3/9/2011 5:43:56 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The rain returns
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 1Kings 18:41-45
Message of the verses: “41 ¶
Now Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the
sound of the roar of a heavy shower." 42
So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of
Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees.
43 He said to his servant, "Go up
now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked and said, "There
is nothing." And he said, "Go back" seven times. 44 It came about at the seventh time, that he
said, "Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the
sea." And he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, ’Prepare your chariot and go
down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.’" 45 In a little while the sky grew black with
clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to
Jezreel.”
I
am not too sure what the significance of the number seven in this section
means, but seven is the perfect number in the Scriptures and it took Elijah’s
servant seven times going to the sea before he saw a small cloud coming up from
the sea. Elijah knew that this was the
answer to his prayer and then he told his servant to tell Ahab to prepare his
chariot because the rain was coming and it would be a down pour.
James
5:17-18 reads as follows: “17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and
he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth
for three years and six months. 18 Then
he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.” Earlier Elijah had told King Ahab that he
would not see any rain until Elijah said it would rain and now the rain has
arrived in answer to the prayers of Elijah, for Elijah was a praying man. Dr. Wiersbe reports that missionary Amy
Carmichael said, “Every day we live, we have to choose whether we should follow
in the way of Ahab or Elijah.” It is
very oblivious that Ahab was not a man of God nor a man who prayed to the Lord
but the opposite is true of Elijah.
There is no evidence that these events changed the heart of Ahab or his
wife Jezebel. Revelations 9:20-21 read
as follows, “20 The rest of mankind, who
were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands,
so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass
and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they did not repent of their murders nor
of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.” This surely describes Ahab and Jezebel.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Elijah was truly a man of God and a man whom
I would like to be like, a man of prayer, and a man of courage, and man who
desired to bring honor and glory to the Lord, a man who did not give up
whenever his prayers were not answered, but trusted the Lord to answer them in
His time.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Trust the Lord to direct my path this day.
2.
Remember that I am in a spiritual battle and in need
of the spiritual armor.
3.
Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
4.
Trust the Lord’s answer to my prayers to be done in
His timing, and give me the patience to wait for the Lord.
5.
Continue to learn contentment.
3/9/2011 6:11:54 AM
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