Faith and Love

Apr 19, 2020 | by Pastor Josh Tate | series: Prayer Matters

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In James 5:17-18 we find a short but very instructive passage about prayer. It says, “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.” It seems to me that James is communicating two important truths in these verses. One, Elijah wasn’t anything special. James says he was a man with a nature like ours. IN other words, he was just like you and me. And two, when this totally ordinary man prayed to God extraordinary, unprecedented things happened as a result.

As I have shared with you previously, during this season of quarantine and isolation I have been making a close study of Paul’s prayers that are recorded in his New Testament letters, especially his prison epistles. These prayers are very rich, and express powerfully God’s heart for his church. This Sunday we will begin a new sermon series through the prison prayers of Paul by studying Ephesians 1:15-23.

We have a nature like Elijah, which is to say that we are just ordinary folks, but through prayer, God is pleased to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. My hope is that the study of these prayers in the Bible would shape how we pray for one another and that God would do extraordinary, unprecedented things in response.

So please come and be a part of this important study!