Tony Evans: We often find ourselves wondering how we should pray. How does prayer even work? Am I doing it wrong? Does God even hear me? Today, Pastor Tony Evans preaches on how we can have prayer that works!

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

The Urban Alternative is a Christian Bible teaching and resource ministry founded 39 years ago by Dr. Tony Evans. We aim to spread the teaching of God’s Word through Christian media with the goal of transforming lives. We offer sermons, sermon outlines, books, prayers, Bible studies and more on topics such as Christian living, marriage, discipleship, and spiritual growth, as taught by Tony Evans.

the prayer offered in faith will restore

the one who is sick and the Lord will

raise him up and if he has committed

sins they will be forgiven him therefore

confess your sins to one another and

pray for one another so that you will be

healed the effectual prayer of a

righteous man can accomplish 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 earth for

three years and six months then he

prayed again and the sky poured rain and

the earth produced its fruit and now

father grabbed us with this theme of

contacting heaven through prayer forgive

our prayerlessness and caused us to see

why this matters and we will give you

the praise from meeting us this morning

in Jesus name Amen

before a major sporting event they will

often play the national anthem now the

national anthem has absolutely nothing

to do with what’s getting ready to

happen on the field it doesn’t affect

the football game and doesn’t affect the

baseball game it doesn’t affect points

scored in the basketball game but it is

put there as a place of national honor

but totally unrelated to what you came

there for you don’t go there for the

national anthem

that’s an add-on for many of us prayer

is like the national anthem before a

sporting event it gets it started but

has absolutely no connection to us

happening in our lives we do it because

it’s tradition we’re supposed to it’s

paying homage while being totally

disconnected from the field of play of

our lives and yet it is one of the

dominant themes of Scripture and as you

saw when I read each verse in this

passage it is the dominant theme of

James in verses 13 through 18 you see

the word pray or prayer in every verse

so for James this is a big deal I hope

to explain to us today why God has a

conditional will and an unconditional

will God’s will is what he determines to

happen but it can happen in one of two

ways

it can happen unconditionally or

conditionally God’s unconditional will

is when he determines what will happen

irrespective of what anybody else does

that is it’s not conditioned on us or

anybody else because he’s going to

decide that it happens and he’s going to

cause it to happen without any human

involvement that is his unconditional

will it’s not conditioned on our actions

or non actions because he’s the

sovereign he sovereignly decided to make

it come to pass all by himself

that is his unconditional will but God’s

conditional will is different there are

many things he’s decided to not let

happen until he gets cooperation from

earth there are many things that he’s

decided he will not bring from heaven

into history unless there is human

cooperation with his desire and design

for example the Bible says God desires

all men to be saved yet men only get

saved when they believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ for salvation so he has a

