"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 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" (James 5:16,17).

"And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God
of Israel liveth, before whom 1 stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according
to my word" (1 Kings 17:1).

The verse just quoted from 1 Kings gives us Elijah’s first appearance in public. But the Spirit, in
James, has graciously furnished us with the account of a yet earlier stage in Elijah’s history, and
one full of instruction to us. In 1 Kings, Elijah is introduced in a way which might seem abrupt.
He is presented to us as at once boldly entering upon his sphere of labor with the grand and
solemn announcement of God’s chastening hand upon Israel. But we are not told in this place
anything of the prophet’s previous exercise, of how he came to learn how the Lord would have
him to speak. It is the New Testament writer, James, who lets us into the secret of Elijah’s prayer
to God, before he ever came out in active service before man.

Now, if the Holy Spirit had not informed us about this important fact, by the pen of James, we
should have lacked a very powerful incentive to prayer. But Scripture is divinely perfect, lacking
nothing that it ought to have, and having nothing that it ought to lack. Hence it is that James tells
us of Elijah’s secret moments of prayer and wrestling, when he had, no doubt, mourned over the
lamentable state of things in Israel, and also fortified his spirit for the part he was about to act.

This circumstance in the life of the prophet teaches us a very profitable lesson. We live in a time
of more than usual barrenness and spiritual dearth. The state of the Church may well remind us
of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. We have not merely to cope with evils which have characterized
bygone ages, but also with the matured corruption of a time wherein the varied evils of the present
world have become connected with, and covered by, the cloak of Christian profession.

In such a condition of things, what is the resource of the faithful one? Prayer:patient, persevering
prayer; secret communion with God; deep and real exercise of soul in His presence. Only in His
presence can we arrive at a true estimate of ourselves and things around us, and obtain spiritual
power to act for God among our brethren or toward the world without. Elias was a man of like
passions with us and he found himself in the midst of dark apostasy and widespread alienation of
heart from God. He saw the tide of evil rising around him, and the light of truth fast fading away.
The altar of Baal had displaced the altar of Jehovah and the cries of the priests of Baal had
drowned the sacred songs of the Levites. In a word, the whole thing was one vast mass of ruin
before his view. He felt it; he wept over it; he did more:"He prayed earnestly."

Here was the sure unfailing resource of the grieved prophet. He retreated into the presence of
God, he poured out his spirit there, and wept over the ruin and sorrow of his beloved people. He
was really concerned about the sad condition of things around him, and therefore prayed about

it_prayed as he ought, not coldly, formally, or occasionally, but "earnestly," and perseveringly.

This is a blessed example for us. Never was there a time when fervent prayer was so much needed
in the Church of God as at this moment. The devil seems to be exerting all his malignant power
to crush the spirits and hinder the activities of the people of God; with some, he makes use of their
public engagements; with others, their domestic trials; and with others, personal sorrow and
conflict.

But Elijah was not merely called to pass unscathed, as an individual, through the evil. He was
called to exert an influence upon others; he was called to act for God in a degenerate age; he had
to make an effort to bring his nation back to the God of their fathers. How much more, therefore,
did he need to seek the Lord in private, to gather up spiritual strength in the presence of God,
whereby alone he could not only escape himself, but be made an instrument of blessing to others
also. Elijah felt all this, and therefore "he prayed earnestly that it might not rain."

Thus it was he brought God into the scene, and God did not fail him. "It rained not." God will
never refuse to act when faith addresses Him on the ground of His own glory, and we know it was
simply upon this ground that the prophet addressed Him. It could afford Elijah no pleasure to see
the land turned into a parched and sterile wilderness, or his brethren wasted by famine and all its
attendant horrors. No, it was simply to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, to bring the
nation back to its early faith, to eradicate those principles of error which had taken fast hold of
the minds of the people. For such ends as these did the prophet pray earnestly that it might not
rain, and God hearkened and heard, because the prayer was the offspring of His Spirit in the soul
of His dear servant.

