Our words are incredibly powerful! We all know that. But today I want to talk about the story that is found in the first part of I Kings 17. The background is this: Almost 60 years earlier, King Solomon died. After that, the kingdom of Israel split into two. The southern kingdom was ruled by a cruel king named Rehoboam. The northern part was ruled by a godless king named Jeroboam. When Jeroboam died, a series of wicked rulers rose to power and wickedness increased with each of them. Finally, Ahab became king and the wickedness reached its peak. While all of this was going on, God was preparing a powerful prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit and who was not afraid to speak out.

In I Kings 17, Elijah shows up and confronts the wicked king Ahab. He tells the king that, “It shall not rain according to my word.” What I find interesting here today is that the text doesn’t say that God told Elijah to do this. So what gave Elijah such faith? How could he be so certain that his words would carry that power? I can think of three reasons that together gave him the power.

First, Elijah had a heart for God. He wasn’t doing this to make a name for himself. In fact, it was very possible that he could have been put to death for confronting the king in that way. But he loved God so much that he was willing to risk death to go in front of Ahab and make this incredible, prophetic prediction. Elijah had a heart for God and God honored that.

Second, Elijah knew the Scriptures. There’s a verse in Deuteronomy 11:16-17 that states if the people turned away from God, the heavens would dry up. And, he knew the story of Joshua where the sun stood still at Joshua’s command. I can’t stress enough how important it is that we, too, get into the word to find out how God works.

Third, God listened to Elijah. The book of James says that Elijah was a man of passions like we are, but he was heard by God. It also says that fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much. The reason that Elijah was so powerful in public was because he was prayerful in private.

If you have a heart for God, learn how God works, and have a consistent and private prayer life, you too will be able to speak to the situations at hand and make a difference. Things will happen around you!