1Kings 17-19
Pray~
I was told?
Recap and bring us current.
So, Solomon dies and the kingdom is split into North Israel, South Juda
Jeroboam is the king of the northern kingdom after Solomon dies when the kingdom was torn in two and each king after he got worse, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, and Omri all walk in the ways of Jeroboam. Until the son of Omri the king Ahab and his queen Jezebel. They reined over Israel for 22 years and in 1Kings 6:33 Ahab did more to provoke the God of Israel to anger than any other king.
Why, in 1Kings 16:31-33, he served and worshiped the Baal, erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal where he built it in Samaria. And he made an Ashura. An Ashura is a wooden pole that was named after the Canaanite goddess of fertility. It was the sight of emends sexual immorality for all sorts of reasons resulting in the dishonoring of the Lord.
So why did he do all these things? Verse 31, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.
As a result, she turned his heart toward other things and continued in idolatry.
She did not want to worship Baal and let everyone else do what they wanted to do, she wanted to destroy the name of Jehovah. She wanted it all destroyed, anything that had to do with God.
So, as the people went astray God would not leave them to destroy themselves so, in His Grace God sent a drought for 3 1/2 years there was no rain. Israel was dependent upon rain for their crops and herds and so on. This drought was devastating to them.
Now God could have chosen any calamity in their life but He chose a drought because Baal was the Canaanite storm god. God was saying Baal is powerless, He’s nothing. Now the people began to cry out to the god Baal for rescue just like they did when the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt.
You can look at the drought as punishment or God’s grace and you can ask yourself what have I been turning to, what have I been doing.
I am sure you know but I want to be abundantly clear, God will use the enemy in our life to get us to turn to Him. All we have to do is focus on what we have been turning to in the midst of our trials.
You need money do you pray or just charge it.
If your focus is on something other than God for relief, think about that one change you can make to seek God first.
We serve a gracious and loving God who will use it all to get our focus on Him
The bible says all things work together for those that are in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes people get saved and lose their way and God chastises them. It is during this time we cry out to God more.
So now we come to chapter 17 of 1Kings and the Prophet Elijah comes on the scene.
Elijah the Tish Bite comes from an insignificant place to do amazing things for God.
He was a man of faith and obedience. His name means Jehovah is my God.
Elijah was rough around the edge reformer who challenge people to abandon their idols and worship the Lord their God.
He was not politically correct by no means. He was courageous, empowered by the Holy Spirit to confront Ahab and queen Jezebel convincing people to turn away from their sin.
He challenges the priest of Baal to a public contest to display God’s power, he was a worker of miracles.
We might think what a spiritual giant but when we look at James 5:17-18 it says this 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
James did not say Elijah was all that and a bag of Chips, it says he was a man with a nature like ours.
That is encouraging to me another verse is Romans 7 seeing the struggles of Paul yet a man used tremendously by God.
He is Just a man no different than you and I
and in chapter 19 and I encourage you to read it; he gets discouraged to the point God says what are you doing.
Instead of beating him up as a brother can do, let's realize he is human and be thankful for the God we serve.
So, up until now, we have after Solomon the kings and God’s people fell into depravity it got progressively worse.
The Land is divided in two, God’s people turn to idolatry, Baal was introduced in Judges but reintroduced here and an altar was built to him.
Much like today as Jezebel did not want the worship of God or its people and was out to destroy the worship of God.
We see in all this God showed great grace and mercies. He brings drought to the land where it did not rain for 3 ½ years.
We talked about chastisement as the water was so dependent on it. As the bible teaches us that Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
We also see God’s grace and love as a Sheppard and his sheep. When sheep go astray, he will go get it even to the point of breaking his legs and carrying it so it does not wander away, this illustration can be viewed as a myth because God does not force us to do anything but He does correct his children.
We know God is in control and will use anything even the enemy for His purpose.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
We talked about Elijah as a man of faith, obedience, and he was a challenger. Full of courage.
He is a man like you and I James 5:17-18 it says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. I brought out Roman 7 how Paul says how he wrestled with the flesh just like us.
So in chapter 17 verse 1-7 of 1Kings
Elijah Proclaims a Drought
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
1-7 Elijah confronts Ahab, in verse one of chapter 17 Elijah is standing before Ahab, and the drought is in progress most commentators believe the drought had been going on for six months already.
Elijah tells Ahab the drought is going to continue these years. He never said 3 1/2 he said these years.
The first thing the Holy Spirit showed me was how God knows everything, the bible says He knew us before the foundation of the world, He knew us in our mother's womb yet we get a piece of the puzzle because we are to believe by faith, to believe Him for who he is.
But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
God held back the rain because of the fervent prayers of Elijah and God would send rain again because of his fervent prayers and James tells us the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
The same goes for us that is why we are here, Our prayers are effective and powerful
The word of God and prayer go hand in hand, the word of God and faith also go hand in hand. We need faith when we pray.
The disciples said to Jesus Lord teach us to pray.
They were Jewish men who knew the Shema in Hebrew, Deuteronomy 6, they prayed often but they said Lord teach us to pray? Why because Jesus demonstrated and lived the word.
In Matthew 5 He said you have heard 5 times Look them up we don't have time to read them now but then He said but I say unto you.
Mat 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.'
Mat 5:27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.'
Mat 5:33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.'
Mat 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
Mat 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
His ways are not our ways His thoughts are not our thoughts so we need the word to be our foundation.
We can not know God's sovereign plan but we can know His word, we can have the faith to be like Elijah.
Mustard Seed Faith
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
~Matthew 17:20-21
Well, how do you get it?
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
In verse 2 of 1Kings17, it says then the word of the Lord came to Elijah.
Elijah like all prophets, he was in tune with God's word.
We as men of God and leaders need to be in tune with God’s word.
I will close with this:
“Have your heart right with Christ, and he will visit you often, and so turn weekdays into Sundays, meals into sacraments, homes into temples, and earth into heaven.”
― Charles H. Spurgeon
It all comes down to our hearts and what we are willing to do about it.
Let's Pray
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