God shows up.... big time (1Kings 18)

  After the prophets of Baal spent all morning trying to get their god to answer them, Elijah called the people of Israel over to the altar of God. (Which he was repairing as he spoke) Elijah took 12 stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel to repair the altar. Then he dug a trench around the altar. He had the bull laid on the wood on the altar and requested that 4 buckets of water be poured over the bull, the wood and the altar. So they did as Elijah requested. Then he told them to do it a second time and they did. Finally he asked for a third drenching and they did it again. By this time, the trenches that were dug around the altar were overflowing.
  It was evening by now and Elijah went to the altar and prayed. "Oh Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel. I am your servant and I have done all that you commanded. Oh Lord answer me so that these people will know that you are the one true God."
 Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the bull, the wood, the stones and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! The people were in awe. They began to cry out "The Lord is God! The Lord is God!" Then the prophets of Baal were all put to death.

 In Elijah's prayer we can see that this whole thing was God's plan. He had commanded Elijah to soak everything so that there would be no question that it was Him behind the fire and not some trick.  We
should never put God in a box. In other words, God can do more than we can even imagine. Ephesians 3:20 says it so well..... Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish so much more than we might ask or think.

  Elijah turned to Ahab. "t hasn't rained for 3 years, but I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!. Go home and enjoy a nice meal before it hits." Ahab headed home and Elijah took his servant and climbed to the highest point on Mt. Carmel. Elijah fell face down to ground and began to pray. Then he said to his servant. "Go and look out toward the sea."
  The servant returned to Elijah and said. "I looked out to sea, butI didn't see anything."
 "Go look again." Elijah replied, but again the servant saw nothing. The servant looked toward the sea six times, and then on the seventh time he saw something.
 "Master, I see a cloud rising from the sea. But it is no larger than a man's hand." he reported. 
 "Hurry to Ahab!" Elijah shouted. "Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don't hurry, the rain will stop you!" 

 Elijah's servant caught up with Ahab and told him about the impending storm. Ahab quickly left for his home in Jezreel. The winds were kicking up and the skies were getting darker and darker. Ahab had his horses pulling his chariot as fast as they could go! "Faster, faster!" He shouted.
 Now the Lord gave special strength to Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt and ran faster than the horses pulling Ahab's chariot! Elijah beat Ahab to the entrance gate in Jezreel!


 Wow! Imagine being able to run that fast! God does some amazing things. Ahab just witnessed three of them in a matter of a couple hours. 1. God's fire from heaven 2. The end of a three year drought. 3. Elijah's turbo-speed sprint. 

  Next time we will see if witnessing these three miracles has an affect on Ahab's life and his attitude toward or God, or if his wife Jezebel has more influence on him. 



  

Abraham believes God

After God confused the language of the men building the Tower of Babel, the people moved to different lands. Hundreds of years later, God talked to a man named Abram. (God changed his name to Abraham .. we'll find out why later)
So God told Abraham to gather up his family and all his belongings and go. He didn't tell Abraham where he was going, He just said to head east. So right away, Abraham took his wife, his nephew Lot, his servants (Abraham was pretty rich) and all his stuff. Wow! Abraham really obeyed God! It was probably pretty hard leaving the place where his father had made a home for them. Abraham was 75 years old when he left his home. He followed God for hundreds of miles to a place called Canaan. When they arrived, God told Abraham, "See all this land, I will give it to you and your children and their children." But Abraham didn't have any children. But he didn't question God, instead he built an alter to thank God for all the blessing in his life.

Abraham couldn't stay in the land however. It hadn't rained for a while and it was hard to find food. So Abraham took his family and all his belongings to a place a couple of hundred miles away along the Nile river where there was plenty of food. When food became a little easier to find back in Canaan, Abraham took his family again and headed back toward the land that God has promised.

So let's see. God tells Abraham to leave is comfortable home and travel for months to a place where there is no food. So Abraham has to travel for a few more months to a place where there is food.... then he has to travel for a few more months back to the place that God promised to Abraham's kids... and he doesn't even have any kid's. On top of that, Abraham is about 80 years old! If I was Abraham, I'd be thinking " God... are you sure?"

We are so blessed that we get to see the whole story in the Bible. We know that God ALWAYS knows what He's doing. He ALWAYS keeps His promises and He's ALWAYS good and he ALWAYS will be good.

Ok back to the story. Remember that Abraham took his nephew Lot along with him. Abraham took him along because Lot's father, Haran, had died and Abraham had taken care of Lot as he was growing up. Well Lot was a man now, and as Lot and Abraham headed back to the promised land, they realized that they had to go their separate ways. It was too hard to travel together since both men were very rich and had a many cattle and sheep. Abraham gave Lot a choice and Lot decided to go toward the best looking land, so Abraham headed in the other direction.

Sometimes the best looking things are not really the best. That's why we should pray about our choices. We see the outside but God sees the whole picture. He knows best. As it turned out, the land that Lot chose was full of a lot of evil men. Also there was a war going on there and Lot was taken prisoner. Abraham was living peacefully with his wife Sarah when he heard about what happened to Lot. Abraham got 318 of his men together and they rescued Lot and all the other people that were taken prisoner. Abraham gave God all the credit and the king praised God. We should always give God the credit. That's called glorifying God and then other people may realize what great things that God does and give Him the credit too.

So Abraham went back home. He was living just outside of the land that God promised. There were people living in the land at the time. Finally Abraham asked God. "Remember when you said that this land would be my children's and their children's? Were you saying that I am going to have children? Or did you mean my servant's children?"

God answered Abraham by taking him outside. "Look up at the stars Abraham." God said. " If you could count every star, it still would not be as many as your own descendants." Abraham believed God and because he believed, Abraham was now in God's family.

We can learn a lot about trusting God, following God and believing God from Abraham. The Bible is God's word. First we have to trust what He says in His word. Second we have to do what He says in His word. That's what following is all about. Finally God want's us to believe that he sent His son Jesus to die for our sins so that we can spend eternity in heaven with Him. When we believe Him, we become part of God's family... just like Abraham.

Next time we will find out how long Abraham had to wait for a son and why God changed his name from Abram to Abraham.