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the earth by the space of three years and six months. He prayed again and the heaven
gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit (verses 17, 18). Now this was remarkable
indeed, and on the surface it looked as though the prophet had some extraordinary power
to accomplish a miracle. But it should be remembered that this prayer was based upon
the Word of God.
"And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments
which I command you this day . . . . . that I will give you the rain of your land in his due
season . . . . . Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside,
and serve other gods and worship them; and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against
you, and He shut up the heaven, that there be no rain and that the land yield not her fruit
. . . . ." (Deut. 11: 13-17).
Elijah, in a time of Israel's apostasy, was simply asking the Lord to carry out His
written threats as well as His promises, in order to bring back the sinful nation to
repentance.
Or let us take the case of David. After thanking God for all His gracious revelation of
His purposes concerning himself he says, "Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that Thou
hast spoken concerning Thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and
do as Thou hast said" (I Chron. 17: 23). God loves to be reminded of His promises.
If our praying is to be effective, it must be likewise based upon the unchanging Word,
but to this we must add the injunction of II Tim. 2: 15. If we base our prayers upon
Scripture or promises relating to a calling other than to which we belong, can we expect
God to hear and answer? Most assuredly not. Right division is eminently practical in
this respect as in every way. We must get to know our Divine calling before we can
begin to pray properly. Many children of God are asking Him for all kinds of things
pertaining to Scriptures that do not apply to them or which belong to another time period,
and they are disappointed and frustrated because they have a silent heaven. Let us search
our prayer life and make sure we are not perpetuating the same error.
5. True prayer watches and waits for the Lord's answer.
The prophet Habakkuk not only prayed, but stood upon his watchtower to see what the
Lord would say in reply (Hab. 2: 1). The Lord Jesus not only exhorted His disciples to
pray, but to watch as well as pray (Luke 21: 36; Mark 13: 35-37).
In the last reference the word translated "watch" is gregoreo, which literally means to
be sleepless or to keep wide awake. Can it be that we sometimes pray to the Lord and
then, as it were, go to sleep and forget? Did not many of the Pentecostal Church do this
very thing? They were concerned that Peter had been imprisoned by Herod.
"Peter was therefore kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the
church unto God for him" (Acts 12: 5). God was graciously pleased to answer this prayer
and release His servant, who thereupon came to the house of Mary the mother of John
where "many were gathered together praying" (verse 12) and knocked at the door of the
gate. When the damsel Rhoda, who recognized Peter's voice, ran to tell them, they said
to her "thou art mad" (verse 15). "But Peter continued knocking: and when they had
opened the door and saw him, they were astonished" (verse 16).