“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17)
James, the man who wrote the Bible Book called
"James," gave us good advice, for he taught us to: “Confess your sins to one
another and pray for one another that you may be healed” (James 5:16).
He continued, “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man (and,
of course, a righteous woman) can accomplish much.” Indeed it can. The analogy
James used in our Scripture for today referred to the Prophet Elijah. This was
an ordinary man who believed and RESPONDED as God led him.
Prayer is applied faith. If you didn’t have faith in God you would not
pray, and Jesus taught that a very tiny faith accomplishes much. He
said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this
mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing
shall be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). The direct context
of Jesus' words is about demonic possession. The disciples were shaken because they could
not cast a demon out and Jesus informed them that the key to answered prayer
is "faith."
It's essential to TRUST in the God who answers prayer.
There are dangers. We might conclude that we have to somehow become
“powerful” in some way for prayer to be answered. There might be an
assumption that we have to be a “Super-Christian,” and down inside, we
know we’re not. That’s why it's so pleasing that the Lord chose bumbling,
ordinary, rather petty, uneducated and somewhat confused men to be His
original apostles. If they couldn’t do it perfectly, neither can we, and that’s the
wonder of answered prayer. We do not need to strain for answers,
we need the Lord. He is the One who brings it to pass.
It isn’t that WE do ANYTHING – in the Christian life. Jesus did it
all. It isn’t our prayers or our efforts that result in answered prayer.
It’s “HIM who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask
or think” (Ephesians 3:20), “according to the power that works within
us.” His power, His faith, His prayer; it’s
all about Him, for He can do it all. He is the One who answers
prayer. We are each like little children who ask their loving Daddy
for help.
The work is His, but amazingly, He lets us be a part of it. It’s like we
are the child who is lifted high by their father. The child might shout,
“Look at me, Daddy, I’m tall.” But that’s not
the way it really is for us. It’s actually the
father who holds the child high (and safe) in His arms of love. In just
that way, God holds up you and me. And He answers our needs. He
responds to our prayers.
Charles H. Spurgeon said, “A friend gives me a check which reads: ‘Pay to
the order of C. H. Spurgeon the sum of...’ His name is good and
his bank is good, but I get nothing from his kindness until I put my own
name on the back of the check… I must affix my own name. Even so, each
one must personally accept, adopt and endorse the promise of God by his
own individual faith, or he will derive no benefit from it… We must
BELIEVE THE PROMISE each one for himself, and declare we know it to be
true.” When God leads in prayer, it is important to respond in faith. We
must trust in Him."
The Lord not only used ordinary people to become His apostles, but He
does the same in choosing all His people. There’s something very PLAIN
about Abraham and many of the other Old Testament characters. Not all of
them were like that, however, for He went out of His way to choose
people from very different walks of life.
Paul was an exceptional man and so was Moses, but there was also an
anger and an edge to both of them – they needed to be changed, to become men of God.
Both had been people of action and God changed them. Instead of men who
just acted, they became men who first prayed and THEN acted in God’s
will. They were the same men but their priorities were now better and their hearts
were renewed.
And then there was Elijah, mentioned in today's
Scripture. Here was this strange, wonderful man of God.
I see him as a lanky, rough man with a wild beard and fierce eyes. He
was capable of staring down a king and he often did just that. And yet
somehow there was also a little boy in him who became afraid and ran
from a
threatening statement made by a king’s wife.
“Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17,
King James Version). He was an ordinary person like Gideon, like the apostles,
like you and me. This was a man with hopes, dreams, concerns – he
possessed
everything that makes us human. He knew fear and he wanted to love and be
loved. But he loved the Lord first and foremost.
I have a cut stone on my desk that
was given to me by my wife, Genevieve, during the time we were engaged
to be married, and it means a great deal. It has the following words on
it: “Real leaders are
ordinary people with extraordinary determination.” I understand fully that we are all ordinary,
but when God has called and He leads, we must respond. He takes ordinary
people who have a little bit of faith and turns us into people who are
able to act – for Him.
Someone recently called me a “driven man” which was a surprise because
I still see myself as the lazy teenager who would sleep until 2 PM if
possible, do few chores, and daydream through school classes. Certainly not
someone sent by God, but the reality is: NONE of us qualify, for like
Elijah, we’re only people. The difference is “Christ in you, the hope of
glory” (Colossians 1:27). What we CANNOT do, and what many WILL NOT do,
Christ will accomplish in and through ordinary people like you and me.
Matthew 28:19 says we are to "Go" into all the world and make disciples,
but doing it is less difficult when we realize that we are not alone. We
are NEVER alone for Jesus Christ is with us and in us, just as He was
with the apostles and others named in Scripture. He may send you to your
neighbor, someone at work, or someplace far away. But you can do it for He is with you.
It is reported that “doubting” Thomas (John 20:24-25)
later went all the way
to India with the Gospel (good news) of our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthias
(Acts 1:26), that obscure man who was voted in to take the place of
Judas Iscariot as one of the 12-Apostles, went to Ethiopia and led many
to Christ. Paul was the first missionary to heathen Europe. Peter, that
humble fisherman, went to Rome, as did Paul. And the rest of them, these
lowly, mostly uneducated people, went amazing distances and did
wonderful things as enabled by our Lord.
Don't be afraid of being ordinary. We all are –
both the ones who know how ordinary we are and
those who think otherwise. Yet Jesus Christ is WITH people just like
you and me.
Father, we are willing to trust in You. As You lead, we will follow,
for we know that You will see us through. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus
Name. Amen.
