Praying And Waiting for God's Timing | Sermon by Tony Evans

all of us live in houses that have been wired for electricity electricity is the power that is conveyed through the wires so that we enjoy the privileges of being blessed through the appliances we use the lights we turn off and on through the heat the stove or the refrigerator or the freezer or the myriad of other things that electricity provides the power for us to do few of us could conceive life without electricity because we know electricity gives us power but that power that electricity provides needs a point of contact you switch on a flip to turn on the light or two to turn on some appliance in order for that that appliance or light or thing that you're using to work the provision is there electricity but the point of contact is necessary to get at what electricity is there to offer there must be a point of contact between you and God me and God in order to experience his power and supernatural provision there must be a point of contact God has provided what his will has decreed but without a point of contact you don't experience what the provision is if you if you don't turn on the light switch it's not a power problem it's not a provision problem it's a contact problem in other words you're not making contact with the provision so you're not experiencing the benefits of the power there are many people today who believed in God's power but not seeing God's provision because they don't understand his place of contact we're not making contact and so we think there is no power or we think that there is no provision when the reality is there is no contact and the point of contact between your need and God's provision is prayer prayer is the one thing God has established to make contact with what he has already decreed where there is no prayer there is no contact and where there is no contact you do not get what God has already declared for you to have known as his will for many people prayer is like the national anthem before a football game it gets it started but has absolutely nothing to do with what's happening on the field you do it but it doesn't seem to matter that you do it and it doesn't seem to work the lesson that you and I are going to learn from Elijah today I want you to right now put everything out of your mind you've ever thought about prayer for a few moments and I want us to learn from Elijah this point of contact and how it works we hear about it we talk about it but I want you to experience it today and it's supernatural ability to let you in on the will of God to understand why prayer is your point of contact you have to understand what God decreed when he made man when God made Adam and Eve he gave three words that would forever control how he would interact with history he said let M Rule in other words God says I'm going to do what I do in the physical visible realm from my invisible spiritual realm and I'm going to do it through men and the way men make contact with me is through prayer so all through the Bible you will see the word prayer in some form of fashion when men make contact with God and God then acts let me say it another way prayer is the mechanism God has decreed that is absolutely necessary for him to release what he intends prayer does not make God do what he hadn't planted you but what it does is release God to do what he has decreed to do there will be many of us who get to heaven and God will open up a storage place with all of the things he would have done could have done needed to be done that went undone because we did not pray in Isaiah chapter 65 verse 24 you don't have to turn there but God says before you call I will answer before you call I will answer in other words the answer has already been made it's just waiting on the call God has already decreed his will for you we'll talk about that more in a moment he's already decreed what he's going to do and he's decreed it before you've ever talked to him about it so it's like somebody putting a deposit in your bank but telling you you must withdraw it it's sitting there but it could sit there for the rest of your life if there's no withdrawal from it God has decreed the end from the beginning he has decreed the totality of your life and all that he plans to do and it's already been decreed before you call on it but the assumption is you will call on it and when you call on it that's what he has decreed he then dispenses if it is within his will so let's get this straight prayer activates the decree and the will of God it doesn't make it happen it just grabs it because it has already been decreed to happen many of us have Direct TV in our home and if you have Direct TV that means you ever receive a box that receiver box does not create the programming the programming has already been established on the multiplicity of channels that are available through DirecTV the receiver doesn't make the programs up but what it does when you turn it on is grab something you cannot see and put it on the screen so you now can see it the receiver doesn't create it but it grabs it when it is turned on so that now you can see a picture of what you already have paid for and that has been provided through the satellite that DirecTV depends on in order to show you something on your screen prayer is the mechanism that grab something out of the invisible realm so you can see it at work in the visible physical realm so God is decreed for every Christian the sum total of your life what he will do and what he won't do when he plans to do it but it's with a condition and the condition is prayer so with that understanding and mine as a backdrop with the understanding that your job is to distribute what God makes to happen from the