bring them back to you, for my friends are lost and dying And my words just do not get through Till the walls come down, till there’s healing all around That’s something I can do in my secret place calling on your name That’s something I can do

Till the walls come down, till there’s healing all around, that’s something you can do In your secret, your name, that’s something you can do.

Good job. Thank you so much, Brother Tim and Miss Jen, for what a great, great song. They did a good, good job. Open to James, chapter number five, if you would, please. James chapter 5. For just a bit tonight, we’re going to look at Elijah and his prayer life, Elijah’s prayer life. James chapter number five is where we’ll start tonight. That’s a great message in song right there. We just had an invitation right now, right?

Some of you are saying, “Amen, let’s go.” Go home and eat. Amen. You don’t have that other preacher; amen, you’ve got me. So, James chapter number five, James chapter number five, we’re going to start in verse number 17 in God’s word tonight. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together just to show honor? James chapter number five.

By the way, it has been good to have my son here with us today, and the Patterson’s daughter and grandson with us. We’ve been glad to have Michelle and Michael with us both, and that’s been a blessing. James 5, look at verse number 17. Elias, really speaking of Elijah in the Old Testament—the Hebrew—was a man subject to like passions as we are. Isn’t that interesting? He tells us that.

And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. For just a little bit tonight, would you ask that God would maybe just put a little gas on our fire of prayer, and put a little more fire in our prayer closets? We always—I could always use that. Let’s pray for that, would you please? Lord, I do pray that you would challenge us. Lord, give us a vision, every one of us here tonight, Lord, of what you would like for us to be in our prayer closets. And Lord, not just there, but throughout the day in our prayer life. Grow us tonight, Lord. And Lord, if you would, put a little fuel on that, whatever level where we’re at, take us to another level in our prayer lives. Lord, we’ll thank you for what you do. Father, we ask that in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Isn’t it amazing? God is talking here about Elijah.

And his prayer life. He starts off with that little phrase there in verse number 17. He just started off talking about Elijah here. He’s mentioned on my prayer and confessing and anointing with oil and all these things. But he gets to Elias, or Elijah. And the first thing he says: Elijah was a man subject to like passions. I don’t know about you, but that brings hope to me.

I mean, you look at Elijah. He was a great, great prophet of God, but Elijah—it’s interesting. Some would say he’s manic-depressive. Some might even go as far as to say he’s a little bipolar. He had that great victory when he stood up to Ahab and said, because of your sinfulness, it is not going to rain. Then three and a half years later, he meets on Mount Carmel. That doesn’t mean it’s like caramel you get from McDonald’s on your ice cream, all right now. But Mount Carmel there, he meets there with all the prophets of Baal and the groves, 850 of them. He’s there in the battle on the mount, and he prays that 63-word prayer. A great victory, just a great victory.

Well, then you turn around right after that. Look if you go over in 1 Kings, chapter number 19. First Kings 19, just briefly here tonight. He’s just on the topside, flying high, great victory. Look at this in chapter 19 of First Kings, and he starts off: Ahab told Jezebel…

…all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a message unto Elijah saying, “So let the gods do to me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Elijah was bold, a man of faith, and he said, “God will take care of me.” And when he saw that, he arose and fled for his life. Back in the day, they’d say, “Come on now.” He’d say, “What a big chicken.” Yeah. When he saw that, he rose and fled for his life and came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there.

But he went himself a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and had a pity party. Sucked his thumb—you’ve got to read that in the Hebrew. Imagine sometimes; you can see it on somebody’s face. They’re having a pity party. If we could have seen Elijah’s face that day, he’d have had a big old pity party. Watch this, middle of verse number four: “And he requested for himself that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough now, O Lord; take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’”

We could go on down. God was very merciful and gracious to him. But I just want to kind of look and see, you know what? I lied to you. He’s just like me. Man, I had such a pity party. I sucked one thumb off, friend. I mean, you know, I’ve been there. And if you get honest with me, you’ve been there before too. Elijah was just like me and you. He had all kinds of problems. He had—I think he had high swings, you know? Way up there on the mountaintop and boom, way down in the valleys. Just like me and you. These people in the Bible—sometimes we think they got everything perfect, friend. They had flaws. They had problems just like you got flaws. He’s a man subject to like passions as you and I.

