1 Kings 17-19: Petition Through Prayer

Amanda here!  Filling in for Danny today while he is on an uphill climb with nursing school.  
I'm grateful to dig in with you all today!

In Elijah we have another prophet, another message of repentance from God to be shared with the world.  God is faithful, His people are unfaithful.  God seeks to show Himself, His glory and beauty, but instead His people worship other loves.  In so many ways, the story is familiar to us.  

God uses people like you and me to communicate His love to a world that desperately needs Him.  Elijah was human, but God chose him.  He performed great miracles.  He was used mightily by God.  He was God's mouthpiece -- His communicator to the world.  Like you and I have done so many times, Elijah squirmed.  Even after he was so clearly used by God, he ran in fear.

Have you ever fled from the Lord?  Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit's whisper, but chose to run because you were afraid? 

In this part of the story is where we leave Elijah.  Elijah is replaced by Elisha. 

Where will God find your heart today?

  
What gives me great encouragement from Elijah's story is the need for persistence when God seems silent.  Elijah's prayers strike such a chord with me.  I believe God hears us.  He listens to his children.  Elijah's prayers remind us to not give up.  He prays for the widow's son to come back to life.  He prays for fire to consume the altar.  He prays 7 times for rain to come before God answered.  Three and a half years!  At times God calls us to pray fervently, sometimes over and over.  If God is speaking to your heart "not yet," we must be persistent and wait for God's heart.  

As Jesus prayed, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." This is a prayer God is inclined to answer.  It is a prayer that is completely God's heart.  I pray that God will not cease to prune and till my own heart so that I will not forget His faithfulness.  So that I will not forget why I am here on this earth.  

God has had one desire from the beginning of time, and we are a part of it.  We do not need to fear asking. His desire is that we live in relationship with him, and even petition Him.