Should you be committed, I mean are you committed
A reflection on prayer life and how deeply we are committed to the relationship

I was thinking the other day about Elijah and how effective his prayer life was. As I scoured 1 Kings for the subtle details a very specific point became clear to me.

Reflecting on Elijah’s prayer life.
Starting 1 Kings 18:29-32, you will see a commitment of time energy and thought. Check it out with me.

“29 They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.

30 Then Elijah called to the people, “Come over here!” They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. 31 He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, 32 and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord.”

Did you catch it? First, Elijah allowed the false prophets to jump, scream and make fools of themselves until the established evening worship time. Next he prepared by rebuilding the alter that had been destroyed. Not just fixing it, but rebuilding it according to God’s instruction. In Exodus 20:25 it clearly spells out the need to use only uncut, natural stones. That shows his willingness to even conform to the desires of the Lord. This shows his commitment to the study of God’s word and longing to be in His will.

What I find most interesting is this. The chapter continues with the gathering of the wood for the sacrifice, the preparing of the sacrifice, digging a ditch around the alter and then pouring water all over everything until it was soaked to the point that the ditch dug around the alter was also filled. All of this would have taken some time to accomplish. Now read with me in verse 36 “At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed”. Do you see it! Elijah had to prepare for his evening worship (sacrifice).

So what I am seeing is this. Elijah, just as each of us should do, took the necessary time to prepare for worship. He did not run around crazy in the last few minutes of the day trying to cram 60 minutes of work into 15 minutes of available space.

He thought it all through, not sacrificing or cutting corners. I believe if we would step back and reevaluate our lives we would see a tendency of doing the: stop, drop and roll. Rather than the; reflect, prepare and worship method of Elijah’s.

Here is our challenge today.
1. Set aside a specific time for you to spend with the Lord, daily. And keep your appointment!
2. Spend the necessary time preparing for your prayer time. This will help reduce the outside disturbances and wandering thoughts.
3. Open your eyes as well as your heart. We need to realize that He is not the God of leftover.
4. Understand that a relationship only works when both parties are committed and involved.

Do we not expect people to keep their appointment with us? Heaven help them if they forget and leave us hanging in the wind. Right, lets at least be honest with ourselves. We would let the person have it with both barrels; after all you’re a person and deserve the respect. What makes us think God deserves any less?