James 5:17-18

NIV: Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

The Message: Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

In verse 16, James spoke of the prayers of a righteous person being powerful and effective, or as The Message translates it, the prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.

Have you ever thought of yourself as a force to be reckoned with?  Do you really think that your prayers matter?  That you are significant enough for God to listen to what you have to say?  It is all too easy to believe that you don't matter, you don't count, that  even if you were to pray, why should God bother to listen to you as no one else ever does anyway.  What can you do to change things when nobody bothers about you anyway? How can you possibly make a difference when you are just a housewife, unemployed, sick, a person (in your opinion) of no account?

But look again what verse 16 says:

NIV: Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

The Message: Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. 

The prayer of a righteous person….not a righteous person who has pots of money in the bank and is a high powered business executive.  Not a righteous person who is a charismatic leader, one on whom people hang on their every word.  Not a righteous person who is world famous, a star, followed by their adoring fan club wherever they go.  But a righteous person who is living right with God, who has a heart after God, even though they may mess up at times.

To emphasise this, James goes on to talk about Elijah, "a man just like us." 

Elijah wasn't some superstar globe trotting to give one concert after another.  He wasn't a politician striving for world peace, a Mother Theresa in India, or someone giving all their time and energy to the church. Elijah was actually an ordinary man.  His name means "Yahweh is my God" and he was a prophet in  Samaria during the reign of Ahab in the 9th century BC.  He stood up to the prophets of Baal, defended the worship of God, raised the dead, and was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind.  God used Him in amazing ways, yet he was just a man, as evidenced by his reaction when Jezebel threatened  him after the showdown with the priests of Baal.

1 Kings 19:1-5a Ahab reported to Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, including the massacre of the prophets. Jezebel immediately sent a messenger to Elijah with her threat: "The gods will get you for this and I'll get even with you! By this time tomorrow you'll be as dead as any one of those prophets."

When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day's journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: "Enough of this, God! Take my life—I'm ready to join my ancestors in the grave!" Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush. (The Message)

There he is, having just had probably the best day any prophet could have, having been used by God to call down fire from heaven, set alight a soaking wet altar, proving once and for all that there is  a God and His name is Jehovah, having all the prophets of Baal killed, bringing the rain back to the parched land (and yes, I know it was all God working through Elijah and not Elijah having special magical powers or anything), what does he do when the Queen turns on him>  does he run to God?  Does he take it to the Lord in prayer?  No, he is totally demoralised, in fear for his life and he runs away as far and as fast as he can, and his day ends with him telling God to just let him die now.  If that doesn't show Elijah's humanity. I don't know what does.

Elijah trusted God. Look how he had the people soak the altar he made with water three times (I Kings 18).  He then called on God:

1 Kings 18:36-37 When it was time for the sacrifice to be offered, Elijah the prophet came up and prayed, "O God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make it known right now that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I'm doing what I'm doing under your orders. Answer me, God; O answer me and reveal to this people that you are God, the true God, and that you are giving these people another chance at repentance."  (The Message)

Elijah out his trust on God and God worked through Elijah to bring the people back to Him.  When Elijah prayed that the rain would stop, it stopped.  When he then prayed three and a half years later for the rain to come, it came.  Elijah prayed and God listened and answered his prayers.

In the same way, God listens to each of our prayers, whether they are big or small, and each one is answered.  We may not realise that our prayers have been answered at the time, it may take time for us to see how God has answered us.  Sometimes we have to wait a long time for our prayers to be answered.  But if a day is as a thousand years to the Lord and a thousand years as but a day (2 Peter 3:8), then ten years to us works out at 14.9 minutes to God….. 

Elijah had faith.  He trusted God and knew that when he prayed, God listened and acted yet he was just a man, just like you and me. 

Mark 11:22-26 Have faith in God, Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.  (NIV)

Mark 11:22-26 Jesus was matter-of-fact: "Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, 'Go jump in the lake'—no shuffling or shilly-shallying—and it's as good as done. That's why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you'll get God's everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it's not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins." (The Message)

We are told by Jesus himself to pray for everything, big or small, and to have faith in God.  We just need to make sure our hearts are right with God first and that we have forgiven those who have hurt us, so that God may  forgive us. 

It's not always easy to forgive others.  After all, the drunk driver who killed your husband and son is still alive and well, with his wife and family, yet yours has been taken from you.  The man who enticed your wife into an affair is getting promotion after promotion whilst you have just lost your job.  Those other children at school who are always picking on you, making your life a misery,  never seem to get into trouble yet you are so worried about what they may say or do, you keep missing school and getting into trouble with the teachers.  The best friend who ran off with your husband, the thief who broke in and stole from you, the boss who always puts you down, makes you work long hours and refuses to pay overtime but you need the job and what little money it does bring in.  The father who abused you when you were young, the mother who was an alcoholic and neglected you….there are all sorts of things that happen I life and they are not always our fault. It is often easier to nurse a grudge, to hold it tightly in our hand and remind ourselves daily that that person did such and such and how much it hurt, how we have suffered as a result.

But we are not told to harbour grudges, to count up the hurts and slights for the day of reckoning.  Holding grudges only hurts ourselves as we cannot enjoy the things we do have, the blessings in our lives if we are always thinking back to what happened in the past or what is happening now as a result of the actions of others.  We only end up having our hearts turn to stone as we dwell more and more on the hurt, the anger, the pain.  It is not easy to forgive others, especially when the hurt runs deep.  But we are called to do this. 

I think that, as with all things, it is a case of telling God exactly what we think of the matter and asking Him to help us forgive, asking for His love to remove the pain, the hurt, the anguish and to let Him heal us.  For when we are healed ourselves, when we have learned to forgive others, the coldness the hate in our hearts will no longer be a barrier to God using us amazingly. And use us He will, for have we not been told that we will do even greater things than Jesus?

John 14:11-14 Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do.  (The Message)

God is just waiting for us to turn to Him, to place all things in His hands and to pray so that He can then get to work.  How amazing is that?  To know that if only we have the faith, we can do the things Elijah did, that Jesus and the disciples did.  Maybe the lack of miracles we see today is because we just don't have the faith to believe we can do them.  But we are told time and time again in the bible that we can do them and we can do even greater things than Jesus.   Even though we are just men and women, we can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us. We just need to have the faith to believe this.