Theme: The Prayer Life of Elijah (7) 18/08/24
Memory Verse: 1 Thess 5:17
17 pray without ceasing, NKJV
Topic: Elijah was a terror to mankind
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 1:12-15
12 And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 13 And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. 14 Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. 15 And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king. KJV
Words of the Ministry:
The passage we are considering is another popular story concerning Elijah, we saw in our earlier studies how Elijah declared there shall be no rain and again after 3 years prayed for rain, we also saw his encounter with the prophets of Baal, when Elijah called down fire from heaven, he disgraced the false prophets and their God and brought revival back to Israel. Elijah also ensured he killed all the false prophet sparing none, we said it’s a type of we going all out against the enemies of our soul. Today we would be considering another aspect of the prayer encounters of Elijah, I like the reader to 2kings 1.1-18 to have a proper background knowledge of the story.
The account said the king of Israel went against other gods, God through his Prophet delivered a message which the king believed was offensive, as a result, he sent his soldiers to go get Elijah. A captain of 50 and his men were sent, Elijah said if he was a man of God let fire fall, fire did fall and the captain and his men died. Another set was sent and they too had same sorrowful experience. A third group was sent and this time the captain approached Elijah politely and the angel of the Lord ask Elijah to let him be. That itself shows that Elijah commanded fire under the inspiration of God and that God can still use the elements to fight for his own even among the midst of men if need be.
My burden today is the assuring promise of God to fight for us and intervene when battle arises. Our God is faithful to fight against even our human enemies if need be, we saw an example with Herod in the new testament when he was boasting against God and his Church. The account said worms ate him alive. Saints, I like us to know that we are precious to God and God is a man of war, his word is every faithful and reliable, it says in Ps 105:14-15 “14 He permitted no one to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, 15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.” The bible clearly teaches that Christ is the anointed one and he lives in us hence we are God’s anointed, the reality of the promise. Our God is as a consuming fire. The bible describes Christ as both a sheep and a lion, as believers, we shouldn’t be a prey to the enemy, we are men of power but our power is tapped through prayer. In Elijah, we saw a man that was a terror to even kings and soldiers; he could stand before men great and powerful because he cultivated the habit of bowing before God in prayers. It is not a testimony that believers are at the mercy of the uncircumcised, if God answered and fought for Elijah, he would do greater for us, may the Lord grant us light.
Bible in one year: 1 Chronicles 21-23. For further fellowship send us an email on godmanvideos@gmail.comor visit our youtube channel: @godmanmedia. You can also interact with us by dropping your comments on our facebook page. Our physical meeting, Word feast comes up every Wednesday by 5pm and Prayer Gym every Saturday by 7am while PENIEL comes up once a month, every last Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6.30pm at Suite A10, Ahser Office Complex, beside Living Faith Church, Opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja.