James 5:15-18 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

2 Chronicles 7:14 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Revival Praying

 

I.          To understand “revival praying”, we must first know the components of revival and what part prayer plays in revival.

A.          Revival has three components.

B.          With these three elements of revival in our church, then revival follows automatically.

C.          The first element of revival is sound doctrine.

D.          There can be no compromise in doctrine if we are to experience true revival.

E.           We must preach, teach, believe and live the message Christ and the Apostles taught.

Psalm 133:1 1  Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

F.           True revival is built on the foundation of pure doctrine.

 

G.          The second element is unity.

H.          We must be bonded together in:

I.          Love for each other.

II.        Love for truth.

III.       Passion to win the lost.

I.            Jealousy, unforgiving spirits and resentment are hindrances to revival.

J.           The third necessary element is spiritual sensitivity.

K.        Sensitivity to God develops through a fervent relationship with Him.

L.         We must learn to be led by the Spirit of God.

M.       We gain this sensitivity through fervent prayer, fasting and worship.

N.        These are the three elements or keys of revival.

O.        We have discussed fasting…and we will be doing that this week.

P.        We have preached and taught about praise.  We need fervent praisers.

Q.        We’ve dealt with unity….”The awesome infinite power of one.”

R.        We’ve gone over and over doctrine.

S.         Today we are going to discuss prayer.  Revival praying.

II.        Elijah’s entrance to the ministry was during a time of spiritual depravity.

A.        Because Israel forsook the sound doctrine of their God, He sent a famine and drought.

B.        When Israel left the truths they were taught, they became subject to enemy forces that influenced their worship.

C.        Ahab and Jezebel helped Israel forsake God with the worship of Baal.

D.        Elijah was the strongest opponent of Baal worship and Ahab’s tyrannical rule.

E.         Carnality, idol worship and satisfying every fleshly evil whim was the agenda for the day.

F.         God put Elijah in the midst of a spiritually starved area to prove His immense power and great love.

G.        If there was a time that parallels the time of Elijah…it is now.

H.        Even the churches who claim the Gospel as their direction have substituted the power of God for easy believism and rituals.

1 Kings 18:18-19 18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. 19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.

I.          Elijah confronted Ahab with a challenge to baal worship.

 

J.         Nobody had ever challenged the worship of baal like this before.

K.        People had been following others to false worship because there was no demonstration of the power of the true God.

L.         That was about to change.

M.       The only way to change this is with revival praying.

1 Kings 18:21 21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.

N.        Elijah’s challenge was for the people to follow the deity who proved Himself as God with a great demonstration of power.

 

O.        Elijah displayed no tolerance toward the prophets or doctrines that opposed the truth of God.

I.          We need to love and be kind to those who have a lack of knowledge and understanding.

II.        But we cannot idly stand by and tolerate false doctrine.

P.        The prophets of Baal were sincere.

I.          Sincerity alone will not bring revival.  They were sincerely wrong.

II.        These prophets jumped around, yelled, and even cut themselves.

III.       Yet their god did not answer.

Q.        I picture the prophets of Baal sitting, panting, sweating and bloody.

I.          Baal failed them.

II.        The best they could hope for is that Elijah’s God would not answer either.

R.        The first thing Elijah did in revival praying was to repair the altar of the Lord.

1 Kings 18:30 30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.

S.         Then he dug a trench and filled it with about 360 gallons of water.

T.         He soaked the sacrifice, the wood, the altar and the dust.

U.        Then he approached the altar and prayed a 63 word prayer.

I.          I don’t think it was quiet and meek.

II.        I believe it was a fervent prayer.

… “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  James 5.16

III.       Here is the prayer…”LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.”

IV.       Fire came crashing down to the place of revival praying and consumed the sacrifice, the altar, the dust and the water.

a.         We need this kind of revival that will consume our altar, ignite the sacrifice, clean up the dirt and dry up wet blankets.

V.        Revival praying consists of:

I.          The establishment of God AS God.

II.        A desire for people to know God through revival.

W.       A person with a true relationship with God can pray revival prayer.

X.        This coming week, let’s ignore ourselves and pray revival prayers.

Y.         Let us commit this week pray revival down on So Humboldt.