will but it’s tied to a condition many

things in your life in my life are tied

to God’s conditional will so things

happen or don’t happen based not on

God’s decision but on our cooperation or

lack thereof one of the primary

mechanisms that God has established to

determine much of what he does on earth

and in your life and in my life is

conditioned by the absence or presence

of prayer James says in chapter 1 verses

1 chapter 4 verses 1 to 3 you have not

because you ask not

or when you asked you asked with wrong

motives he says I wanted to give it to

you but you never came to me for word so

you don’t have it it wasn’t because I

didn’t want to give it it was because

you didn’t who operate with getting it

because it was part of my conditional

will prayer is relational communication

with God and the goal of prayer is to

draw from heaven into history the gold

of prayer is to get eternity to make a

statement in time it is to make heaven

visible on earth it is to get God to

touch humanity the gold of prayer is

that up there might do something fix

something or change something down here

when God makes a big deal about prayer

which he does throughout all of

Scripture we are asking God to release

his will from heaven to earth we’re

giving him an okay because we’re

cooperating because it is part of his

conditional will now the problem is you

don’t always know what’s conditional and

what’s unconditional some things are

clear but other things you’re not sure

that’s why Paul says in first

Thessalonians 5:17 you better pray

without ceasing you better bring it all

in God so you’ll miss nothing because

all the time it’s not clear which way

God is operating from in the mind of the

Bible prayer is a lifestyle and not

merely an event if I were to say that

you breathed without ceasing you would

understand what I’m at because if you

cease breathing you’d cease

so if I said breathe without ceasing you

know that’s just got to be how you roll

that’s got to be how you roll so when

Paul says pray without ceasing he’s

talking about this is how you roll this

is how you roll that it is a lifestyle

not merely an event when you go into

another country they’re going to ask you

to show a passport the passport gives

you permission to go into this new realm

this new locality this new country it is

permission God has given every believer

a toll-free number you got an 800 number

it’s toll-free and it is designed to

give you permission to leave Earth and

into the sphere of heaven through the

mechanism of prayer so prayer is not

just saying some word it’s changing

locations when you pray as we will

describe in a moment you leave the

physical and you have now entered the

spiritual without prayer you become

limited to the physical but the only

reason you pray is to get the spiritual

God to enter into the physical the

passport to leave the physical and into

the spiritual is in one word in

Scripture and that word is prayer now

let me explain prayer does not get God

to do something he doesn’t want to do

because you can’t make God do something

but what prayer does is access what he

already wants to do that he has

conditioned on your participation and

mine

I love Isaiah 65 verse 24

Isaiah 65 20s for says before you call I

have answered oh did you follow that

before you pray I have already answered

the prayer so you are not praying to get

God to do something but to pull down

something

he’s already predetermined to do because

if he’s already done it before you ask

for it then why don’t I have it because

it has to be pulled down pull from

heaven into history and that is done

through prayer this concept of prayer is

distributing eternity in the time you

remember when the disciples were asked

by Jesus how are we gonna feed 5000 men

not counting women and children 15 to 20

thousand people and they said we don’t

know but they found a little boy with

two fish five barley loaves of bread

they brought him to Jesus because

there’s a problem I was gonna feed all

these people the Bible says Jesus looked

up to heaven and he prayed and he

invited God into the problem when

everybody opened up their eyes Moby Dick

is laying on the beach or gonna kill a

whale somehow there was supernatural

provision so that the scripture says

everybody ate till then till they were

full and there were 12 baskets filled

layer ben-tor baskets filled with

leftovers for them and the disciples

distributed the food to all that were

gathered Jesus Christ got heaven to

enter history but he prayed for that to

take place which answered the problem

and all men did was distribute what the

supernatural had provided so help me out

if Jesus had to pray to get his Heavenly

Father to do something up there to

change something down here

how much do you and I need to pray to

get God to do something up there that we

need him to do down here so we’re

talking about something serious we’re

talking about drawing heaven into

history so let’s break down this passage

and by the end of this passage I hope

you have will have been ignited for a

new fire regarding prayer and its power

to take the kingdom of heaven and invade

the kingdom of Earth through the

mechanism of Prayer verse 13 is any one

among you suffering suffering ment to be

going through a difficult period of time

suffering means you are hurting

something is hurting you it could be

physical hurt financial hurt

circumstantial hurt relational hurt all

you know is you’re in pain you are

suffering so just to make sure I’m not

wasting my time here let me ask you what

James asked his audience is anybody here

this more than suffering suffered good I

want to make sure we we could apply this

so for everybody who raised their hands

for those who are lying and didn’t raise

their hands and for those who will need

to raise their hand tomorrow even though

they may not need to raise it today is

any among you suffering you’re going

through a rough patch of life

he says notice this he must pray

now they should pray that it would be

