The Pouring

Dec 2 (Day 2 of 25 days for peace... )

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years! Then he prayed for rain, and down it poured. The grass turned green and the crops began to grow.” James 5:16-18

Don’t you love it when you see clearly God answering a prayer? I mean who doesn’t love when they can say “that right there is an answer to prayer!” But do we feel that same gratitude when the grass dies and the crops disappear? Do we feel excitement when God turns off the rain that sustains us? Struggle is rarely something we embrace, something we talk about with fondness. And yet earnest prayer is often produced through the moments of struggle. When Elijah prayed for no rain, the grass died and the crops ran out. I imagine life got pretty real for those people and I imagine there were plenty of “please provide” prayers that appeared to go unanswered. 

And yet. 

We learn from the rest of the verse that the day came for Elijah to pray for rain and not only did it rain it poured. Poured. God poured out his blessing and their grass turned green and their crops grew. Poured! In the midst of my struggles I often lose sight that God pours blessing, that even in what appears to be lack of response on His part, the blessing is already being prepared—to be poured out into my life. It’s easy to stay focused on the lack of, it’s easy to lose heart when years pass…we must not forget the pouring that is to come. 

Remember that baby born in an animal barn, surrounded by a less than stellar environment to parents who knew this was only the beginning of blessing AND struggle? That baby grew up and become a man that men loathed. That man loved with every ounce of his being, dripping love as he hung on a cross. Resulting in a death of the Son of God rising from the pit of hell to conquer death and once and for all POUR love over His children for all of eternity. 

Prayers ALWAYS get answered. 

We find a hidden nugget in this verse in James. “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.” This holiday season, as you contemplate God’s answering of prayers in your own life, remember Christian YOU are that righteous person and it is YOUR earnest prayers coming from your heart. Prayers ALWAYS get answered. The answer is not in the yes or no, the answer is found in the pouring out of His love on his children so their grass is green and their crops grow. Stay in His will, seek Him first, and tell him your earnest prayer. And then, trust in how he chooses to pour out. May you find peace in knowing pouring has happened, pouring is coming again.