Dr Paul Allen

The story of Elijah running before Ahab in 1 Kings 18:41–46 is a strange and spectacular portrayal of the power and victory of the one true God over Baal and of the humility and gospel ministry of God’s prophet. Yet if we focus our attention solely on Elijah’s girding up his loins and running the seventeen miles from Mount Carmel to Jezreel by the hand of Yahweh, we will miss Elijah’s running first to God in prayer, and thus we will fail to learn what the “man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17) has to teach us about prayer. Recall that this story takes place immediately on the heels of the contest on Mount Carmel between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Yahweh had proven stunningly that He is the only God of heaven and earth, and in so doing, He had brought repentance to the idolatrous hearts of His rebellious people.  The drought that Israel was suffering as a result of its idolatry could finally end, for that idolatry had been dealt with decisively by the execution of the prop...

Ever been in physical, mental or relationship pain? You pray then wait, but what do you do while you wait? Panic? Worry? Take excessive medication?  Today we meet a lady that had been waiting for relief from her condition for a long, long time. 2 WAYS TO WAIT FOR JESUS SO YOU CAN GIVE GOD GLORY WHEN HELP IS DELAYED 1. PASSIONATELY PURSUE JESUS WHEN YOU NEED HIM In Luke 8:40-48, we see two cases of passionate pursuit… A) THE SYNAGOGUE LEADER  Luke 8:40-42 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. Jesus is swamped in a crowd of fans and somehow a desperate man worms his way through the crowd and collapses at Jesus’ feet. The crowd recognizes Jairus as a ruler of their synagogue. Can you...

There are three reasons why you should pray for things that you want, even though we know God’s sovereign will - may His will be done. 1. God commands us to pray for what we want. He tells us to pray for what we want — provided our wants are shaped by his word. John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish [literally whatever you want], and it will be done for you.” We’re not supposed to try to divine the sovereign will of God, and then simply say, “Do that.” That’s not what prayer is. We do not know ahead of time the sovereign will of God that governs all things. We are supposed to let the word abide in us and shape our wants and our wishes by the revealed will of God, not by the sovereign, all-controlling will of God. The revealed will of God, for example, is 1 Peter 3:11: “Seek peace and pursue it.” Now, I don’t know the way the sovereign will of God may work itself out in my life or your life in any certain situation. It may be crucifixi...

If you are like me, you probably find yourself more consistently confused or failing in prayer than in any other area in the Christian life. Why is that? Talking to the God who chose us, saved us, and sustains us should be the most natural and delightful thing in the world, shouldn’t it? Perhaps it should, but more often than not, it isn’t. www.hopecollege.com We all know we should pray more. The guilt within reminds us. But if we are honest, we neither want to pray more, nor are we really convinced we need to. Why? Perhaps we don’t really understand what prayer is — or we’re prone to forget. Let God Speak First The most important thing to do when it comes to thinking about prayer is to let God speak. Our approach to prayer (and our practice) is often an amalgam of platitudes, folk religion , and basic biblical truths, rather than an exegetically rigorous and theologically rich account of the teaching of the Bible. When we actually look at what the Bible teaches about prayer, i...