1 Kings 17:1

Exactly at the time when the prophet and father of the prophets Elijah appeared, the rebellion of Ahab and his wife Jezebel had increased to such an extent that they not only trampled the law and fear of God underfoot, nor were content to promote the worship of idols, but even persecuted and killed the prophets and the saints.

Faith is a command, and its command ruleth; it prayeth with confidence, and according to its confidence its prayer is straightway perfected into works. There are instances in which faith doth not even offer up prayer and then give a command concerning something; but it speaketh with authority like unto God. And as there is nothing which is able to resist the command of God, so also can nothing resist the command of faith. There are instances in which faith prayeth and in which it revealeth itself in its prayer; and there are instances in which while it prayeth not it giveth the command authoritatively, and it is answered. Elijah did not pray before Ahab and then was heard, but the faith which was in him gave the command authoritatively, and what he commanded immediately stood firm. And his word had more power over all natures and created things than the command of a king concerning the provinces of his dominion. "As the Lord, the mighty One, liveth, before Whom I stand this day, there shall not be rain or dew these three years until I speak." It is not written that he prayed [first], and then spake, but immediately creation heard his word it bowed itself under the nod of his command. All things hearkened unto the command of a mortal man as if it had been the word of God. The clouds were obedient unto him, he called the earth and it answered him, he commanded the air, and it did not appear in its variable forms. All creation became a submissive handmaid before the word of Elijah's faith.

Great is the virtue of fasting. Indeed, its military appearance is so beautiful that it delightfully attracts and elevates humans to heaven for fasting and for Christ: so powerful that it raises men up to heaven. And to use more human than divine examples, from the fasting mouth of Elijah a voice was uttered that closed heaven to the sacrilegious people of the Jews. For when Ahab, the king, had set up an altar to the idol, according to the words of the prophet, there was no rain for three years and six months upon the earth. A fitting punishment which would appropriately restrain intemperance; that the heavens should be closed to the impious, who have defiled the earth. It is fitting also that the prophet of the sacrilegious king should be sent to the widow in Zarephath of Sidon, who, since she preferred devotion to food, deserved not to feel the hardship of the public drought alone. Therefore, the jug of meal did not run out, even when the flow of the river failed. What does his remaining cover? He, while fasting, raised the widow's son from the dead; he, while fasting, caused rains to fall from his mouth; he, while fasting, brought forth fire from heaven; he, while fasting, was carried up to heaven in a chariot; and through a forty-day fast he obtained divine presence. Then at last he deserved more, when he fasted more. By his fasting he made the waters of the Jordan stand still, and the flowing river bed, suddenly dried up, he crossed over with a dusty footprint. By divine decree, he was deemed worthy to be taken up to heaven with his body; for he lived a heavenly life in the flesh and displayed the practice of heavenly conduct on earth.