nice if he did pray he says you better

pray if life has fallen on you

many of these Christians were being

persecuted many were going through

trials that were difficult to to handle

and they were hurting James says if you

are hurting because of circumstances you

must pray pain is always an invitation

to prayer came in whatever form it takes

is always an invitation to pray you say

well I’m hurting all the time that means

you should be praying all the time

because pain is an invitation to pray in

fact one of the reasons God lets pain

linger is to get more prayer from us so

we actually can lengthen pain time or

shorten pain time by lengthening prayer

time and not shortening prayer time if

anyone is hurting he not should not

could he must make contact with heaven

in the midst of the pain he must pray he

goes on in verse 13 notice what he says

is anyone cheerful he is to sing praises

so now we’re not talking about the

person in pain we talked about all and

folk who didn’t raise the hand that

should mean you’re cheerful it’s a good

day you’re happy today you’re not in any

excruciating difficulty right now

he says well if your day is going well

you’re cheerful let him sing praises now

a praise is a expression of value to the

Lord it is honoring the Lord physically

and verbally there’s no such thing as

silent praise you can have silent

worship but you can’t have silent praise

praise is always visual and the vocal

that’s why he says sing praises to the

Lord

wait a minute let’s rewind if you in

pain pray if you’re not in pain you’re

not sad but you’re glad praise well hold

it you either one or the other you even

in pain or you’re cheerful if you’re in

pain

talk to God if you’re not in pain praise

God

which means that you always communicate

with God cuz even in pain or in praise

so God wants to hear from you all day

non-stop as a way of life he wants you

to thread him into every aspect of your

day either in pray prayer or embrace cuz

even in pain or game praise what does

that mean I mean you got a 24/7 thing

going on with God that’s why you can’t

get mad at your grandmother was she

walking around as was stated gonna

praise the Lord praise the Lord praise

God because God wants a connection

ongoingly in every aspect of our lives

whether we’re hurting or not verse 14 he

says is anyone among you sick sick

now the Greek word for sick means to be

weary that’s what the word means means

to be weary the idea of sickness here is

not merely physical sickness it could be

physical but the word refers to its

effect it’s created weariness it’s like

when you say I’m sick and tired or when

you look at the person next to you you

say I’m sick of you

alright that’s a form of sickness that

means you are tired of him I’m sick of

this job you know I’m sick of this

circumstance you’re expressing a

weariness but you’re using the word sick

okay you may not mean you you’re not

saying I’m sick of you I’m physically

sick means I’m tired of dealing with you

I am weary so the concept of sick which

could be physical or emotional or

circumstantial has to do with I’ve been

beat down broke down toe up from the

flow up because laia the weight of life

and I’m just tired I’m tired I’ve been

going through this for this long I’ve

been struggling with this I am just

weary I’m sick and tired so let me make

sure I’m being relevant here anybody

weary

all right just one make sure we relevant

so he’s speaking now there’s the

sufferer

that’s the person’s going to pain but

this is the weary one the one who

because of what they may be suffering is

not sure they can go on any further not

sure they can make it want to throw in

the towel what happens when you get

weary no matter what’s cause the

weariness then let him call or the

elders of the church and they are to

pray over him ah in verse 13 you are

praying for you anyone suffering let him

pray but in verse 14 you need help

because your prayers are not getting

through in fact you don’t even feel like

praying anymore

when light beats you down long enough

deep enough you can get tired of dealing

with God and that doesn’t sound

spiritual but all y’all know that’s true

you’ll feel like talking to God right

now God seems absent from you the

telephone line is off the hook it’s busy

you’re not breaking through you’re just

mumbling the same words over and over

again you you feel like you’re talking

to yourself he says okay now at that

point that you had weariness you need

more than you so he says go to the

elders of the church that should

represent the spiritual leadership of

the church to get support for a

breakthrough you have not been able to

get on your own every Sunday morning

before each of the services the elders

meet and on a regular basis we are

praying for some member that has called

to speak about their situation their

weariness or their suffering and so we

schedule them for a time of prayer

before the service that they come to

we had a prayer today from a sister

who’s here this morning and the one word

that was used in our time of Prayer was

I’m tired I’m tired

that’s this word that’s the situation

nothing is happening God hasn’t changed

anything yet and I’m just tired will you

pray for me this is when people want to

give up throw in the towel that means

you need some other folk who can cry out

for you because you are too tired to cry

out for yourself he says you go call the

elders of the church and let them pray

because you may not be able to that’s

why you were to be a part of a local

church so that when you can’t go on

somebody else can keep you going on

you’re not to be a lone ranger Christian

so that must be spiritual people since

they represent the church is talking

about the environment people who can

carry you when you can’t carry yourself

reminds of the story in mark chapter 2

verses 1 to 12 you got a lame man a

paralyzed man he can’t get up he can’t

get up he’d been laying there long time

and he can’t get up but he had four boys

he had four posse for his homies they

came and it says and they picked him up