invisible spiritual to the visible physical like when Jesus prays he can defeat 5,000 people with fish and barley loaves he prayed all of a sudden Moby Dick is laying on the beach and he gets his disciples to distribute it when God answers you become the distribution point for his supernatural activity you are the point of contact and the switch is flipped with prayer now with that understanding let's go to the day's story in the life of Elijah let me start off by reading two verses chapter 17 verse 1 of first kings now Elijah the Tishbite who was of the settlement of Gilead said they have as the Lord the God of Israel lives before whom I stand surely there shall be neither do nor rain these years except by my word so Elijah tells Ahab it snuggle ring chapter 18 verse 1 and now it happened after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the 3rd year saying go show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the face of the earth so in chapter 17 verse 1 he says it's not gonna rain in chapter 18 verse 1 he says it's getting ready to rain in chapter 17 verse 1 God says I'm a closed heaven in chapter 18 verse 1 God says I'm open heaven and both of those statements were made by the same person so before we go any further let me rain why this rain thing is there in the first place a hab didn't make this up you see in Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 13 to 17 this is what God said God says if you go worship idols I'm a closed-down heaven so it won't rain if you choose other gods I'm going to no longer bless your crops I'm no longer going to bless your planting I'm no longer going to bless your fruit bearing and the sky is going to dry up if you go after other gods but he says if you turn away from other gods then I will open up heaven and I will let rain again fall on the earth so the whole reason Elijah is praying is based on something God had said years early to Moses so Elijah reaches back to what God had already said and by the leading of God applies it many years later to the situation we find him in in what we've gone over so far in 1st Kings 17 and 18 in other words his prayer was tied to God's Word or let me say it another way if you don't know God's Word you don't know how to pray because God's Word must be the basis or the foundation of your request the reason why many of us pray so generally Lord bless me Lord help me which means you've said absolutely nothing you've been so vague it's because you don't have a point of contact that you know about that you can point to in Scripture that becomes the basis of your request so you don't even know whether that's something God is interested in doing apart from some vey general requests that you say around grace Lord bless this food in my body in Jesus name Amen okay the reason why much prayer is vey and you'll see in a moment why that affects the supernatural it's because it is untied to something God has said and remember God said this years before Elijah ever used it but it was applicable to Elijah's situation and there are things in Scripture that are applicable to your scenario that you're seeking a miracle for that you'll never see rain on because you don't know how to leave I don't know how to leave what I'm asking for to what God has declared so he starts off by referencing something God has previously declared now so having prayed biblically we now are going to see something I do want you to turn your Bibles here hold your finger in first Kings and turn to James chapter 5 the book of James chapter 5 in James chapter 5 that's after Hebrews before first Peter let me read beginning with verse 16 therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed the effectual prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much now watch this Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain so he think it was back the kings and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months then he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit stay with me here God said it's not going to rain God said it's now go rain there's a gap of three and a half years between when he said no rain because of their idolatry and when it was going to rain so watch this the change with the rain only came when the idolatry was addressed as long as there was idolatry there would be no rain many people want God to send rain in their lives called blessings without wanting God to change their lives they want God to do something for them while they remain idolaters and remember idolatry is any unauthorized noun person place or thing that you look to to meet your needs it is any unauthorized thing so an idol can be a person and Idol can be a place and Idol can be stuff money possessions and either can be a job and Idol can be your career it can be your your position and Idol can be any noun person place or thing and you're looking to that to be your source that's an idol so what God has are folks who worship Him on Sunday and date idols all week long and as long as there was idolatry God would not shift from no rain to rain so we have people who come to church all the time looking for their blessing who don't want to be messed with by their God and so they wonder why it won't ring because God's not gonna read on you so you can share it with an idol okay so that means anything you get you got to get on your own independently of God because he's not going to help you become an ID Allah but I want you to know something else God said it's not going to rain 17:1 then he said it is gonna rain three and a half years but notice when you rejects that we just read it says he prayed that it would not rain and then he prayed that it would rain but wait a minute God had already said it's not gonna rain God then said yeah let's go rain so if God already said it how come he had to pray about it because what God has decreed needs a point of contact before it is delivered so even though God decreed rain start and stop he didn't let it rain until Elijah made it a prayer matter in other words he was going to stop the rain when he prayed he was going to start the rain when he prayed so God's decree had to wait on somebody to suck it down so God has decreed certain things for your life his will and it's sitting up there to be delivered at the proper time when the point of contact is made so you could have 25 years of something God is holding on to that he wanted to release 25 years ago but he hasn't been free to release it because he's not yet seeing the point of contact because even though God declared it it didn't happen until he lied you call for it then he says and he gives you the secret of prayer that produces the supernatural James said the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much so we not only know that Elijah prayed we now also know how he lied you pray the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and James is writing the New Testament Christians James is writing to you and me but he uses an Old Testament Saint to explain the New Testament Christians how to get heaven to deliver rain how to get heaven to open up to deliver the will of God which is varying from person to person in its application so that means if you and I understand effectual fervent prayer as illustrated by James in the life of Elijah you and I can affect heaven opening heaven closing no rain rain we can affect it just like Elijah affected it and let me tell you why and then I'll tell you how you know why because James says that Elijah was of like nature as us in other words he wasn't Superman Batman spider-man or x-man he wasn't some superhero he's just a man so he wants you to know Elijah has nothing on you that even though he was a prophet in the Old Testament cuz some people say well that's in the Old Testament he says uh-uh he was flesh and blood just like you but what he had was an effectual fervent righteous prayer and that was the prayer that closed heaven up that opened heaven up so if you're here today looking for a miracle that will open up heaven shut heaven that is bring the supernatural in the history based on the will of God tied to his word you must be a effectual fervent righteous prayer questions what do they look like all right verse 41 it says I hadn't sound of the roar of a heavy storm that's what he says Elijah says I hear thunder storm but wait a minute in the verses to follow there is no storm yet in fact you going to see in a moment the sky is clear in fact that's not even a cloud in the sky in fact nobody hears this but Elijah cuz the Elijah has to tell a hab that there is a sound of a storm cuz they have care here so let's get something straight your proximity to God will determine what you hear see if you are not close to God you won't hear the will of God applied to you you'll be like they have what you talk about cuz you don't hear anything one of our problems is we want to hear from God while keeping our distance from God no a hab could hear the will of God and he could hear the timing of God's will see he already knew what the Word of God said Deuteronomy 11 but the question on the floor is how do I know that word in Deuteronomy is applicable to me right now that has to do with spiritual distance when you drive your car a long way away from the city of Dallas you're going to lose clarity of hearing in the radio station you're listening to the further you go the more static the station will become until the station disappears altogether because your distance is to fall to pick up the station but when you come back to Dallas you're going to be able to hear because you're getting closer to the signal you cannot keep a long-distance relationship with God and still hear the sound of the Thunder that nobody else can hear that's why prayer is relational communication with God not ritual communication with God ritual communication is I'm praying cuz I'm supposed to it's great so I'm supposed to pray I'm going to bed even though I'm falling asleep in the middle of my prayer don't even know what I said well I know what I said because it's the same thing I say every night so it's ritual prayer no this must be relational prayer because I have made God my only God no more idols I have drawn close to him so his Holy Spirit is able to speak to my human spirit about the application of the scripture which is written in the Word of God so the scripture said gonna rain but how does he know when it's gonna rain he heard the sound he heard something other folk couldn't hear because he was in a proximity that ahab didn't have and so he could pick up things that other folk couldn't pick up because of his proximity to the lord what made his proximity so close it said elijah was a righteous man he lived his life to please the lord you cannot hear the sound of God's will and live a lifestyle that makes him sad that makes him unhappy that is not seeking to please if you can't hear his voice and be in a long-distance relationship all right so if you want to experience supernatural power in prayer the proximity must be close it cannot be far away so you can hear the sound of the particular application of Scripture in your personal experience okay so that's number one but it gets deeper because verse 42 says and Ahab went up to eat and drink but Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees stay with me Elijah goes up to Mount Carmel he doesn't go where they have he goes up to Mount Carmel he separates himself and he finds a place to get alone with God in other