ELIJAH

ELIJAH

“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” (Ja. 513-18)

The purpose of this brief article is to encourage you to pray! Many people have the mistaken idea that we could never have answers to prayer like Elijah did. In reality, Elijah was a human being just like we are. The Bible assures us that if God could answer the prayers of Elijah He can also answer our prayers!

• Therefore, James used Elijah as an example to encourage us to pray! Please consider:
• “Elijah was a human being just as we are”.
• Since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), we know that Elijah was a sinner who had also fallen short of the glory of God.
• For example, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.” (1 Ki. 19:3)
• For example, “He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’” (1 Ki. 19:4)
• For example, Elijah thought he was the only one serving God. He told the Lord: “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Ki. 19:14)
• Elijah was wrong! God told him: “I reserve seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1 Ki. 19:18)
• EVEN THOUGH ELIJAH WAS A MAN JUST AS WE ARE, GOD STILL ANSWERED HIS PRAYERS.
• “He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
• THE POINT IS, IF GOD ANSWERED THE PRAYERS OF A MAN LIKE ELIJAH, HE CAN ANSWER OUR PRAYERS TOO!

GOD CHOOSES ORDINARY PEOPLE

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:26-31)

• When God chose Gideon to deliver Israel from the Midianites “Gideon asked, ‘how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (Jud. 6:15) Further God had Gideon use only 300 men to defeat 135,000 Midianites “In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength had saved her.” (Jud. 7:2)
• God chose Moses and said: “‘I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt.’” (Ex. 3:10-11). “Moses said to the Lord, ‘O Lord, I have never been eloquent neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.’” Forty years before “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. (Acts 7:22) Now, however, Moses had been reduced to nothing! Moses had been a shepherd for 40 years and “All shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.” (Gen. 46:34) It was when Moses was the weakest that God chose to use him!
• Jesus had hundreds of disciples, but only 12 apostles. Jesus chose these 12 apostles after praying all night long. It was therefore not an accident or a mistake that Jesus chose men who were considered “unschooled and ordinary” (Acts 4:13). The one exception was the Apostle Paul who was chosen later. Paul was thoroughly trained by Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) and advanced in Judaism beyond many Jews of his own age (Gal. 1:14). To keep Paul from being conceited, however, God gave him a thorn in the flesh to teach him that God’s power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:7-10).
• As you know, God rejected Saul as king and sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to take his place (1 Sam. 16:1). Jesse chose seven of his sons to pass before Samuel but the Lord did not choose any of them (1 Sam 16:10). Jesse apparently didn’t think his youngest son David was good enough to be king and assigned him to tend the sheep (1 Sam. 16:11). Yet David was the one God chose for “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)
• Jesus Himself was not the kind of man that most people thought would succeed. Isaiah wrote of him: “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” (Is. 53:2-3)
• Yes! God chooses a few like Paul who are “wise by human standards,” “influential,” and of “noble birth.” Even Paul, however, had to put aside his worldly wisdom so that men’s faith would focus on the power of God. After explaining that “not many wise” were called, he explained to the Corinthians: “And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Cor. 2:1-5)
• God did not choose Elijah to be a prophet because of his wisdom, strength, or social position. He chose Elijah because, as an ordinary man, his ministry would bring special glory to God!

BARNABAS AND SAUL

Not everyone is called to serve God in the same way. Here is the way that Barnabas and Saul were set apart to the work of God. “Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” (Acts 13:1- 3)

This, of course, is not the only way people are called to minister for God.

THE CALL OF ELIJAH

The call of Elijah, for example, was private. We know nothing of his background, parents, or how and when he was called. Elijah just suddenly appears to Ahab with this message from God: “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tisbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” (1 Kings 17:1)

We know that Elijah was a true prophet because his prophecy came true. Moses wrote: “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.” (Deut. 18:21-22) In fact, Elijah apparently represented all the prophets of God when he appeared with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration. The story of the transfiguration of Jesus is found three times in the Bible (Matt. 17:1- 13; Mk. 9:2-13; Lk. 9:28-36). After Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16) we are told: “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raise to life.” (Matt. 16:21) Peter rebuked Jesus for saying this.

