James 5:17

 One of my favourite bible verses is this little one in James

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 yielded its crops.… ( James 5 v17)  

It refers back to the time in 1 Kings 17 when Elijah was having a set-to with king Ahab.  Elijah declares a drought and a drought duly happens.  It is interesting that James tells us Elijah prayed earnestly, but the account in Kings 17 seems to indicate that Elijah just made a declaration and the heavens shut up shop.  Probably both are right - the declaration came after the earnest prayer.  And the prayer was doubtless ongoing over the years of the drought until such time as God told Elijah it was time for the rains to come.

Why am I thinking about this today?

Well, yesterday was a day of prayer and fasting for Ukraine and all day I kept thinking that the only thing I really wanted to pray was that God would send snow.    I had that image in my head of all those tanks and trucks lined up for miles on the approach roads to Kiev and I thought that one thing which could stop their advance would be a freak weather event.  Snow seems more likely in that part of the world than a hurricane or an earthquake - but whatever it takes Lord!   So there I was praying that in coming days Ukraine will see unprecedented amounts of snow and my mind went to Elijah and his ability to pray the weather into being. ( or not being, in his case) 

The verse in James tells us that Elijah was just an ordinary person like me.  Like you.  Nobody special, just a man with access to God who listened, and had faith as small as a grain of mustard to address global weather systems and institute a three year drought 😊   I don't know about you, but I think Id quite like to have faith and a prayer life like that!   The thing is, we dont know if we've got the ability if we never try it out.   So I've tried it out in the past.   I have prayed for the weather and addressed the clouds.

Most notably a few years ago I was part of a charity fun day which had taken weeks to organise and which was largely based outside.  The forecast was for rain.  In the morning the rain started and everyone looked rather glum knowing that nobody much would turn out to the event if the weather was grim.   I remembered Elijah, and decided to go out and have a talk to the sky.  I told a co-worker what I was going to do and she looked at me as though I was just slightly deranged.   Twenty minutes after I had told the clouds to go away, the rain to stop and the sun to shine on our event the smallest patch of blue sky appeared.  My friend laughed and stopped everyone in their preparations to give thanks for the change in the weather.   The afternoon went off with barely a drop of rain and the minute we had packed up to go home the rain started again. 😊   Of course I live in Northern Ireland where the weather is notoriously capricious and it might all just have been coincidence.  Im sure Ive prayed for the weather on countless other occasions and nothing has happened at all.  But that day sticks out in my mind as being a direct answer to prayer.  And not only to prayer but to me exercising authority over the airspace over our little event.  In 2019 millions of us prayed for rain in Australia to end the horrendous wildfires - and the rains came in what the news reporters described as a miracle.    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-51409551   

As global warming sends our weather patterns haywire perhaps we will increasingly need to have faith to pray for the weather.   Rev 11 6 talks about the two witnesses who, in the end times will   'have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying;'

   The book of Revelation is a mystery , but it does seem to indicate that as this world comes to an end the ability to speak to weather systems will be manifest in the church.   So perhaps we should get practicing now. 😊  or at least considering the possibility.

In the meantime Im going to keep praying for a snowstorm over the Russian convoys.

Lord, thank you that the mighty men of the Bible were just people like us. They were living under the old covenant and didn't have the benefit of the indwelling ongoing presence of your Holy Spirit.  Yet still they were able to do mighty exploits for You.   I want to do mighty exploits for You too.  I open myself to the possibility that even today You might choose to do a miracle through me.  Keep me alert to the opportunities You afford me and give me courage to pray boldly, act decisively and love outrageously.  Amen