Now, you know the story. God was very gracious to him and showed up there. The angel of the Lord gave him food and told him, “Hey, take a nap there.” And he was a good Baptist; he took a nap. Somebody say amen. How many got your Sunday afternoon nap in already? If you didn’t get it in, don’t get it in right now. He did it twice. Then he travels—he travels down to Mount Horeb. That’s a long journey, about 120 miles. He goes down there, and notice what he does: he’s basically living in a cave. Many would call this severe depression. He’s just secluded himself as a hermit living in a cave. In chapter 19, look down at verse number nine. “And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there.”

Man, he’s got severe depression. “And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said, ‘What doest thou here, Elijah?’” Look at his answer. Very interesting. He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts.” You talk about patting yourself on the back. Man, he must have broken his arm. Look at me. I’ve been very zealous. Let me pat myself on the back. Look at what I’ve done. “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant and thrown down thine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left.” By the way, we know that’s not true. The Lord corrects him on that, says there are 7,000 that bowed the knee.

You ever get in a pity party and exaggerate how bad you have it? Amen. “Nobody knows how bad I have it. I’m the only one been through this.” Lodge is just like that. Where are we at here? Bottom of verse number 10: “And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away.” What Jezebel was—I don’t know about all the Israelites, but Jezebel was. The Lord did speak to him—the earthquake, the wind, and the fire and all those things. The Lord did speak to him. Jump down to the bottom of verse number 13. He asks him the same thing. He’s speaking to him now outside the cave on the mountain there. He asks the same thing: “What doest thou here, Elijah?”

And lines you already heard from the Lord, so he’s right with God. So he said, “Lord, I’m looking to you. You’re a wonderful, mighty God. You know, I’m a sinner, but you’re so good.” No, you know what he says in verse 14? The same thing that’s in the Southern language if you read it in the Southern language. He says the same thing: “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts. Look at me, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant and thrown down thy altars and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away.” You know what I’m trying to say? Elijah is just like you, just like me. He had problems. He exaggerated. He had pity parties. He said, “Nobody knows.” He went through all those things that I go through and you go through. The Lord over here in James is about to talk about Elijah’s prayer life, and he starts off: “He’s a man subject to like passions.”

Now, I don’t know about you, friend, but that gives me hope that I can have a prayer life where God hears and answers my prayers too, even though I have problems, I have flaws. I mean, you say, “Man, that preacher is such…” Well, you don’t know half of how bad I am, friend. I can tell you a whole lot more about it. But God can still hear your prayers. Satan loves to downplay the prayers of God’s people. He loves to say, “Oh, God’s not going to hear you. You’re too messed up. You got flaws.” Satan will tell you that all day long because he does not want you praying.

He’s good at just downplaying the prayers of God’s people. He’s just after that right there: “You’re not a good enough Christian to pray.” Well, Elijah had problems too, friend. What a great thing that God, when he starts off talking about this thing, says, “Oh, Elijah had problems.” Go back over there to James, would you please? We’ll be back over in 1 Kings in just a minute, but back over here in James. I love what he says. He starts over there, James 5:17: “Elias, or Elijah, was a man subject to like passions as we are.” And he what? He what? Prayed earnestly.

Now, friend, don’t let the devil convince you God’s not going to hear your prayers. God doesn’t hear your prayers because you’re all that; God hears your prayers because He’s all that. God hears your prayers because of Jesus and what He earned for you on the cross of Calvary through His grace. But listen, just because you have a flaw doesn’t mean you can’t pray. He says he’s a man subject to like passions as we are, yet he prayed earnestly.

