Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with a special group of ladies that meet once a month and pray for the Church and the Nation. Usually our time together consists of some quiet time to listen for the Lord's leading in how to pray. During this time, the Lord led me to 1 Kings 18 which is the familiar story of Elijah calling down fire from heaven and confronting the false prophets of Baal.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 we read that there is a time for everything. God works in seasons, and He wants us to know those seasons. In verse 8 it reads...a time for peace and a time for war. And right now we are in a season to advance the kingdom of God, this is a "time to confront the enemy". In 2 Samuel 11:1 "In the spring when the kings went to battle, David sent Joab with his servants and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem." David was not where he was suppose to be and the account that follows begins with the lust of the eyes and spirals downward from there ending up with adultery and murder. When we are not in the place where the Lord wants us, we open ourselves up to the enemy to seduce us into sin. So it is important to know the season God has determined for His Church. Here is the word the Lord gave me based on 1 Kings 18.
Verses 1& 2: "And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year saying, "Go present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth. So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab, and there was a severe famine in Samaria." The first thing we learn from these verses is that there was a famine in the land. Actually, there had been a three year drought and the famous showdown between Baal and God was over which one would bring rain to end the drought. Verses 3&4: "And Ahab had called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly). For it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave and had fed them with bread and water." Obadiah was most likely a believer that worked for Ahab and certainly was conflicted between his job, his boss and his God and God's people. So we can assume from this that it was not safe for Elijah to return to Ahab because he was a wanted man. But he did anyway. Here is what the Lord is saying in this, we are coming into a season where God is asking us to confront the strongholds of the enemy head on. Let's look back at chapter 17:1-6 "And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years except at my word. Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, "Get away from here and turn eastward and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith (it is interesting to note that the hebrew origin of this word means, separation) which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook."
So we learn that the Lord had instructed him to go to a place that was out of the jurisdiction and reach of Ahab and separate himself from any confrontation so that at the appointed time, he could be refreshed for the season of battle between the prophets of Baal and God. It's important to understand the reason Elijah called for the drought in the first place was in chapter 16 verses 32,33 where we learn that Ahab "set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him." So the drought was a direct result of disobedience, defiance, and the occult worship of Baal and Asherah. Ahab at this point had married Jezebel who was a zealous worshipper of Baal and his supposed wife, the goddess Asherah according to Canaanite mythology. In her zeal, she ordered the death of the prophets of God, because she wanted to force everyone to believe in her gods. Baal was considered to have power over the forces of nature, therefore those who believed in him expected him to produce rain bringing an end to the drought. Listen, we are in a time of history where we are suffering from a spiritual famine. For a country where close to 80% of our citizens own a Bible, many of those people have never read the Word of God. So they are deficient in knowing what is Truth. Our culture is constantly demanding that we bow to all gods, except to the One true God. And it is our time to "Arise and shine for the Light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon us." Do we believe that?? Next week all of Christianity will celebrate the victorious resurrection of our King and the reign of His kingdom forevermore. If we truly believe that God declares that the glory of the Lord is risen upon us, then we must believe He is calling us to confront the enemy of the Church. Because the Light has come to eliminate darkness. As light bearers, we are the ones called to carry the light into dark places confronting and exposing. Those spirits that hold many in captivity to the powers of darkness, have even wrecked havoc with those who have made decisions for Christ. Scripture teaches us, that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, dwells in us. But most times, we as believers do not operate from that dunamis, dynamic explosive resurrection power! We settle for a form of godliness denying its power.
Back to our text in 1 Kings, verse 21; "Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you halt and limp between 2 opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word." Now I find that curious that the people didn't respond. Was it from doubt? unbelief? fear? What was their problem? Why didn't they speak up? What is happening to us today that we don't respond with boldness like Elijah? Let's face it, it will cost us! We have come under "political correctness." What's amazing here is, if we stop to think about it, Elijah didn't even have the same access that we have today to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and look what he accomplished. Before Christ and His ascension into heaven, and the day of pentecost, believers were limited to the power of the Holy Spirit. Praise God that we can walk in the Spirit of God all the time as long as we understand that we must yield to Him. It is time to put away our flesh, and clothe ourself in the power of God.
So if God is calling us to confront the enemy, then we need to know who the enemy is. Let's look at this worship of Baal, Asherah and the Occult that was so prevalent throughout the land. Baal was considered the male god over the forces of nature and worked through false prophets who operate in divination and the female queen of heaven Asherah, who was his supposed wife. Asherah was the goddess of fortune telling and was worshipped through temple prostitution. So we see through Jezebel's worship of these gods, and her influence over her husband and eventually her seduction of many throughout the kingdom there was a huge sexual perversion and evidence of the occult that operated hand and hand and created a stronghold which needed to be torn down. I think it is safe to say, that today those same influences are being imposed on us in America. Every form of sexual perversion, and the occult both abound and are becoming more and more acceptable even within our churches. And our opponents are zealous to force us to accept and bow our knee to their gods. It is worth noting that when Elijah confronted the false prophets of Baal, and the power of their god, he not only trusted that God would reveal His power through the altar that Elijah erected, but he would then have to destroy the stronghold by destroying all the false prophets. Now that does not mean that we as Christians go around killing everyone, but we wrestle not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers of darkness. This means in our season of war, we must tear down the strongholds that our enemy has built up, tear down the spiritual strongholds and then replace the void with Truth spoken in love based on God's Word. Before you go into battle, make sure your heart is right before God, and that you know your position in Christ and pray from that position of authority.
Here are the steps needed: 1. Identify the strongholds of demonic activity, and repent for your own participation when applicable, then repent on behalf of the Church. 2. Aggressively take the authority that God has given us to use His POWER to destroy their strength. 3. Speak God's promises and His Word of Truth into the atmosphere and decree and declare prophetically His purposes. Let's once again call fire from heaven to destroy and dismantle every demonic altar our adversary has erected. This is a season of war. This is a season of advancement. Go confront the strongholds of darkness and speak light and life into the atmosphere. God tells us in His Word, that greater is He within us, then he that is in the world! We will win this battle if we step out in faith, call upon the power of God, and confront the enemy head on!
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