1 Kings: You Are Not Alone

KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2016
Chapters: 1 Kings 19-21
Message: 1 Kings: You Are Not Alone

Hello My Friend,

The closer we get to Jesus returning the harder it is getting to find other God fearing Christians among us. This ought to not be surprising to faithful Christians as we are told from the word of God that this is going to happen. In a world full of corruption and persecution of the church it is easy to hide in the shadows so we do not draw attention to ourselves, but we must realize that while God will allow us some time to hide, we have work to do. Remember, you are not alone, you have someone walking with you daily, and that is your Lord, Jesus Christ. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” - Matthew 28:19,20.

One thing that every Christian who proclaims and teaches the truths of God’s word can never avoid is people trying to stop them. Elijah probably thought that once he showed the people that there was only one God and had the four hundred prophets of Baal killed that the people would be flocking to God. What he got was the opposite, after Ahab went and told Jezebel what happened she had a bounty out for his head. Now, here is Elijah hidden in a cave, hiding for his life. And who shows up to get him, God.

“And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” - 1 Kings 19:13-18.

“Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel,” Let me tell you, this past month I have had so many issues with the IFJ website, from pages getting lost to the blog being erased, to running out of storage space, it has been a challenge. With all that is going on in my life right now on top of the website issues it would be easy to just hide and forget about it, no one care right? Wrong, I discovered that I had over two thousand registered users on my blog. We may feel like we are all alone, but we are not, God is always with us, and He actually places us where we are for one reason only, to keep telling the truth. Discouragement comes when we feel like we are all alone and our efforts are for nothing, but never forget that nothing we do for God is vain. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” - 1 Corinthians 15:58.

God uses many means to get the world to see that He not only exists, but is always in control. While Elijah was dealing with his issues, God used the king of Syria to show Ahab and thirty-two other kings that He is not only God in parts of Israel, but everywhere.

“And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen. And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.” - 1 Kings 20:13,14,20-23,28.

“Their gods are gods of the hills;” These foolish men thought that there were gods in a particular regions, and that they could defeat Israel in their own territory. They failed to realize that there is only One God, He is everywhere, and in control of all things. No one can escape judgment from God, they can pretend that He does not exist, ignore Him, but He is always in control, and every person will acknowledge Him one way or another. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” - Philippians 2:9-11.

There are times when people lose their lives defending the word of God, it is sad to think of so many people who were killed already this year by the hands of terrorists out to destroy God’s faithful. It takes the strength of God to stand up and boldly proclaim Christ today, and while none of us want to die in the hands of our enemy, one thing is for sure, while we are safe in heaven, God will avenge us. There was a godly man named Nebat, he lived next door to Ahab, he was wrongly accused and sentenced to death by Jezebel because Ahab wanted his vineyard and Nebat would not sell it to him. Elijah meets with Ahab to tell him his and his families fate.

“And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.” - 1 Kings 21:20-29.

“Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me?” Sooner or later, every person finds out that they need God, many unfortunately find out upon their death, which is too late. Every now and then, God reaches someone before they die, and that is always His intention, that none perish. Ever hear of last rights? Well, Ahab had his last rights given to him, he took it, and God spared him the grief of seeing his entire family destroyed. It's never too late to be saved until we die, none of us are exempt from judgment, but we can be saved from the eternal death judgment, and that is through our faith and belief in the Lord, Jesus Christ, God never gives up trying to get a soul to repent and receive His Son. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” - Romans 3:23-26.

Jesus Christ Revealed: Today, Jesus is revealed through the angel of the LORD (19:5-7) who is always with us, and the unnamed prophet who prophesied victory to King Ahab (20:22). God controls our victory, “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Corinthians 15:56,57.

Today's Prayer: God, You know my heart, You know my faith, and You know my desire to love You with all my heart, mind, and soul, but there is not a day that goes by where I am not being challenged to change what I believe. People mock me, tease me, and constantly try to test me to see if I will stand by You or fall. Lord, give me Your power and strength to get through this and every day standing tall. Even when I slip, I know You are there to pick me up and get me back on my feet again. Let me not lose sight of You in anything that I do. I ask this in Jesus; name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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