If the Lord be God, follow him...
I Kings 18:21
Baal, the Canaanite god of storm, rain, and fertility, had been rapidly gaining a huge following among the Israelites. They had either forsaken God altogether, or were attempting to worship Baal and God simultaneously. Folks are still doing the same things today! The false gods they worship may not be called "Baal", but they are false, nevertheless!!
Three long years of famine and its accompanying pestilences later, King Ahab and a man called Obadiah were out looking for water and grass, in an attempt to not lose all their beasts. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. When Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord--had them killed--Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? I Kings 18:7-9.
Obadiah wasn't going to fall into THAT trap. He wasn't through with living yet. He said to Elijah, "Yeah, right. Sure you will. There's not a kingdom anywhere around that Ahab has not required to give an oath that you are not within its borders. So you want me to go tell the king that I have found you. In the meantime, you will disappear, just as you did before. Then he'll get here, you'll not be here, and he'll kill me. Don't think so, my man." (paraphrased, of course)
You think you face insurmountable odds? There stood Elijah, one man, against 850 of the king's false prophets. However, what they didn't see was that same unseen army with Elijah that you and I still have with us today if we are walking WITH the Lord. We do NOT stand alone against wickedness and the wiles of the devil. Oh, to the carnal eye, it may seem that we are the only one standing there against the mob of whatever it is coming against us, but we need to remember: we are NEVER EVER EVER alone!
Elijah KNEW in Whom he had believed! Do you? Malachi 3:6 in The Bible tells us, For I am the Lord, I change not. Hebrews 13:8 assures us, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. I am telling you, the Bible backs it up: He IS the same God today as He was in the days of Elijah! God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Psalm 46:1-3.
Elijah laid down the rules for this showdown: the false prophets got to go first in both choosing which of the bullocks they wanted, and in calling on their gods. After they had done so, Elijah would call on the name of THE ONE TRUE GOD and whichever answered, that would be the god that was served and NONE other. All that were present agreed: "It is well spoken."
There they were, bullock on the altar they had laid, calling on the name of Baal. Verse 26 tells us that they called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered.
Well, that wasn't working. So they leaped upon the altar which was made. Elijah couldn't stand it--he just had to poke at them at bit: And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
While it was funny, it was also sad, just as it still is today. So many are "serving" false gods, praying to dead gods, doing all manner of evil unto themselves to get their "gods" to "hear" them. So many are caught up in worshiping any and everything but the ONE TRUE GOD, Jehovah! It won't work--it will NEVER work. I don't care how well intended or what argument they use to justify their foolishness, that is all it will ever amount to: folly. THERE IS ONLY ONE in Whom there is any salvation, and there is only ONE WAY to get to Him: Jehovah God, through Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son!
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:4-6.
We may do something in remembrance of someone, but it takes the LIVING, those that are alive, to do it! We serve a LIVING God! Our God is NOT dead, neither is His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Who rose from that grave on the third day, victorious over death, hell and the grave! Jesus Christ is ALIVE and lives and reigns forevermore! He doesn't have to be conjured, called up or awakened! He is NEVER otherwise occupied, that He cannot hear the cries of those who love and serve Him! Let me tell you, the Name of Jesus Christ is a name ABOVE ALL OTHER NAMES and it indicates the IMMEDIATE PRESENCE of its Owner! Glory to God! We serve the SAME LIVING GOD that Elijah knew! Glory to God forever and ever! Hallelujah!
Elijah said unto all the people, "Come near unto me." He repaired the altar of the Lord and took twelve stones (one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob) and built an altar in the Name of the Lord. (All that we do must be done in the Name of the Lord. There is NO OTHER NAME through, by, in or of, we should do anything that we do. I mean that: to be sold out to God, to be victorious in our daily walk with God, ALL, I said, A-L-L that we do must be done in the Name of the Lord!)
After Elijah finished rebuilding that altar and putting the sacrifice upon it, he had them soak it all down with TWELVE barrels of water. There was so much water, it ran into the trench that they had built around it, then he finished filling the trench with water. Now remember, the sacrifice to Baal was a DRY sacrifice, yet here was Elijah soaking this one down with 12 barrels of water. Why? Because he wanted them to know it would take more than a mere spark or anything that he, alone, could do to start a fire!
And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. I Kings 18:36-37. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. I Kings 18:38.
Did what? The fire of the Lord not only consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the dust, but it licked up the water that was in the trenches. In other words, it COMPLETELY consumed Elijah's sacrifice to God. That's how our ETERNAL, LIVING GOD operates: HE IS PERFECT!! Not only perfect in meaning "without flaw", but perfect in meaning "complete". The tiniest details are important to Our GOD--He doesn't leave anything to chance or fate. Luck is NOT a factor with Jehovah God!
Now go back and read verse 29. What is the difference between verse 29 and verse 38? The same that it is today: the difference between the dead (false) gods of this world and the ONE TRUE LIVING GOD, Who rules over ALL!!!
Folks, we had better determine in our hearts who we are going to serve. "Collective consciousness" won't do it. Neither will any of the other thousands of man-appointed deities that are in the world today--some man or woman, the stock market, money, material possessions, prestige or position.
Whatever/whomever you serve, that is YOUR god. And if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, whatever keeps you from witnessing to others about Him, that is YOUR god!! Pride? Haughtiness? Self-Esteem? Hiding behind the church doors on Sundays (and maybe Wednesday nights) and saying, "Lord, Lord", will NOT gain you eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:21-23.
The fact that we are "under Grace" does not negate (make void): Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God... Exodus 20:3-5.
Is there lack of victory in your life? Examine your heart, your thoughts, your life: is there anything that is between God and you? Are you fully committed to Christ? Is there anything that you are allowing to hinder your witness of Jesus Christ?
I ask you again:
If the Lord be God, follow him...
I Kings 18:21.
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