This is a soul-stirring moment. Tens of thousands have gathered here to witness a showdown between the true God and false gods. Elijah, standing alone against four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, understood clearly that he was staking his life to prove to the deluded people that Jehovah is the true God! It was through a spirit of dauntless faith that the true God Himself manifested, and the fire of Jehovah descended from heaven! Today, God is still seeking such a tenacious people, for only they can bring down heavenly power!
Points for Reflection:
Does becoming a Christian mean one is forever immune from the attacks of the devil?
If Jehovah is the true God, why were His prophets killed? What is the difference between the prophets who were killed and Elijah? What kind of Christian do you aspire to be?
Based on the event of Elijah and the prophets of Baal praying on Mount Carmel, what are the distinctions between the true God and false gods?
Whose prayers are answered by God? Whose prayers are ineffectual?
1 Kings 18 is one of the most captivating chapters in the Bible, illustrating a fundamental truth: the true God is the true God, and false gods are false gods. If it is the true God, worship Him wholeheartedly. If it is a false god, discard it. Elijah serves as an excellent exemplar! At that time, all of Israel was worshipping Baal, and Elijah was the only prophet of Jehovah, while there were four or five hundred prophets of Baal! Even in such circumstances, he solely looked to and relied on Jehovah, boldly declaring Baal to be a false god and Jehovah to be the only true God. It was through Elijah's bold declaration of faith that God fulfilled his word, sending fire from heaven as a sign to prove that Jehovah alone is the true God.
God is faithful. When we choose to look solely to Him, He will fulfill your requests, ensuring you lack no good thing. But if we are double-minded, we will gain nothing but misfortune. Therefore, as Christians, we must never be double-minded! The true God is the true God, and we must worship the only true God in spirit and in truth, looking solely to Him! We can explore this chapter from the following four perspectives.
Why are Prophets of the True God Also Killed?
Upon reading verse 4 of this chapter, While Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the LORD, you may wonder: Is Jehovah not the true God? If He is the true God, why were His prophets killed? You must understand that being a Christian does not guarantee you will never be attacked by the devil. However, if you are a victorious Christian, even if the devil attacks you, you can defeat him, trampling him under your feet. In fact, the Bible reveals here how the spiritual realm operates. Yet some people simply cannot see or understand. I am also astonished at how many mediocre or just okay Christians there are, who merely hold the title of Christian but completely lack the glorious characteristics that a true Christian should possess.
If you have been in our church for two or three years and are still content with being just an OK Christian, that is unacceptable. We must transform you into a staunch Christian, for the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Weak Christians will be devoured by the devil (see 1 Peter 5:8). You must ask yourself now if you are a devourable person. Reflect deeply on yourself! Here we see that although they were all prophets of Jehovah, some were killed, but Elijah, even when confronting King Ahab, was not killed and continued to live well.
Brothers and sisters, we must be like Elijah: even if occasionally weak, at his core, he was a spiritual powerhouse, never wavering but always looking solely to the Lord. Look at Elijah's prayer, so powerful and resounding! Then look at the prophets who were killed; that was not martyrdom but deserved killing. Who told them to be mediocre prophets! If you're going to be a prophet, be a resounding one! If you are a resounding prophet, God will surely protect you. But if you choose to be double-minded, with one foot in the kingdom of God and the other in the world, seeking the benefits of this world, then you will be devoured by the devil, and disaster awaits you.
Our benefit is not found outside of Jesus Christ. Why does our church have so many miracles? God is revealing to us that He is the true God, and the true God has the power to protect us. If you are double-minded and stray from the true God, you will surely be devoured by the devil. The true God is a jealous God. If one of your legs is outside the kingdom of God, He will kick your whole body out because He does not want double-minded people. Some people claim to be good Christians, attending church every Sunday. But if you ask about their spiritual life, you will find that they only read the Bible when the pastor leads, and their prayers are only mealtime blessings. They are willing to spend time doing other things, but unwilling to spend time reading the Bible and praying. How can such Christians receive grace or be victorious Christians?
