ELIJAH WAS A MAN...
TEXT: JAMES 5:13-18
"Is one of you unhappy? Let him fall to prayer. Is one of you cheerful? For him, a
psalm./Is one of you sick? Let him send for the presbyters of the church, and let
them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord's name./Prayer offered in
faith will restore the sick man, and the Lord will give him relief; if he is guilty of
sins, they will be pardoned./Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one
another, for the healing of your souls. When a just man prays fervently, there is
great virtue in his prayer./Elias was only a mortal man like ourselves, and when he
prayed and prayed that it might not rain on the land, there was no rain for three
years and six months;/then he prayed anew, and rain fell from heaven, and so the
land yielded its harvest."(KNOX NT BIBLE)
In our previous meditation on this phrase, we held that Elijah represents all the Bible
characters whose lives experienced supernatural happenings and unusual interventions.
Many of these men did exploites that are unimaginable...Paul says: "...they obtained
good report." Yet they were mare mortals like any of us. Some of them were crude
and unrefined, but they did wonders.
However, Elijah would be used as a sample: in this meditation, our heart's should be
so enlarged to contemplate other Bible characters that actually worked with God. So
we shall examine closely the above text. James says every one unhappy or afflicted
should pray; any one sick should call the elders of his local assembly for prayer.
The prayer of faith was mentioned here. Also the fervent prayer of the righteous
avails much according to James. We are told by James that a man can fall sick
because of sin, such can be healed by the prayer of the elders. Restoration can be
occasioned by prayer as well.
Moreover, he maintains that secrate sins or errors should be confessed to one
another for effective access to the benefits of prayer. James then suddenly
dedicated two verses to Elijah, how he prayed and prevented rain from falling for six
and half years, then prayed again to let in rain. What a man!
Why did James bring in Elijah after telling us what to do in the momment of
affliction and sickness? It is because these thing are too simple to be true to us: to
us, it takes a very spiritual and spirited being to secure answer to prayer. "Elijah was
a man" is a quite rebuke to this kind of notion.
furthermore, sickness and rain were placed side by side here. The elders and the
afflicted were admonished to just pray for sickness to go away, while Elijah prayed
to stop or bring down rain. watch this: sickness means, an abnormality in health. It is
a disordered, weakened, or unsound condition. Sickness shows in illness, indisposition,
unhealthiness, unsoundness etc. Any form of abnormality is sickness.
On the other hand lack of rain in raining season is sickness. The absence of what
aught to be is sickness. A lady that has reached the age of marriage and still has no
suitors is sick. Sin is sickness. Absence of love between couple is sickness. Any anti-
scriptural situation is sickness.
But prayer can open the heaven for rain. Noah's obedience broke the fountain of the
deep and opened the windows of heaven. The prayer that can do these is not one
done by a highly spiritual spirit or a being that is not human. It can be done by a
man: for Elijah was a man! Jesus asked the wave of the sea to be calm and it obeyed
Him, Jesus was a man!
Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, with the result that moon and the sun
coexisted. Scientists maintained that a day is missing out of the days since the
creation of the earth. This was traced to Joshua's era. Yet Joshua was a man!
Time and space would fail us to talk about Paul, peter, Philip and many that have
done wonders by simple prayer. It is simple! It is possible! It is accessible! It is for
you and your children children and as many that Jesus will call! Elijah was a man!
"Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are..."(KJ2000)
"Elijah was the same kind of person as we are..."(GOOD NEWS BIBLE)
"Elijah was a man of like experiences and emotions to us..."( JONATHAN MITCHELL)
If it were not so, Jesus and James would have told us! Let no man dispose you
because you are...Let no man despise your gift! You also can pray for rain...abnormal
ity can be changed by your prayer too...For you are also a man.
