Mon.’s Devo - Revival

Read: 1 Kings 18:1-46; Acts 11:1-30; Psalm 135:1-21: Proverbs 17:12-13
It had been three years since Elijah had told Ahab it would not rain until he said it would. Ahab had sent men to look for Elijah and he was never found. It was now time for rain, so Elijah sought Ahab out. He sent a message through Obadiah. Obadiah was Ahab’s top official yet he was a devout worshipper of God. God has his people in strategic places. Obadiah was able to secretly hide 100 prophets of God when Ahab went on a campaign to kill all the prophets of God. Elijah knew he could trust Obadiah with his message. Ahab was to come to Mt. Carmel with all 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah and the people of Israel.
They came and Elijah proposed a showdown between their idols of Baal and Asherah and the true God. Elijah presented two bulls and they were to choose which one they wanted for their sacrifice. Then they would go first and the god who answered in fire would be the true God. The prophets of Baal cut themselves, danced, chanted and prayed from 9-3 in the afternoon with no response. Then it was Elijah’s turn. He sacrificed his bull and prepared his altar. He built a trench around the animal and asked for three large jars of water to be poured on the offering till it was swimming in water. How appropriate to sacrifice the only water they had since what he was praying for fire, then rain.
Elijah prayed and fire came down from heaven, burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil. It licked up the water in the trench! God was very thorough and determined to show them his power. The people fell on their face in worship and the prophets of Baal ran. They were captured and Elijah killed them all.
Once the place was cleansed of false prophets, Elijah bent down in a fetal position to birth a storm. It took 7 times of praying and looking before they saw the first sight of a cloud, but that was all Elijah needed. He sent word to Ahab to hurry home because a storm was coming. Sure enough the clouds multiplied and rolled in quickly and rain fell in buckets. Elijah outran the chariot and got to Jezreel first. Jezebel was 25 miles from Mt. Carmel!
In Acts, Peter had returned to Jerusalem and the Christians had already gotten news of his visit at Cornelius’ house. They were upset that he would eat with a Gentile. Peter gave them the whole account and then they were enlightened and happy that God was saving Gentiles also.
When the persecution started many of the Christians had fled for their lives. Some of them had gone to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch which were Greek cities. They began to tell them about the Lord and man of them believed and turned to God. These stories also made their way back to Jerusalem, so the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabus to mentor them. Barnabus went to Tarsus where Saul was and asked him to come and help him.
A prophet named Agabus also came from Jerusalem to Antioch. He prophesied a great famine that would come to the whole Roman world. This happened later when Claudius ruled. Many of the churches sent supplies to Paul and Barnabus. The gospel was spreading like fire.
Lord, may this be a picture of what is happening in our world. May the fire of God burn up our chaff and ignite our souls so that the rains of revival will fall on thirsty hearts.