Now let’s talk about that “earnestly” for just a minute here. When’s the last time you got passionate about prayer a little bit? How many Tennessee Vols fans do we have out there? Boy, if I had more! Goodness gracious.

I agree. We need an altar call for sure now. We don’t have any Vanderbilt fans in here, do we? I thought we’d have more than that. Help me out. On the count of three, tell me your team: basketball, football, whatever it may be. Tell me on the count of three. Here we go: One, two, three. How many have been to a ball game in the last year? Whatever kind of ball. Okay, okay. How many have been to a ball game where the fans got into it and they’re standing up cheering? Oh, man, those are the best ones. Have you ever seen that guy? Man, he’s just yelling, just into it. You’ve never been like that, right? Of course not.

Look, wouldn’t it be amazing if we got that passionate in our prayer lives? I mean, just, man, they’re into it—“Come on, make that shot!” Wouldn’t it be something if we could pray like that? He prayed earnestly. He was into it; his emotions, his mind, his heart were in it. He wasn’t just reading a list and going through a ritual. He was into this thing. He was praying earnestly. Honestly, I’m not always there. When’s the last time we were so into our prayer life that we were shedding some tears? Just intense. Jesus, He sweat. He was in His prayer time so much before the cross in the garden, and He sweat as if they were great drops of blood. You talk about intensity.

They say they can get so intense that your capillaries in your skin are bursting, and you can actually sweat blood. You talk about praying earnestly. When’s the last time I came a little bit close to that intensity in my prayer life?

He prayed earnestly. When’s the last time we were so into it that we were sincerely like Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord—Jesus Christ, I believe it was—wrestled all that long with him? When’s the last time we felt like we were truly wrestling in prayer earnestly? You said, “Well, I got all kinds of flaws.” Well, Elijah did too. He’s a messed-up fellow, but he prayed earnestly. Wow. What’s the next thing he says over there in James? What’s the next thing he says? “And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” Verse number 18: And he prayed—what’s the next word? Again. I wish prayer was just one time when it was going to happen, but typically it’s over the long haul.

He prayed again. Oh, friend, don’t let Satan discourage you just because you prayed one time. Don’t give up. Satan will try everything he can to discourage your prayer life. He battles your prayer life, and he’s good about downplaying, “Well, God’s not going to hear your prayers.” But you tell the old devil, “Hey devil, Elijah had problems too, and God heard his prayer.” He prayed earnestly; he prayed again. Look over in 1 Kings. We’re going to be in 1 Kings the rest of the night. Look over in 1 Kings, chapter number 17. 1 Kings 17.

This is where Elijah—remember, it didn’t rain. God sent him over there to the brook, and it dried up. Then he said, “Go up there to the widow woman of Zarephath,” and he’s up there with her. That’s when he said, “Hey, feed me first.” And she did. Remember the meal didn’t waste and the oil didn’t waste, and God took care of him. She had a boy—she had a son. Her son got real sick. Her son died. She came to Elijah and said, “Hey, Elijah, I thought you’re a man of God. I thought God was going to bless me, and you’re here and all that.” She had some guilt about her sins, I think. But she brings her son to Elijah, and I want you to notice what he does. Look in verse number 19, 1 Kings 17, verse number 19.

“And he said unto her, ‘Give me thy son.’” Now he’s dead. He took him out of her bosom. She was carrying him. I don’t know, but I imagine she’s just weeping, holding on her son, not wanting to let go of him. I think of someone at a funeral holding onto the casket and not wanting to let go. I think of one recently here at a church, the widow of 60-plus years, and she didn’t want to let go of him, the body. I imagine that’s a little bit what’s going on right here. “And he said, ‘Give me thy son,’” and he took him out of her bosom and carried him up into a loft where he abode and laid him upon his own bed. “And he cried unto the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?’”

