Francis Chan on Praying Boldly

"If I was on a desert island reading the Scriptures, what would I believe about prayer, and how would that change my church? Think about the change that happened the day Elijah prayed in front of the 450 prophets of Baal. He tells them, “My God is going to take you down.” They’re dancing all day long and screaming out, and at the end of the day, Elijah gets on his knees and prays, “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I know you’re there.” And fire comes down! These prophets see this, and they just keep saying, “The Lord, He is God. He is the real God!” They didn’t walk away that day, commenting, “That Elijah, he’s so funny, and he gave such a great message.”

When was the last time people left your services saying, “OK, your Jesus—He’s the real one. Give me that Spirit. I want whatever you have!” My fear is that sometimes we may sound like the prophets of Baal more than we resemble Elijah. The prophets had a great worship time that day. They sang and clapped and yelled. But the Bible says that when they were done, no one answered and no one listened.

Or do our worship services look more like what Elijah did when he got on his knees and boldly prayed and fire came down from heaven? It wasn’t just a bunch of people rallying themselves and getting fired up.

One of my favorite verses is James 5:17: “Elijah was a man, just like us.” But Elijah prayed, the Bible says, earnestly. He didn’t even pray that long. He just laid it out and quietly said, “God, show them who you are.”

We desperately need the boldness of Elijah. I want that. I’m tired of just creating hype. We need to be planting and raising up churches that trust, act and pray boldly—where people walk away saying, “The Lord, He is God!"

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