1 Kings 17:1; 18:36-46; James 5:16-18 — to be effective, the prayer of faith requires a life of faithfulness
If you read the King James Version (and perhaps even if you don’t), the translators seemed to have lost something in the translation of 1 Kings 18:37,39. So here’s another translation (mine, as rendered from the Spanish Reina-Valera Revisi¢n 1960):
Respond to me, Jehovah, repond to me, so that this people may know that you, O Jehovah, are the God, and that you turn to you the heart of them.
Seeing it all the people, they prostrated themselves and said: Jehovah is the God, Jehovah is the God!
What did Elijah want known that day?
- Jehovah was God in Israel (36).
- Elijah was Jehovah’s servant (36).
- Elijah had acted at Jehovah’s word (36).
- Jehovah is Jehovah God (37).
- Jehovah had turned Israel’s heart back to Him again (37).
Though CLP’s lesson title focuses on the prayer of faith, I’m focusing my comments on the life of faithfulness. The next two sections I have taken from “The Lord, He Is the God”.
Stand alone! put your prayer of faith to work!
God and His truth must always be represented, even if you are the only one doing it. No matter how much He is mocked, stand. Without regard to how much His Word is belittled, stand. Stand even when you must do it alone.
Be ready to stand alone, but not in word alone. Even when others say the right thing but live below it, stand alone in word and in deed. When those about you find satisfaction in less than full obedience, live for God alone, even if you must do it alone. When others tolerate and even condone inconsistency, stand for integrity of life and conviction, even if you must live that way alone.
When the values of others drift toward materialism, stand for spiritual and eternal values. When others flaunt the rules and the law (even in the “minor” things), stand for submission and obedience. When the rest indulge their flesh in entertainments, stand for putting the flesh to death. When those around you gradually succumb to looser morals, stand for absolute purity. Never sacrifice righteousness for company; stand alone if you must!
Though it costs you friends and gains you foes, stand. Though it brings you discomfort and peril, stand. Though it results it misunderstanding and mockery, stand. Though it scares you and tires you, stand. Though you’re called a radical or a goody-two-shoes, stand. When the choice is standing for right or falling for wrong, stand. When the options are standing with conviction or drifting with convenience, stand. Though you feel alone, stand. Alone, if need be.
Remember, those who stand with God never stand alone. Those who cannot stand alone for God will one day (and forever thereafter) stand alone.
Don’t let others stand alone for the right!
Why did Elijah have to stand alone? God assured him later that there were still quite a few people who hadn’t bowed before the false gods. So where were they when Elijah had to stand alone?!
We don’t know, and it doesn’t matter any more. Let’s just make certain that we stand with others for the right, so they don’t have to stand alone.
Read the entire article here: “The Lord, He Is the God”.
How to Make the Prayer of Faith a Successful Prayer
What makes prayer successful?
What makes prayer worth the while?
If you are a praying person, what keeps you at it?
If you aren’t, what keeps you from it?
Additional Reading about the prayer of faith
- If I Truly Believed
- Whatcha Here Fer?
- Alone. Desolate. Hopeless.
- Alone?
- I Am Not Alone
- Pray (Always)