And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, I pray that this child’s soul may come into him again.” And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah. And the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and delivered him unto his mother. And Elijah said, “See, thy son liveth.” Now, a couple things, just briefly here. I want you to notice about this. We’re talking about Elijah. He’s a man subject to like passions as we are, yet he prayed. God used him in the New Testament as an example of prayer, and we’re looking back at some of his prayer time. When he had this major problem—not a prayer problem, this problem he was praying about, this son that died—I want you to notice…

That he took the son and got alone. He went up to the loft. He had a little mother-in-law’s apartment, if you will, up there, and that’s where he stayed. He went and got away from everybody. Can I say this? A great prayer life is not going to be out in front of everybody. A great prayer life is not going to be all show. It’s not going to be, “Look at my prayer life and all that.” A great prayer life is found in secret. I don’t want to be mean here, but sometimes that’s why some people don’t work on their prayer life very much—because nobody else knows about it besides God and them. But if it’s a true prayer life, you don’t care about anybody else knowing about it besides God. It’s not going to be some flashy, “Look at my prayer life.” You’re going to get away from everybody, everything. You just want to get along with you and God. That’s where you have great prayer meetings.

The Pharisee, he wasn’t talking to the Lord; he was talking to everybody else so they’d hear. Look at that. But the publican, he just looked at God, “Be merciful to me.” And God heard that man. It’s not about everybody else hearing what a good prayer you are. It’s about you getting along with God. That’s where things happen. Matthew 6: three times it says, “Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” One of those three: “Thy Father which seeth in secret shall himself reward thee openly.” We look at the open. Well, look at all that in the open, friend. That’s not where the key is. The secret is in secret, being alone with God. That’s where the secret is. Elijah took that boy and got him away from everybody, everything. He just got alone with God.

That’s where the key is. Once you notice this, it’s interesting. It’s a little similar to how he prayed earnestly. Notice it says—I think if I remember right, it says twice right there, verse number 20—“And he cried unto the Lord.” And then verse number 21: “And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the Lord.” I think that’s the only time, but twice there. Elijah was crying. When’s the last time your emotions got really involved in your prayer life? Some are more businesslike, I call it businesslike, than emotional. Some are more emotional than others. But I’ll be honest, sometimes even businessmen can shed some tears. No, Elijah was shedding tears. He cried, just praying earnestly into it. I’m not always there. I often think if Curtis Such and Curtis Such would tell the story, he’d wake up in the morning time, and Will would say, “I’m going to go pray,” but emotion said, “I don’t want to pray.” Will said, “I’m going to go pray anyway.” So Will went over to the prayer closet and closed the door, and he started praying. It wasn’t—he said, just funny—about five or ten minutes later, he heard a little knock at the door. Will went to the door and said, “Who is it?” And it was emotion. Emotion says, “I want to get involved with you.” My prayer closet there often. But Will, he got in there, and emotion came along after a while. But oh, Elijah, he prayed and he cried. He cried.

It is amazing that it is pleading with the Lord. You think my pleading won’t do anything with God? Isaiah 1:18 is interesting—this is amazing to me. God said to sinful Israel, “Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord.” Isn’t an amazing God, an omniscient God that knows everything, knows me, knows what I’m going to say before I say it, knows the end from the beginning? He’ll let a little boy like me, if you will—I’m His son, I’m His child—reason with Him. Isn’t that amazing? When’s the last time you reasoned with God? There’s nothing wrong with sharing your side of it and saying, “Lord, this is what I’m asking for.” Now, always, always with “Not my will, but Thine be done.” Don’t come pointing your finger, judging God, acting like you’re all that. He could just squash us with a thumb. But come in reasoning with God. Not just reciting your prayer list, but pray. Get your emotions involved. He cried before the Lord. Something else about this: Elijah prayed some big prayers.

