THE FIRE OF GOD

1 Kings 18 teaches us that if we want to see the FIRE OF GOD to witness for him, teach and instruct others, bring him glory, and even, God willing, bring about revival, then we must have the following five things:

1) We must be bold to step out for the Lord and represent him, no matter who it is front of, and what the cost may be:

1 Kings 18v22-
Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.

2) We must offer up our WHOLE life (every part of it) as a living sacrifice to the Lord:

v23 … I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.

V30: …he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins.

v38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

3) We must have a good understanding of the Lord and His ways, by having a good understanding of the WHOLE COUNSEL of the whole Word of God (otherwise we will do foolishly with the fire of God- using it for our purposes or men’s purposes instead of the Lord’s, wrongly represent the Lord, and minister in a harmful way to his people), otherwise the sacrifice of our lives will be in vain:

v31: 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…

*Note: the 12 stones represent the Biblical teachings of the Old Testament (on those rocks he built the identity of his people, who they are in God and all the lessons that God gave because of and through their example) and also the New Covenant teachings of the 12 Apostles.

4) We must call out to the Lord in prayer for the fire of God and it must be for the sake of HIS PURPOSES (Biblical desire) and HIS KINGDOM/PEOPLE:

v24 … I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire --- he is God."

v36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and 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, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

5) We must persist in prayer, believing that God will answer:

v41-: And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah went to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
“There is nothing there,” he said.
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
The seventh time the servant reported. “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”