TRANSFIGURATION PRAYER: Where Heaven Meets Here | Elijah Teaches Us to BELIEVE in Prayer | Convo #3

What if the loudest moment of faith isn’t when fire falls, but when we quietly choose to believe before anything happens?

In this episode of Transfiguration Prayer: Where Heaven Meets Here, Tosha Williams leads us to look at the prophet Elijah’s journey from Mount Carmel to the Mount of Transfiguration and discover how his hidden life with God produced public courage that turned hearts back. Elijah’s story teaches us that faith grows in the asking and strengthens in the believing, especially when our prayers aim for God’s glory rather than our own wins.

Step by step, we trace Elijah’s believing prayers: oil that never ran out, a child raised, a nation called back. Each miracle points to Jesus’ words in Mark 11:24:  “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, BELIEVE that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Together we will look at Elijah's example and consider how to live that kind of faith today. We want to guard against name-it-claim-it shortcuts while still taking Jesus at His Word and letting expectancy shape how we ask. Along the way, we talk about how private communion fuels public courage, how panic gives way to peace in God’s presence, and how steady trust becomes contagious faith that others can see and follow.

From there, we lift our eyes beyond the prophet to Christ. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father says, “Listen to Him,” redirecting our focus to the One who fulfills everything Mount Carmel foreshadowed. Jesus doesn’t just call down fire; He becomes the sacrifice that bridges the gap and turns hearts back for good.

That’s why devotion-driven discipleship matters. When our Seek Him becomes our Speak Him, legacy takes root. Children, friends, and neighbors learn to believe God for more because they see it in us.

Ready to step into expectant prayer and a bolder, brighter faith? Spend some time in the accompanying devotion-driven discipleship guide, and spend time with God about what He wants to say to YOU through the prophet Elijah's example. The guide can be found at Elijah Teaches Us to Believe in Prayer.

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations  along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media. 