and took him to the house where Jesus

was says they cut a hole in the roof and

let him down in front of Jesus and then

it says when Jesus saw their faith not

the man’s faith who was laying down when

he saw his homies faith when he saw the

four brothers who picked him up when he

saw their faith he healed the man

the man couldn’t get up on his own but

he had some folk in his life who cared

enough about him to reach over pick him

up lift him up

carrying the Jesus wrap him down and

when Jesus saw the four men he said I’m

gonna heal you for their sake because

you can’t get up on your own I wish I

could come in and tell you this morning

if you are committed Christian you won’t

get tired

oh but some of God’s most tired

Christians were committed Christians

Paul said he was ready to give up on

life in second Corinthians chapter 1 he

was ready to throw in the towel until

God lifted him up so just believing in

Christ and being a Christian doesn’t

mean you don’t suffer and it certainly

means you don’t get weary but God does

not want you to deal with your weariness

alone says let them pray he goes on and

he says and then let them anoint him

with oil

let them anoint him with oil oil had a

number of usages in the Bible as it does

today

oil was used medicinally it was a

medication if you got cut you would

anoint with oil anointment on like we do

in a more sophisticated way today when

you go to a massage if you get a massage

they put all these oils on you to

refresh you to to kind of make you feel

good and they try to get you to relax or

oil is used for that oil is used for

cooking you cook with oil so all of

these uses of oil are in the Bible

sometimes it’s not even referring to

physical oil in Psalm 23 verse 5 david

says he anoints my head with oil well

God didn’t come down and massage David’s

head with oil

he’s talking about the riff

she and the encouragement and the

stimulation he got from God when he was

facing a bad situation so oil has all

these multiplicity of usages in the

Bible he says when that member comes to

the elders you are to pray for them but

then anoint them in other words have the

church minister to them at the point of

their need pour oil on them we have

members who have driven people to the

hospital who couldn’t go themselves so

they prayed for them but then they

opened their car door and drove them to

the oil of healing by getting them to a

doctor then we have people who gather

with people who are hurting to provide

counsel and comfort or we have a group

when somebody loses someone in care and

comfort to encourage them through their

loss of a loved one

all of those are biblical ways of

expressing oil or the comfort or the

help or the refreshment of ministry

that’s why you’re being in a local

church is not just for you it’s you to

also be an oil provider for somebody who

needs some oil on them somebody who

needs some encouragement refreshment or

assistance everybody here ought to be

helping somebody sometime due to the

fact that they have become weary because

one day you gonna need somebody to get

some oil on you when life has fallen

through for you so it is absolutely

critically says let the elders make sure

that there is ministry going to the

people the church is not just a sermon

it’s not just a song it’s supposed to be

a place of ministry wait that’s why we

ask every member to be in a ministry so

you are serving and not just being

served because you are to be an oil

provider whatever whether it’s physical

or emotional or circumstantial so he

says when you can’t handle it yourself

come to the church call on the elders

get the ministry the oil and you do it

he says in the name of the Lord why

because we talk about Kingdom prayer

we’re talking about authority from

heaven the name means according to the

character the attributes and the

authority of Jesus Christ you do it in

Jesus’s name because he’s the one who

okay’s the answers to prayer verse 15

and the prayer offered in faith who will

restore the one who is sick the prayer

offered in faith his word I love this

word we need this word restores hmm

restores to restore something is to

bring it back to its original intent

when something breaks you restore it you

you you try to bring it back to its

original intent God is a restoring God

in the weariness is of life he makes an

astounding promise he says God will

restore now let me clarify we know that

everybody who gets physically sick don’t

always get well or they may get

partially well or they may be just a

little better

we know that perfect health is not

always restored in every situation we

know it is sometimes but it’s not all

the time we also know in the Bible

people got sick who are in the will of

God job was in the will of God when he

got sick all physical sickness is not

due to personal sin

when you catch a cold that doesn’t mean

you just send now it might but it

doesn’t necessarily mean that yes we

have an environment that’s have been

affected by sin but all sickness is not

due to personal sin that’s why often

disillusionment sets in when pulpits

make promises that God does not make

because then it looks like God has

failed the word sick is weary what God

does when you can’t lift yourself up

while you are praying for a change in

the circumstance is he removes the weary

while you wait it has to do yes

sometimes God takes you out but other

times he walks with you through other

times he he walks beside you he restores

you emotionally even though you’re

waiting for him to restore you

circumstances

or physically sometimes he does both

but the restore here is to remove the

weariness why you still trust him for

the solution he says in that he can

guarantee you he’s guaranteeing that one

he will restore he will get your

get-up-and-go that has gotten up and

gone back

he says the prayer of faith that

believes God that acts like God is

telling the truth it reminds me of the

story these folks who were praying for

rain they were praying for rain because

