One of the reasons God shows you his power in prayer is so that he can hear you say, the Lord is God. Dr. Tony Evans says when your world's falling apart, the best place to put it back together is on your knees. The boss is not God. The people putting pressure on me, they're not God.
The Lord, he... Alone is God. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Prayer is often where we talk to God about what we want.
But today, Dr. Evans talks about the benefits of paying more attention to what God wants as he teaches us an important lesson about prayer. Let's join him in 1 Kings 18, verse 30. I am certain some of you saw on television. This phantom magician who was unveiling the secrets.
Of how these tricks, illusions are done. People floating in air and People disappearing and things that you look and you say, how'd they do that? But here we have this masked man because he didn't want to be identified. who is going to give the tricks of the trade.
Well He came on and I was astounded to see. Him unfold. The way these magicians do this magic. The one that grabbed me the most was the disappearing elephant. How do you make an elephant disappear?
And then I said, man, this one I've got to see. Because they took the elephant, they put the elephant in this container, they opened the container a few seconds later. And the elephant was not there.
Well, what they showed was simply that they Took the elephant, put it in the container. Then what they did was they had a backdrop that you saw when they brought the elephant in. And what they simply did was remove the elephant, put the backdrop back, and you thought it was the same backdrop that had never moved. I know what you're asking. Why are you telling us this?
I'm certain that that's what you're asking right now. The event that we conclude this section of Elijah's life with. Or Mount Carmel is no illusion. And Elijah wants to make sure you know it's not an illusion. That's why in verse 30, he says, then Elijah said to all the people.
Come near to me. I want you to see this up close. This is the real deal. Prayer is simply the hand of faith. that translates the promises of God.
Into the realities of life. It is the hand of faith that is reaching out to God. to transfer what is a promise. That may be aloof from us into an experience. in our day-to-day reality.
There are a number of observations I want to make from this story. If you haven't read every detail of it, You need to, it's one of the great miracles of the Bible. He says in verse 30 of chapter 18, come near. Because he knew what God was about to do. The first thing I want to talk about is the preparation for prayer.
What he does before he prays that gets him ready to pray. effectively and powerfully. Then Elijah said, Come near to me.
So all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord. which had been torn down. The altar had been torn down because the people had forsaken the covenants. In other words, they had walked away from their agreement with God. They had walked away from their spiritual commitment.
And it was reflected by the fact that not only had they forsaken the altar, it was no longer necessary. They tore it down. They got rid of the godly preachers, prophets. They had walked away from God. You cannot walk away from God and expect to have power in prayer.
In other words, you cannot forsake the commitment. and expect the power. One of the reasons that So often we are so powerless. is because we've walked away from him, not toward him. Verse 31.
still on preparation. And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob. to whom the word of the Lord had come saying, Israel shall be your name.
Now technically that could be a whole sermon. That one verse. He takes 12 stones. And rebuilds the altar.
Now, remember now, the Bible does not waste words. The Bible just doesn't throw something up for you to glibly pass over it. Although you may not have its significance at first reading. He actually gives you the significance. Hey!
He says he took 12 stones. Sh And he made an altar, rebuilt the altar, according to the number of tribes of Israel.
Now, how many tribes were there in Israel? There were 12 tribes.
So, what is the significance of the twelve stones?
Well, there are a number. of things that are significant. Number one, The country is divided. There are ten tribes to the north. Israel and two tribes to the south, Judah.
They were divided. Because of Solomon. and his offspring. When he puts 12 stones back on the altar. and then tells them, for Israel shall be your name.
He is calling them back to the unified. covenant that God made with Israel. One of the reasons for the 12 stones was to tell them, you are not 10 and 2. You're 12 and 0.
Okay. In other words, he prepares them to see God by calling them to a place of unity.
Okay. And the 12 stones was to be a memorial. an ongoing remembrance of what God could do.
So when Joshua stands up here at the altar and says, Give me 12 stones, your name will be called Israel. These are Jews, they know what that means. They know it's time. For God to strut his stuff. It's time for God to show out.
It's time for the miraculous intrusion of the divine into history.
Now my question is, where are your 12 stones? It's hard to put down 12 stones if you don't have any history. You see, if you don't have any history of what God did yesterday. You might be a little tenuous putting down 12 stones today. What he does is remind them of their past.
Call them back to their covenant. Before he ever gets to the prayer. He wants them to know that they're in for a mighty miracle. if they would come together as a people.
Well He then makes a trench around the altar.
Now, this is funny. He arranges the wood, cuts the oxen in pieces, lays it on the wood, and says, fill four pitchers of water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. Verse 34, do it a second time. And he did it a third time.
