2-11 Devotion
Confidence In the Face of Opposition

1 kings 18: 37-39
“Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”  Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.  And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” 

Elijah had extraordinary faith. He believed and knew with unwavering faith that what he said would come to pass. Of course he only spoke what the Lord told him. At the time of this passage, Elijah had said it would not rain for 3-1/2 years and it did not.

The reason for the drought was because of the King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel and the people of Israel had turned to serve the Baal idols. Elijah challenged the Baal priests to a miracle. They both built an altar with a sacrifice, and both would call on their God to send down fire and consume the sacrifice.

The Baal priests went first. They called out, prayed, cut themselves and still no fire. Elijah mocked them as they were calling out to Baal. Then Elijah drenched down his sacrifice with water and called out to God and God sent down fire and consumed the sacrifice and dried up all the water.

Today, we rarely step out on a limb and confront evil. We try to stick with non evasive Christianity and allow evil to infiltrate America. We know evil will always be present, but we can push back the darkness in prayer and reading the Bible everyday and by staying true to God. Our goal should be the same goal that Elijah had, turning the hearts of people back to God.

When the people of Israel saw the miracle of God, the passage says, “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”  We need a miracle but a miracle alone will fade away in time in our minds. We need boldness.

Prayer:
Father, there is no time for complacent Christianity. Help me to understand the urgency of the time and fight on my knees to push back the darkness. Give me boldness like Paul asked for in Ephesuans 6:19, “…that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel…”