This may be the biggest. I understand Mount Carmel is coming up, and there’s a story where he’s praying, and God brings down the fire from heaven. That’s wonderful. But before that, for somebody to come back to life—that’s a pretty big prayer. I pray a lot of things, but I’ve never prayed for that. Don’t let the big prayers intimidate you if God is leading you in that big prayer. You pray if God is leading you that way. I wouldn’t say to pray big prayers unless we had a big God, but friend, we have the mightiest God. Amen.

I told you this recently: when we were looking for a place to meet, I asked Jimmy Tatter, pastor down at Victor Baptist Church there for, I can’t remember, 50 or 60 years—literally the pastor, and he’s in heaven now. I said, “Brother Tatter, you have a perfect spot as you’re coming into Shelbyville, just a little before Walmart on the left-hand side. That’s where the church is—perfect location. 231, perfect location.” Brother Tatter, how did you get this location? He said, “Well, I started praying, ‘God, the church is your bride, and I try to give my bride the best thing I can. The best I give, I’m going to provide for. This is your bride.’” He said that’s what he prayed, and God gave them a property. I felt a little intimidated about that at first. I thought, “When am I going to pray that?” It wasn’t just because of my prayers—I’m not trying to say that’s your prayers—but God gave us, I think, the best location. I’m saying, don’t be afraid to pray big prayers. We serve a mighty big God. Elijah—God was preparing Elijah for prayers on Mount Carmel and all along when this widow’s son died and his life came back. One other thing, we’re going to move on here.

One other thing we just read—it’s over there in chapter 17 and verse number 21—he stretched himself upon the child three times. I don’t know how long it was between, or how long each time lasted—maybe an hour each, I don’t know, maybe 15 minutes, maybe 30 minutes, maybe longer—three times. “Well, I’ve been praying about it, and God hasn’t given it to me yet.” Keep praying. I wish prayer was just “boom,” you know, but God typically is not an instant God. When we call upon Him for salvation, He’ll save you. But this: asking, it shall be given; seeking, you shall find; knocking. That’s a continual asking, seeking, and knocking. Three times he just sought the Lord, three times. We won’t take time to look it up, but Elijah on Mount Carmel—it’s interesting to me—those prophets of Baal, 850 of them. By the way, I was reading that the other day, and they were sincere. They really believed. They cut themselves; they were bleeding all over. Isn’t it sad how people are blinded by the devil and the false gospel and false religion? Elijah got up, made fun of them a little bit, and said, “Well, your God’s on vacation. He’s in Florida,” is what I was trying to say. Or the Cayman Islands, maybe. I don’t know. Then Elijah got up, just six or three words. Remember he had them pour the water on there, there by the Mediterranean Sea—probably just got the water from the sea—and poured twelve barrels full. Six or three words, and boy, that fire came down, just devoured it all.

Now, here’s the interesting thing after that. Look over in Chapter 18, 1 Kings 18, just briefly here. I want you to see it again. That prayer that was in the open, God just blessed it. By the way, typically, when you’re praying in front of the people, you don’t have to pray super long. Just 63 words, and God blessed it. But watch this. Look in verse number 42, 1 Kings 18:42. “So Ahab went up to eat.” Elijah told him, “Go eat.” “Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel.” Stop for just a second here.

They’ve been somewhere on the side of that mountain, probably a big open space where all Israel had gathered there—850 prophets of Baal and then the groves, 400—all of them gathered there. Elijah’s there, probably thousands there. But Elijah says, “Now I’m going to pray for it to rain,” and he went up to the top. My wife and I were out a year or so ago, and we were on a… I’ll tell them myself. We had rented a side-by-side, one of these—I’ll call them the SUVs of the woods. You know what a side-by-side is? It’s like an oversized four-wheeler, like a Razor type thing. We went up about half of a mountain, and it was pretty steep, a lot of rocks or whatnot. My wife said, “No more, no, no more.” I said, “Come on, we’re all right.” We put it in four-wheel drive, low-wheel drive. Man, we just crawled up, and she was like, “No, no, no, no, no.” I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” That’s why I have this black eye sometimes. We made it up the top. She said, “It is beautiful. I’m glad we did it.” I said, “What did you just say right there?” We made it up there, and it was beautiful. You feel like you’re away from everybody, everything. What I’m trying to say is Elijah got away from everybody, everything. Great prayer lives are not built in front of everybody else; they’re built alone.

