Have you ever felt as if you have run out of prayers? Have you ever felt like giving up and throwing in the towel? Have you ever prayed only to find that your prayers seem to fall on deaf ears? If you have, you are not alone.
There is an Old Testament Prophet called Elijah and God had just answered a powerful prayer of vindication for him by fire on Mt. Carmel in front of the prophets of Baal. This was an amazing scene of one of the most prolific answers to a specific prayer in the entire bible.
There was a severe famine in the land and God sent Elijah the only prophet left who was following God. This wasn’t just a famine issue it was a devotion issue and God sent Elijah to address both issues.
Elijah stands boldly before everyone and says” How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God follow him.” Then Elijah challenges everyone to a prayer match! He said, you call on your god and I will call on my God and let’s see who answers!
Elijah asked them to build an alter with a bull and firewood; but said not to light it. He challenged them to pray to Baal to light the fire. They prayed, and prayed but Baal could not answer them. Elijah makes the odds impossible once it is his turn. He builds his altar with 12 stones, a trench, and soaks it with water three times to where to water ran down the alter and filled the trench.
Elijah prayed in 1 Kings 18:37-39 “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, The Lord—He is God! The Lord—He is God!
Ahab tells Jezebel what happened and he makes a vow to kill Elijah. The Bible says, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said.
I don’t know what happened to Elijah but one moment he is filled with faith and prays like a super hero and the next moment he is filled with fear and prays for God to end his misery. A good friend once told me that emotions are like a roulette wheel. You just don’t know which emotion you are going to wake up to.
Have you ever had a “Broom Tree” experience? We all have to some degree and it is called life! One day we are up and the next day we are down. One day we are on the mountaintop and the next day we are in the gutter. If we let our emotions get the best of us then we better like riding roller coasters because that is what our life will be like.
When you run into fear, you can run out of faith. Fear paralyzes you. In a moment we can go from faith to fear and end up under a broom tree with no hope. Billy Graham said, “Doubt is faith in distress, and it is very hard to pray when you are doubting God.
How do you pray “Under The Broom Tree,” when you feel like giving up? How do you pray when it appears that God is silent to your prayers? How do you persevere when you feel like giving up?
If you ever prayed when life is hard, then Encounter this Friday is going to be perfect for you. We are kicking off a prayer series that will transform your life. We are going to learn how to overcome some of the “Broom Tree” experiences of our lives. We are going to learn how to pray, when it appears that God is not hearing us. We are going to learn how to pray when our emotions get the best of us. We are going to learn how to pray when the enemy attacks us. We are going to learn how to pray effectively and powerfully even when life makes no sense.
Join us at Encounter and learn how to be inspired to pray with confidence.
Jeremiah 33:3 Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Be Blessed and Encouraged
Bill Rieser
Encounter Pastor
bill@thehopeencounter.org