I am grateful to the Lord Jesus for the wonderful things He has done in our church. Everyone is a person who spends much time reading the Bible and praying. We have also experienced many miracles, and even the weakest among us are demon-exorcising Christians. Some churches, even the strongest, cannot cast out demons. Do not assume that just because a place has a church sign, it is a church. Truly discern whether Jesus or the devil reigns in the spirit of that church. I encourage the brothers and sisters here: be resounding Christians, resounding prophets, like Elijah, not like the prophets who were killed or the hundred prophets hidden by Obadiah. When you are like Elijah, a top-tier Christian, praying and seeking God wholeheartedly like him, God will send ravens to feed you, send widows to support you, and you will certainly not perish! The brothers and sisters who have walked with our church for a long time, when they made up their minds to be resounding Christians and were willing to spend much time reading the Bible and praying, not only did it not hinder their studies and work, but they also saw more and more miracles manifest among us. Even we ourselves are sometimes surprised at how this is possible! We really cannot understand it with human thinking. Know that our God is an almighty God. He will grant time, and His grace is absolutely sufficient for us.
Disaster Comes From Forsaking the True God
Whether we are Christians or not, we will encounter disasters, but we often do not know where the disasters come from. Let's look at verse 17: When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, 'Is it you, you troubler of Israel?' Elijah said, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. Know that those who forsake the Lord will not have a good end. Some may ask, what about those who do not believe in the Lord? Those who do not believe in the Lord are already living in disaster. Thinking back to the days when I did not know the Lord, they were truly full of disaster and not fun at all. Now I absolutely do not want to return to the days when I did not know the Lord. But when we know the Lord, we must persevere to the end and determine to abide in the Lord!
It is actually very easy for people to forsake the Lord: as long as you think a little according to human thinking, you fall into the trap of forsaking the Lord. According to human logic, if all the time is spent on prayer, what about work? Of course, you can try spending all your time at work and not praying, and that will definitely be a path full of disaster. But if you set aside your time, to seek God and to pray, God will surely solve your work problems as well. Our church has many testimonies of this. My father-in-law saved his time and did not pray. A few days ago, on his deathbed, he did not even recognize his own son and was incontinent. Truly days of disaster! I prayed for him, and God had mercy on him, and he continues to live. This incident reminds us: we must truly trust in the Lord our true God. When we do this, He will surely keep us away from all these disasters. Remember, what causes people to encounter disaster is when people forsake God. Being in the Lord is the best. Do not be people who forsake the Lord and encounter disaster! Those people are truly miserable!
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.(James 1:6)
If you have a strong Mingding Destiny (命定) belief and trust in the Lord, when you pray and ask the Lord to keep you from trouble and hardship in your life, God will answer your prayers! The Bible says that those who have the LORD as their God will lack no good thing, but if you replace Jehovah God with anything else, you will surely encounter disaster(Reference Psalms 16:4,34:10). Some people are double-minded and rely on their own intelligence in some matters, which is to eat their own bitter fruit and reap what they have sown. In matters of God, if you are double-minded, you will gain nothing.
When I first believed in the Lord, I did not actually encounter such great disasters, but I just felt that I had no direction or meaning in life. Later, God gave me work and healed my wife's whole body of pain, and my wife and I have been grateful to this day. Because of this determination, we have experienced countless miracles. I encourage everyone to emulate us in persevering. We should persevere in doing this, it is not a difficult thing, the difficult thing is wandering outside of the Lord Jesus. In God, you lack no good thing. May God have mercy on those who do not understand. We must not seek in the wilderness for forty years and still not understand, and die in our own useless logic.
Elijah 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.(1 Kings 18:21)
The principle is very simple, just follow the true God. We should have this faith: we have not seen anything, but we are determined to choose to believe. Even if we face desperate circumstances, believing will no longer be a difficult path. In my father-in-law's matter, I chose to believe, and I saw miracles happen again and again. Remember, miracles are manifested through faith. That is determining to look solely to God.
Believing in the Lord is very similar to marriage. A double-minded person, if in a marriage, is an adulterous person. Whether male or female, there cannot be this double-minded mentality in marriage. Marriage and God are both jealous, our feelings in marriage are the same as God's feelings for us, and neither God nor we can tolerate double-minded people.
As for me, even if the other person just thinks about it a little in their heart, or reveals it a little in their words, I cannot tolerate it. Why? Because I am her husband, and she is my wife, that is the answer. In marriage, this situation often arises: there is always a moment when we are not satisfied with some of the other person's problems. It is as if God loves us in His way, but we often do not feel that it is love for us. So, we have a feeling: our God is good, but the god Baal is also not bad. A characteristic of the sacrifices to the god Baal is that they hold sex parties.