Now folks. If you're about to light a fire, you do not soak your wood. And you certainly don't soak it three times. And you certainly don't soak it with salt water from the Mediterranean Sea. Which is where he would have gotten the water from.
Because salt water It helps regular water. Put out fire faster. Elijah is so confident in God. That he gonna make it hard. He's going to make it harder.
He's going to make it more difficult. You can't make something too hard for God.
So he says, I am not going to just. Call on God to do his stuff. I'm going to let him do his stuff exceedingly abundantly above. What you ask or think. And so the altar is prepared.
The people are prepared. And now It's time. to pray. Verse 35 tells us that the water flowed around the trench.
So the thing is soaked. This thing won't burn. But now we're introduced to the power of prayer. At the time of the evening offering, he goes and he prays about 60 words here. This is not a long, drawn-out prayer.
But it is significant for one fundamental reason. Oh Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. See, he went back on God. He went history on God. Let it be known that thou art God in Israel.
I am thy servant. I have done these things according to your word. Answer me, O Lord. Answer me, that this people may know that thou, O Lord, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back again. In this very brief prayer, he says, do this thing.
that these people may know you are God. What about God that he wants them to know? One, you're true to your word because I did this according to your word. Two, that you belong to us because you're Israel's God. Three that I'm legit.
Finally. That you're a God of grace. Because you're going to turn their hearts back again. You'll give him another chance. Let them see your character.
Reveal your glory. When Dr. Evans comes back in a moment, he'll tell us about an exercise that not only helps us track our prayer requests and God's answers, but a crucial outcome that many people overlook. Don't go away. Ladies, don't miss your chance to join our virtual audience for the Desperate for Jesus Conference, July 25th through 26th.
Gather your friends, small group, or all the women of your church for an empowering experience made just for you. Through dynamic speakers and powerful worship, we will equip you to leave a lasting legacy, telling the next generation of the Lord's praiseworthy deeds. Visit DFJConference.com to register for the live simulcast. That's DFJConference.com. The message you're hearing today is part of Tony's encouraging sermon compilation on the power of prayer.
In these seven insightful messages, he demonstrates how to pray prayers that don't just fill the air, but actually bring about transformation, healing, and God's divine intervention in our lives. We'd love to send you the entire series so you can review these truths for yourself or share them with your family or Bible study group. And as a bonus, you'll also receive Tony's brand new devotional, Anchored by Prayer. In it, he offers practical help for praying with confidence, even when words are hard to find, and shows how the Holy Spirit empowers and guides your prayers for greater impact. To take advantage of this special limited-time offer, visit us today at tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222.
That's online at tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-8022. 8003222.
Well right now, let's get back to Dr. Evans with more of today's message on prayer. Let me give you a little exercise you might want to try in your own prayer life. that you might see his power. If you take a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns, One column says I Ask.
That's your request. What do you want God to do? Second column. His answer.
So that column gets filled in. When he does what the first column requests. But don't leave out the third column. Very important colour. Because the third column simply says His Benefit.
If what you ask. He does. What will he get out of it? Usually, our concern is only related to our question. But God does not respond with his power.
Only because of your need and your request. That's one reason. But he also responds to your request based on what will give him greater glory. And so It says in verse 38. that the fire of the Lord fell.
But you know it was the Lord's fire. Because look at verse 38, and consume the burnt offering. I accept the sacrifice. Yeah.
Now that that would be enough right there. I could go home with that one. I could say we won. God's firefalls, swoop. No more sacrifice.
Swoon. No more wood. Swoon. No more stone and then collects the dust. Man, I too bad.
And then he not sued. Then laps up the water. There is no question this is God.
Sometimes God will put you in situations so that you know the only way you got out of this one is it was God. Because he does exceedingly abundantly above what you ask, and he does stuff you haven't even thought of yet. Verse 39. And when all the people saw it. They fell on their faces and said, Lord, he's God.
The Lord. He is God. One of the reasons God shows you his power in prayer is so that he can hear you say, the Lord, he is God. The boss is not God. The people putting pressure on me, they're not God.
The situation has got me all stressed out. That's not God. The Lord, He alone is God.
Somebody ought to want to see that sometime. The people Now come to their senses. But they only come to their senses around the altar. In the midst of prayer. After this great event has taken place.
The prophets are gone. Verse 41, Elijah says to Ahab, Go eat and drink, for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.
Now you remember, it hasn't rained for three and a half years. Verse 42.
So Ahab went up to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees. In other words, this is what the New Testament calls in James 5. He was praying in his praying. Another, when you get down on your knees and put your hand between your knees. You get low as you can possibly go.
He says. I hear the sound of a heavy shower.
Now, to close this off in just a second, there is no heavy shower. In fact, you'll see in a moment, there is no cloud in the sky.