Here is some background to the Mount of Transfiguration. Six days after announcing his death at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a high mountain and was transfigured before them. His face became like the sun and his clothes became white as light. Then there appeared with him Moses and Elijah and “They spoke about his departure which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” (Lk. 9:31) Among other important lessons that was learned on that mountain is the fact that the death of Jesus was in complete harmony with the Law and the Prophets. The conversation that Jesus had with Moses and Elijah proved it!

The call of Moses is recorded in Exodus chapters 3 and 4, but as we have said, the call of Elijah was private.

The call of Gladys Aylward to be a missionary to China was like that of Elijah.

GLADYS AYLWARD

Gladys Aylward was a very ordinary person born in London on Feb. 24, 1902. She was one of three children born to Thomas John Aylward and Rosina Florence. They were a poor working class family and as a young girl Gladys worked as a housemaid. When she first heard the gospel she gave her heart to Christ and promised God that she would do anything He asked. First, God gave Gladys a passion for the lost. She became obsessed with winning people to Christ. When she realized how many lost people there were in China she spent over a year trying to get someone to go to China and tell them about Jesus. The last person she asked was her brother. He sarcastically said, “Why don’t you go yourself?” Then she promised God: “If you show me the way I will go myself”.

Gladys applied and was accepted for evaluation by the China Inland Mission. After a few months she was having so much difficulty learning the Chinese language that the school rejected as a student and advised her to give up the idea of being a missionary. Gladys, however, felt the call of God on her life and didn’t give up. Then she heard of a 73-year-old missionary in China whose husband had just died. Her name was Jeannie Lawson and she was looking for a younger woman to help her carry on the work. Gladys wrote to Mrs. Lawson and was invited to come to China and help. Without the help of any church or missionary society she began saving her money from her meager income as a maid. Since it only cost half as much to go by land as by sea, Gladys set out from London in Oct. 1930 to travel to China by the Trans-Siberian Railway. She only had her passport, her Bible, two pounds ninepence, and snacks like hard boiled eggs. She was so poor that she was wearing two left shoes because she was able to buy them for only 3 pence. The trip by rail was particularly dangerous at that time because China and the Soviet Union were engaged in an undeclared war. When the train was stopped because of a battle, for example, Gladys walked a day and a half on the railroad tracks to the nearest town. She was surrounded by wolves, and when she arrived at the town she had her passport stolen, and was arrested. Miraculously she overcame all of the difficulties satan put in her way and made it to Vladivostok. Then she sailed to Japan and then to the city of Tientsin in China. The rest of her epic pilgrimage was by train, bus, and ultimately by riding on a mule. At last she arrived at Yangchen where Mrs. Lawson lived.

Yangchen was an overnight stop for mule caravans and these two women set up an inn that provided food and rest for the caravans. It also gave them the opportunity to tell these travelers stories about Jesus. These men remembered the stories and shared them with others as they travelled. Sadly, after only a short time, Mrs. Lawson suffered a severe fall and died a few days later. This left Gladys to run the mission alone. Further, Mrs. Lawson was receiving support as a missionary while Gladys was not. Her need for money, however, was solved when a few weeks later the Mandarin of Yangchen arrived at the inn in a sedan chair, with an impressive entourage. The Chinese government had recently outlawed the practice of “footbinding” and the Mandarin hired Gladys to patrol the district and enforce that decree. She did so with the understanding that she was free to tell everyone about Jesus. Her prayers were being answered!

Her relationship with God was so obvious that during her second year in Yangchen, Gladys was summoned by the Mandarin to stop a bloody riot at a local prison for men. She did! With only Jesus by her side she went into the prison, took an ax from a man who had murdered several prisoners, and restored peace. Then she explained to the Mandarin that to prevent future riots he must provide more food and a sense of meaning and hope for the prisoners. He heeded her advice and allowed the prisoners to raise rabbits as a source of food. Then he gave them worn out looms with which they

could make cloth to sell. Their income was further increased by grinding stones for grain. After this amazing success the Chinese called Gladys "Ai-weh-deh," which means "Virtuous One."

