#encourages

by Charles Spurgeon

"Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." - Jeremiah 33:3

God encourages us to pray. They tell us that prayer is a pious exercise which has no influence except upon the mind engaged in it. We know better. Our experience gives the lie a thousand times over to this infidel assertion. Here Jehovah, the living God, distinctly promises to answer the prayer of His servant. Let us call upon Him again and admit no doubt upon the question of His hearing us and answering us. He that made the ear, shall He not hear? He that gave parents a love to their children, will He not listen to the cries of His own sons and daughters!

1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. He told her how Elijah had killed with the sword all the men who spoke for Baal. 2 Then Jezebel sent news to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Elijah was afraid. He got up and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba of Judah, he left his servant there. 4 But he himself traveled for a day into the desert. He came and sat down under a juniper tree. There he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough now, O Lord. Take my life. For I am not better than my fathers.” 5 When he lay down and slept under the juniper tree, an angel touched him. The angel said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 Then Elijah looked and saw by his head a loaf of bread made ready on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him, and said, “Get up and eat. Because this traveling is too hard for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. And he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

9 He came to a cave, and stayed there. The word of the Lord came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 Elijah said, “I have been very careful to serve the Lord, the God of All. For the people of Israel have turned away from Your agreement. They have torn down Your altars and have killed with the sword the men who speak for You. Only I am left, and they want to kill me.”

God Speaks to Elijah

11 So the angel said, “Go and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And the Lord passed by. A strong wind tore through the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind the earth shook. But the Lord was not in the shaking of the earth. 12 After the earth shook, a fire came. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a sound of gentle blowing. 13 When Elijah heard it, he put his coat over his face, and went out and stood at the opening of the hole. Then a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He said, “I have been very careful to serve the Lord, the God of All. For the people of Israel have turned away from Your agreement. They have torn down Your altars. And they have killed with the sword the men who speak for You. Only I am left, and they want to kill me.”

15 The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, set apart Hazael to be the king of Syria. 16 Set apart Nimshi’s son Jehu to be the king of Israel. And set apart Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to speak for God in your place. 17 Jehu will kill the one who gets away from the sword of Hazael. Elisha will kill the one who gets away from the sword of Jehu. 18 But I will leave 7,000 in Israel whose knees have not bowed down in front of Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

God Calls Elisha

Devotional for June 4

“When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don't be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” — Matthew 6:7-8

Insight

Repeating the same words over and over like a magic incantation is no way to ensure that God will hear your prayer. It's not wrong to come to God many times with the same requests—Jesus encourages persistent prayer. But he condemns the shallow repetition of words that are not offered with a sincere heart.

Challenge

We can never pray too much if our prayers are honest and sincere. Before you start to pray, make sure you mean what you say.