Elijah the ordinary Part 1
Read: 1 Kings 16:29 – 18:46
When you think of Elijah thoughts of superhuman qualities come to
mind. This was the guy who battled the
prophets of Baal and won, he raised a dead boy back to life, and he is fed
supernaturally by ravens and through miracles of multiplying flour and
oil. He even is taken up to heaven in a
chariot of fire, evading physical death.
This guy isn’t just a prophet, he’s a super-prophet. Yet James 5:17 tells us that Elijah was an
ordinary person just like you and me. Somewhere
in the wilderness, in the secret place, while he was running from the evil King
Ahab, Elijah learns the lesson of depending on God through prayer. In the midst of a nation in spiritual decline
which included an apostate king, a backslidden nation and an idolatrous
priesthood, Elijah rises to show the nation who God really is. This was not a personal contest proving
Elijah’s worth but rather a contest to prove God is who He says He is and to
bring revival to the nation. So often we
do things because we want to be seen as great, we are proud and desire praise
yet Elijah wanted the people to know that the Lord is God. This was his motivation in challenging the
prophets of Baal. Elijah had no hidden agendas;
his desire was to see the people turn in wholeheartedness, back to God. We can’t do mighty things for God with filthy
hearts. We must clean up our hearts so
that we can be vessels used to bring God the glory, so that He can increase and
we can decrease! Elijah’s prayers turned an
entire nation back to God, ordered the moving of the clouds and directed the
falling rain. He could do nothing except
by prayer and God was with him mightily because he was mighty in prayer. Elijah’s results could be secured in the
church today if we had more humble and selfless Elijah’s to do the praying.
PRAYER AND MEDITATION
- What are your thoughts about James 5:17 – that Elijah was a man just like us?
- Ask the Lord to show you the state of your heart – do you struggle with proving your worth, do you desire to do great things for God out of selfish motives. Ask Him to show you the truth.
- Pray that you would grow in cleaning up your heart so that you can be a clean vessel used to bring God the glory!
