Elijah’s Prayer – 2 (Testimony)

This is a followup to my previous post about this incident recorded in I Kings 18:20-39. An important aspect in this passage was covered in a previous post available here. chronologically this post should have been done before the previous one. In the previous post I noted that the God I worship is a living God who cares, listens and answers prayers unlike idols and false God’s. With that being said, when I examine this passage I find that God reveals some great nuggets buried here. In this post I want to cover verses 21-25.

1. V21 : Elijah challenges people to choose sides Almighty God or Baal.
   Elijah had been running from his enemies most of his life from his powerful enemies. He didn’t cringe from the danger that he is putting himself in by coming out and challenging in the open. He didn’t doubt the strength of the Almighty God.
2. V22 : Holds fast to his faith in spite the depressing situation he is in.
   During all his ministry Elijah had been persecuted for his faith and his declaration of what God commanded and expected of the king. Yet he bore witness to God might and testified his faith in the one true God that Israel once worshiped.
3. V24 : Encourages Israelites to pray to Living God
   Through his testimony he encourages people to know the LORD. Isnt this call a test for God? Perhaps it would seem so. But it is more of a reminder of God’s might to HIS people and reassurance of faith that Elijah had on the LORD.
4. V30 : Called people to come to him to know the true God.
   He called people earlier to the general area to consider. Now that he had their attention, since Baal’s priests failed miserably, he calls them closer to watch him.
5. V31 : Reminded the people of how to worship God.
   I am sure it took a while to build the altar and make preparations. I don’t think everything was silent during that time. People may have been asking questions like. Why the kind of stones be used for altar? Why only 12 stones? etc. During this entire time Elijah may have been refreshing the memories of people present there about the glorious past when they worshiped the True God.

Key points I need to learn from these are:

• Draw the contrast between the One True God and false gods.
• Keep the faith in the Lord to reveal himself to whom Gospel is presented.
• In the situation I find my fellow believer, I need to remind him/her that God can take care of that situation
• Demonstrate to unbelievers that there is one True God and that is the Triune God I worship