When the Opposition is Strong (pt 2)

This is the second of two posts related to my message at Brooklife Church this past Sunday, July 25, entitled “Beyond Ordinary…When the Opposition is Strong.” My message looked at 1 Kings 18, where Elijah confronts Ahab and the prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel.

I focused my message in on three aspects of this episode in Elijah’s life. Today, I’ll look at the third things we can learn from Elijah about moving from ‘ordinary’ to an ‘extraordinary’ life in God. You can read the previous post on my message here.

3. Prayer and Opposition: In James 5:16-18, Elijah is remembered as an ordinary person who experienced God’s extraordinary power through prayer. Here are five things I see we can glean from Elijah about prayer from 1 Kings 18:

• Elijah was motivated in prayer by faith in a great God (1 Kings 18:36; 1 Kings 17:15)
• Elijah’s goal in prayer was that God would be seen and known so that people would turn to Him, not for his own ease or glory (1 Kings 18:37)
• Elijah’s wording in prayer was simple and straightforward, forming quite a contrast to the noise and frenzy of Baal’s prophets (1 Kings 18:36-37; cf. 1 Kings 18:26-29)
• Elijah’s attitude in prayer was humble and persistent (1 Kings 18:42,43)
• Elijah’s life outside of prayer was marked by absolute obedience to God; his life outside of prayer was consistent with his life in prayer (1 Kings 17:5, 10; 18:2)

A question worth considering as we learn from Elijah’s life of prayer is this: what one apparently immovable thing in our life do we need to bring to God in prayer like Elijah?

You can listen to the message here or subscribe to our podcast online here (iTunes / RSS feed).

You can view my accompanying presentation slides below.