(From "Life and Times of Elijah" in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. 5.)

Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, is introduced to our notice in 2 Chronicles 17. In this chapter we find
God in His grace establishing His servant in the kingdom, and the people of God acknowledging
him therein. Jehoshaphat’s first act was to "strengthen himself against Israel." This is worthy of
notice, for Israel and Israel’s king were ever a snare to the heart of Jehoshaphat in later years of
his reign. But in the beginning of his reign, in the season of his early freshness, he was able to
fortify his kingdom against the power of Israel.

Now, one frequently observes this in the lives of Christians. The evils which in later life prove
their greatest snares are those against which there is the greatest watchfulness at first. Most happy
is it when the spirit of watchfulness increases with our increasing knowledge of the tendencies and
capabilities of our hearts. But this is not always the case. On the contrary, we frequently find
Christians of some years standing indulging in things which at first their consciences would have
shrunk from. This may seem to be the result of leaving behind a legal spirit, but should it not
rather be viewed as the result of leaving behind a tender and sensitive conscience? It would be sad
if the result of enlarged views were a careless spirit or a seared conscience, or if high principles
of truth only tended to render those who were once self-denying and separated, self-indulgent,
careless, and worldly. But it is not so. To grow in the knowledge of truth is to grow in the
knowledge of God, and to grow in the knowledge of God is to grow in practical holiness. The
conscience that can let pass without reproof things from which it would formerly have shrunk is,
we fear, under the hardening influence of the deceitfulness of sin, instead of being under the action
of the truth of God.

(From "Jehoshaphat" in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol.1.)

(Ed. Note. The following is reprinted by permission from INTEREST, Box 294, Wheaton, 111.
It may be that some of our readers will regard this article as overly severe. Perhaps it is in certain
respects. Yet, may each of us search our hearts before the Lord to see if there is anything in this
article which applies to us; and if so, may we seek grace to act upon it.)

Spiritually we are in a shocking condition. The status of many local fellowships is bad news, and
deteriorating by the minute.

We have become materialists to the core. Supposing that gain is godliness, we have degraded
ourselves to the worship of money.

We have become more proud of the number of successful businessmen in our churches than of
the number of men of God. The dollar has become our master. The claims of the business world
have been given more place than the claims of Christ. The corporation counts more with us than
the Church. Our condemnation is found in the words of Samuel Johnson, "The lust of gold,
unfeeling and remorseless, is the last corruption of degenerate man."

We have become a status-seeking people. We sacrifice everything for prestige jobs, prestige
homes and prestige cars. And we have prestige ambitions for our children.

Truth is that in our mad desire to see them successful and comfortable in the world, we are
causing many of them to pass through the fire in this life, and to suffer the pains of hell in the
next.

Too often we are living double lives. Outwardly there is an appearance of piety and respectability.
But in business there are bribery, shady deals, dishonesty and numberless forms of compromise.
And in our personal lives there are coldness, bitterness, strife, gossip, backbiting and impurity.
We are living a lie.

Many of our children . . . have become rebels and apostates. We have lived to see the fruit of our
permissiveness and indulgence. But are we broken before the Lord?

We have become thoroughly worldly, living for the love of passing things. We have been
enraptured victims of the idiot tube, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Most
willingly have we been poured into the mold of the world, its fashions, amusements and ideals.

The sin of prayerlessness has been all too apparent. In our abounding wealth and self-sufficiency,
we have not had any strong inward necessity driving us to prayer. Many of our prayer meetings
need closing down.

And finally there is our pride and impenitence. Rather than admit our low spiritual condition, we
endeavor to hide sin, to sweep it under the carpet where no one can see it. After all, we muse,
time heals all things.

But does it? Are we getting away with it? Or are we reaping the fruit of our backsliding in more
ways than we care to admit?

When will we realize that God is speaking to us through sickness and tragedy? It is true that there
is always a certain amount of sickness, sorrow and accidents. But when they come in unusual
volume, and under most unusual circumstances, we should not be insensible to the fact that the
Lord is trying to get through to us.

