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Ahab and Jezebel were dead. Their Son Ahaziah, a chip off the old demonic block, had assumed the throne. He took a fall. Maybe he was paralyzed and in pain. Whatever his malady, he sought relief.

Where do you go when you hurt? Some people turn to alcohol. Others to opioids. Still others to a frenzied schedule. How many turn to Jehovah? Ahaziah could have. But, no, pain drove him to consult a false god, Baal.

The most insidious work of the devil is counterfeit religion. Why? The devilish cunning of counterfeit religion is that it mixes in just enough truth to make the lie all the stronger. Satan sold a bag of lies to Ahaziah. Don’t let him do the same with you.

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Psalm 23:4 (NKJV) reads, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” God promises to come at an unexpected hour and take us from the gray world we know to the golden world we don’t. But since we don’t, we aren’t sure we want to go.

Religion & Belief

On the night before his own death, Jesus told his friends, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled…I will come back and take you to be with me…” (John 14:1, 3 NCV). The apostle Paul announced that “Death has been swallowed up in victory…”  (1 Corinthians 15:54 NIV).

The message is consistent. We do not know the hour, nor do we know the circumstances. But an exit is scheduled for each one of us. Yet we need not fear the moment. Why? Because our Father is a good Father.

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Consider Elijah’s pronouncement of judgment on Ahab: “[God] says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants…because you have aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin’” (1 Kings 21:21-22 NIV).

This solemn prophecy shook Ahab. “He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted” (1 Kings 21:27). God responded to this gesture of humility by postponing the penalty of killing all Ahab’s sons.

Years later the seventy remaining descendants of Ahab died by the sword of King Jehu. God sends them message after message, prophet after prophet, yet they slay the innocent and take what is not theirs to take. They forget what sustains them, and in the end they perish at their own folly.

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Elijah was depressed. Among God’s word to him were these: “Go back the way you came through the desert to Damascus. When you get there anoint Hazael…Then anoint Jehu…Finally, anoint Elisha…to succeed you as prophet” (1 Kings 19:15-17 MSG).

These assignments add up to one point: Get moving. God’s message to the prophet was “I still have work for you to do. You may think you’re alone; you’re not. Thousands will stand with you. It’s time for you to get back in the game.”

God’s message to you is this: You are more than the sum of your dark days. I bought you, and I have a destiny for you. Now, with my help, let’s get back in the game.

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When darkness descends, flee solitude. 1 Kings 19:11 (NIV): “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’”

God wanted Elijah’s attention. Elijah obeyed and beheld a display of power. The roar of tempests bounced off the canyon walls. “But the Lord was not in the wind” (1 Kings 19:11). An earthquake sent tremors through the desert floor. “But the Lord was not in the earthquake” (1 Kings 19:11). Next came fire that leapt to the height of the trees. “But the Lord was not in the fire” (1 Kings 19:12). Then… “the sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12).

The soothing touch of God was needed for  Elijah’s season of sadness. Listen for it…listen for Him.

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For six long weeks Elijah had walked across the wilderness of Sinai. Finally he reached and began to ascend Mt. Horeb. Elijah was in search of God.

And, according to 1 Kings 19:9 (NKJV), “the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” Elijah answered with a complaint. I did everything you told me to do, but your people have rejected your covenants and killed your prophets. I’m the only one left in the country, and now they want to kill me too.

Well, the Lord gave Elijah a word. According to verse 12, our Creator spoke to the prophet with a still, small voice. He will speak a word to you as well. Let his Word, living and active, speak to you. Open your Bible and listen.

Books & Literature

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Elijah was depressed and exhausted. “Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’…He ate and drank and then lay down again” (1 Kings 19:5-6 NIV).

What does God say to the sad and weary? Be refreshed. God told Elijah to eat and sleep. The drama on Mt. Carmel. The execution of the false priests. The twenty-seven-mile run in front of Ahab’s chariot. He had reason to be depleted.

God rested on the seventh day. The world didn’t collapse when he took a Sabbath. It won’t fall apart if you do the same. If you are depressed and feel like giving up, his word to you is “get refreshed.”

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Reading from 1 Kings 18:45-46, “Meanwhile the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.  The power of the Lord came on Elijah and…he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel” (NIV).

Elijah, the prophet who brought down fire, is now the prophet who brings down rain.  Elijah, the prophet who knelt on Mount Carmel in prayer, becomes the prophet who descends in a flurry.

His action inspires us to do likewise.  Lift up your eyes!  Trust the promises of God.  Apart from them life will beat you up.  But armed with them, you will weather any storm.  How different our lives would be if we heeded the promises and not the problems!

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The promises of God glitter like diamonds on the pages of Scripture. Will we gather them? claim them? delight in them? pursue them?  Elijah did. He prayed, not just once, but seven times!

Bible study guide

Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant.  And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea” (1 Kings 18:43-44). God’s answer came as a cloud the size of a hand.  That was enough to excite Elijah.

Faith sees the distant cloud.  Faith sees promises as though they were fulfilled.  Can you see the hint of an answer to your prayer?

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Christ followers hear a language that others miss.  In  2 Kings chapter 6 we see this truth played out in dramatic fashion.  Elijah’s protégé, Elisha, followed in his mentor’s footsteps and upset the powers of the age.  The king of Aram decided to take the young prophet out.  He sent a kill squad.  They surrounded the city by night.  It appeared to be the end.

But the man of God saw what his frightened servant could not.  “And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see’” (v. 17).  One saw through the filter of fear.  The other, the filter of faith.  Elisha learned this lesson from Elijah.  We’d be wise to do the same.

