Elijah

June 15

1 Kings 18:18-39

Baal cannot hear

It had not rained for three years, just as Elijah had said. Then Elijah went to King Ahab and told him to get the prophets of Baal and everyone else together on Mount Carmel. Elijah told them, “Take a bull and put it on an altar with wood. But do not light a fire. I will do the same. The God who answers by sending fire is the true God.”

The prophets of Baal spent all day praying to their god. By the end of the day, when Baal had not answered their prayers, Elijah said, “Come, gather around.” He built an altar and dug a trench around it. Then he prepared the bull, laid it on the altar, and told the men to pour water all over it. So they drenched the altar until the water filled the trench.

Elijah prayed, “Answer me, Lord, so that these people will know that You alone are God.” When he had finished praying, God sent down a fire that burnt up the sacrifice, the wood and the stones, and it even dried up the water.

How should our lives be different from those of unbelievers?

Imagine if players from two opposing teams wore the same colors. That would be confusing for the team players and the spectators.

God wanted to make it clear that His people could not serve two gods. They needed to make up their minds, once and for all, whose side they were on.

Our thinking should not be shaped by the popular ideas of the world that go against God’s Word. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). In other words, don’t become like the ungodly people of the world by fitting in so perfectly that no one would even know you are a Christian. Remember that you can’t be on both sides.

The Lord has chosen you to be on the winning side, so let your colors show!

Verse for today

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15