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Transcript

Faith Before Fire

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Just this morning, I was reading First and Second Kings, specifically looking at the story of the Old Testament prophet named Elijah. Now, when we think of Elijah, we tend to picture the prophet who called down fire from heaven, the prophet of power, of miracles. But before there was fire, there was faith in Elijah's life. Elijah's relationship with God definitely included some really dramatic moments. But his relationship with God was built on daily trust. Elijah believed God completely, day after day, prayer after prayer, and that steady belief became the foundation of every miracle that followed. Elijah teaches us what it looks like to believe, to pray, not just hoping that God might move, but believing that He will. And that's what this conversation is all about. Welcome to the Family Disciple Me Ministry. My name is Tasha, and I'm your guide through this conversation collection that we're calling Transfiguration Prayer, where heaven meets here. In our last episode, we talked specifically about Moses' example that compels us to intercede. Well, today we're going to talk about Elijah's example that challenges us to believe. Now, Elijah lived during one of Israel's darkest seasons. Idolatry was rampant, truth was ignored, faith had nearly vanished. Kind of sounds like our culture today. I digress. But Elijah believed that God was still in control in the midst of that. So listen to what happened. Elijah prayed and the rain stopped. Elijah prayed. And a widow's flower and oil never ran out. Elijah prayed and a dead child lived again. Elijah prayed. All these things happened because Elijah had faith and believed God for more. Every single one of those moments flowed from that single conviction that God can still do more. So when we see Elijah on Mount Carmel, there we are on another mountain. That belief reached, shall we say, its high point, up there, surrounded by scores, hundreds of false prophets, Elijah rebuilt the altar of the Lord. He drenched the sacrifice in water. And he prayed, Answer me, Lord, answer me. So these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. Instantly, as he prayed that, the fire fell from heaven, and the people fell face down, crying out, get this, crying out, the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. That's first Kings chapter 18, 39. That's what believing prayer looks like. Faith that expects God to act, and that well demands a response from others. And that is the same kind of prayer that Jesus described when he said, Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. That's Mark 11, 24. Now, lest we get concerned that this is name it or claim it, let's first remember that this is what Jesus taught. He wants us to be the kind of prayers that believe. And then later on, Jesus brother James, he reiterated this compelling us to believe when we pray. And he upheld the story of Elijah as an example for fervent believing prayer. In fact, James wrote this Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. So all of this makes me wonder what would happen if we prayed more like Elijah, believing the way that God tells us to believe in prayer. Here's the thing. Before Elijah ever stood before the people, he had already learned to stand before God. His public courage in prayer, it came from private communion. You see, each of those miraculous moments that we just listened to, that we just named, those weren't random acts of power, random acts of prayer, random answers to prayer. These were the natural overflows of Elijah's relationship with God. He didn't pray with panic, he prayed with peace. He didn't question whether God could. He prayed confident that God would. That's what I believe it means to believe in prayer. That's what it means to seek him. It's not about the miracle, it's about pursuing the miracle maker. So let me ask you this. Do you really believe that God wants to first reveal more of himself to you? Have you stopped believing God for more? Have you stopped asking him for the miraculous? What would it look like for you and for me if we started to believe just a little bit more, once again, that God can do the extraordinary? Because faith grows in the asking, and faith grows more confident in the believing. So we seek him, not for signs, but for more of his spirit, because the more that we believe in him personally, the more he will work through us powerfully. Thing is, Elijah didn't call down fire from heaven just for himself, so that he could look like an amazing prayer warrior or a super spiritual prophet, a great religious somebody. No. Scripture says that Elijah specifically called down fire so that others would know that the Lord is God. Elijah's belief became contagious faith that turned other hearts back to God. And thing is, as he did that, others were watching. And there was someone in particular, a young man named Elisha, who was watching from a distance, walking beside him, learning from him, observing those prayers, those acts of extraordinary belief and faith. And Elisha saw Elijah's life and he said, Basically, I want more of that. I want more of God. So when Elijah's time on earth came to an end, Elisha cried out, Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit. He didn't want Elijah's fame or his success. Elisha wanted Elijah's faith. He wanted more of God. That, my friend, is what devotion-driven discipleship is all about. It's one life that's so filled with belief and faith in God that it stirs another person to desire more of God as well. You see, in this, our faith, it should be that visible. Our prayer life, our confidence in God, our steady devotion, the way we call on God, it should make others hungry to know him more as well. When our personal seek him becomes our speak him, generations are impacted. That's where our spiritual legacy begins. Here's the thing, though. As powerful as Elijah's story is, we want to look beyond the prophet to the person of Jesus. Because that's what God told the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, to do on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is my son whom I love. Listen to him. You see, Elijah's fire on Mount Carmel, it points us to the greater revelation that we find in Christ. Because Jesus, he didn't just call down fire, he became, this is so profound. He became the sacrifice that consumed sin itself. Jesus didn't just rebuild the altar, he restored the bridge between God and humanity when he laid down on the altar. Jesus didn't just turn hearts back to God, he was the one who gave his life to make that possible. You see, Elijah believed God for more, but friend, Jesus is the more. Every example of faith that we see in Scripture and here in our lives as we look around, every example of faith in the desert, in the valley, by the lakes, by the oceans, wherever we are, on the mountaintops, every example of faith, starting with Moses and Elijah, should send us right on back up the mountain to see Jesus, to spend time with him, and to personally believe him for that more. Oh, friend, there's so much more that can be said about the story of Elijah. I have not time here to tell you all the things that I noted in his story as I read it this morning. But today, as you head into your own mountain moments with the Lord, I encourage you to spend time with God today and specifically consider the example of Elijah. What is it that God wants to show you through his story? What is it that God wants to speak to you through the theme verse in this episode? I challenge you to take some time in the devotion-driven discipleship guide that goes along with this conversation. Whether that's five minutes or 15 minutes, just contemplating along the way or really diving in deeply, don't let today pass without seeking the Lord about what he wants to teach you about prayer that believes him for more. And then as you seek him, let that turnaround and become speak him in your life. Just like Elijah had an Elisha, you have someone in your life that's watching you, guaranteed. It may be a preschooler, it may be an elementary child or a young teenager or an older teenager or a young adult or a friend or another family member or a neighbor. I don't know who it is in your life. I know who it is in my life. And thing is, as we pray and as we live believing God for more, there are those who come behind us who are learning how to believe God for more in even greater ways so that they do even greater things than we've ever experienced with God. I don't know about you, but if that happens in my story, then I am quite content with that. I would love it if that happens. So, friend, go on back up that mountain. Let's each spend some time with Jesus. Let's seek him and then let's speak him. Let's believe God for more and pray believing God for more today. Because the God who answered Elijah in such amazing ways is still answering those who believe. So go with him. Spend some time with him now. Be encouraged, friend. I'll see you back here in the next episode.