words what he was getting ready to ask for was so big when he was getting ready to call on from heaven was so deep that he needed an undistracted environment for his discussion okay do you have a place you can go a closet a room a bathroom or something someplace you can go where there will be undistracted communication see we're distracted all the time we pray on the run we do - we do all on the run everything's on the run but when you need rain and it's been dry for three and a half years that's not the time for distraction we've all been in situations where we're talking to somebody and they say you're not paying attention to me I'm talking serious and you're distracted no this thing was so deep and so big he went up to Mount Carmel and he wanted a concentrated time even though God had already decreed it he needed to make a point of contact with God being a righteous man and so he went up to Mount Carmel and separated himself but look what he did when he separated himself it says he bent down put his head between his knees okay you didn't see that he bent down and put his head between his knees what my boy doing in Old Testament days they didn't have stirrups for pregnant women they didn't have a place where a woman would lay up and put her legs on the SteriPEN for examinations or to give birth uh what the women did was crouched down put they hand down and then somebody would say push push push push push push in other words it was the position of labour why it was the position of labour because he's about to give birth to a miracle it was the position of labour because he's getting ready to get better to something supernatural see when you need God to do something not regular but super unleaded when you need God to do something not ordinary but extraordinary you got to get in a position of birth but no woman gives it a position of death unless you pregnant the whole point of birth is that you are pregnant see some of us want God to give birth when we haven't even let God get us pregnant we don't have the pregnancy of his presence the pregnancy of his life but we want him to give birth to a miracle he knew that he needed the miracle heaven opened so he got in a position and he labored this is the biblical word travail travail means to be in labor when Jesus was with Martha and Mary in John chapter 11 and when it was in Martha Mary and Lazarus had died and he was getting ready to raise Lazarus from the dead that's not an ordinary thing so what Jesus did the scripture says is he stirred himself up the word there is no you and I we get the English concept of an agitator in a washing machine you've seen the agitator in the washing know the older wash me back and forth back and forth back and forth back and forth back and forth back and forth it works itself up in order to do its cleansing job Jesus worked himself up because he needed not something ordinary he was getting ready called a dead man the light and so he agitated his spirit within because he was about to pull off a miracle when you need something supernatural that's not saying grace when you need something supernatural that's not saying a quick prayer that's going in the labor you got you go before the face of God and you know what the length of your labor is oftentimes to how big the head is that you deliver if you got a tiny baby it may not last that long but if you got a big-headed boy or a big hit a girl that thing may hurt that thing may be in pain that thing may be difficult because the bigger the miracle you need the more labor you gonna be in and the harder you gotta push and push and push until there's a birth you say why do I have to go through all that cuz you're giving birth to a miracle you're giving birth to something supernatural this is not regular ordinary you're asking God to do something out of the ordinary but it needs a point of contact okay we give birth when it comes to our careers we will label all night to study to pass those exams we'll work overtime to impress our bure we go into labor for jobs we go into labor for more money we're going for labor for promotion so we will go into labor for this world but not going to labor for that world and wonder why we're not getting anything from that world cuz you're not well enough push the question is do you want to give birth to something here we have a man giving birth a man given birth I talk to my family yesterday I was speaking to a group I'm speaking to a group of educators I'm speaking to a group of educators and these educators um wanted to give me a gift and I said okay they called me up and they said we would like you to have this they opened up the wrapping and it was a seahorse it was a seahorse made out of shells so diggin give me it give me a seahorse but then she explained she said the reason we decided to give you this seahorse is because it's the only species created by God where the male gives birth that says no other species where the male gives birth you know I never heard anything like this before so I googled seahorse you know I go go see us now I don't know how to do much with computers but I knew out of Google seahorse and so so I google seahorse and and and it had a picture Google had a picture of a seahorse male giving birth the male and the female intertwine their tails and when they intertwine their tails they do this dance and after they have danced the female deposits her eggs in the pouch of the male male has a pouch the female deposits her eggs inside the male's pouch the male fertilizes the egg inside of its pouch and when I saw it on Google the seahorse then gave birth to two thousand babies I mean it just it just it just worked itself up and food just babies flying everywhere baby mama drama here dead babies