1 Kings 18:42 Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
Elijah declared famine and drought in the land and there was no rain for 3 ½ years. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth (1 Kings 18:42). The Bible did not say that Elijah got into a praying posture and travailed in prayer to bring about the drought. God honoured the word of Elijah and shut the heavens. Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” (1 Kings 17:1). However at the end of the announced period of drought Elijah went into a birthing position of prayer. He bent down and put his face between his knees and prayed until he saw the sign of rain. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” (1 Kings 18:43b-44). Elijah did not give up until he saw the sign of his prayer being answered.
‘Sometimes waiting is the hardest thing of all’ – Luanne Rice. It is even more difficult to wait when God goes silent on you. Elijah brought fire down from heaven with a succinct prayer of 63 words (1 Kings 18:36-37). However to bring rain down from heaven he had to send his servant to look for signs seven times. Fire is the metaphor for anointing and rain is the allegory for blessings. Our faith can be pumped in an anointed service or by listening to a powerful sermon, but to see the promised blessings come to fruition it would take much longer. Be in the posture of prayer until you see your prayer answered.
Wait for your prayer to be answered:
1. Bow: Bow down from the Lord in humility. Don’t question the Lord about the wait but praise while you’re waiting.
2. Brace: Brace is a position of helplessness and total surrender. Elijah prayed with his face between his knees (brace position) until he saw a rain cloud in the size of a man’s hand.
3. Best: Best is in store for those who wait on the Lord. About Joseph he said: .. with the best the sun brings forth.. with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness and the favor of him who dwelt in the burning bush. “May the Lord bless his land (Deuteronomy 33:13a,14a & 16). The longer we wait the better the gift will be.
Wait in the posture of prayer. God is preparing us to receive the best while we are waiting.
Lamentations 3:25 “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”
Prayer: Father God, help me to be still and wait for you to answer. May not my doubt, fears and inhibition distract me from the posture of prayer. Amen.
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