Not long after, she saw a woman offering a child for sale. The little girl was about 5 years old and was badly malnourished and covered by sores. Gladys concluded that this woman was not the mother but had kidnapped the child to make money. The “Virtuous One” purchased the child for only nine pence. This was the first of some 100 orphans she adopted. In 1936 Gladys became a Chinese citizen. She was short, like the Chinese, and dressed and lived like the Chinese whom she loved so deeply.

When the Japanese attacked China in 1938 they offered a reward for anyone who would help them to capture Gladys. Then Gladys fled with her 100 orphans to avoid being killed. Before leaving, however, the Mandarin whom she had helped became a Christian. With the children in tow, she walked for twelve days to the Yellow River. Some nights they found shelter with friendly hosts, but on other nights they slept outside in the mountains. The Yellow River is huge. It is 3,395 miles long and is China’s second longest river. When they had no way to cross the river the children all knelt and prayed. Then they began singing. By the grace of God a Chinese officer heard their song from a distance, and provided them a boat to cross the river. When they arrived safely at at Sian Gladys was delirious and near death with typhus fever. Fortunately medicine from America was there that saved her life. As her health improved she started a Christian church in Sian, and also a settlement for lepers in Szechuan near the borders of Tibet. In 1947 she returned to England for a badly needed operation.

Gladys stayed in England until the death of her parents and then in 1957 went to Hong Kong to work with Chinese refugees. Later that year she went to Taiwan and started the Gladys Aylward Orphanage. Gladys died on January 3, 1970, just a few weeks short of her 68th birthday. She is buried in a small cemetery on the campus of Christ's College in Taiwan.

In 1957, Alan Burgess wrote a book about her, The Small Woman. (Gladys was barely 5 feet tall) This book was condensed in The Reader's Digest, and made into a movie called The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

I am in awe of Gladys Aylward and her selfless and sacrificial service for Christ! God may not be calling us to China, but He is surely calling us to do something! If a man would be an author he’d expect of course to write. And he couldn’t be a soldier if he didn’t want to fight. So it doesn’t make much sense to me, or have a real true ring, that a man can be a Christian and not do anything!

BRUCE OLSON

The calling of Bruce Olson was also private. He was also a very ordinary person born in Minnesota in the United States on Nov. 10, 1941. He was raised in a legalistic church that seemed cold and indifferent to the Gospel so he began a diligent search for genuine Christianity. He studied Greek and Hebrew and began studying the Bible for himself in these original languages. Olson feared the judgment of God and was driven to his knees in repentance. Touched by reports from missionaries Olson felt called of God to minister to Indians in South America. With no Bible College training and no endorsement from a church or missionary society, he went to the bank and withdrew his life’s savings. Then he bought a one way ticket to South America with little more than the clothes upon his back and $70 in his pocket. He was only 19 years old!

Shunned by local missionaries he bought a mule and a few supplies and started out into the jungle alone. His first contact was with the Yuko Indians. He spent a year with them and then ventured deeper into the jungle to convert a vicious tribe known as the Motilones. They shot him with an arrow

and later scheduled his execution. He suffered from dysentery, hepatitis, and parasites but none of these trials convinced him to turn back. When the Motilones tried to say “Bruce Olson” it sounded like “Bruchko”. Bruce’s first book is called “Bruchko” and has sold over 300,000 copies. The Movie Bruchko was released in 2017. As of 2018, more than 70% of the Motilone tribe are Christians. At the age of 80 Olson continues to work in the jungle with 18 different tribes and 18 different languages.

The Motilones accepted him as a member of their tribe and Indian chiefs of 50 different tribes in the area look to him with awe and respect. He has become friends with five different Colombian presidents. He has spoken before the United Nations; and has received numerous educational awards for his translations of the Scriptures into tribal dialects. Christian Life Missions notes: “Bruce’s work continues today. More than 30 professionals have graduated from Colombian universities, among which are physicians, accounts, translators, Bible scholars, forest rangers, agronomists, and more than 400 as technical apprentices and high school graduates. All the students are back among their respective communities sharing the expertise of their newly acquired knowledge.”

D. L. MOODY

(The following information is from “They call him Mister Moody” by Richard Curtis)

D. L. Moody was also an ordinary person converted to Christ April 21 1855. He live in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. He had a very poor education and was selling shoes to make a living. His silent reading was poor and his reading aloud was worse. Samuel Holton said that his public attempts to read sounded like blackbirds chattering. Since there were many words he didn’t know he merely left them out. Many of the words he did know he couldn’t correctly pronounce.