His servants were there. Where are we at? Oh, 42 there. “So Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees.” Can you picture this? He just had an amazing victory. He just killed 850 prophets of Baal and the groves. Yet he didn’t want God to look at his victory; he humbled himself. It’s a whole lot easier to be humble when you’re on the bottom, but when you’re on the top, it’s amazing how people change sometimes. Elijah just had a great victory, and still he humbles himself before the Lord, gets on his knees, puts his face between his knees. He said to a servant, “Go up now and look toward the sea.” His servants were there with him. They went up and looked and said, “There’s nothing.” He said, “Go again seven times.” Seven, the number of completion. In other words, Elijah said, “I’m just going to keep praying until God does something.”

The servant goes to look and comes back, and nothing. He just said, “Well, I’m just going to keep praying.” Go look again. Go look again. “And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, ‘Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man’s hand.’” He said, “Go up. Tell Ahab he had prepared that chariot and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.” He just said, “I’m going to keep praying until God does something.” Friend, don’t let the devil convince you God doesn’t hear your prayers. You’re going to pray differently than Elijah did. You’re going to pray differently than I do, but you pray. The prayer of the upright is His delight. You’re not going to get all that perfect before God unless it’s through the blood of Jesus. You come through the way of the cross, and you get to the throne of grace. God loves to hear from His children. Come in faith, try to get your emotions involved in that thing, pray earnestly. Keep praying until God does something. Satan will do everything he can to belittle your prayers, but you tell the old devil, “Elijah had problems too, and God heard him.” God shows no respect to persons. Would you do this? We’re going to have our invitation. Would you—would you ask the Lord, “Lord, give me a vision”? Tell the Lord, “Lord, give me a vision of what kind of prayer life you’d want me to have.” Tell Him that tonight. Would you do that? Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes. Would you talk to Him a little bit? Maybe just dream right there—a dream. “Lord, what kind of prayer life would you want me to have?” Talk to Him about that. Let’s stand, if you would, please. Maybe tell Him, “Lord, I’m tired of having a boring prayer life. I want to believe and trust that you’re answering.” Would you do that? We’re just going to spend some time. You spend some time with the Lord. “Lord, give me a vision. Help me to dream what you want my prayer life to be like.” Would you tell Him that tonight?

Father, thank you. Lord, it is encouraging. You start off talking about Elijah over there in James, and he’s just like us, and yet we can read about all the things you did through his prayer life. Lord, would you challenge us? Put fire in our prayer life. Give us a vision of what you want us as individuals to be in our prayer life, Lord. I think about our church, Father. All of us just becoming the prayer warriors you want us to be. Help me to get there too, Lord. Bless these few minutes of us together with you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. We’ll just spend some time. Be obedient. Won’t you come to the altar? Come to the altar. Just be obedient as He speaks to you—a little thing He wants you to pray. Maybe it’s a big thing. Be obedient. Prayer is where it’s at. Imagine what God will do sometimes, just the faintest prayer from the weakest Christian.

Speaking of prayer, it is 7:06. Our church joined together at 7 o’clock. We’ll be all right, six minutes late here, and pray. Let’s come, if you would. It’s a little different, I understand, but I just believe God is so pleased when we humble ourselves coming before the Lord. If you would, just come on down. We’ve been doing this on Wednesday nights and Sunday nights. It’s amazing how things begin to happen since we began this. We have negotiated a lot. Things are looking good, but it’s not said and done. It’s not done until the bank cashes in, if you will. Let’s keep praying for that. We’re praying that God will allow us to use the funds from the sale of this property before we have to draw from the loan. I think pretty much all of our men have led us in prayer once over this. We’re going around a second time. If you have not led us in prayer twice over this, just lift your head up. Brother Joel, have you? Brother Joel, if you come, Brother Bill, you come. Good, good, good. We’ll get these men leading us, and let’s pray.

