Lack Of Faith
03/24/2021
Daily Devotions:
by Christina Farris1 Kings 17:1 KJV
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
1 Kings 18:1-46 KJV
1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.
2 And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.
3 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly:
4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
5 And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
7 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?
8 And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.
9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?
10 As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.
11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.
12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.
13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD'S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
14 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me.
15 And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.
19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.
20 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.
21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:
24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.
25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.
26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and 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. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.
27 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.
28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.
34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
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 thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
37 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.
38 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.
39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.
41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,
43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.
45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
The production of faith begins with impossibility and God's ability. Can you imagine America going three years without rain, most of us can not, it would produce alot of thirsty people and livestock despite our reserves or ability to reproduce liquid by engineering it. Last year the abundance of rain in my area only reminded me of the drought in the mountains. People have to either bring water to their livestock or ship them to an area with water. And local farmers having to find work because of moving their livestock and income elsewhere. It not unusual for these events, but it makes it harder to endure the dry spell. Yet rain comes again in abundance. The experience of having God say he would not let it rain for three years and then he was told it would be according to what his word. Several things happened God would protect Elijah and those that aided him. Yet he would also experience several miracles even resurrection of the young boy of the widow he stayed with at one point. Elijah was not a new prophet, he was one who been trained and seasoned.
These three years he would make war with the prophets of Baal and challenge them to an sacrifice, by saying let your God ignite your sacrifice for you. Elijah pour water on his own altar before asking God to consume the sacrifice on the altar. When Elijah God consumed the sacrifice with a flame of fire, the prophet of Baal were slaughtered/killed, because their god neither heard, nor ignited the sacrifice before them despite the fact they cut themselves, danced and even beat themselves before their altar.
Now I got to think water was poured on the altar of God, four barrels of water in a drought. That means God better do something or Elijah in big trouble with not only the king but the people for water would of been treasured at this point. After God consumed the Altar and the prophets killed, Elijah began to pray and ask for rain from God. The first time Elijah sent a servant to look out toward the sea seven times, and not until the seventh time did he begin to see signs of rain with the first black cloud in the sky and looked like a man's hand. Servant went and told Ahab that God told Elijah to prepare your chariot and ride to Jezreel and not to let the rain stop you. Elijah ran before the chariot of Ahab to Jezreel, but once the people heard about what had happened to the prophet of Baal from King Ahab, Elijah life was in danger.
For some people the word of God is never enough to bring correction, and for others it bring repentance. Elijah had knelt and prayed for rain. He knew the prophecy, but the prophecy was not enough and the rain returning not enough to bring Jezreel to their knees or King Ahab.
Where does faith begin, where does repentance begin when it comes to sinning against the word of God. One would of thought when the rain poured King Ahab would of told how God took away to bring it again and to destroy the false prophets. Sometimes false ministers and teachers have to arise in the camp of God for the children of God to say this is not true, that not the God of the Bible. For the believers to speak out to what the truth of God's word is.
In America we allow those false prophets to arise without realize it sooner or later will effect the church world. As long as falsehoods are allowed to reign in the world at all the devil with have his day of leadership in our world. As long as our world tells us we have freedom faith, it also allows the enemy to say I will fight to have my religion at the top of the charts and not yours. If we say our God is God and prove it not my our power but allowing God to do a work in our day not ever seen before, so the enemy is defeat then we have gain not power, but have allowed God and Christ to reign. Elijah was submissive to the word of God. The prophet of God need no glory, but they do want people to recognize the source and power is from God and can not be controlled by one living soul. God's power is his own and our responsibility is believe, and obeying the word of God.
In James it mention this event in a full repentance of faith regarding forgiveness. Yet we see no repentance in King Ahab or to the people of Jezreel.Yet if repentance had come Elijah would of have been preaching the biggest revival of his day, instead he landed up running and hiding to protect himself from being killed.
The truth is this if we believe God it credit to us as righteousness, but it more then that, it if we confess our faults to one another and pray for one another we will be healed of our sin. We will be forgiven. It is important to pray for one another, to pray for the confession of sin, but to know the ability to be forgiven. There are people that will see the work of God and never repent. There people that see impossible events as the sacrifice being wetted down and consummed by fire. We wonder why miracles happen and no repentance comes. Yet we can rest assured for those that repent God forgives.
Yet there are two types of people in this world, liars and truth tellers. Everyone lies at some point and try the tell the truth most of the time, while others always lie. Meaning are we blind to the truth of God's word, or do we seek his word of truth. Let the things of the flesh be things of the flesh and let the spiritual truth of God spring forth in the heart and soul of man that leads to repentance.Yet not every story ends well with evidence of God. How much more evidence did King Ahab need, he was probably drenched when he reach Jezreel? He was harden to the truth.
Dear Heavenly Father, your word reigns but there times when man ignores your word and believes not. Help us to hold to your truth of your word. In Jesus precious name, Amen.
Continual Scripture Study: James 5:16-20 KJV
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
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