• Moody returned to his home in Northfield and tried to win his six brothers and two sisters to Christ, but he failed. A deacon took him aside and said that he could be a better servant of Christ by keeping still. When he applied for membership in the church he was rejected. The minutes of the church meeting (Item
• 1079) stated that Moody “Saw himself a sinner – hated sin and loved holiness. He had been baptized. He loved the Scriptures. He prayed. He desired to be useful. He was not ashamed to be known as a Christian. He was 18 years old . . . yet they still denied him membership in the church.” He was finally admitted to the church on May 4 1856.
• Two members of the examining committee were appointed to watch over him and teach him the way of the Lord more perfectly. Almost a year later their minutes (Item
• 1131) indicated that he had made some progress. He had maintained his habit of prayer and Bible study. He vowed he would never give up his hope, or love Christ less whether they let him in the church or not. They noted: “His prevailing intention is to give up his will to God”.

That same year he moved to Chicago and joined the Plymouth Congregational Church. They rejected his efforts to serve so he transferred to the First Methodist Church, but he was not accepted there either. Then he wandered into a little mission on North Wells Street. He asked them if he could teach a Sunday School class. They said that had all the teachers they needed but he could use their building if he provided students on his own. On the first Sunday he had 18 barefoot, ragged, and dirty students from the streets of Chicago. Within a year the class had grown to 650. Soon after the class grew to over 1,000.

With no formal training or seminary education Moody launched a campaign to win souls for Christ. In addition to his meetings in America he toured Scotland Ireland, and England. When he visited London Charles Spurgeon invited him to speak. He evangelized back home among the troops

who fought in the Civil War. He frequently drew crowds of from 12,000 to 20,000 people. On January 19, 1876 President Grant and some of his cabinet members attended one of his meetings.

Moody led thousands to Christ but never escaped the stigma of being an unlettered farm boy. The “cultured” were constantly shocked by his brashness and criticism came in from every side. Nothing, however, kept him from preaching Christ. The Philadelphia Press described him as very “unevangelical looking.” Reports criticized him for speaking too rapidly and said that his voice was “unmusical” and even “harsh”. His “highway and hedge” evangelistic methods were also offensive to his sophisticated critics.

Moody preached his final sermon Nov. 16, 1899 in Kansas City, Missouri. He became ill and returned to his home in Northfield where he passed away surrounded by his family December 26, 1899.

GOD CAN GIVE YOU WISOM

James wrote: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” (Ja. 1:5-8)

One young man read in Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer believe you have received it and it will be yours.” Based on this verse he believed that he could fly like a bird. To prove his point he got a ladder and climbed to the top of the highest building in his town. Just before he jumped, however, he looked down on the ground and saw a sparrow fly from the ground and land on a branch in the top of a tree. At that moment God gave him wisdom. If he could truly fly like a bird he didn’t need a ladder, he could take off from the ground.

When we read the inspiring stores of Elijah, Gladys Aylward, Bruce Olson, and others, there is the danger that the devil will deceive us into attempting to do something irrational that God has not called us to do. We should never do anything that God doesn’t want us to do and this is especially true of something dangerous!

JESUS ALSO TAUGHT US TO PRAY

Not only did James teach us to pray, but Jesus also taught us many times to pray. The parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge is just one example. The Bible explains: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Lk. 18:1)

There are also many examples in the Bible of people who had their prayers answered:

• God answered the prayers of Job, but he was the greatest man among all the people of the east (Job 1:3).
• God answered the prayers of Solomon, but he was a king (1 Ki. 3:6-15).
• God answered the prayers of Esther, but she was a queen (Esther 4:5-16).
• God answered the prayers of Samson, but he was the strongest man who ever lived (Judges 15:18-19).
• God answered the prayers of Paul but he was an apostle of Christ (Gal. 1:1).

WHY DID JAMES USE ELIJAH TO TEACH US TO PRAY?

The answer is obvious! Elijah was an ordinary man just like we are!

So - “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”