Tony Evans - Why Satan Wants to Block Your Prayer
- Watch
- Donate
Summary
In this message on James 5:16-18, the preacher uses Elijah's prayers for drought and rain as an example of how ordinary believers can powerfully birth God's will from heaven into earthly reality through earnest, fervent prayer. He stresses that effective prayer is rooted in God's Word, involves spiritual travail like a woman in labor, persists until completion despite delays, and requires faith that hears God's promise before seeing the answer. The result is supernatural breakthrough—Elijah not only brought rain but outran a chariot—showing that intense prayer aligned with God's will accomplishes much and brings heaven's power into history.
Birthing God's Will Through Prayer
Oh, you know what God wants you to do? He wants you to birth His will from heaven into history by calling it down, drawing it down, pushing it down until that baby of deliverance, that baby of healing, that baby of victory comes forth. This is serious praying; this is not casual praying. This is crying out. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, He says, can accomplish much, and then He gives an illustration. So stick with me because this is a doozy.
Elijah: An Ordinary Man with Extraordinary Prayer
He says in verse 17 and 18, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Translation: he wasn't from Krypton, okay? He wasn't a super prophet; he was a regular, ordinary flesh-and-blood individual. He didn't have anything unique over any other human being ever made. He was a man with a like nature, so whatever he's getting ready to say about Elijah is true about you because he's just like you—he's just a man. That's all he is. However, this ordinary man was a prophet. It says he prayed—notice the word "earnestly." He wasn't being casual; he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. That's three and a half years.
Then he prayed again. Verse 17 says, "And the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit." So watch this: now he prayed, and he closed heaven down for three and a half years. He's on earth, but he's praying to heaven, and he shut heaven down when it came to rain. Three and a half years later, he prayed again, and he opened heaven up. Everything just closed and opened on its own. It says he prayed, and it closed; he prayed, and it opened. Ah! So let's go back and see what really happened in 1 Kings chapter 18, because that's where this event took place. So if you turn your Bibles back to 1 Kings chapter 18, we're going to discover some things about his prayer that should affect our prayer so that we see a lot more of heaven entering into our history than we are currently seeing as believers.
Praying Based on God's Word
In chapter 18, he prays, beginning in verse 36, but then he comes to verse 41. And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat, and drink, for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower." He says, "I hear a thunderstorm coming on." Now let me start. Stay with me. Why did he pray this? I mean, what made him pray this in the first place? Well, look at chapter 17, verse 1. Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except at my word." Oh, now read chapter 18, verse 1. Now it happened after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth."
Oh, in chapter 17, verse 1, God said it's not going to rain; in chapter 18, verse 1, God said it is going to rain. So why do you need to know that? Because Elijah didn't just make this up; he was praying based on what God had said. God said it's not going to rain; God said it is going to rain. So he prayed, watch this, based on God's word. So the first thing you need to know is you need to pray with your Bible open, to pray, "God, You said this." Let me show you in case you forgot: "God, You said this," and I'm holding You to Your word. "You said this; I believe this, so I'm going to pray this." The Bible is full of prayers that you should pray. When you're struggling, that's Psalm 42; you pray Psalm 42. When you're repentant, that's Psalm 51; you pray Psalm 51. When you are afraid, that's Psalm 34; you pray Psalm 34. You point God back to His word because God has held His word high above His name. So you start with the word of God about the situation you're facing.
The Posture of Travail
All right, let's go on. He goes on to say, "I hear the sound; I hear the sound! There's a storm coming!" In verse 42, Ahab went up to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel and crouched down on the earth. Somebody say, "Crouch down!" Crouch down on the earth and put his face between his knees. Oh, okay, all right. He goes up to Mount Carmel, and it says he crouched down and put his head between his knees. You didn’t see that? See, he went up to Mount Carmel, he crouched down, and he put his head between his knees. One more time: he went up to Mount Carmel, he crouched down, and he put his head between his knees. What’s the crouching down and the head between your knees all about?
