Teachings
I Kings 17:17-24- 17 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?" 19 And he said to her, "Give me your son." So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord and said, "O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?" 21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, "O Lord my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him." 22 Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, "See, your son lives!" 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth."
Here we see the man of God ,Elijah in a hopeless situation with the dead child of a widow and how he revived the child through his prayer. Prayer can change your seemingly hopeless situations around.
Keys to life-giving prayer:a) I Kings 17:19- Elijah carries the boy to the upper room. The upper room signifies a place of prayer; a place where you have freedom with God; a place where you know the Holy Spirit is on the move .In Acts: 2 we read of how the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples when they were gathered together in the upper room. Daniel 6:10- Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Daniel would go three times daily to the upper room and pray. Even when the King issued a decree that the people were to worship no one else but the king himself, Daniel still continued his habit of praying in the upper room. The first thing to do when you are faced with a hopeless situation is to get into your "upper room" and be alone with God. We read later how Daniel was cast into the lion's den for violating the king's decree, but God keeps him safe. Finally the king himself confesses that the God of Daniel is the true God.
b) I Kings 17:19 - Elijah laid the boy on his own bed. This signifies sacrificial giving. 2Chronicles 7:1- When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. After Solomon's prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. Fire is symbolic of the acceptance of prayer. Where there is a sacrifice, the fire will fall. II Chronicles 3:1- Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Solomon built the temple on Mount Moriah.Mount Moriah was the place where Abraham took his only son Isaac to be sacrificed unto the Lord. Sacrifice is all about giving even when it hurts. When Abraham was willing to sacrifice, he was actually paving the way for God's temple to be built. Similarly, because God the Father was willing to sacrifice His only Son Jesus, the church which is the temple of the Living God came into existence. II Samuel 24:18-24- Mount Moriah was also the place where David said,"...nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing." ,when Ornan the Jebusite, the owner of the threshing floor offered the oxen and the wood for the sacrifice freely to David.
c) I Kings17:19- Elijah carried the widow's son-this is to take someone else's burden as your own. It was the widow's son and not Elijah's. The greatest burden that you carry can become your greatest miracle if you persist in prayer. Only when there is a death can the resurrection power of the Lord be revealed.
d) I Kings 17:21- Elijah stretched himself on the boy three times. It speaks of persistence in prayer. In Luke:18/1- Jesus exhorts us to pray unceasingly and faint not. We may have to persist in prayer to see certain prayers answered. Closed doors do not always mean locked doors.
Luke 11:5-8- And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; 7 and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Though the friend was unwilling to help him at first, the man's persistence made him rise up and give him what he needed. Likewise Jesus is the only true friend Who will help you in your time of need.