Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Show Me Yours’ and I will Show You Mine!

The message that Elijah gave to the prophets of Baal was clear! He challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest ! Each side would make a sacrifice to their God without building a fire. The strongest god would light the fire!

“Show my your God, and I will show you mine!” was Elijah’s strong message.

They danced! They yelled! They even cut themselves to get their god’s attention. They continued to do their “Thing,” until early in the evening, with no results! There was absolutely no fire in sight! The prophets of Baal were not able to call down fire from heaven.

When it was Elijah’s turn, he did one better! He instructed the men to dig a trench around his sacrifice. After that, he had them carry 12 barrels full of water and pour it over the sacrifice, soaking it extremely well. When all this was done, Elijah prayed a simple prayer,

1Kings 18:36 “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 you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word”

- - - and the fire fell! Not only was the sacrifice consumed, but along with it, all the water that had been poured into the ditch. When Elijah prayed, first the fire fell, and then came the much needed rain!

Now, wouldn’t it be lovely if we could see some of these types of miracles occur today . . . say, fire falling to devour our tightly held sacrifice of hurts and pain?

When we discover that our past has NOT been burned up by the fire of God, we still find ourselves hurting. Though we pray, scream, cry and clinch our teeth, our fists, and even our toes, there is no peace!

Is there any hope to conquer our fears and our dreaded memories? God waits for us to admit our own weakness and failure, so HE can show us His power.

Oh may I ask, Lord God, show me your face and I will show you mine!

This is my prayer today,

“Oh Holy Spirit of God, you who possess the Fire to burn away the chaff and all the misery that goes on in our thoughts and minds. I ask that you first wash us with Your Living Water, and then send the fire from above to bring us to nothing before you. As nothing, take us and re-create us to become a new person in You. May we be that one who stands bold and triumphant knowing we have now been placed INTO Christ? It is in Him we become more than a conqueror.

God, we ask that you totally burn up our weakness, and leave only the strength that is in YOU. Reduce to ashes our fears and our failures and raise up in us a person of courage with confidence, as You take our hand and lead us into Your eternal truth. May we walk and talk strong in the “power of Your might.”

1 comment:

caryjo said...

You shared one of my favorite scripture passages...Elijah's faithfulness to God and God's to him, that proceeded through the next phase while he was hiding from Jezabel. And that concept is where we are today so often... serving the Lord with all we have... and then crashing when life turns on us. If I couldn't rely on HIM, the "crashes" would have destroyed me long ago. Thanks for your insights.