just babies just everywhere and it it heap himself up and poof then it would heave itself up again and puff then it would heap it self I beginner puffing all these babies would come flying out she said any reason I wanted to give you a seahorse where only the male's give birth this is so unique and then they said cuz that's what Kingdom men are hard to find because they unique that you need to find something where the man is giving birth where the man is taking ownership for the kids weatherman is encouraging responsibility I said I heard that I heard that here we got a man giving birth some of you you've dealing with situations the counselor can't help you money can fix it and people you know can't change it you need to go into labor we need to find a Mount Carmel somewhere and you need to go down and push and push and push you say how long do a push how long do I put well let's go back to the scripture because it says an effective fervent prayer of a righteous man he said to his servant in verse 43 go up now and look toward the sea in other words look for the answer because there's a storm so look for the answer so the servant went up verse 43 says and looked and said there is nothing okay let's stop there he prayed and nothing happened anybody know what I feel you pray and nothing happened he went up he said I looked for an answer but there's no answer to the prayer first of all did you pray in labor because we all know that's false labor we all know that's false labor you you think something coming ain't nothing come but he prays he says I won't say anything but then he goes on and he says and he went up and looked again there's nothing he said go back seven times go back seven times seven is the biblical number of completion seven is the biblical number of completion when something is completed in the Bible it gives you the number seven it's a biblical number of completion another word servant I know what the word said Deuteronomy 11 I know what God told me because I heard of Sal and we're close so when the written word lines up with what God is telling me in my spirit and then I go in the labor and nothing happening yet you keep going until you shut that thing down cuz the bigger the miracle you need the more labor you gonna be in cuz that baby head is so big so you go you labor tell God answers it once you can tie it to his word tie it to your spirit and you labelled and prayer about it you don't quit cuz you heard nothing you pray till you get an answer cuz an answer is coming in due season you keep going you don't quit cuz you see nothing you hear nothing you know nothing no you keep going and so notice this down he's persistent he keeps going until God relief see some things you know the Book of Daniel Daniel 9 and down your tent Daniel is praying but it says a demon blocked the prayer cuz see the devil wants to not get it through so the angel came and said Daniel I would have come to you earlier cuz God heard your prayer God sent the angel to answer your prayer but on our way to bring the answer to the prayer the demons came and blocked us from bringing the answer so you kept praying because there was a war in the invisible realm blocking this answer but you kept praying until we overcame what was happening up there to deliver you the answer to your prayer see that stuff happening up there that you don't know anything about but once you know is what God wants you keep praying until the angel gets the breakthrough you be persistent and so look at this now the man comes back after the seven time verse 44 and says behold a cloud as small of the man's hand is coming up from the sea okay we've gone from seeing nothing to see in a cloud this big a cloud the size of a man's hand a little tiny cloud he said well I know I've been going seven times and the only thing now is showing up is a cloud the size of a man's hand see he prayed expectantly he expected to see something now what he saw what much because all I saw was a cloud with man's hands the tiny cloud but that's all he needed to see because sometimes God doesn't give it to you all at once he lets you see a little something something and a little something something says I'm listening I'm hearing you we're not ready to complete it but when you see that little cloud he said oh you saw a little cloud he went until they have go get your chariot go to Jezreel cuz it's getting ready - thunder storm up in here up in here why because sometimes God gives you a little down payment he doesn't take it everything he just show you look hello hello your members are little something's up you know yeah he gives you a little shot so that you can you can let you you can know he's on the way with the rest of it sometimes it gives you a downpayment that let you know the rest of the payments are on their way sometimes he brings a little something that's a little cue to let you know keep on going keep on praying keep on trusting because I hear you see when the crown of the head shows up it means the rest of the body is on his way you may not see it alright now keep pushing it's coming and then I love this piece I love this piece I love this piece it says in the last verse then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his loins and outran a hab the Jezreel oh no you didn't okay when watch us now in the previous verse a has got a chariot which means he has horses horses are pulling his chariots and these are multiple horses because he's the king so he's got a group of horses pulling his chariot from Carmel to Jezreel which is 15 miles so this is a 15 mile ride Kings had runners the job of the runner was to run in front of the king to make sure there was nothing in the road so there would be nothing to jeopardize the