1 Kings 17:21-22 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
The widow had taken Elijah in and miraculously fed him, but while he was there her son took sick and apparently died. Elijah responded to this crisis by crying unto the Lord. That he stretched himself upon the child might imply artificial respiration, but actually it was God who responded to the urgent prayer of the man of God and revived the boy.
Crying out to the Lord is a useful description of urgent, even desperate, pleas to God for help in time of need. Urgency and pleading does not move God any more than a simple prayer of faith, but it expresses the feelings of the one who is praying. The need is great and the circumstances dire, but the Lord is there to help in time of need, and He hears ours prayers for the sake of Jesus. “The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words [Romans 8:26].” The Lord knows what we need even before we ask him, and the Spirit in us articulates the need and turns it into prayer before the Father. Prayer joins Almighty God to the present circumstance, and He revives.