When the Israelites saw this, they found it very interesting, so they could not help but want to live a holy life and receive God's benefits, and also want to follow the world and fall into fornication. But the key is that these two kinds of lives are incompatible. Therefore, if a double-minded person comes among us, I will be very careful, because it is very difficult to change a double-minded person! If a double-minded person has no determination in his heart, does not know what pleases God and what God hates, his actions will often change. So, when we choose members, we often pick and choose. Before placing them in a group, they must first be screened by me.
Once a Malaysian couple came to our church, the wife was mentally oppressed and could not even do housework. After coming, she was released in prayer, and her condition improved a lot. She had been coming for a long time, but suddenly stopped coming this week. For this kind of person, I would suggest to them: this church is not suitable for you. The number of people is not my priority, double-minded people are not what I need. Double-minded people think this side looks good and that side looks good, and after being released, they go to scoop up the golden mountains of the world. I will not need such people. What I want is a church of elite soldiers, not double-minded people.
The True God
The True God stands firm through conflict and challenge. I teach everyone a lesson: never doubt God. God is the God who accomplishes all things. We must not focus on the matter itself, but believe in God completely. Especially in spiritual warfare, we need not fear, for the devil cannot do anything to us. Yesterday, a man who had been involved in the underworld and practiced Muay Thai came. When I prayed for him, the evil spirit within him began to manifest, his veins bulging, his whole body trembling, and he said he wanted to attack me. I was not afraid of this, for this matter was already in God's control. If he could attack me, he would have done so long ago. Brothers and sisters, you must learn to be strong in spiritual warfare, but you must not fight with your eyes closed. Once, I prayed for a sumo wrestler, and he had the urge to strangle me, but I did not fear, and he eventually fell down. When he got up, he said, I exerted all my strength, but I could not strangle you. An invisible power protected me from his attack. When we confront the devil, we must not retreat; when we do not retreat, God will give us success. If we ask God for useless worldly benefits, God may not grant them. However, when we are strong in the battle with the devil, God is our backing.
Praying to the True God
At 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. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:36-37)
In the healing and deliverance course, the pastor's wife taught everyone some technical steps, which are very important. But I want to tell you that it is more important to do it through faith, just like Elijah. Throughout my life, I have often encountered difficult situations in spiritual warfare, and I often have these words in my heart: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
Turning the hearts of these people is what we ought to do. When the people saw the fire come down, their hearts turned, and they killed all the prophets of Baal. Elijah then made a second prayer, and he said to Ahab: Ahab could eat and drink first, because there was the sound of heavy rain. In reality, there was no sound at that time, but it was a prophetic declaration. I often do this, because when we declare, God accomplishes. When I prayed for my father-in-law, I often declared that his heart rate would drop to 100 beats per minute when it was 110 beats per minute, and lower when it was 100 beats per minute. In that kind of situation, he would choose to believe. God will also accomplish it because of our prophetic declaration.
We declare towards the future without seeing it, declaring things that will be accomplished in the future, that is the declaration of faith. Just like Elijah at that time, he had already heard the sound of rain in faith. Elijah repeatedly had his servant check seven times. The answers of the first six times seemed disappointing, but in the eyes of a person of faith, even a hundred disappointments do not matter, because they have the seed of faith in their hearts. Our God is the true God, and when He works with us, He will surely accomplish it. When God accomplishes it, that faith is real.
Brothers and sisters, imitate me. Once, my mother had difficulty breathing. When I prayed with my mother, nothing happened for seven hours, and finally it was fine after another 30 minutes. If we give up at the 59th minute of praying for an hour, we will not see the result. Even if we pray for three hours, we should pray until the result is achieved. This is a person of faith in heaven. In God's eyes, this is precious.
In Elijah's experience, the servant went to look for the seventh time and saw a cloud the size of a man's hand. Although it was not raining yet, it was a little better, wasn't it? When I pray for people, I have also encountered the situation of a little better, then I know it will be accomplished soon. This is not my psychological philosophy, but faith. From a little better to completely well, there will be a quick turnaround. Just like Elijah told Ahab at that time, hurry down the mountain, lest you be hindered by the rain, and in an instant, there was a heavy downpour. So when we pray, we must pray until things happen. Thank God, I have such faith. For those who have faith, they will always win, because their patience will always be one minute longer than the devil's. So we should all have the spirit of Elijah. If we worship false gods, our faith is useless. So we should worship the true God with faith and pray to Him alone.