Today I want to look at a passage from the Old Testament, 1 Kings 18:21-39. Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him. So Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the LORD, and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. Give us two young bulls. Let them choose one, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood, but start no fire. I shall prepare the other and place it on the wood, but shall start no fire. You shall call upon the name of your gods, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. The God who answers with fire is God.” All the people answered, “We agree!” Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one young bull and prepare it first, for there are more of you. Call upon your gods, but do not start the fire.” Taking the young bull that was turned over to them, they prepared it and called upon Baal from morning to noon, saying, “Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answering. And they hopped around the altar they had prepared. When it was noon, Elijah taunted them: “Call louder, for he is a god; he may be busy doing his business, or may be on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” They called out louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears according to their ritual until blood gushed over them. Noon passed and they remained in a prophetic state until the time for offering sacrifice. But there was no sound, no one answering, no one listening. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” When they drew near to him, he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been destroyed. He took twelve stones, for the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the LORD had said: Israel shall be your name. He built the stones into an altar to the name of the LORD, and made a trench around the altar large enough for two measures of grain. When he had arranged the wood, he cut up the young bull and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it over the burnt offering and over the wood.” “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he said, and they did it a third time. The water flowed around the altar; even the trench was filled with the water. At the time for offering sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came forward and said, “LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day 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, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God and that you have turned their hearts back to you.” The LORD’s fire came down and devoured the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dust, and lapped up the water in the trench. Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!”
There is a lot to take away from this passage, but in my opinion one of the most important things is not to be halfhearted (in other words lukewarm). Elijah tells us to follow whoever we think or believe that God is. He tells us this because if we are to follow the one true God then we cannot hold anything above him. He needs to be first on our priority list. So, the million dollar question is this have you made the decision to follow God wholeheartedly? The day I made this decision was probably the best day of my whole life, and a day which I will never forget. God is open and he is waiting for you to make this decision, and if you do he will be overjoyed because one of his lost sheep has come back and been found. Now do not think that life will be easy because it will not God did not promise this, although he promised to be there will us every single second of our lives.
So today I want you to pray, (and I will pray for everyone who reads this blog post) I want you to ask God to give you the grace and the strength to say yes to him like Mary like the saints like the prophets, and everyone else who has said yes to God. Ask the Holy Spirit as well to give you knowledge of God, and to help you to love him above all things.
Thank You Lord, for your unending mercy. Please help us to make the right choice and say yes to your will instead of ours.
God Bless,
Sarah
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