Living Hope Fellowship Church

FERVENT PRAYER

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

FERVENT PRAYER

Preface

(fervent, effectual prayer)

          Elijah told Ahab there was a sound of abundance of rain.  That was before the servant saw a cloud as big as a man’s hand!  Elijah prayed, and it rained after three and one half years of no rain or dew.

          Elijah had to send the servant seven times to look at the sky, but finally there was a sign that rain was coming.  It doesn’t matter if you like the road, you have to travel on it to get to your destination!  If you obey God, you will find God’s Word is TRUE! 

          If you are discouraged, remember that Elijah did not accept six of the seven reports from a man he trusted greatly.  God said there was a sound of abundance of rain, so it was going to come to pass.  Isaiah 46:11 says, “. . . yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” 

          James 5:16 says, “. . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

FERVENT PRAYER

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          If you could see the thing you are praying for, you wouldn’t need faith.  2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “. . . my strength is made perfect in weakness. . . .” 

Romans 8:24 says, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” 

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  If I’ve got faith, I’ve got all the substance and the evidence I need.  If you believe God, then you don’t need any more proof.  If you have faith, you’ve got it all. 

James 5:16 says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

God’s Word can’t lie.  If it is written in God’s Book it is TRUE.  It hasn’t passed away, and it hasn’t changed.  In Malachi 3:6 God says, “For I am the LORD, I change not;”

God says, “. . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  Effectual here means according to the Word of God.  Fervent means getting down with it, staying with it, and getting a little loud once in a while!  If you are living according to the Word of God as hard as you can, God guarantees that it will avail much. 

James 5:17-18 says, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

God wrote down in His Word about Elijah, a man who had the audacity to believe that God would shut up heaven just because he prayed hard enough and real enough.  He walked and talked with God here on earth. 

Elijah did not have the blood of Jesus or the power of the Holy Ghost.  God gave the old prophets less, but they did more with it.  The whole world went without rain for three and one half years.  Everybody hated Elijah; he was public enemy number one!  King Ahab even put a hit out on him. 

In 1 Kings 18:30-39 Elijah had just had a standoff with the prophets of Baal in front of all of Israel.  He called fire down out of heaven when the false prophets couldn’t do anything.  Elijah was an effectual fervent pray – er!  It had not rained for three and one half years.  It’s been a lot longer than that since we’ve had great revival! 

Revival is when you heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, and cleanse the leper, not when you have potluck dinner.  Revival is not when you have a man in a three piece suit come from over 100 miles away, who’s automatically an expert, and he preaches.  Revival is when God comes down and visits men and women and children in the house of God and sets afire what is dead!  We need to get the Holy Ghost and fire, and get to shouting, and be joyous and unashamed of our God! 

1 Kings 18:41-42 says, “And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.  So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,”  Elijah went up to the top of Carmel – that is likened to a high place in God, straight into the Spirit. 

1Kings 18:43 says, “And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. . . .”  The servant said there was nothing!  That is like us saying we don’t have any problems.  No devils manifest in this church.  There is no rain falling.  It’s a smooth easy service.  We come in and go out, and we are just fine.

The last of Verse 43 says, “. . . And he said, Go again seven times.”  We don’t know how long it took him to do that, but it took some effort.  Verse 44 says, “And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. . . .”  He meant that literally – it was about 5 to 8 inches wide and oval shaped!  The last part of Verse 44 says, “. . . And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.”  It was fixing to flood!

Verse 45-46 says, “And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.  And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”  Elijah outran Ahab’s horse and chariot. 

Elijah told Ahab there was a sound of abundance of rain!  That was before the servant saw a cloud as big as a man’s hand!  Even if it is only a little bitty handful, look what God can do.  Compare that servant to the modern church.  He was sent to the sea to check for rain coming.  The servant came back and said there was nothing.  We are looking for real revival.  Some people think it’s been dry so long it’s not coming back! 

Elijah believed God no matter what anybody around him said!  He got on the ground, stuck his head between his knees, and his forehead in the dirt until he got an answer from God.  He didn’t get up until he got it. 

It is time we do the same thing, because the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much!  You can have revival if you want it, but you have to get after it NOW.  Elijah told the servant to go seven times.  When he heard the first report, he didn’t get all upset.  He just believed God and continued to pray. 

