These are Elijah’s words, Elijah’s prayer in a dire situation. Israel had turned to Baal. Elijah found himself in front of two altars. One to Baal and one to Yahweh. Amazing Elijah put himself in this situation, he set this up,; he asked for this! In great faith he had the people spill water over the bull that had been slaughtered and laid upon the altar for Yahweh. This way there’d be no doubt. All would know it is God who is God, not Baal! It is in that moment Elijah utters this prayer. Answer me Lord! May these people know You and turn their hearts towards You! Clearly Elijah longed for the people to know what he knew to be true.
Fire consumed that soaking wet altar! Doubts were erased in that moment. All the people fell to their knees, on their faces declaring Yahweh is God.
May each one of us pray this prayer for our people. May God use us to reveal Himself as He used Elijah. May each of us live lives of great faith, the kind that drenches God’s altar with water. May we know that we know our God will take care of the rest, sometimes even miraculously!
Are we willing to put ourselves in a potentially humiliating situation for God’s glory? Many stories in the Bible contain similar situations! Marching around Jericho to defeat it, how silly! Building and ark, how silly! Drenching an altar and saying God will consume it with fire sounds crazy! Yes, our faith is misunderstood until God completes His great work in us. Then, in those moments all is settled. All is done, we know God is good. We know God is real. We know we belong on our knees and faces in the presence of God.
Jeni Martin Johnson 
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