In these challenging days, it is essential that we not only hear the voice of the Lord, but we understand and obey. Often if we are not hearing God speak, it’s because we haven’t done what He asked us to do the last time He spoke to us.
The story of Samuel arriving at the Temple is a classic example found in 1 Samuel 2. Eli the Priest preferred his sons Hophni and Phinehas, and pampered to their unrighteous behaviour, instead of ministering to the Lord. Eli and his sons were destroyed, and instead, God raised up Samuel who loved the Lord and paid close attention when He spoke.
Like Samuel, Elijah knew how important it was to listen and obey God. When he did, God moved in power with a demonstration of miracles, signs, and wonders. Accordingly, God used Elijah mightily to shift the spiritual atmosphere everywhere he went. God wants to use each one of us in the same way and so, it’s important we understand Elijah’s story.
In 1 Kings 18 Elijah challenged the nation, asking why the people wavered between two opinions claiming to worship God but worshipping many false gods. Shocking isn’t it! Yet so often we live like that too…
In these days especially, God is calling us to live holy lives set apart for Him. To do that our hearts need to be cleansed of idolatry that is anything that comes between us and God. How many of us worship… our mobile phones, tv programs, football teams or players? If we are desperate to see an awakening, or a revival that will transform our Churches and communities, we need to repent of anything that gets in the way!
Elijah set a huge challenge on Mount Carmel to settle the question once and for all, who was God? So, a powerful contest commenced… The god who answered by fire would be recognized as the true and only God. This way the powerlessness of the so-called sun, rain, thunder, fertility, agriculture, and water gods would be exposed for all to see.
The Prophets of Baal went first, choosing a bull and cutting it in pieces. They laid it on wood but did not set it on fire. All 450 prophets prayed very earnestly for the fire to come upon their sacrifice. Can you imagine the noise?
By noon nothing happened. So, Elijah taunted them, "Shout louder! Perhaps he is busy, travelling or sleeping." So, they cried louder and began cutting themselves until their blood was gushing. They continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, and there was no fire.
Even today many of us are consumed by our own agendas! False gods consume our lives whilst our God gives us life! The truth is frantic prophesying and false prophecy bring no breakthrough, they simply distract and deceive! Thankfully our God never slumbers or sleeps and He never leaves us or forsakes us. Nothing but the blood of Jesus brings breakthrough!
Elijah took twelve stones representing the twelve sons of Jacob, and restored the broken altar of the Lord that was in ruins. Today there are many prophecies about fire coming…but the fire is NOT going to come without the altar of the Lord being restored. It won’t be an altar in this Church and an altar in another Church. Just as Elijah could not build an altar fit for the sacrifice with only one stone, the Lord is looking for His altar to be built with the stones of unity that represent all twelve tribes. Incidentally, biblically twelve = the government of God.
1 Peter 2: 4–5 “Coming to Him as living stone, rejected indeed by man, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Oh, how we need the fire to fall afresh on us. Only then will our hearts be purified, and we won’t hinder or pollute the coming revival.
Elijah built the altar and dug a trench around it large enough to hold 15 litres of seed. The seed represented new life for the next season and generation. Elijah personally arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then to make it naturally impossible for the fire to take hold, he poured twelve jars of water over the offering and wood. The water poured over the sacrifice during such a drought would be such a costly thing to do and represented the importance of the cleansing of each of the twelve tribes. Twelve = government! Elijah was releasing the flow of God’s government and things were about to shift!
Thank God for Jesus, the lamb of God, who was the ultimate sacrifice who cancelled the need for us to build an altar to sacrifice bulls upon. However, we need to restore our understanding of sacrifice – we need to lay our whole lives down…our finances, our desires, our agendas, our time and so much more so we can put God first.
Elijah prepared a costly sacrifice before the people to demonstrate the power of the only true God. Why then when we come to worship God within our normal church life, do we give God so much less than He deserves. And we wonder why we don’t see the power of God demonstrated in our midst!
Much of our Church life can be like 2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. We cannot just blame the Church. We all need to come into God’s presence so that we can be the vessels to release the breakthrough.
Elijah prayed: "O Lord God, let it be known today, that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Answer me, O Lord, so people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
Elijah just prayed – no screaming or cutting himself. Then the fire of the Lord fell and burnt up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil, and even licked up the water in the trench. When everyone saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord - he is God! The Lord - he is God!"
Elijah was a man filled with the fire of God because he had spent 3 years in the furnaces! He called for the fire of God to burn the sacrifice and later left the earth via the chariots of fire.
We need to bring ourselves as living sacrifices to the altar of the Lord; ready for the Lord to burn up all those things which get in the way. We need to be so filled with the consuming fire of God that people encounter God all around us.
Elijah commanded, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!" Immediately the false idols and their priests were removed, Elijah could prophetically hear the coming rain!!!!!Elijah heard not just a trickle of rain, which would not be sufficient to bring change in our communities, but Elijah had faith for the abundant rain.
What do we settle with? When there has been a season of drought the ground is hard and needs to be really soaked before it is soft enough to produce anything. A trickle will run off and not achieve anything at all. Lord, we look to you for the fire and the rain.
A thought-provoking blog, full of revelation to dig into and respond to. Thank you