5. Sometimes we need to wait upon our God.
When Elijah prayed in public his prayer was specific and concise. He could pray like this because he had spent time in prayer in private. However, when it came time to pray for rain his prayer was laboured and long. Even though he knew that God had promised rain and that he had told Ahab that the rains were coming he still went to the top of the mountain along and prayed for rain. He prayed seven times before he had evidence that God was about to answer his prayer. Many of us would have prayed once and then left it with God thinking that we had done our part. I wonder what would have happened if Elijah had quit before the seven time and why did the Lord wait until the seventh time before he gave Elijah any evidence that his prayer was about to be answered. In the Bible seven is the number of perfection and is often associated with God. Six is the number of man and if Elijah had received the answer after six times it is possible that he could have assumed that God answered his prayer because of who Elijah was or what he had done. God will not share His glory with anyone else and He wanted Elijah, Ahab and all of Israel to know that He was the one that had sent the rain.
How often we think that the answers to our prayers have come because of us. We have had great faith, were great prayer warriors or God has looked with favour upon us. I do not understand why God chooses to use our prayers to accomplish His purposes on earth but He does and it is our privilege to be able to share in His work on earth.
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