Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to I Kings 18. I want us to turn up our faith this morning. I want us to believe God for greater things. I want us to consider the faith of Elijah. Elijah was literally a guy who possessed “rainmaking” faith. Look at this passage from James 5:17-18. I am going to share mostly from the NIV this morning.
James 5:17-18- 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Who was Elijah and how did he demonstrate this rainmaking faith? Let’s look at I Kings 18.
- In faith, Elijah heard and obeyed the Word of the Lord.
Look at 1 Kings 18:1-After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”
Ahab was a wicked king who considered Elijah to be an enemy. There had been a draught for over three years and that draught started after Elijah got in Ahab’s face in I Kings 17:1 and told him in God’s name that there wouldn’t be any dew or rain for a few years. Ahab had been searching for him ever since because he wanted to kill him (18:10). So, to be told to go seek Ahab out rather than hide from him in fear for his life could have sounded like a death sentence to Elijah. Nevertheless, at the Word of the LORD, Elijah set out to find the man who wanted him dead to tell him God was now going to send the rain.
Discerning and following the Word of the Lord is a progressive process for most people. Most of us don’t just go from never hearing God’s voice to being willing to walk into a death sentence just because God says so. For most of us, learning to hear and follow the Word of God is something that is cultivated.
God doesn’t give His people the silent treatment. He wants to communicate with us. He wants to tell us about that which is to come. He wants to give us messages that direct our steps and that comfort our hearts. God wants to speak, but we have to have a desire to hear from Him and a desire to act on what He says.
The past ten months have been an experience of hearing and discerning the Word of the Lord for Thom and me. On July 28th of last year, our daughter and her then fiancé were at a meeting where a man with a prophetic gift prophesied over them. He then asked Hannah about her parents and told her that after her wedding, we would have a new ministry opportunity! That was July 28th of last year. We didn’t think too much of it.
In September, Leanna Roe, a pastor in OH texted to ask for prayer and at the end of our texting exchanges, she said, “Why don’t you come to OH and be our next State Pastor?” I said, “What made you say that?” She said, “I asked my son, also a pastor in OH, who would be good to be Ohio’s next state pastor, and he said, ‘Melissa Pratt.’”
I didn’t connect what Leanna said in her text to me with the prophesy given on July 28th.
Our daughter was married on November 9th, a Saturday. That next Thursday, after she and Jacob married, I received an email telling me I had been nominated to consider the position of Ohio’s State Pastor. A lightbulb went off at that point. The words of the prophet and the text message from Leanna all of the sudden had new weight.
A few weeks after that, Thom and I were walking at the Barboursville Mall, and we were talking intensely about whether God was inviting us to consider this new position. A lady we hadn’t seen in probably 15 years, Rebekah Jerrell, Pastor of Glad Tidings Assembly of God, came up to us. She didn’t say, “Hey, good to see you.” She said, “God is telling me you are wrestling with something.” These are not the kind of messages we are used to receiving. We looked at each other and one of us said, “What was that?”
We literally kept wrestling. About a week after that, I turned the TV on and caught the middle of a commercial. A 60ish year-old mother said to a 40ish year-old daughter, “Did you get the job?” to which the daughter replied, “Yes, we are moving back to OH.” We moved to WV from OH. At that point, Thom and I were convinced that God was speaking to us about entering the process.
After my first interview in early February, Thom said, “We need to drive up and see where the office is.” We learned the office was in Westerville, just north of Columbus. We had never heard of Westerville. After a second interview, I had a meeting in Phoenix. I flew from Columbus to Phoenix, and on my way back, I needed some assistance in the airport. I asked a man in an airport vest if he could point me in the right direction. He said, “Where are you going?” to which I replied, “Columbus.” He said, “By any chance do you live in Westerville?” I froze. He didn’t say, “Easton, Polaris, Gahanna, Pickerington, Hillard, New Albany, Canal Winchester, Worthington, Grove City” or any of the other areas around Columbus. I could hardly speak. I said, “No, I don’t live in Westerville, but I think I’m about to.”
The process was drawn out beyond what was originally conveyed to us. Keeping the process quiet and feeling the tug and pull of wanting to be here but wanting to also obey God if He truly was calling, I started to crack. It was the Saturday before Palm Sunday, the Saturday of our Easter Egg Hunt. I texted our family to tell them I was really struggling. I needed prayer.
I was standing by the office door as people started to arrive with their littles for the egg hunt and when Becca Hall walked into the lobby, she didn’t walk into the gym for the festivities. She walked over to the office door where I was standing and said, “Pastor Melissa, I don’t know what is going on, but God has had me in prayer for you all morning.” Becca and I had never had an exchange like that before.
