In 1 Kings 18:1, we find these words: And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.†God tells Elijah that it is going to rain. Elijah proceeds to pray seven times for it to rain. After the seventh prayer, God sent a drenching rain on the land.
In Revelation 5:8, John records for us: “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.†There are golden bowls in heaven that hold our prayers.
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul wrote, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…†I have known this passage for years but one phrase stood out this week as I was studying…’according to the power that works in us’. If I understand this correctly, all that God is and can do is released as I allow an effectual power to work in me.
In Revelation 16:1 John also writes, Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.†God’s bowls were meant to be poured out….as a release of the contents.