Praying with Power – 1

Praying with Power – 1

Subject – Praying Earnestly Until Revival Comes

By Rick Welborne

James 5:13-20 (NLT2)
¹³  Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.
¹⁴  Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.
¹⁵  Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
¹⁶  Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
¹⁷  Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!
¹⁸  Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
¹⁹  My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back,
²⁰  you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. 

--Today we begin this new series “Praying with Power” and I hope this is exactly what Life Church will begin to do. Anyone with their eyes opened can see our world is in a mess.

--Please understand where I am going with this message and maybe where I am not going. I have heard recent prophesies that say this next revival or move of God will be easy (effortless).

--I have heard some people, of whom I respect very much, say that that basically all we will have to do is stand back and watch. I wish that were true. I wish it would be that easy. 

--We can plan and organize camp meetings or exciting services with tremendous worship that will make us shout and actually have fun but the spiritual high is only temporary.

--The kind of revival I am talking about takes a church takes the church in its grasp and refuses to let go until every last ounce of sin and self has been squeezed out. 

--Revival is not a season to be jolly. It’s not celebration or festivity. The church in revival is faced with the anguish of unforgiven sin.  Like Isaiah of old the church cries out “Undone”.  

--We have this misconception about revival that it is all about celebration and goosebumps when the reality is a true move of God reveals to us our sinful hearts and how we have turned from God. 

--I don’t worry as much about the believers who mess up, and then, feel guilt and shame followed by returning to God. I worry about those who sin and feel no guilt at all. Dangerous.

--Many times when we read about former revivals, we say we wish revival would come to us like it came to them, implying it was something easy.

--Revival does not come easy; it comes thru travail before God until the birth takes place. And just as Satan in the Revelation waited to destroy the Christ child, he waits to destroy revival.

--We are in for a battle, my friends, and it will not be easy. We have to be willing to take hold of eternal life and to never let it go. 

--Like with babies, revival has to be conceived, it has to be nourished for a period of time, then there comes the labor pains, and at the right time, there comes the birthing of the move of God. 

--I am not sure we are ready or willing to pray or pay that kind of cost. We say we need it, we say we want it with hands raised, but are we willing to agonize before God until it comes? Back to our text.

--James is telling us that if we are facing hard times, if we have sickness, if we have unforgiven sin in our lives, we should pray! The earnest prayer of a person right with God produces wonderful results. 

--James shifts and gives us Elijah as a man like us but a man who prayed powerfully. He prays and there is no rain, he prays and the oil and flour do not run out, and he prays and a dead child rises.

--He prays and fire comes down from heaven, he prays and the rain returns, he prays and chooses his successor, he prays (my favorite story) and says if I am a man of God let fire come down and destroy the captain (50).

--He prays and he and Elisha go across the Jordan River on dry land and he prays again, and he is taken up in a chariot of fire. So what’s the point? His prayer was powerful. His impact on Elisha:

2 Kings 2:14 (NKJV) ¹⁴  Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, "Where is the LORD God of Elijah?" 

--Maybe this is not the question we should be asking. God is where He has always been, on His throne but where are the Elijahs of God?

1. Elijahs of God

--James tells us that Elijah was human or of like passions as we are but we are not like him obviously when it comes to praying and seeking God. 

--He and God stand together as a majority against a wicked nation, against a wicked king, and a wicked Jezebel. We think we can’t make a difference in the mess today but we can if we pray.

Romans 8:28&31-32 (NIV)
²⁸  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
³¹  What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
³²  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 

--We think elections are about either our team winning or the other team winning. Please stop it! This is about the soul of a nation, it is about standing for righteousness, and taking responsibility as believers.

--The things Elijah did to fight against wickedness could not have been done any other way than through prayer. If you want to make a difference, please vote but even more important pray for our nation.

2 Chronicles 7:13-15 (NIV)
¹³  "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,
¹⁴  if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
¹⁵  Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

--Pastor, we have heard those verses over and over. Great, start doing what they say. Humble yourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from your wicked ways. Commentary on Elijah…he prayed.

2. Stand in the Gap.

--So many times we think we have it worse now than any time in history but Elijah was raised up at a time when darkness covered the land.

Isaiah 60:2 (NKJV) ²  For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 

--The Lord is telling of a time when darkness will be so prevalent over the land and people but God, in His mercy, will reveal His glory thru His servants. How can this happen? 

--In Elijah’s day you could look across the landscape and see the smoke coming from a thousand pagan temples and altars and this was among the people who claimed Abraham as their father. God had departed!

--So what did God do? He looked for a man, not a committee, not a certain denomination, not the best worship group, but a man who would stand in the gap and make a difference.

Ezekiel 22:30 (NKJV) ³⁰  So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

--Pastor, I can’t pray unless we have good worship songs, music with no word, no music, loud music, quiet music, a devotion, a time of worship…please stop. Stand in the gap and pray!

--None of us can even imagine what America will look like in the next ten years if we do not have a revival that sweeps across the land and changes people. 

--Babies dying, cities with gun fights in the streets moving to neighborhoods, traditional marriage being mocked, pandemics keeping kids out of school, businesses destroyed. This is today!

3. Stand in the Gap and Pray.

--The secret to praying is praying in secret. If we are not praying, we are playing with the future of our kids and grandkids. I love the song…The Blessing but we have to pray for that to happened. 

--We love to talk about, read about, even quote Azusa, Hebrides, Wesley, Ravenhill, Bartleman, and other great men and moves of God. We do everything but imitate what they did for revival. They prayed.

--We marvel how they gave their last drop of blood to see God move and to change entire countries but we dare not sacrifice any of our own blood. The cost is too great. 

--God is by-passing so many men and women now, not because they do not know what to do, they are not too ignorant, it is because we are to self-sufficient. We have everything we want.

Revelation 3:15-22 (NKJV)
¹⁵  I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.
¹⁶  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
¹⁷  Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—                                                                                                     ¹⁸  I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
¹⁹  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
²⁰  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
²¹  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 

²²  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." ' "

--We must repent, we must stand in the gap, and we must pray!