king so the king had runners now I don't know what happened to have runners maybe they got scared when Elijah killed all in profits and quit I don't know but his Runner was nowhere to be found and Elijah becomes his runner but wait a minute Elijah says he had to - up his loins let me there - pull up his robe tuck it under his belt and run there's an old boy here oh boy is running 15 miles and he's outrunning the horses okay he brought oh it makes me think of Isaiah 40 those who wait upon the Lord shall get new strength they were mount up with wings as eagles they will run and not go River they were walking not feet somehow and saying you say how do I know this is a supernatural track star because it says and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he started kicking it he started kicking it because when God comes through for you even though you've had to wait for it you'll be like Caleb who said I started when I was 40 now I'm 85 but God is giving me strength at 85 that I had at 40 and it was worth waiting on him for my change the car God can take you and give you strength for whatever he's going to bring you away when you suck it down from up there down here through the effectual fervent prayer now let me close with something let me close with a true story not a story somebody told me but a story that I was involved with a number of years ago for those who haven't heard this story I was doing a evangelistic crusade in Columbia South Carolina this crusade was at the Bryce football stadium which is the football stadium for the University of South Carolina it was Sunday night the first night of the crusade when somewhere between 15 or 20,000 people had gathered in the stadium for us to preach the gospel - before the service all the ministers and the planning committee got went downstairs underneath the stadium to pray a gentleman came in and said we've just been warned that a major store one is coming and it will be here by seven o'clock it's now six o'clock and the meeting is supposed to begin at seven so based on the meteorological report we were going to be drenched with a heavy thunderstorm at seven o'clock so we went into prayer and we pray that God would hold the rain and we pray that God would allow the service to go on and we pray the ministers prayed but every minister including me prayed a safe prayer let me tell you a safe prayer our safe prayer is Lord don't let it rain if it's not your we'll see you throw his will in there in case it still rains you can get him off the hook so we pray that safe prayer at the end of the prayer a five foot one lady named Linda me and sister Evans were there named Linda said may I pray we said well yes yes go and pray you know we need all the prayer we can get here is the summary of Linda's prayer Linda said Lord we are here doing what you asked us to do you asked us to win people of Christ you asked us to proclaim your word we have spent money time energy to put this crusade together doing what you told us to do so you would embarrass yourself if you let it ring because you control the weather so therefore Lord hear got crazy I command you to stop the ring all the preachers did was if look at each other and wait for lightning to strike cuz we got this little five-foot-one lady commanding God with the rain we walk up it's now seven o'clock it's time for the service to begin the emcee comes out and he says ladies and gentlemen we know that rain is supposed to come the sky is dark behind us it's coming this way we know it's supposed to come we're just going to go as long as we can go so if you'll just remain it as long as you can we'll do as much as we can because it wasn't looking good you can hear the thunder in the background it's coming this way as we begin the service we're ten 15 minutes into the service and now it's it's black it's thundering behind us and you can begin to hear the rain it begins to drizzle if the true story it begins to drizzle so now everybody is stirring because people are getting ready to leave some people probably heard the meteorological report and men brought their umbrellas with them so a few people were starting to open up their umbrellas but you could see people were getting ready to leave cuz you got thunder and lightning coming this way I'm looking down Linda is sitting next to a gentleman the gentleman opens up his umbrella cuz it's getting ready to rain it's drizzling and he puts the umbrella over Linda Linda takes her hand and pushes his hand back and refuses the umbrella and then it happened as we sat there at Bryce Stadium as the rain came up to the stadium with our own eyes the rain split half of it went around this way half of it went around that way and then the rain came back together at the other end of the stage the preachers were being spiritually polite but Linda gave an effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person she got down and put a hand down and pushed and pushed and pushed and like Jacob said I'm not gonna let you go until you do something I'm gonna give birth to a miracle somebody here today needs a miracle in your life needs a miracle in your emotion need your miracle in your home needs a miracle on your job if you commit to righteousness if you commit to prayer if you commit to Mount Carmel and if you get pregnant with God's life and are willing to go into labor what happened to Elijah James says is available to you

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 1,194,213

Rating: 4.8076205 out of 5

Keywords: tony evans, elijah, sermons, preaching on elijah, lessons on elijah, tony evans elijah, god's timing, god's timing sermons

Id: dtCR-C46ODA

Length: 49min 7sec (2947 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 09 2015