it was dry their prayer for rain and it

didn’t rain they went on prayer for rain

didn’t rain so that disappointed at God

a little boy came out a few days later

by himself in the center of town he

praying for rain

God you control the heavens and I

believe you can make it rain he just

stood there God I know you can make it

rain

all of a sudden the sky got caught Carly

a little bit later started raining all

these adults were praying for rain no

rain this little boy comes from praying

for rain it rained

what was the difference between all the

adults with a little boy little boy

brought an umbrella see the little boy

was just talking he was expecting he was

expressly see when the prayer of faith

is a present acts like you believe God

can do something man it is that they’re

not just talking in air it’s it knows

who you’re talking to and you know what

his ability is to pull what you asked

for and whatever is the appropriate

thing to do because you believe you’re

willing to do he says the prayer of

faith will heal the sick it will remove

the weariness and the Lord will raise

him up and if he has committed sins

because maybe he didn’t but if he has

they will be forgiven him why do we pray

for one another that our circumstance

has changed and if necessary that sin

get addressed because sin can keep you

sick all sin is that all sickness does

not due to sin but sickness can be

caused by sin first Corinthians 11 makes

it clear many are sick many are weak

among you why because of unaddressed sin

so the reason why you need to be in

fellowship with some people who are

spiritual and so that they can help you

face sin so that you can get over sick

because if you’re unwilling to deal with

sin you will have to stay sick or weary

or defeated or whatever it is because

you’re not willing to address the sin

you’re not willing to repent but he says

if you will deal with it spiritually

your sin is forgiven

therefore confess your sins to one

another he says in verse 16 acknowledge

the sin that’s created the weariness for

which you need to repent to the

appropriate other now how do you know

who the appropriate other is because

some people you can’t tell you stuff too

okay it’d be all over town how do you

know who the other is when you need help

out of weariness and you need victory

over sin but you need another who is the

other can’t just be any and everybody he

actually tells you he says confess to

one another and then he says and pray

for one another so you only confess to

somebody who’s gonna pray for you not

talk about you if they not a prayer you

shouldn’t be a confessor if they not a

prayer if they’re not somebody who’s

gonna wrap themselves around you come

alongside of you pray for you walk with

you spiritually all they want is gossip

news and information that’s not who you

talk to you talk to prayers because this

is about prayer this is about getting

you to heaven not just trying to throw

stuff up on earth so the confessed to is

to pray for he says that you may be

healed that you may be delivered from or

through whatever is taking place in your

life the word if he has committed in the

Greek as the perfect tense the perfect

tense means past action with abiding

results so what that means is if he has

committed a sin that he keeps on

committing in other words this is a

habit of sin that they haven’t broken

it’s a pattern

they started and they weren’t able to

stop so they need to be delivered healed

delivered from this so you you you get

help from folk who go pray and get to

God with you and for you

now he makes a summary statement stay

with me here in verse 17 this verse 16

the effective prayer of a righteous man

can accomplish much the effective the

word there means energized remember the

Energizer Bunny

the energized prayer so this is not Lord

bless this food to my body nourish it to

me in Jesus name Amen

eat not my grace because you don’t need

energy to say grace you say grace out of

habit in fact we’ve said the same grade

so long your mind doesn’t even need to

be in gear when your mouth is saying it

cuz it don’t be the same words but thank

you for this food I’m about to receive

nourishment of my body in Jesus name

Amen

BAM that’s not an energized prayer in

fact when we pray that prayer we don’t

even care whether God is listening we

want to get to the food before it gets

cold

that’s not an energized prayer an

energized prayer is a focused prayer it

is a prayer that is God centered it must

be accompanied by righteousness the

effective prayer of a righteous man a

person who is living to please God

nobody is perfect but you can be

righteous that is your living to please

God the effective focused energize

prayer can accomplish much a whole lot I

remember some years ago we have the

daughter of one of our members dying of

cancer

things look hopeless pastor Hawkins and

I went to the hospital I’ll never forget

this we we went to the hospital and we

have grieving parents in a hopeless

situation and we were we went there to

pray I mean it was hopeless and I never

forget what we did we were working all

day here at the office we dressed in

suit and tie we got in the car together

we drove to the hospital when we looked

at the child when we saw the desperate

situation he and I both did this we

unbuttoned our jackets and took off our

coat we unhooked our tie and took our

tire off we opened up the top button of

our shirts and we got on the floor

because this was not this dissident now

I lay me down to sleep pray the Lord my

soul will keep if I die before I wake I

pray the Lord my soul will take no we

needed some effect that we needed we

this was a desperate situation

I’ll never forget it we took out all my

stuff got down on the floor and say God

we need you to come down now and

intervene in this situation why because

this is a serious suffering a serious

sickness and this is not regular

business as usual and through some

supernatural means things got turned in

that girl’s life and the cancer

dissipated

[Applause]

that wasn’t because we had something

special all we did was we went to God

serious minds hearts focus wasn’t gear

he says that prayer can do can can can

blow your mind it can accomplish much

not a little bit a whole lot the

effectual fervent prayer of a righteous

man he says can accomplish much and then

he gives an illustration so stick with

me because this is the doozy

he says in verse 17 and 18 Elijah was a

man with a nature like ours translation

he wasn’t from Krypton okay

he wasn’t super prophet he was a regular

ordinary flesh-and-blood individual he

didn’t have any unique thing over any

other human being ever made he was a man

with a light nature so whenever he’s

getting ready to say about Elijah is

true about you cuz he just like you he’s

just a man that’s all he is he said

however this ordinary man was a prophet

it says he prayed notice the word

earnestly he wasn’t being casual he

prayed earnestly that it would not rain

and it did not rain on the earth for

three years and six months mister and a

half years then he prayed again verse 17

says and the sky poured rain and the

earth produced its fruit

so what since then he prayed and he

closed heaven down for three and a half

years

he’s on earth but he praying to heaven

and he shut heaven down when it came to

rain three and a half years later he

prayed again

and he opened heaven up heaven didn’t

just closed and open on his own it says

he prays and it closed he pray and it

opened ah so let’s go back and see what

really happened in 1st Kings chapter 18

because that’s where this event took

place so if you turn your bibles back

the 1st Kings chapter 18 we don’t

discover some things about his prayer

that should affect our prayer so that we

see a lot more of heaven entering into

our history than we are currently seeing

as believers in chapter 18 he prays

beginning in verse 36 but then he comes

to verse 41 and he lies you said to Ahab

go up eat and drink for there is the

sound of the roar of a heavy shower he

says I hear thunderstorm coming off now

let me start stay with me why did he

pray this I mean what made him pray to

us in the first place well look at

chapter 17 verse 1 now elijah the

tishbite who was of the settlers of

Gilead said they have as the Lord the

God of Israel lives before whom I stand

surely there shall be neither do nor

rain these years accepted my word

oh now reach up to 18 verse 1 now it

happened after many days that the word

of the Lord came to Elijah in the 3rd

year saying go show yourself to Ahab and

I will send rain on the face of the

earth

Oh in chapter 17 verse 1 God said it’s

not gonna rain in chapter 18 verse 1 God

said it is gonna rain so why do you need

to know that cuz he lied you didn’t just

make this up he was praying based on

what God had said God said it’s not

gonna rain God said it is gonna rain so

he prayed what’s this based on God’s

Word so the first thing you need to know

is you need to pray with your Bible open

you need to pray say God you said this

let me show you in case you forgot God

you said this and I’m holding you to

your word you said this I believe this

so i’ma prayed this the Bible is full of

prayers that you should pray when you’re

struggling then psalm 42 you pray psalm

42 when you repented that Psalm 51 you

pray Psalm 51 when you are afraid this

Psalm 34 you pray Psalm 34 you point God

back to his word because God has held

his word high above his name so you

start with the Word of God about the

situation that you faced alright let’s

go on he goes on to say I hear the sound

I hear the sound as a storm coming on

verse 42 and AM went up to eat and drink

but Eli Shaw went up to the top of Mount

Carmel and crouched down on the earth

somebody say crouched down crouched down

on the earth and put his face between

his knees

oh okay alright he goes up to Mount

Carmel and it says he crouched down put

his head between his knees you didn’t

see that see he went up the malcar no he

crouched down and he put his head

between his knees one more time he went

up to Mount Carmel he crouched down and

he put his head between his knees

what’s the crouching down and they had

between your knees all about it well in

biblical days when women were having

babies they didn’t have stirrups they

didn’t have the sophistication saw a

normal way for a Jewish woman to have a

baby

what’s the crouched down put her head

down and push and push and push and push

until that baby came out so he took the

