THE GOD THAT ANSWERETH BY FIRE

Idolatry is a very serious disease of the heart that attacks the very essence of your relationship with God, which is worth-ship. It is a fundamental issue of the heart and the devil knows it. It is a universal sickness. Nobody teaches man how to make a god of everything. The war against idolatry is not a one off thing. It is a very serious war, which every true child of God must fight and win. Even after winning, you must continue to enforce the victory for as long as you are still on earth. You cannot pacify idols because pacifying idols is another way of worshiping them. The world is upside down today because of people who are busy worshiping idols. The structures of idolatry are still very strong in spite of the proliferation of Churches.

While recognizing the importance of this Mount Carmel contest, we can learn a lot about the person of Elijah from this encounter. Many times people focus more on the event while being oblivious of the man behind the contest. Who was that man? You must take note of the principles that Elijah practiced. If you put these principles to use, you can also call down fire, you will become a person of signs and wonders.

1. Elijah was not just a man of God, he was a man of God’s presence. 1 kg. 17:1 says, “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word.” Why? It is in the presence of God that you will contact the fire; the fire you will bring down exists only in the presence of God. It is as you connect to God who is a consuming fire, according to Heb. 12:29. God is a consuming fire. There is a fire that exists in his presence and Elijah was connected to that fire. Elijah was a man who understood the presence of the living God; Ahab did not see that God but Elijah was connected because he was addicted to the presence of God.
2. Elijah knew the God he served. He was not a partial contact person. According to Dan. 11:32^B, “but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits”. Every exploits in life is a product of knowledge. It is the God you know that will empower you to do exploits. Whenever you see miracles, what it means is that somebody has spent quality time in the presence of God. The presence of God cannot flow through you to transform lives if you are not a person of his presence. It takes spending quality time in the presence of God for fire to fall. Jesus demonstrated this to us. The Son of God literally lived in constant communion with his Father. He said it is what I see my Father do that I do. After every major miracle or event, Jesus will withdraw to be alone with his Father to refresh or recharge. Every true man of God ought to make a habit of recharging from time to time. If you desire to be a person of God’s presence, God may ask you to drop some things like pursuit of money. Elisha was a very successful man from a wealthy family but immediately he received the call of God, he only took permission to carry out an obligation and after that, there was no going back. He followed Elijah very faithfully with a good heart. He placed value on what Elijah valued and that is why he got a double portion of anointing. This is the secret of discipleship. You might have been going to Church for a long time but if you don’t place value on what Jesus placed value on, you cannot be his disciple. When the opportunity came for Gehazi to manifest, he opted for money. He collected the money quite alright but he also collected leprosy. Unfortunately, Elisha died with the double portion of anointing that he would have transferred to Gehazi. One decision makes all the difference. It does not make sense to abandon the pulpit in pursuit of money; it is the reverse that is in line with the word of God. Anything you place side by side God in your heart has become an idol. Anything you cannot surrender in order to do the perfect will of God for your life has become an idol. God knows it and a time will come when he will ask you to drop that thing just as Jesus told the rich young ruler, he said, let’s have a new account in heaven, let’s start posting treasure. The man went away very sad because he could not let go of his wealth. The Bible never mentioned any other thing about this young man apart from the fact that he was a young rich ruler; his name was not even mentioned. He missed a golden opportunity. Whenever you read the Bible, dig deeply and learn to place yourself in the story; ask yourself if you were the rich young ruler, would you have been wise? Would you have done otherwise? Whenever God calls a man, he does not usually give man the full blue print. As you obediently  follow him one step at a time, the full blue print emerges.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .