What I want to share with you today and probably the very thing that has impacted my life,

the very verse upon which my call to the ministry, my whole outlook and life is built.

And from that verse, it takes me to a life of a person, and that life of that individual,

and the scripture has literally been a guide to me, other than, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ

himself.

And here's the verse that really began to impact my life.

It's in James, Chapter 5, verses 16 and 17. And here's what James, the brother of the Lord Jesus

Christ said. He said, Elijah was a man like unto us, but he prayed for the rain to stop,

and it stopped raining. And he prayed for rain to come down and it came down. And I've often

asked myself when I began to find this verse to literally internalize it deep into my heart

and I would read it and I would read it over and over and over again.

I would ask people, you know, what does James mean by this?

That Elijah was just man like unto us, but he prayed for it not to rain, it did not rain.

And then he prayed for it, and it rained.

I always got two reactions.

I got one reaction that says, well, God doesn't answer prayer like this anymore.

The second reaction is he only answered prayers of super spiritual people. And I kept saying,

but James said he was a man like unto us. There's got to be a reason why he said he was just a man like unto us. There's got to be a reason why he said he was just a man like unto us.

There's got to be a reason why he was getting us to identify with him.

And I basically came to the conclusion that both reactions are wrong

because the problem with most of us is that we just don't take the time to find out why and how and when

does God answer prayers like that. He was a man like unto us, period. It's very important.

...