So that raises a very fundamental question. How can you hear the sound of a heavy shower if there is no cloud in the sky? When you are close enough to God. You hear stuff? See stuff, perceive stuff.
Feel stuck. that you haven't been able to see with your physical eyes. He says, I hear the sound of heavy rain. Even though there's no rain. He says So you go eat and drink and you go and get out of the rain.
How do you bridge the gap? between what you know or believe that God is doing that you can't see. and the actual doing of it. He says, I hear the sound of heavy rain, so let me go get on my knees. There is a great principle of prayer here.
That prayer is given to us by God to connect us with what he is already planning to do before we started praying. I will answer before you call.
Now, where did he get that idea? He got that idea from chapter 18, verse 1, where God told him, I will send rain. But he didn't know when God was gonna send rain until he finished this, and the Spirit of God made it real to him.
Now's the time. And so the story is getting ready in, but oh, it ends on a good one. This is a good one. I like this. He prays.
Crouches down on his knees. He prays sincerely, humbly. And he said to his servant, Go up now. Look toward the sea. Go tell me if you see any storms coming this way.
Somebody missed that.
Somebody didn't see that. Go look. toward the sea. And see if you see a star. You see, he prayed.
expecting to see something. Many of us pray but don't go looking. We pray because it's a habit, not because we expect something to happen. He prayed in faith. That is, he prayed expectantly.
Go look. The servant came back and said, no, there's no storm. It's a clear day. There's nothing. And he said, go back seven times.
Now here's a great principle. How long do you pray? Till you get an answer. This is how long you pray. You pray till you get an answer.
You assume That if God hasn't said no, If he says no, you stop praying. And if he hasn't said yes. Then you must assume he said, wait. If you're praying for a yes and you haven't heard a no, you keep praying. You keep praying because God is working all things together for good.
So he did not get an answer the first time. He told his servant, keep looking. Keep looking because I hear something. It's way out there, can't see it, but I hear something. And it came about.
Here it is, folks.
Okay. At the seventh time. Behold, a cloud as small as a man's hand is coming from the sea. Little cloud. And you know how big a cloud is the size of a man's hand?
The cloud that day. Yeah.
Little clown. Like could have been a duck flying or something. He's a little cloud is just kind of coming in. He said. Go up and say to Ahaz.
Prepare your chariot. Go down.
so that the heavy shower does not stop you. It's coming in. Because when you know what God says and you've talked to God about it, you don't have to see the whole thing, a little something will do. You don't have to see everything. All you have to do is see a little something.
They're a little something, that's all. He said, that's all I need to see. All I need to see is God is moving in my direction. Tell Ahab, get in his chariot. And go so that he doesn't get caught in the rain.
Now watch the close.
So it came about in a little while. You don't know how long it's going to take for God to move, but when He moves, He moves. In a little while, that the sky grew black with clouds. Did you see that shift? We went from one cloud the size of a man's hands to a black sky.
So now we got bad weather conditions. We got a meteorological report. And there was heavy shower and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. But look at verse 46. Oh, it's sweet.
Then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. Shm. And he goaded up. his loins that is lift up his robe And out ran Ah! To Jezreel.
How? Oh, that's too hot! Did you see what that said? Did you see that? Listen, folks.
Let me tell you something what prayer will do. It'll change your circumstances. It was dry. And now it's going to be wet. But let me tell you what else it'll do.
It'll change you. My man and I. to run 18 miles. Yeah.
And he is having to compete with a horse-drawn chair. Do you know how fast horses run? I think Isaiah put it this way in chapter 40. They that wait upon the Lord will get new strength. They were mounted up with wings like eagles.
They were round. I said they will run and not get weary. They will walk and not faint. He gives you new strength. He gives you the ability to run when you were going to quit, to keep going when you were going to throw in the tower.
He gives you the ability to keep on, keeping on, so that you outrun your enemy and anybody helping them, even if they're fast as horse. And all that happened because he prayed. He went into God's presence.
Somebody ought to say glory. When you hear that God can do mighty things. and the life of his people. Dr. Tony Evans, wrapping up a message from his current series, The Power of Prayer.
Now remember, the full-length version of all seven lessons in this collection is being offered through tomorrow as our thank you gift when you make a contribution to help support this ministry. And as an added bonus, along with the audio series, we are also including a copy of Tony's brand new devotional book, Anchored by Prayer. Learn how to pray boldly and effectively and deepen your walk with God. Just visit tonyevans.org or call our resource team at 1-800-800-3222 to make your donation and request your copies. Again, that's tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222.
As the old saying goes, how much you get of God depends on how much He has of you. Be sure to join us tomorrow as Dr. Evans builds on that idea when he brings us the final lesson from his life-changing series on the power of prayer.
