March 03, 2021

 Topic: Prayer and Praise

Elijah prays for fire from heaven

Have your ever thought you asked for something selfish?

Have you ever thought you asked for something strange?

It is never selfish or strange as long as it serves God's purpose and not our own. 

1 KI 18:30-38

Then Elijah said to the all the people, Come here to me. They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel. With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. 

Do it again, he said, and they did it again. 

Do it a third time, he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, and God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 

How cool?

He set things up!

And God knew the purpose of his heart and answered his prayer.

He did a lot of things. He took the twelve stones of Israel. Have you noticed when the Jews introduce someone new to God they begin with the twelve tribes of Israel. This is how the disciples converted. Secondly he told them pour tons of water on it. He made it impossible for them to doubt. He had words and actions for what he prayed for. It was not to harm people. It was not to talk about someone. Or harass anyone but he wanted to turn the people's  heart back to God. That's signs and wonders. That is the purpose for signs and wonders. It was to bring people back to God. God never separates people from himself. He never kicks people out of church. He desires for them to come back to him because just like sheep people go astray. He seeks to find and keep people. If you really want to see people saved then God will answer and he does not save people through evil words and actions (that's more of judgement and pushes people away from him. If you are a hard core religious person you can push people away with harsh and stern words. But it is the goodness of God that saves. Jesus said he did not come to condemned the world he came to save it; and today I want to say that God is not judging anyone but the world has already been judged. It is sowing and reaping. God has already establish between wrong and right and we decide what we want to do ) salvation and grace is the goodness of God and the wonders of God. To condemned something is to say this wrong and what you think is wrong, what you do is wrong, but that does not save while it may be true. It is faith in God for the impossible that saves. It is signs and wonders and that reveal that he is in heaven and he wants to help the worst person. The nasty person people talk about he can change them and cause them to preach his gospel. How did Christianity begin. It begin with the twelve tribes of Israel. We have to tell his story as we convert or look to see wonders and signs. 

Have a great day!