There are other results of our departure from God. Many of our children hate their parents, and
wish they were a million miles from home. The heavens are brass above our heads_our canned
prayers never seem to get through. God has punctured our bags with holes; we work and scrimp
and save, but never seem to get off the treadmill. Because we wouldn’t tithe to the Lord, we tithe
to the doctor, the dentist, and the garage mechanic.

We are suffering a famine of the Word of God. The ministry lacks unction. Too often it is a
rehash of the obvious. How seldom in meetings are we conscious that the Spirit of God has spoken
to us in power? We live on a diet of pablum. And don’t put all the blame on the preachers! It is
God’s judgment on us for our sin.

The worship meetings are often dead. Dull, awkward pauses are the fruit of prolonged occupation
with the never-never land of T.V.* The evangelistic meetings are an exercise in futility_fishing
in a bathtub where there are no fish. Years pass without the conversion of one single person.

*Ed. Note. More generally, we would say that the dull, awkward pauses in our worship meetings
are the result of lack of occupation with Christ and the Scriptures, whatever else may occupy us
in their place.

If we cannot see that God is dealing with us in all these judgments, what more can He do to wake
us up? We are like the people in Isaiah 1, beaten from head to foot, yet still too dull, too obtuse
to realize that God is speaking.

"Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters:
they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone
away backward.

"Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more:the whole head is sick, and
the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but
wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores:they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither
mollified with ointment.

"Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire:your land, strangers devour it in your
presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

"And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
as a besieged city" (Isaiah 1:4-8).

We need some prophet, some man of God to lead us to repentance! That is the need of the
hour_TO REPENT_ to break at the foot of the Cross and sob out the confession so hard to come
by, "We have sinned."

We need to repent in our individual lives_to confess and forsake the sins that have brought us into
this place of spiritual barrenness. We need to make right personal feuds and animosities, asking
forgiveness from those we have wronged.

And we need to repent as assemblies of God’s people. Never in the memory of most of us has a
meeting been called for the express purpose of repentance. And seldom in any of our meetings
has confession ever been mentioned. But we need to do it. We desperately need to do it.

The time has come. O for spiritual leadership that will bring us to our knees quickly before we
are consumed by God’s awful wrath! We need to eat the sin offering like Daniel, making the sins
of others our own (Dan. 9:5). We need to lay hold of God’s promise in 2 Chron. 7:14:"If my
people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then will 1 hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land."

We have been a proud people, boasting in our heritage of renowned evangelists and Bible
teachers. We have claimed a special corner on scriptural knowledge and on church order. We
have looked down our theological noses at other believers. Now the Lord has stained our pride.
If we only knew it, our halo is shattered.

There is only one hope! "In returning and rest shall ye be saved" (Isa. 30:15). The way to renewal
and revival is to confess the awful truth about ourselves, to make right the wrongs of the past, to
forsake our sins, and to get desperate with God about a perishing world and a powerless Church.

"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed" (James 1:25).

This law is the law of liberty, because the same Word which reveals what God is and what He
wills has made us partakers by grace of the divine nature; so that not to walk according to that
Word would be not to walk according to our own new nature. Now to walk according to our new
nature_the nature of God_and to be guided by His Word, is true liberty.

The law given on Sinai was the expression in man, written not on the heart but outside man, of
what man’s conduct and heart ought to be according to the will of God. It represses and condemns
all the motions of the natural man, and cannot allow him to have a will, for he ought to do the will
of God. But the natural man does have a will, and therefore the law is bondage to him, a law of
condemnation and death.

Now, God has begotten us by the Word of truth_has given us a new nature. This new nature, as
thus born of God, possesses tastes and desires according to that Word. The Word in its perfection
develops this nature, forms it, enlightens it, and the nature itself has its liberty in following the
Word. Thus it was with Christ; if His liberty could have been taken away (which spiritually was
impossible), it would have been by preventing Him from doing the will of God the Father.