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Immediately after the Mount Carmel experience, Elijah instructed Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain” (1 Kings 18:41 NIV). But then we read that the sky was cloudless. How do we explain his announcement? I found the answer in the Hebrew word that is translated sound. Elijah was choosing to hear God’s covenant and disregard the circumstances.

The circumstances: the silent sky, the blazing sun, dearth of clouds. The promise of God, the words spoken to Elijah, said, “Pull out your umbrella.” Elijah chose to hear the “voice” of God’s promise.

What about us? Multiple times each day, we choose the message we follow. Are we reeling from the problems, or are we standing on God’s promises?

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What tragedy has rendered your life a desert? Has God allowed a season of dryness to come your way? Then learn from the life of Elijah. He trusted the promise despite the predicament.

The predicament? Drought. The promise? It appears in 1 Kings 18:1 (NKJV): “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.” God had set a limit upon the predicament, and Elijah knew it was just a matter of time before the rain returned.

Do you know the same? “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5 NLT). The Bible never guarantees the absence of a drought, but it emphatically assures that the drought will not end in eternal defeat.

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On Mount Carmel, in full view of 850 false prophets, “Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord” (1 Kings 18:30).

Why? Why did the prophet rebuild the altar? Because it was a tool of worship. Do we long to see revival? Then let us begin at the altar.

Why does worship matter? Simple. The devil wants the top spot. When you worship God, when you publicly praise Jehovah in song and sacrament, Satan is defeated. He has no recourse to a worshipping church—none. When we sing, angels stand. When we pray, demons flee. When we look to God, heaven hearkens to listen, and hell hurries to leave. Wonder happens when God’s people worship.

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Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) reads, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Our enemy is the devil. At the end of this age, his time will end. Until then, expect our Father to show up. He will not sit still while Satan harms his creation.

Our days are as dark as were the days of Elijah. Our God is as alive as he was in the days of Elijah. Dare we dream of a renewal that silences the stewards of Satan and reveals them for the frauds they are? Let’s imitate Elijah: Serve the Lord only! God wasn’t one of his options. God was his only option.

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1 Kings 18:40 (NIV) reads, “Elijah commanded them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!’ They seized them, and Elijah had them…slaughtered there.”

This moment does not sit well in our modern, westernized mindset. Elijah, a man of God, brandishing a sword and executing several hundred men? Except for the fact that these weren’t just men; they were disciples of the devil. They were demonic in their devotion to the cause of hell, all in the name of God.

In the final days, as recorded in Revelation 20:3 (NKJV), God will “cast him [Satan] into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more.”

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Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel on Mt. Carmel. He dared them to call on Baal to send fire. From morning to evening they cried. Satan had no response. With the prophets of Baal exhausted and defeated, Elijah “repaired the altar of the Lord” (1 Kings 18:30 NASB).

Twelve stones symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel. They saturated the altar with water three times so that everything was soaked. Then Elijah prayed. He didn’t even request fire. But the Lord sent it. A blaze from heaven consumed the water, the rocks, the wood, even the dust. For the first time in three generations, the nation of Israel cried to Jehovah, “The Lord, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:39 NASB).

Is it time for our generation to rebuild the altar?

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On the second day of the D-Day invasion, Leon was taken captive by the Nazis. While being marched to a POW camp, he and another soldier escaped. A farmer found them and put them in touch with the French underground. They took his US credentials and created a French ID card for him.

He made it back to the Allied camp. Yet with no American ID, he was suspected of being a spy. He rolled up his sleeve and said, “Would this prove I’m an American?” It was a tattoo of an eagle, and on its breast was an American flag with the word Mother written across it. That convinced them.

Sound familiar? God says, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16 NIV). Satan is vicious, but he will not be victorious. Why? Your name is tattooed on God’s hand.

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The devil knows your name. He has a wrecking ball with your name on it. As General Eisenhower wrote to US troops on the eve of the great D-Day invasion, “Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.”

But the steadfast soul does not fear Satan. Elijah didn’t. Elijah entered Scriptures talking about the living God. He served and obeyed the living God. He sought the living God. And because he did, the 850+ prophets of Baal meant nothing to him. The equation is never 850 to 1. It is 850 to 1 plus God.

1. B. Meyer said, “God will never fail the man who trusts him utterly….Be sure that you are on God’s plan, then go forward in God’s name.”

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Dare we think the unthinkable? That God will hear our prayers, that he will listen when we speak? If you were to pray a faith-empowered prayer, what would you say? Then say it! Let faith fuel your prayers. And let prayers put starch in your faith.

Will God give you what you request? Yes, he will. He may do so in a different form than you ask for or a different time frame than you prefer, but “it is [Jesus] who is the ‘Yes’ to all of God’s promises” (2 Corinthians 1:20 GNT).

Let’s renew our commitment to unreasonable, unquenchable, unthinkable prayer.  Let’s ask God to resurrect hope that has perished and dreams that are buried.

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When the child of Elijah’s friend died, the prophet prayed for the boy. “And God listened to Elijah’s prayer…Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. ‘Here’s your son,’ said Elijah, ‘alive!’” 1 Kings 17:22-23 MSG).

The power of praying it through. Elijah believed in it. Jesus taught it. He told his followers “that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit” (Luke 18:1 MSG). Take the dead and dying portions of your life—the vigor that has faded, the faith that has dwindled—and lay them before the Lord. And next to them place our society, which seems sicker day by day.

The theologian Samuel Taylor Coleridge called prayer “the greatest achievement of the Christian’s warfare upon earth.” If you want to take a stand against the enemy, hit your knees.

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