Ordinary Audacious Prayer

I've been reading Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick.  Honestly, the book hasn't rocked my world, but there have been definite worthwhile parts.  I've got one to share tonight.

First, I have to explain that he refers to "juggernauts," by which he means "a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path."  Ok.  Now you're ready for the excerpt:

"[The great prayers of the Bible are] recorded in Scripture to set an all-time prayer standard for us.  To force us out of our defensive prayer posture.  To inspire us to rise up and begin to pray... like juggernauts.

Juggernauts like Moses, who stood in God's way and prayed that God wouldn't kill the Israelites after they worshiped the golden calf.

Juggernauts like the apostles, who asked for and expected miracles, and who spoke out boldly in the face of persecution so that the name of Jesus could be lifted high.

Juggernauts like Elijah, whose prayer both caused and ended a three-and-a-half-year drought.

You may push back on this, but I suggest that the prayers of these people are not abnormal.  They are not the exception.  At least they were never meant to be.  The tragedy of our time is that we have taken what was meant to be ordinary and made it exceptional.  We've put audacity on the highest shelf, out of reach, and declared it off limits.  James 5:17 makes the eye-opening statement:

Elijah was a man just like us.  He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

It's too bad that most of us focus on the second part of this verse.  We're stunned by the superior power of Elijah's prayer life.  We'd love to have an ounce of his power flowing in our prayer lives.  But we don't have to wish.  That's the whole point of this passage.  We are just like Elijah....

Think about it.  Elijah had access to an all-powerful God who could stop the rain.  We have access to an all-powerful God who can stop the rain....  The only difference is that Elijah... had the audacity to pray prayers that lived up to God's character, God's heart, God's resources, God's will, and God's abilities."