After three years of famine, God sent Elijah to tell Ahab it was going to rain. Elijah said to Ahab ‘there is a sound of abundance of rain’; even tough at that moment there was nothing visible in the sky that would indicate rain was about to come. Elijah went to the top of Mount Carmel and prayed. Elijah sent his servant to run back and forth several times to see if it was starting to rain. Seven times his servant came back with a negative report, but Elijah continued praying. Despite the repeated negative reports, Elijah never gave up. Finally, his servant came after the 7th time and reported with good news; “I can see a cloud as small as a man’s hand”. Elijah then sent his servant to tell Ahab to hurry home because it’s beginning to rain (1 Kings 18:41-44). Even though it was God who sent Elijah with the word to Ahab, Elijah did not just sit down and say to the people to just wait for the rain; instead he lifted up the petition before God and persisted on the matter in prayer until God answered his petition. We should be encouraged like Elijah did; never to give up our petition before God until we see it answered. We shouldn’t allow Satan to put doubt in our minds to discourage us about the length of time we’ve been waiting for our petition to be answered. God has His own way of doing things, and He will answer our petition in His own timing if we do not lose hope. Don’t give up and don’t get tired, and in due time you will receive good news. Be strong in the Lord.