Power Prayer - Elijah

This is our Sunday teaching from Senior Pastor, Tom Thompson. Recorded live at our service in Harris Academy Purley, Croydon on Sunday 31st August, 2025. Below you can find the full talk audio, and a summary article.

Want to lead a Connect Group session on this teaching? The notes are here!

Get Yourself on the Mountain: Elijah, Encounter, and the God Who Passes By

Elijah’s story bursts into Israel’s history at a time when the nation had drifted from its glory days. Leadership was fractured, people were listening to many competing voices, and Baal—the so-called god of prosperity—was drawing their devotion. Elijah stood as a lone prophet declaring: life and fruitfulness are found in God alone.

He warned that chasing false gods leads to drought—not just in the land, but in the soul. And sure enough, Israel experienced three years without rain. Yet rather than repent, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel blamed Elijah, hunting him down instead of humbling themselves before God.

Many of us know that moment in life: God is shaking our circumstances, calling us to change, but instead of repentance, it’s easier to point the finger elsewhere.

The Mountaintop Showdown

In a famous confrontation on Mount Carmel, Elijah proved decisively that the Lord—not Baal—is the true giver of life. Fire fell from heaven, the people were stunned, and victory seemed secure. Yet immediately afterwards, Elijah plunged into despair. Exhausted, hunted, and hopeless, he prayed that he might die.

That sudden crash after a spiritual high is familiar too. Great victories can be followed by deep valleys. In his kindness, God gave Elijah food, rest, and strength for the journey—but then He called him to something deeper: a fresh encounter.

Encounter Over Everything

Elijah travelled to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, where he cried out in loneliness and weariness. God’s answer was not a holiday, not more zeal, not even simply more Scripture. Instead, God told him: “Stand on the mountain, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then came the famous moment: wind, earthquake, and fire—but God was not in them. Finally, came a gentle whisper—an encounter so personal and profound that Elijah covered his face in awe.

Here lies the lesson: we don’t just need provision, knowledge, or even past experiences of God. We need fresh encounter with His living presence. That’s what truly shifts the heart, restores the weary, and sets us back on mission.

From Encounter to Activation

Interestingly, after the whisper came a recommissioning. God sent Elijah back with new instructions and new people to anoint—including Elisha, who would carry the mantle forward. Out of encounter comes activation. Encounter fills our “bucket” with oil so that we can pour into others—our children, our friends, those God highlights to us.

This is parenting, leadership, discipleship: receive God’s presence, then pass it on. Throw your cloak around the next generation. Invest in them. Raise them up.

Our Invitation

So, what about us? Maybe you’re tired, discouraged, or weighed down by family pressures, financial stress, or private shame. The word of the Lord to Elijah is the same to us: “Get yourself on the mountain—the Lord is about to pass by.”

Encounter may not look the same each time—it may come in silence, in worship, in prayer, in the beauty of creation—but it will always re-centre us on the God who is alive, present, and calling us to be part of His mission.

Let’s be a people who seek encounter with God, and then out of that, anoint others to step into all He has for them.