It is the same with the new man in us (which is Christ as life in us) which is created in us
according to God in righteousness and true holiness. The liberty of the new man is liberty to do
the will of God, to imitate God in character, as being His dear child, according as that character
was presented in Christ. The law of liberty is this character as it is revealed in the Word, in which
the new nature finds its joy and satisfaction; even as it drew its existence from the Word which
reveals Him, and from the God who is therein revealed.

(From Synopsis of the Books of the Bible.)

(Ed. Note. As we become exercised about the apathy, the worldliness, and the failure in our
midst, such as has been set forth in the previous article, we must guard against trying to correct
this condition in our own strength. There may be a tendency with some to try to correct things by
making resolutions and setting up rules and forcing themselves and others to abide by such codes.
But this will eventually lead to further failure or at least to a falling short of God’s standard of
holiness (Eph. 4:16), to say nothing of the spirit of pride engendered by such a spirit of legality.

The following article shows us that the power for a holy, godly life comes not from subjection to
a law or set of rules but from allowing Christ practically to live in us and having Him as the object
of our affections.)

"How wonderful is the grace that can take up men and women, mold and shape them, put Christ
into them and bring Christ out in them, and then make them the exhibitors of that blessed Man
whom the world would not have. It makes Christianity a very serious thing."

This full, rich paragraph at once brings to mind Galatians 2:20:"1 am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless 1 live; yet not 1, but Christ liveth in me:and the life which 1 now live in the flesh
1 live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

This is true Christianity:Christ displayed in this world through those who were once His enemies
but are now the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

But by what means does Christ live in us? And why do we not see more of Him among the Lord’s
people? Let us now seek the answers to these questions, for Christianity is a very serious thing
indeed.

The above verse tells us, "1 am crucified with Christ." And the previous verse (19) says, "1
through the law am dead to the law." The "1" here is the old "1":what each of us was in our
unsaved condition. We were rebel sinners condemned by God’s holy law. But Christ was crucified
and was condemned for sin. And now by His death we have died and are made free from the
power of sin. So law no more condemns us because we have died in Christ. The old "1" is
condemned and gone. Now our lives are unto God, because Christ lives in us. This is the
righteousness that comes through grace. But if law produces it, then Christ’s death is empty and
meaningless and grace is frustrated (verse 21). But, thank God, it is not so. Christ lives in us by
faith through grace. Thus is "the righteous requirement of the law" produced in us (Rom. 8:4
JND). It is grace that produces what law requires. Law could not produce its own requirement.
Why? Because it addressed man in the flesh, man in his unsaved condition. And the flesh produces
only sins, nothing else.

Romans 7:4-6 confirms this. There it says we "are dead to the law by the body of Christ." We are
dead men as far as law is concerned; completely outside and above it. This means not only the law
of Moses, but ANY PRINCIPLE OF LAW WHATSOEVER. For we are "married to Him." We
cannot be under law and be married to Christ at the same time. It would be like having two

husbands at one time, which is clearly an impossible situation (Rom. 7:1-3). That would mean two
dominions or loyalties. But we are His and our loyalty should be unto Him and not unto law. It
is what He desires so much from us. Thus we "bring forth fruit unto God." Verse 4 then shows
us the work of the law. "When we were in the flesh, the motions [passions] of sins, which were
by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." In our former unsaved
condition, the law provoked the flesh by its prohibitions, and sins_fruit unto death_was the
result. Even now as Christians, the flesh in us is provoked to sin when the principle of law is
applied. The flesh ALWAYS remains the same. It produces nothing but sins, even in a believer.
And by the same token, the application of law always results in the rebellion of the flesh. So how
thankful we should be that "we are delivered from the law." Again, it is deliverance from the
principle of law, and it is "that we might serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter" (Rom. 7:6). Christ is that Spirit and the principle of law is the letter. "Who also hath made
us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit:for the letter killeth, but
the Spirit giveth life. . . . Now the Lord is that Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:6,17).

