Fullness from Drought

Israel was dry, very dry. As a result of their idol worship no dew or rain fell for a few years. How the people survived I don’t know, but the Lord looked after an obedient man, Elijah, who had pleased Him by his faith. During this drought the Lord used Elijah to sort out the sin of idol worship in Israel and, once this was dealt with (1 Kings 18:16-40), Elijah knew rain would follow.

The Lord showed me something from this passage about prayer and answers to prayer. We read in James 4:2, 3: “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures,” and in 1 John 5:14, 15:  “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.”

After Elijah had obeyed the Lord by dealing with the idol worship in Israel, he heard the Lord showing him the rain was coming. There was no physical evidence yet, but the Lord used the sound of rain in his spirit to give him the message: “And Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain (1 Kings 18:41).’” Elijah first heard God’s will – rain is coming – and then he went to pray for this will of God to manifest (1 Kings 18:42-46).

What causes the drought in your life? I mentioned in an earlier posting that idol worship caused my anointing to dry up temporarily. It’s probably the same for most Christians as it was with Israel. Before God could help Israel against Moab through Gideon, Gideon first had to get rid of their family idols. Maybe you should first deal with the idols in your life as we mentioned in the earlier postings. The Lord desires to pour out His anointing on your gift, but He first wants to be the most important in your life.

When Elijah prayed for rain, did he pray once and then gave up? No, he kept on asking until he saw results. He also did not only pray repeatedly, but repeatedly looked for the result expectantly (1 Kings 18:43, 44). He sent his servant to look for a cloud. When you expect anything from the Lord according to His will as revealed to you, He would like you to show faith by keeping on asking and looking out for the answer expectantly. Prayers don’t bounce off the ceiling, but they bounce off idols, wrong motives and lack of faith.

Let the desire of your heart be an anointing to do God’s bidding, and the drought will be broken by an abundance of just that.

Lord, please make us aware of that which you desire for us and teach us to pray Your way.