TURNING PASSION INTO PRAYER

 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.  (James 5:17 NKJV)

When we read that Elijah was a man subject to the same passions as ourselves, we are apt to suppose that we have the clue to the driving force of his life. But Scripture shows that the results of his wonderful career were achieved, not by his passion, but by his prayer! Elijah, though capable of the same fervent earnestness with which we are all endowed, refused to accomplish his life work by the employment of lower energies, but set himself to obtain the results he desired, through prayer. He was a man of like passions like us, but he prayed earnestly. He turned his passion into prayer.

There was no outstanding element of a strong nature of which his was destitute. There was the passion of patriotism, as when he was prepared even to witness the sufferings of his people, if they would bring them back to God; of tenderness, as when he bore the dead body of the child to his room; of righteousness, as when he slew the false prophets; of love for nature, as when he fled into the wilderness to die; of devotion to God's glory, as when he cried, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts." All these passions dwelt strongly within his breast, but if he had relied on them alone, his life work would have faded as the mirage on the glistening sand.

There is a marvelous contamination in intense feeling. The feelings can be so strong that one soul can move others. The brain is able to create waves of thought, and the heart waves of emotion. But we must learn to secure through God results which some try to achieve by the energy of their own nature. Let’s pray more. Let’s seek to be filled with a passionate love to our Lord Jesus, and to the world of men with a love so hot that the most passionate words of St. Bernard or Faber may not seem extravagant. Then let us divert the glowing metal into the mold of prayer which may express itself in an intense silence of intercession, or with strong crying and tears. At least let’s not dare to be lukewarm in the midst of this wonderful universe which is electric with living energy! I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15, 16 NKJV)

PRAYER

Christ Jesus, who baptizes with fire, ignite in our hearts the flame of Your love, that we may not be lukewarm or cold. We would not trust in the force of our emotions, lest they fail us, but in the power of prayer and of Your intercession for us.  In Your name I pray, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #67:
I have brought you close through the blood of Christ. 

Ephesians 2:13 (WEB)
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off
are made near in the blood of Christ.