Elijah and Obadiah
1After 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.” 2So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 4While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s
prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two
caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5Ahab
had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and
valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive
so we will not have to kill any of our animals.” 6So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.
7As
Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him,
bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?”
8“Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”
9“What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10As surely as the Lord
your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has
not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom
claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ 12I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord
may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t
find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 13Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”
15Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”
Elijah on Mount Carmel
16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17When 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. 19Now
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.”
20So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21Elijah 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.
22Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23Get
two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets 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. 24Then 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.”
25Elijah
said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it
first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but
do not light the fire.” 26So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then
they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer
us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they
danced around the altar they had made.
27At
noon Elijah began to taunt them. “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.” 28So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29Midday
passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for
the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no
one paid attention.
30Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33He
arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood.
Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on
the offering and on the wood.”
34“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord,
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you
are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these
things at your command. 37Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
38Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
40Then
Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone
get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the
Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.
41And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” 42So
Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of
Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
43“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
“There is nothing there,” he said.
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
44The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”
45Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
Devotional
The Muscle of God
by Kenneth Copeland
“I
tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go
not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will
send him unto you.” John 16:7
I have found
that most Christians seem to think the first time the Holy Spirit did
much of anything was on the Day of Pentecost. But that’s not true. The
Holy Spirit has been at work on this planet ever since the beginning.
When
God said “Light be!,” the Spirit swung into action and slung this
universe into being. He was there just waiting to create. That’s how the
Bible introduces the Holy Spirit!
You see, the Holy
Spirit is the muscle of God. Every time you see power in manifestation,
you can be sure the Holy Spirit is on the scene. When the Holy Spirit
came on Samson, he single-handedly killed a thousand Philistine soldiers
(Judges 15:14-16).
Some people get the idea that
Samson was able to do those great exploits because he was a giant of a
man. But he was really just an ordinary fellow. He only became
extraordinary when the Spirit of God came on him.
The
prophet Elijah was the same way. On his own, he was just as normal as
you and me. He was once so frightened by the threats of a woman that he
hid in the wilderness and asked God to kill him so he wouldn’t have to
face her.
But when the Holy Spirit came on him,
Elijah was a powerhouse. He once called down fire from heaven, killed
450 prophets of Baal, and outran the king’s chariot (drawn, no doubt, by
the fastest horses in the nation of Israel). And he did it all in one
day (1 Kings 18-19).
Now don’t get the idea from
these examples, however, that the Holy Spirit is simply a mindless
source of raw power. Far from it! When He moves in on a situation, He
does it with all wisdom and understanding so vast that it staggers the
mind.
“Well then, why hasn’t He helped me before now? Heaven knows I’ve needed it!” you say.
He’s
been waiting for you to give Him something to work with. He’s been
waiting there inside you, waiting for you to speak the Word of God in
faith. That’s been His role since the beginning—to move on God’s Word
and deliver the power necessary to cause that Word to manifest in the
earth. That’s what He did at Creation...and that’s what He is
commissioned to do for you.
But remember, He’s your
helper, not your dominator. So decide right now to start opening that
door. Develop an awareness of the reality of the Holy Spirit within you.
Stop spending all your time meditating on the problems you’re facing
and start spending it meditating on the power of the One inside you.
Release the muscle of God to work for you!
Speak the Word
“I have received the Holy Spirit; therefore I have received power!” —Acts 1:8
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