It is grace that leads us to possess the ministry of Christ. This is the ministry of His glory which
by far surpasses anything ever given to men. And it is glory in which we now share. "But we all,
looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18 JND). This means that we really
possess Him in our hearts and our minds. The result is a progressive transformation in us which
produces conformity to Christ in our thoughts and ways. This is how we are delivered from the
world, the flesh, and the devil. This is how we find rich, meaningful lives, and it is the secret of
present joy and satisfaction. It is how Christ lives in us. It is the ministry of grace.

Suppose we fail to sufficiently possess this ministry? Or what if we put other things first in our
lives? It is then that we become occupied with ourselves in many ways. We may become occupied
with "our work" for the Lord, which really centers things in ourselves. We would, perhaps, think
of our "duties" to Him, thus becoming "mechanical" in our ways. This could result in our
becoming hard and demanding toward others, and so we would fail in love, tenderness, and
meekness. If these things become true of us, we descend to the level of law, and grace is turned
aside. We have failed to show righteousness, for Christ is not seen in us. The flesh has taken
control.

What is the effect of this upon others? Flesh begets flesh. We judge and get back judgment. We
lose the confidence of those with whom we desire to work. And we prevent the very thing we
want most, which is fruit for God. How? By introducing the principle of law, which stirs the
passions of the flesh into sinful activity. And this is not to be wondered at, for we have not served
in the spirit, but we have served in the letter. There is no righteousness produced, for we have
shown none. And so there is no fruit for God and grace is frustrated. We have brought ourselves
into the bondage of law. "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not
consumed one of another" (Gal. 5:15). What a terrible price must be paid under this bondage!

But "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17). And "brethren, ye have been
called unto liberty" (Gal. 5:13). Oh, what a blessed contrast to bondage! How precious it is to be
free_free from sin, from law, and the world! It is Christ who has set us so completely free. "If

the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). If only every Christian
knew of this liberty and freedom! Oh, let us cherish this; let us jealously guard our precious
heritage. How dearly it has been bought for us. No, there is no law, written or unwritten, for the
Christian today.

But God gives us a perfect balance to all of this. And precious and wonderful it is, too. "Use not
liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). Liberty is not a
license for us to do as we please. This would be lawlessness and not liberty. And God condemns
it, for this would provide for the flesh and not for that selfless service toward others which is the
direction in which God’s love leads. This is true liberty, for it seeks the good of others. It leads
us to teach, to exhort, to encourage, to "bear one another’s burdens," to warn, to admonish, and
to help in whatever other way that is needed for the building up in Christ of God’s people.

Finally, and most important, this liberty leads us to the happy acknowledgment of the Lord’s
gracious claims upon us. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. … He that has My
commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me. … If any one love Me, he will keep My
word" (John 14:15, 21,23 JND). Is the Lord imposing law here? By no means. He knows, by His
own experience, how to live for the glory of the Father. He knows the fulness of life in fellowship
with the Father. In His commands to us, He tells us how to realize the same in our lives. It is by
the principle of grace that He directs us. See how He appeals to our love for Him. It is an appeal
of grace. "Do you love Me? Then follow Me," is what he asks. This is not law. But we must
remember, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Are we occupied with Him
in His love to us? Do we often think of where His love for us led Him, even unto the death of the
cross? Do we think of how He suffered for us then? And do we ponder all the eternal blessings
He has secured for us because He came out of that death in a glorious resurrection? Oh, how we
should love Him! How ready we should be to obey Him! And how sensitive we should be to His
will so that we would love to please Him even without command! It is clear from these verses that
our love of the Lord is measured by our loyalty to Him. Do we refuse Him our loyalty? How can
we withhold anything from Him who loves us without measure?

FRAGMENT
We need to watch against a "grudging service." The enemy is always trying to get in the word
"duty," instead of the word "delight"; he says a stern "you must," instead of a loving "you may."
There is no slavery like the slavery of love, but its chains are sweet. It knows nothing of
"sacrifice," no matter what may be given up. It delights to do the will of the beloved one (Psalm
40:8).