Following Sin vs Following the Lord
We really have but two choices – follow sin or follow God. A double-minded person is of no value to himself or to the Lord. My, my, my how quickly a person learns this that begins attending AA meetings and continues to drink at the same time!! WOW! That is dangerous, dangerous ground. This is usually where people commit suicide as the burden of guilt is so heavy it overwhelms people. There have been dozens of meetings where people were discussing how someone had been clean and sober for a minute or for a short period or even decades and they began drinking and ended their life. A double-minded person is on dangerous ground.
When the decision to turn my life over to the Lord arrived it didn’t just happened in a flash. There was no “lightening bolt” conviction or miracle reigning down, or anything of the sort. It was painful and was spread out over three months. The enemy was determined to hold on, but the Lord, as always, was more determined. The 450 “prophets” of Baal and 400 “prophets” of Asherah that Ahab had summoned were nothing in comparison to the agents the enemy brought forth between October and December 2002. The time for battle had arrived.
Elijah puts this in perspective in the first Book of Kings as he is challenging Baal and Jezebel. Ahab, along with 850 “prophets”, is the vehicle representing Baal but to be clear, Baal is who Elijah is questioning.
Now is your chance to support Gospel News Network.
We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
I Kings NKJV
17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said
to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your
father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the
commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals.
19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel,
the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four
hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
It was really that simple – bring your wine, pornography, work, gambling or whatever sin you choose to the table and on the other side is the Lord. When sin is running the show it is difficult to hear the Lord’s voice, but as the sin in our life fights harder the Lords voice gets softer. As sin is raging and roaming around our lives destroying everything it touches, the Lord is sitting quietly, on a log next to a campfire with a pot of coffee, saying “Speak to Me here, in the quiet.”
24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”
So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
For some the quiet doesn’t come until we are passed-out or what others refer to as “sleeping”. This is how it happened. In a black-out, followed by passing-out the Lord spoke.
When the haze passed it was clear this was it – the moment of decision. Elijah was at Mt. Carmel and it was time to either fall further into the pit, probably never to come-to again or crawl out for the last time.
The choice can be seen through the words being read.
