Keep Beleiving

⁴¹And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

 ⁴²So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,

 ⁴³And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.

 ⁴⁴And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not.

 ⁴⁵And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

 ⁴⁶And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

You are waiting for something from God.  You are waiting for something He has promised in His word that He will do.  How long will it take? How long must you hold on  to your faith?  How long do you keep believing that your break through is coming? Forever?

God answered this question in 1Kings Chpt.18: 41-46 for anyone who is willing to take notice. Samaria was in a severe famine.  The drought was so bad that King Ahab himself had gone out searching for a brook that might provide water and food to keep the animals alive.  In verse 41, Elijah met the King and relayed the promise from God declaring it would rain.  Elijah told the king to prepare himself because he could already hear the abundance of rain coming. 

Then Elijah went to the top of MT. Carmel to spend time with God.  He got on his hands and pressed his head to the ground between his knees.   The bible said he “cast himself” down, now that’s a man who didn’t have time to be “cute” with God.  After awhile he sent his servant to go look out toward the sea.  The servant went but saw nothing.  Elijah told him to go look toward the sea seven more times.  The servant went six times and still saw nothing.  But on the seventh time, the servant saw something; he saw a small cloud shaped like a man’s hand over the sea.  Elijah sent word for the king to mount his chariot and go immediately to avoid being stranded. It was about to rain. 

How long should we keep the faith?  How many times do we have to pray?  How long do we keep showing up and believing God will do what He said?  KEEP BELIEVING TILL YOU SEE IT! Keep going through the motions, keep praying, keep pressing. It may take seven times; it may take seventeen or seventy times, but keep believing.  What ever God has promised, He will do.  God cannot lie; it will come to pass. Keep believing till you see it. And when you see it, GO!  Be prepared to act on your faith at the first sight of what God promised!

Once God answered Elijah’s prayer, God endowed him with power.  So much power that in verse 46, Elijah ran down from the mountain, ran after the king’s chariots and beat them to the city on foot!  You see, you may think you are losing time by waiting on God, but when God answers, He will give you so much power that you pass up people that are ahead of you.  You’ll surpass people you thought you’d never catch. God will move you from being the tail, to the head.  When God empowers you, nothing can stand in your way.  

Notice one more thing in this Chapter.  Elijah knew what to do to get God to answer.  On his initial encounter with King Ahab, Elijah had to prove that he served the true and living God and earn the Kings trust.  So he instructed them to set up an alter and then he challenged Baal, the god that Ahab had been following.  The challenge was simple; which ever god could get fire to fall down from heaven onto this alter is God and would be pronounced the God of all.  450 of Baal’s prophets came to meet the challenge against Elijah, the sole prophet of the God of Abraham.  Baal’s prophets went first. They shouted and danced around the alter from morning till noon, but they could not get fire to fall onto the alter.  The bible records that they chanted, danced and even cut themselves "until blood flowed" trying to get an answer from their god.   Naturally, Elijah couldn’t resist but to taunt them just a little.  He told the hundreds of prophets, "Shout louder!", "Your god must be a busy man", "perhaps he is deep in thought, or traveling”, “Maybe he's sleep". They continued to shout and cut themselves until they completely destroyed the alter.

Elijah knew what to do to get an answer from our God, the true and living God. He didn't yell or shout or destroy the alter or cut himself.  He simply instructed the servants to pour out water onto the alter. He sacrificed the one thing that was deathly important to them all. After that, he instructed them to do it again.  And then he instructed them to do it a third time.  He sacrificed water in the name of the living God.  The bible says fire fell from heaven and burned up the alter right down to the soil; wood, stones and all.  It says the fire "licked up" the water proving our God is real.  The text indicates Elijah knew what to do because he had already been instructed, "O LORD,... let it be known today that you are God, I have done all these things at your command" 1 Kings 18:36.

Do you know how to get fire from heaven when you need it?

Here's how: KEEP BELIEVING!  The bible says it is impossible to please God without faith. Faith is what gets God’s attention every time. Faith for us today is the water that Elijah poured on that alter.  Faith is that thing that is deathly important but so many Christians have such a short supply of; but your faith will intreat God's response.  If you need God to move, put your faith on the alter. Then do it again, and then do it again,... and again. Keep putting your faith on the line.  Keep trusting in His word. Keep going through the motions, keep praying, keep pressing. KEEP BELIEVING UNTILL YOU SEE IT.  What ever God has promised;  He will do.

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