          The second report came – nothing.  He could have used the Scripture in 2 Corinthians 13:1 that says, “. . .  In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”  There was nothing the second time, so “there is nothing” must be established . . . ?  The third time there was nothing.  It must be established now. . .  There just isn’t any hope.  It hasn’t rained or had dew in so long.  The fourth time, there was nothing.  Some people wouldn’t go back AGAIN! 

          Some people get up in my face and ask why I don’t back off of my preaching.  They don’t believe in holiness, and they don’t want to get real and serve God fully, and quit playing church.  Without holiness, we won’t see God.

          The servant went the fifth and the sixth time.  Then he went one more time.  When Naaman went down for the sixth time in the water, he was just as leprous as he was the first time he went down in the water.  When he came up the seventh time he was clean and his flesh was like a newborn baby. 

It doesn’t matter if you like the road, you have to travel on it to get to your destination!  If you will obey God anyhow, and take away all the flesh, self ambition, self religion, and get real with God, you will find God’s Word is TRUE!  Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

          I don’t care what the devil says.  A lot of devils have told me they weren’t coming out, and to leave them alone, when I am casting them out any way!  No matter what the report is, or how reputable the vessel it comes from, if it does not line up with the Bible, then disregard the report. 

          If you aren’t being fought, then you are no threat to the devil.  The devil’s been fighting me, but he’s been losing, because I am still here.  When people come to God for deliverance, I still cast out devils.  I still heal the sick, and I believe God to do greater works than these!  God is still on the throne!

          We need more men and women of God who have the guts to be fools for Christ.  You will come under reproach, and people will chew on you.  That is normal.  Too many people compromise to get out from under the burden, and the fight, and the hatred that comes against them.  People will dare to stand on judgment day and tell God they left the church because somebody hurt them!  Sometimes God will use someone you don’t respect to tell you the truth. 

          Mark 16:17-18 says, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”  We have seen God work time and time again. 

          Elijah sent that servant again, and the seventh time he came back and said there was a very small cloud in the sky.  It was so little.  The devil says, No big deal!  He says that all of the time.  People think everything is just fine!  The bars are doing a bang up business, and you think everything is fine.  Some of your kids are not saved, and half of the people you see are devil possessed, but you think everything is just fine.  Hospitals are full of sick and dying people.  A lot of people can’t pay their bills, some are bankrupt, and people you’ve known for years are at death’s door.  Yet you are blind and think everything is okay.  EVERYTHING IS NOT FINE.  You need to pray through!

          We need revival.  James 2:18 says, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” 

          Elijah prayed and sought God.  He didn’t care what anybody else said.  All he cared about was what GOD said.  GOD IS THE MAJORITY.  God is the I AM.  He is all and all.  The whole world can come against it, but if God said it, the thing shall come to pass!

          Jesus has to show His bride, the church, to all of heaven when she arrives.  If she went in her present condition, what would she look like?  She has laid down with every famous doctrine, every big time preacher, every big church, every latest move, every crooning, smooth gospel that comes along.  The worldly church’s occupation is comforting sinners and backsliders in their sin, but the true Bride of Christ must be purified.  Get sin under the blood of Jesus.  If you aren’t sure you have sin, you’d better find out.  If you come to God, He will cleanse and deliver you.

          2 Thessalonians 2:12 says, “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”  Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.  He is searching your heart.  If there is anything unclean in you, He knows about it.  Jesus said in Luke 12:2, “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” 

          You can have peace like a river, joy like a fountain, and love like an ocean when you know everything is under the blood.  Persecution is not a popular thing, but it must come to pass.  However, in Acts 20:24 Paul said, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

Elijah had seven reports, and even the last one was pitiful:  there was a cloud as big as a man’s hand.  Before he could tell his servant to get a hold of Ahab, the clouds and the heavens were black!  There was a sound of abundance of rain!  For us that means revival is coming! 

God spoke to Jesus out of heaven in John 12:28-29 - “Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”  Verse 29 says that the people that heard it said it thundered!  There is a sound of revival.  It is thundering.       

Romans 13:11 says, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

The rain came.  You have to do something with the report - revival is coming.  If you are discouraged, remember that Elijah did not accept six of the seven reports from a man he trusted greatly.  God said there was a sound of abundance of rain, so it was going to come to pass.  Isaiah 46:11 says, “. . . yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” 

Isaiah 53:1 says, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”  Let’s believe God who has promised us great revival, and remember that the Lord reveals things to those who will believe! 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghope@hughes.net

www.livinghopefellowshipchurch.org

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.