Have faith in God 1Kings 18:36-40

1Kings16:29-33: In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians,

1Kings16:29-33: and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.

He came to Ahab, said to him:” As the LORD, The God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

The word of the LORD came to Elijah:” Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”

Elijah replied:” But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals.”

Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.

Elijah said to the people:” I am the only one the LORD’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

He prayed:” O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried,” The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God! ”

Here is a principle we could learn: Have faith in God!!!

Hebrew11 ： 6 ： And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

James5:16-18: The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

2Kings17:5-6: The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.

2Kings 17:7-18: All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.

2Kings 17:7-18: The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. Form watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done.

2Kings 17:7-18: They did wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger. They worshiped idols, though the LORD had said,’ You shall not do this.’ The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers:’ Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.’

2Kings 17:7-18: But they would not listen and were as stiffnecked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them,

2Kings 17:7-18: ‘Do not do as they do,’ and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do. They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal.

2Kings 17:7-18: They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to the evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger. So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence.”

When suffering strikes, remember that I am sovereign and that I can bring good out of everything. Do not try to run from pain or hide from problems. Instead, accept adversity in My Name, offering it up to Me for My purposes. Thus, your suffering gains meaning and draws you closer to Me. Joy emerges from the ashes of adversity through your trust and thankfulness.

Have faith in God 1Kings 18:36-40