Pray, man. We have a mighty God. Let’s come in faith humbly. Lord, would you bless this thing? It looks good, but it could just all fall apart if God isn’t in it. Let’s just ask God to continue to bless the sale of this property. Would you ask Him at this time, please? Lord, we thank you for the privilege of being together here again, and Lord, we call upon Almighty God.

Lord, in my simple mind, there are so many things that I don’t understand. I don’t understand the great stories we just rehearsed tonight. Lord, I don’t understand why you made salvation so simple and free for somebody like me.

I don’t understand why you allow us to come to an almighty God. But Lord, we thank you. We’re calling upon you. We need you. Lord, we’re just coming to reason with you as a church family, asking for your leading, your hand upon this continued growth, Lord, so that we can spread the word of the salvation of Jesus. Lord, just be with our pastor and decisions and things that need to happen even this week. We again pray for favor with our city leaders and things that yet need to be decided upon and approved and all that. Lord, there are so many things—the entry in the state and all that will be involved. Lord, we just pray for your hand upon it. The first big thing is getting the sale finalized. Lord, we thank you for the buyer that you’ve sent, someone willing to work with us until we can move on a schedule and share the facility. That’s a huge answer to prayer, and we thank you for that. Lord, just be with this little church that you’ve used for 20-some years. May it continue to be a beacon in this community. Lord, we thank you for allowing us to have a little part of it now. In Jesus’ name, we pray this. Lord, Father, as we continue to pray and lift these prayers to you, Lord, thank you so much, Lord God, that you want to hear from us. Thank you that you made it possible, Lord, through your Son, Jesus, Lord.

Continue to pray, Lord, that we could use the sale—the buyer you’ve given—that’s a wonderful blessing, Lord. Thank you for answering that prayer, Lord. Use the sale of this building for that building, for your new building, so we don’t have to draw on the loan, Lord God. We pray, Lord God, a specific request, Lord. We know that you answer prayers, Lord. We have confidence, Lord God, that you hear us, so we ask, Lord, please. We also pray, Lord God, for any city ordinance or inspectors or what have you, that everything would go smoothly, that we would not get tied up in anything like that. Lord, may the building process be smooth. Lord, we pray, Lord God, for the construction—no problems there, Lord—and pray, Lord God, that souls would be saved during the construction, and of course, after. Your church should be a shining beacon, Lord, for the community, that would draw the lost, the sinners, Lord God, bound for hell, Lord, that they would come, hear your gospel, Lord, hear about your Son Jesus and what He did for us. I pray that souls will be saved that way, Lord. Also, Lord God, I lift up this church, Lord, that’s purchasing this property, Lord. As we share it, Lord God, during this time, may we have unity, Lord, may everything go smoothly, Lord, may we have no conflict, Lord God. Keep Satan away, Lord God, and his forces trying to cause and stir trouble amongst us and the other church members. Keep that away, Lord, and give wisdom and strength to the leadership, Lord God, at this time—our pastor and their pastor. Please strengthen them, Lord, and may we continue to pray, Lord God, for this sale.

I falter, Lord God, in prayer when I know I ought to be praying. So, Lord God, may you encourage us to continue to pray, Lord God, to seek you, Lord. We love you, Lord God. We thank you, Lord God. We thank you for all these people, Lord God. Thank you for your precious Son, Jesus, Lord, in whom we love. We lift them up to you, Lord God. Thank you, in Christ’s name, we pray all these things. Amen.

Original File: 2026-05-25 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Elijahs Prayer Life - Sunday PM - 05⧸24⧸2026