If you haven’t read the first parts of this series yet, please first read it before continuing here. We’re busy with 1 Kings 18, so I trust you’ve read the chapter. We’re mirroring our hearts in the life of Elijah so we can see who the real men and women of God are.
We’ve mentioned in part two of this series that, because Ahab’s wife Jezebel killed all the prophets, the Lord worked a clever plan to save Elijah. We gathered from Ahab’s servant, Obadiah, who’d saved the one hundred prophets, that Ahab did not play games.
After about three years of drought Ahab and the nation of Israel were softened by the famine and the Lord sent Elijah to show them who He was. Note that Elijah didn’t punish the nation, but only put them before a choice. He, however, didn’t deal kindly with the men and women who deceived the people of God into Baal worship. If you read the account of the ‘challenge of the gods’ on Mount Carmel, you would see that Elijah acted in great faith. He was in command all the time, showed no timidity and actually treated the false prophets the way they deserved to be treated – with contempt.
When someone is deceived like Israel was, they are blinded and need to be shown the error of the deceivers. God first had to bring the whole nation on their knees and cause them to call for help in their hearts, which He did through the drought. When they were at their weakest and most receptive, He made them see the difference between truth and deception, between life and death. This happened on Mount Carmel where it became very clear who the living God is and Israel had to confess as in 1 Kings 18:39: “When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!’” The false prophets were then removed to prevent future deception.
The Lord cares deeply for His people, but He is a jealous God. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me... 5for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments,” (Exodus 20:3, 5, 6). As a church we need to be careful of deception. There are more ‘other’ gods than we know of. The three basic ‘other’ gods today is the same that has ever been, beginning with Eve’s temptation right through Israel’s history to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. They are the PMP – power, money and pleasure - and if you look carefully at our lifestyles today, isn’t that exactly what most people desire and worship?
This is a time to look deeply within ourselves. Do you experience the Lord’s presence in abundance in your life? Do you hear His voice and experience His power, anointing, and presence several times a week? Do you see His miracles? If not, you’re probably in a drought due to PMP worship and you’ll have to repent like Israel did – “The LORD—he alone is God!”
It’s easy to be religious, but takes sacrifice to serve the Lord and Him only! When you experience dryness in you fellowship with the Lord, even though you have PMP within the church, it’s time to address the false gods like Elijah did the false prophets. We’ll look at it tomorrow.
Lord, please deal with my PMP worship.
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