The next day, Palm Sunday, someone sent me a message that said, “Something you have been praying for, I hear in the Spirit say, “Consider it done. Victory is coming.” Y’all, it was like God said, “How many times do you need to hear from Me to know it’s Me?” I knew in that moment He was opening a door and wanted us to walk through it.
Those weren’t all of the “words” from God that we heard. There was a lot of Scripture and a lot of conversation with people that when they spoke, it was as if God was directing their words. God was speaking. We had to obey. The point is, God is still speaking. We just need the discernment to hear His voice and to obey.
Elijah heard and obeyed the Word of the Lord. If we want to please God and experience His miraculous power, we need to do the same.
- In faith, Elijah confronted natural and supernatural evils.
Elijah ran into one of Ahab’s servants who happened to be a God-fearing man. His name was Obadiah. Even though Obadiah feared God himself when Elijah asked him to go get Ahab so that he could meet with him, Obadiah couldn’t believe what he heard. He knew Ahab wanted Elijah’s head. Why request a meeting? Why put yourself in harm’s way? If Elijah was up to some kind of trick and didn’t plan on following through with a meeting, Ahab’s servant might have been killed for trying to set it all up. Elijah reassured Obadiah that if he would set the meeting up, he would show.
Well, let’s pick up the story in 1 Kings 18:16-24 16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” 20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. 22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the LORD’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire–he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
Do you wonder why Ahab didn’t kill Elijah on the spot? He and his wicked wife, Jezebel, had been looking to do just that. Here’s my theory: Ahab knew it had been Elijah’s prayers and God’s power that had stopped the rain, and he was likely counting on Elijah’s prayers and God’s power to start the rain again, so instead of killing him, he had to follow Elijah’s suggestions about having a contest between God and the 450 prophets of Baal. Verse 19 tells us Elijah also requested Jezebel’s 400 prophets, the prophets of Asherah to come to the competition, but for some reason they didn’t show! Maybe Ahab was so afraid of his own wife that he didn’t even tell her about the contest!
So, the 450 prophets of Baal were told to pick a bull, cut it into pieces for a sacrifice and put it on the wood but not to set fire to it. They were to call on Baal to see if Baal would start the fire for the sacrifice. After they took their turn, Elijah was going to do the same thing. Everyone agreed.
The prophets of Baal set their sacrifice up, and boy did they work hard to try to win this contest. Verse 26 says they started praying and shouting in the morning and at noon still nothing had happened. They started dancing around their sacrifice in hopes of getting their god’s attention. The whole thing was entertaining for Elijah. Remember, the whole assembly of Israel was watching this too. Elijah started to taunt the false prophets. Look what he said in verse 27: “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So, they started shouting louder and they started cutting themselves in a ritualistic way with swords and spears. This went on for hours, and nothing happened.
Now let’s back up and analyze what Elijah had just done. He had taken on the king who wanted to kill him, and he had taken on 450 people who opposed his God. One person had just taken on 451 people. He was confident that because he was following the Word of the LORD that he would prevail. Elijah knew something we must embrace: One is a majority with God. Come on, somebody! One is a majority with God. He is truly all we need to be victorious.
You and I need to acknowledge that when we take God to be our LORD we are an enemy to anything that opposes Him. There are powers in the flesh, people who will not be happy about your life and your mission, people who won’t understand why you follow Jesus, and there are powers of darkness, Satan, and his demons, who will seek to take you down and snuff you out. What matters is not how many are against you. What matters is where your personal identity is. 1 John 4:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Say, “greater.” God is greater than anything we face. When we are found in Christ, we are always standing in power and always have the power to overcome any other power whether it is a power in the flesh or a dark power in the spirit.
Elijah wasn’t just confronting King Ahab. He wasn’t just confronting the powers of darkness. He was also confronting the Israelite people who had wondered away from God. The Israelite community assembled to watch the contest and Elijah had some words for them. God is an amazing multi-tasker! He is always working on multiple people at once. Look at 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.
In faith, Elijah was calling God’s people to decision. They had gotten off track with God. They were playing both sides of the fence. If they thought something good that happened could be attributed to Baal they would run and worship him. If they thought something that happened was the work of God, they would run and worship Him. They were “wavering between two opinions.” Scripture tells us that won’t work, and Elijah had the guts to call the people to make a decision about where their loyalty would be.
- In faith, Elijah didn’t waver.
If you waver in your decision to trust God, you will experience instability in the rest of your life for the rest of your life. (James chapter 1) It’s called being double-minded.
I love that there is a sequence to the way faith is pictured in this story. The need for the people to settle that God is God comes before the abundance of rain at the end of the chapter. There had been a physical draught in their lives, but there had also been a spiritual draught in their lives. Before the abundance of rain there had to be a re-commitment to the one true God. Matthew 6:33 says we must “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” Then things start being added to your life. Then victory comes to your life. Then blessing will come to your life. Then abundant rains will fall in your life.
Well, Elijah asked them to make a decision, and the people said nothing. He was looking for an “amen” and he nothing! (Sometimes I feel his pain!) What was about to happen was just as much to dispel any credibility of the prophets of Baal as it was to convince God’s people that they needed to place all of their hope in Him alone.
Baal didn’t answer his false prophets, and Elijah was up to bat. Before he could offer his sacrifice, however, he had to do something. Look at verse 30: 1 Kings 18:30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. Commentators argue that some of the Baalites, some who had compromised faith in God, had participated in the tearing down of the altars which had been built to revere Jehovah God. The repairing of the altars takes us to the next point:
- In faith, Elijah rebuilt what the enemy destroyed.
John 10:10 tells us that Satan seeks to steal from us and destroy our lives piece by piece. Those who live by faith have the authority based on the Word of God to experience restoration in their lives. You can choose to step out and reclaim and rebuild the ruined places of your life when God is at the center of your life.
We have all been vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. Maybe this morning we need to rebuild some altars. Maybe we need to consecrate some pieces of our lives back to God. Maybe we need to see some things put back together, things that the enemy has taken from us.
Follow this idea with me. When the Israelites built altars, it was to honor something God had done or to acknowledge something God had revealed about Himself. It became a sacred place, a reminder that they were His people, and He was their God. To destroy an altar was then, an attempt to undo the thing God had done or to try to discredit the everlasting faithfulness of God. It was a mockery of the holy. It was a black eye to the relationship God had with His special people.
When Elijah picked up twelve stones in verse 31, one representing each tribe of Israel, he was reminding all who were present that God had a people and that God had been faithful to His people. He was lovingly calling them back to the relationship, back to where God was held in reverence and honor by them. Surely some of the people gathered had been there the day the altar had been built in the first place. Surely, they remembered why it had been built and how God had met them in a special way which prompted the first building. Symbolized in the scattered stones that once were a holy altar, God was calling them back. God was bringing them back to Him, and Elijah believed it was possible.
I don’t know what altars have been knocked over in your life. I don’t know what once was sacred to you that has been torn apart and torn down. I don’t know what pieces of your faith have been scattered and given to something other than God, but God wants to remind you that He has a people. If you are in Christ, you are one of them. He has bought you with a price. He wants to repair the broken altars in your life. He wants you to remember His faithfulness and everlasting love. Let today be a day of rebuilding and healing.
Well, Elijah placed his sacrifice on the altar, and he even poured water all over the sacrifice because he wanted to give God an opportunity to show off! Elijah called upon the God of Heaven, and fire fell and consumed the sacrifice. The people, after being reminded they were God’s through the rebuilding of the altar and after witnessing God’s mighty power again in that place, they recommitted to serving Him. They killed the 450 prophets of Baal.
Remember how chapter 18 began? It began with God telling Elijah to get to Ahab to tell him the rain was coming. God was doing a lot of teaching along the way, but we finally get to verse 41 where Elijah, still in control and giving commands, says to Ahab, (NKJV) “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, 43 and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.” 44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” 45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.
Here is point 5: In faith, Elijah prayed fervently without giving up.
Elijah was almost in a fetal position as his face was between his knees. He wasn’t doubled over in pain, but in prayer. He was humbling himself before the Lord. He prayed and then asked a scout to go see if any rain was on the horizon because he was expecting it to come. Time after time the answer was “No,” but Elijah didn’t give up. The seventh time, Elijah’s servant said, “I see something! It is a cloud as small as a man’s hand, and it is headed our way!” In a very short time, heavy rains fell.
Elijah didn’t just pray and hope. Elijah persevered in prayer and expected God to move. He believed the Word of the LORD that had come to him at the beginning of chapter 18, and he stayed in prayer until he prayed through and witnessed the answer.
How easy would it have been for Elijah to conclude God had changed his mind and that He wasn’t going to send rain? Every time his servant came back and said, “I don’t see anything” Elijah could have been tempted to quit. Why did he persevere? He kept going in prayer because he believed the Word of the LORD at the beginning of chapter 18, and his spiritual ears were so tuned to the voice of God that even though he couldn’t see the rain he could hear it! Verse 41 says he heard the sound of an abundance of rain. Listen, what you can hear from God can give you faith to persevere in prayer. Elijah got wet! He got poured upon. The land and the people of God received a huge refreshing. Y’all, I want the kind of faith that makes it rain! How about you?
Is it raining in your life?
In faith, hear and obey the word of the LORD.
In faith, be willing to confront natural and supernatural evils in your life.
In faith, don’t waver.
In faith, seek to rebuild the altars in your life that have been destroyed.
In faith, pray fervently in faith without giving up.
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