“Then Elijah said to all the people,
“Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord,
which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes
descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name
shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord,
and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He
arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he
said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and
on the wood.” “Do it again, he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third
time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around
the altar and even filled the trench.”
I
Kings 18:30-35
Glancing at
this passage, one might assume that Elijah was sabotaging his own miracle! Pouring
water over his sacrifice certainly wasn’t going to make lighting a fire easier.
Elijah, however, didn’t just pour water over his sacrifice once. He poured
water over it three times. He poured
and poured until the trench at the base of the altar filled up. Why was Elijah doing this? He was preparing
for God to answer!
Sometimes we
pray and pray and wonder why God doesn’t answer. Often, it is because we are
not in a position to receive. I remember tossing a ball to my son when he was
just a little boy. I would tell him to put his hands out in front of him. When
he extended his arms I would release the ball. I didn’t toss it to him until he
was in position to receive it. A child who stands there and doesn’t put their
arms out is either unwilling to receive or unprepared to receive. Elijah’s
pouring of gallons of water over his sacrifice was a clear indication that he was
ready for God to answer.
Elijah’s
actions declared that he expected something! He didn’t expect to pray and feel
a warm breeze. Neither was he looking for a small spark to fall down from
heaven. No, Elijah expected the fire of heaven to fall on that altar. Elijah
knew that he could have built his altar in the bottom of the ocean and God
could have sent down a fire ball that licked up the waters and consumed his
sacrifice!
When it came
time for the evening sacrifice, Elijah stepped forward and declared:
“Answer me, O Lord; answer me, so
these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning
their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the
sacrifice, the wood, stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the
trench.”
1
Kings 18:37-38
Elijah
prayed like a man who knew that he served a God who hears and a God who
answers! If we desire to see our prayer lives become powerful and effective we
must remove the obstacle of sin, so God can hear us; we must stop wavering
between two opinions, regarding who has the answer; and we must position
ourselves to receive.
Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/
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