FAITH CAPSULE: Prayer is the key to opening heaven.  

1 Kings 17:1-7, 1 Kings 18:41-46, James 5:13-18

An acclaimed believer does not have a substitute for prayer.
God is a prayer-answering God if His children will take the time to call Him in prayer, just as demonstrated by Jesus. 
How is your prayer life? 
At times, prayer demands simplicity, while at other times, persistency and intensity are what prayers demand. 
However, prayers always need to be effective and consistent. 
The book of James 5:16 encourages all to pray with the hope of getting an answer by declaring, “…the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
Prayer is like a battleground, a place of violent confrontation against spiritual wickedness. 
Jesus said in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” 
Prayer can be the violent weapon in the hand of any believer who desires to take the kingdom of heaven by force. 
Prayer is the delivery room for every believer who wants to receive undeniable proof by the hand of God. 
In these days of spiritual wickedness, as a true acclaimed believer, constant prayer, as in meditating day and night, is the sustenance not to become a victim of evil occurrence.
God has always been in the business of answering prayer just as He was in the beginning. 
He promised in Isaiah 58:9,  “Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am …’” 
God cares and will not look away from His children when they cry unto Him. 
Exodus 3:7-8 testifies, “And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them…” 
God heard their cry, and He moved for their deliverance. 
Can you think of any situation where you have been in bondage as the Israelites were under the Egyptians? 
It is time to cry unto the Lord for your deliverance. 
David said in Psalm 109:4, “…But I give myself to prayer.” 
The disciples stated in Acts 6:2, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 
As a believer, how is your prayer life? 
A prayer-less believer is like a vehicle driving in the dark without the headlights turned on. 
It will only take a moment before a disaster happens.  
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.
Elijah prayed (earnestly) that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:17-18) 
Can you imagine that of Elijah? 
Be encouraged in prayer. 
A church that prays will prevail, while a prayerless church will remain in vain. 

Prayer for today: Ask for the strength that prayer before God becomes your portion.