James 5:17 "Elijah was a man just like us"

James 5:17 "Elijah was a man just like us"
Thank God that Elijah was just like us! We can learn something from his life. He sat under a tree and actually complained to God, expressing his unbelief..as I'm thinking many of us have done..Sometimes it is so hard to believe when we have seen nothing in the way of an answer. That verse continues however..it says, "yet he prayed earnestly"...the literal meaning of that in the Greek simply means that "he prayed in prayer"..or in other words "He kept on praying"..the lesson for us today is simply..we must keep praying as well.
When Elijah was on Mount Carmel, he had called down fire from heaven to defeat the prophets of Baal. Rain was needed for God's prophecy to be fulfilled. The Bible says that Elijah bent down toward the ground and put his face between his knees. I think he was literally shutting out all the sights and sounds around him. He put himself in a position to not be able to see or hear anything...but GOD!
He told his servant to go and look toward the sea, to see if the needed rain was coming..but when the servant returned, he told Elijah that he saw nothing there..NOTHING! Beloved, how often have you prayed, and then and then waited..but saw NOTHING? Can you imagine what most of us would do under the same circumstances? Many of us would give up, thinking this was just what we expected! Even though Elijah didn't see the answer yet, he DID NOT give up! In fact, six times, he told his servant to go back and check again. Each time, the servant returned saying there was "nothing".
Yet..the seventh time, the servant came back with the report that there was a small cloud, the size of a man's hand rising from the sea. What a perfect description..for a man's hand had been raised in prayer to God before the rains came! Then the sky became black and the rains came in abundance! (You can read this story in I Kings 18..)
This is a story of faith and sight..faith that cuts itself off from everything else..except God..and yet sight..that sees nothing. But in spite of hopeless reports time and again received from sight..faith continued!
Do we prevail in prayer? Even when things seem darkest, do we let our prayer life be controlled by sight? OR..do we by FAITH, continue prevailing in prayer, coming boldly before the throne, pouring our heart, and our need out to a God who hears..and who cares? Which report will we believe..the report that sight produces..which is often nothing..or the continued prodding that faith produces..to not give up..to continue on..no matter what? May we all be people who live by faith. No matter what your needs are today child of God, DO NOT give up! Continue in faith, and watch as God begins to pour into your life!