Well, in biblical days, when women were having babies, they didn’t have stirrups; they didn't have the sophistication. So a normal way for a Jewish woman to have a baby was to crouch down, put her head down, and push and push and push until that baby came out. So he took the posture of a pregnant woman who was in labor. The Bible calls it travail. He was in labor and said, "I need some rain. I want serene. I’m going to push and push and push till I get some rain." Oh, you know what God wants you to do? He wants you to birth His will from heaven into history by calling it down, drawing it down, pushing it down until that baby of deliverance, that baby of healing, that baby of victory comes forth. This is serious praying; this is not casual praying. This was crying out.
Overcoming Spiritual Resistance
Why? Why do I have to work so hard? Because Satan is trying to block your prayer from getting through. He’s putting static on the line. Already up there, if you have Direct TV, they already have the programs. The programs are already out there—news shows, movies, entertainment shows, comedy shows, music—it’s already out there. But until that receiver is turned on, you won’t see a picture on your screen. God has already got out there what He plans to do, but until the receiver calls it down, you don't see a picture on your screen.
Persistence in Prayer
Oh, but I'm not finished yet because look at what it says. It says he said to his servant, "Go, now look toward the sea." So he went and looked and said, "There is nothing." He said, "Servant, go to the sea and look for the storm."
So everyone went out and said, "Oh, uh, Elijah, there's no storm out here." But wait a minute! We just read Elijah heard the sound of a storm, but the servant went out and he didn’t see a storm. See, that’s why you’ve got to be in touch with God so you hear stuff before you see stuff. Because faith is not what you see; faith comes from what you don’t see. But if you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, if you can hear the voice of God, you can hear stuff before you see stuff. Because somebody here can testify, "God told me before I saw it." So he told his servant, he told his servant to go back seven times. He says, "I want you to go back seven times" in verse 43. Why seven? Because seven in the Bible is the number of completion. Whenever you see the word seven, it means something has been brought to completion.
Sometimes people say, "How long should I pray for something? How long should I talk to God? I’ve been praying about this for years and nothing has happened. How long should I pray?" Well, let me explain something: God only has three answers: yes, no, or wait. If you haven’t heard yes, and He hasn’t said no, that means wait. So what you do while you wait is pray till you get a yes or a no. You pray to completion.
The Small Beginning of a Great Answer
When he went out the seventh time, he said, "I saw a cloud coming out of the sea like the size of a man's fist." You know how small a cloud that is? He said, "I just saw a little cloud. I don’t see a storm; I just see a little fist-sized cloud." Elijah said, he said, "After the seventh time, I saw the cloud. Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down so the heavy shower does not stop you."
He didn’t let him see a shower; he let him see a cloud. See, sometimes when God’s ready to move, He’ll just let you see the whole thing; He’ll just let you see a little something-something to give you a taste. That’s why the Bible says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." He may not give you the whole meal; He may just give you a sample plate. That means that sometimes God gives you an appetizer. He ain't ready to feed you the whole meal; he's just giving you a something-something so that you know what you have to look forward to.
So he says, "We only got a fist, but there's a shower." So watch this now: he tells Ahab, "Get in your chariot and go, because this storm is going to get ready to break out." So get in your chariot and go. That means a horse is pulling the chariot. So he gets in there, and he's riding his horse. But I don't want you to miss the end of verse 46.
Supernatural Strength from Waiting on God
Then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and outran Ahab to Jezreel. No, you didn't! Ahab is riding a horse! Oh, Elijah picks up his cloak, ties it up, and he hooks it, he humps it, and he outruns a horse to Jezreel.
I believe Isaiah put it this way: "They that wait upon the Lord will have new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not faint." Somebody here ought to be willing to pray! Somebody here ought to be willing to cry out to God! Somebody ought to be willing to touch heaven because the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.