Every human being is a combination of strength and weaknesses and of successes and failures. This is what the Bible alludes to when it refers to Elijah as a man like us : “Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!” (James 5:17 NLT). This is the Amplified version’s rendering of the verse : “Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months.” (James 5:17 AMP). That Elijah was “as human as we are”, and “a human being with a nature such as we have”, as both translations above describe him, indicate that there was nothing intrinsically extraordinary about his humanity as to account, satisfactorily, for the supernatural feats he performed. Elijah was just as much a combination of strength and of weaknesses as any of us is today. However, that fact did not deter him from being a vessel of honour to God. Neither should it deter us. 
    It is important for us to know the foregoing, since we have a tendency to view certain biblical characters as a special breed of human beings. I believe this is one of the reasons why biblical accounts of such men and women include (in most cases) their shortcomings and human frailties. Their extraordinary and supernatural experiences have been recorded to spotlight what God is capable of doing with ordinary and natural people, who let Him add His ‘extra’ and ‘super’ to their lives. Hopefully, we will as a result of this knowledge, yield to the HolySpirit. That God does not want us to idealize such men and women is implied in the following biblical text : “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” (Heb 12:1 NLT). The “huge crowd of witnesses” refers to men and women of faith who have exited the earth, and now live in the vast unseen realm. The Bible underscores our common human heritage, by pointing out their life of faith on earth. They lived by faith, just as God expects us to live. 
    Consequently, Hebrews chapter 13:7 (NIV) admonishes us : “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” God would never tell us to consider the outcome of their way of life, if we had nothing in common with them. Note that it is the OUTCOME (result, fruit) of how they LIVED that we are to consider. God is interested in fruitfulness that is produced by how we live from day to day. How those men and women lived day in day out reflected their faith. It is how you live and not just what you profess (as important as that is)  that demonstrates your faith. God commands us to imitate their faith because their way of life which produced the desired outcome was born and sustained by THEIR FAITH. It is significant that it was neither their strengths nor their weaknesses that impressed God, but their faith. Elijah is a case in point. 
   How did Elijah attain such an enviable spiritual stature, as we have seen above, if it were not the result of a special quality inherent in his humanity? The verse of scripture  immediately before our main text reveals it to us : “…The effective, fervent prayer of a RIGHTEOUS man avails much.” (James 5:16) (emphasis mine). The first thing we see from the text above is that righteousness serves as the basis of access to God, and intimacy with Him. Elijah was a righteous man because he had a right standing with God. We have an even better standing with God than Elijah had, because, everyone who is born again is righteous, for he or she has a filial relationship with God. Righteousness is first who we are, before it is what we do—our actions come, naturally, from our identity. Until  our “being” is satisfactory to God, our “doing” will not impress Him.The Bible says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10). Therefore, our desire and willingness to do righteousness is as a result of our being His workmanship, having been created (“recreated” in The Amplified version) in Christ Jesus. Our identity of righteousness trumps all our strengths and weaknesses, as far as God is concerned.
    However, like Elijah, our being right with God should draw us consistently into communion with Him, because, “… The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. …” (James 5:16). The Amplified version reads, “…The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” Elijah took advantage of his being right with God to influence the course of history through prayer. The tremendous and dynamic power of God which his prayer made available was the secret behind Elijah’s exploits. No wonder Jesus said, “… men always ought to pray and not lose heart,” (Lk 18:1). If men do not pray, they will faint and fail to fulfil God’s purpose for their lives, irrespective of how strong or how weak they are naturally. Until our humanity expresses God’s power, as we humbly demonstrate our faith in Him through earnest  (heartfelt, continued) prayer we cannot overthrow and replace Satan’s kingdom with God’s kingdom in our sphere of influence. It is not so much what we can do for God as what He can do through us that counts. Shalom.