When we exercise our faith in God and take our stand we will see God come through for us. The reason we don't see this kind of miraculous display of the power of God can be attributed to two great failures on the part of God's people. First, many fail to separate themselves from the world and from the apostasy that surrounds them and God cannot bless. Secondly, many refuse to exercise their faith in God and God doesn't move in response to doubt.
I want you to know today that when you as an individual and we as a church body reach the place where we are willing to stand for the Lord alone and we are willing to exercise our faith in Him, then God will not leave us hanging out there to flap in the wind. When we take our stand for Him, He will take His stand with us. If you don't believe me, just try it and see.
Verse 39
We will have to give these people credit. They said they would honor the God who answered by fire and when He did, they did. He answered the prophet by fire in their very presence. There was no denying the reality of what they had seen. After this moment, it wasn't just some stories about God told by gray-haired men, it was reality. They had seen it and they responded to it.
There is no other way to know God than to experience Him in a personal way. When men meet the Lord they are changed. When they just go about some religious form they are led and motivated by the flesh. Meeting God will change you forever. You will be different and the Lord will bless the difference.
When Israel sees the Lord move in such a miraculous manner, they fall on their faces before Him in genuine humility. This signaled a desire on their part to worship and honor the Lord God of Heaven. This is the greatest indicator of change. They are singling God out as the sole object of their worship.
When we come to the place where we are willing to separate ourselves from all the other gods that compete for our attention and yield to the God of Heaven, then we will find ourselves drawn to Him in true, heartfelt worship. Nothing in this world is more precious than a heart that is aflame with love for the Lord and a heart that burns with a desire to see God glorified, whatever the cost. The last sound the Baal prophets and priests heard as they were being led away to their deaths was the sound of the people of God shouting praises to their Lord.
Nothing in this world is quiet so liberating as finding yourself focused on God and on Him alone. When He has your attention, your affection and your allegiance, He will be satisfied and so will you. Nothing liberates the saint more than knowing you are in a place in your walk with the Lord that pleases Him and that there is nothing between you and God. When you get there, God can and will bless you with gladness of heart and joy of soul.
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