posture of a pregnant woman who was in

labor

the Bible calls it trouble

he was in labor and he said I mean

terrain

I was serene I’m gonna push and push and

push till I get some rain oh you know

what God wants you to do he wants you to

birth his will from heaven in history by

calling it down drawing it down pushing

it down until that baby of deliverance

that baby of healing that baby of

victory comes forth

this is serious praying this is not

casual praying this is crying out why

why do I have to work so hard because

Satan is trying to block your prayer for

getting through he’s putting static on

the line already up there if you have

DirecTV they already have the programs

the programs are already out there new

shows movies entertainment shows comedy

shows music it’s already out there but

until that receiver is turned on you

won’t see a picture on your screen God

has already got out there what he plans

to do but until the receiver calls it

down you don’t see a picture on your

screen or but I’m not finished yet cuz

look at what it says it says he said to

his servant go now look toward the sea

so he went and looked and said there is

nothing he said servant go to the sea

and look for the storm sir he went out

and said oh yeah there’s no storm out

here but wait a minute we just read

Elijah heard the sound of a storm but

for servant went out and he didn’t see a

storm see that’s why you got to be in

touch with God so you hear stuff before

you see stuff because faith is not what

you see faith comes faith is what you

don’t see but if you can hear the voice

of the Holy Spirit if you can hear the

voice of God you can hear stop before

you see stuff

cuz somebody had can testified God told

me before I saw so he told his servant

he told his servant to go back seven

times he says I want you to go back

seven times in verse 43 why 7 because 7

in the Bible is the number of completion

whenever you see the word 7 it means

something has been brought to completion

sometimes people say how long should I

pray for something how long should I

talk to God I’ve been praying about this

for years and nothing has happened how

long should I pray well let me explain

something God only has three answers yes

no or wait if he hadn’t said yes and he

hadn’t said no that means wait so what

you do why you wait your pray till you

get a yes or no

you pray to completion when he went out

the seventh time he said I saw a cloud

coming out of the sea

like the size of a man’s fist he’s not a

smaller cloud that is he said I just saw

a little cloud I won’t say it’s long I

just see a little fist-sized cloud

Elijah said he said after the seventh

time and he saw the cloud and prepare

your chariot verse 44 and go down so the

heavy shower does not stop you he didn’t

let him see a shower

he let him see a cloud see sometime when

God’s ready to move angles as you see

the whole thing it does let you see a

little something something to give you a

taste that’s why the Bible says o taste

and see that the Lord is good he may not

give you the whole meal it may just give

you a sample plate that means that the

meal sometimes God gives you an

appetizer he ain’t ready to feed you the

whole meal he just given you a sudden

something so did you know what you have

to look forward to

so he says we only got a fist but

there’s a shower so watch this now he

tells a HAP getting your chariot and go

cuz this storm is gonna get ready break

out so get your chariot and go that

means a horse is pulling the chariot so

he gets on a horse he’s got to go 15

miles from where he is to Jezreel

so a.m. gets in there and he’s riding

his horse but I don’t want you to miss

the end of verse 46 then the hand of the

Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his

loins and outran a day he had to just

real no you didn’t hey Abbas on horse

hey Happy’s riding the horse oh he lies

you picks up his cloak ties it up and he

Huff’s it he option and he runs a horse

to DES really I believe Isaiah put it

this way they that wait upon the Lord

will have you strength they will mount

up with wings like eagles they will run

and not get weary they will walk in that

faith somebody here ought to be willing

to pray somebody ever be willing to cry

out to God somebody are be willing to

touch happen because the effectual

fervent prayer of a righteous man

availeth much

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you

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