Have you ever really considered the challenge and the freedom of this verse?
James 5:17-18
17 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. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
“Elijah was a man just like us”
I believe there is a challenge here in this verse for you and for me. You see, “Elijah was a man just like us” and God wants to take the ordinary, impart His Spirit, and make us extraordinary; God wants to take the natural, impart His Spirit and make us SUPERnatural.
Do you know and understand that God doesn’t play favourites?
Rom 2:11 makes it clear: (see also Deut 10:17, Acts 10:34-35, Eph 6:9)
“For God does not show favouritism”
Do you believe this? Do you accept that God does not show partiality to any man(or woman)?
Well, if you believe God’s Word that ‘Elijah was a man just like us‘ and you believe that ‘the Lord shows no favouritism‘ consider the freedom and the power that God can impart into your life. There is no limit to what God can do in and through you. Or is there a limit?
2 Chron 16:9a says this:
“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
Do you know what the limiting factor is in our relationship with the Lord?
Is it God? – NO WAY!
Is it the Devil? – NO WAY!
The limiting factor is us!
GK Chesterton puts it this way:
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
Here is a quote from D.L.Moody’s biography here:
It was during this first visit to Britain that Moody heard the words which set him hungering and thirsting after a deeper Christian experience and which marked a new era in his life. The words were spoken to him by Mr. Henry Varley, the well known evangelist, as they sat together on a seat in a public park in Dublin. The words were these: “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully consecrated to Him.” “He said ‘a man'” thought Moody, “he did not say, a great man, nor a learned man, nor a ‘smart’ man, but simply ‘a man.’ I am a man, and it lies with the man himself whether he will or will not make that entire and full consecration. I will try my utmost to be that man.” The words kept ringing in his mind, and burning their way into his soul until finally he was led into the deeper, richer, fuller experience for which his soul yearned. The impression the words made was deepened soon afterward by words spoken by Mr. Bewley, of Dublin, Ireland, to whom he was introduced by a friend. “Is this young man all O and O?” asked Mr. Bewley. “What do you mean by ‘O and O’?” said the friend. “Is he out and out for Christ?” was the reply. From that time forward Moody’s desire to be “O and O” for Christ was supreme.
Prayer:
Father, I do not pursue You and love you with all of my heart and all of my mind and all of my soul and all of my strength. I allow things to get in the way of my relationship with You. Please forgive me and give me a heart that is fully consecrated , fully devoted and fully committed to You. I take myself off the throne of my life and put You onto it. Have Your way with me and my life. My deepest desire is to see Your Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven. Lead me and refine me and empower me be your Spirit, in you Son Jesus’ name, Amen
Amen! So be it Lord Jesus!