FAITH FIRE #3

God Gold of the day

Hey everybody! I wanted to share with you for the next few days some “old gold” that I had sent out awhile back! It’s on a story in 1 Kings about Elijah that I had studied and really found a lot of fire in my faith during that time so as you read through these I pray they will light your faith on fire as well!!!

“So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made. About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!” So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.”

1 Kings 18:26-29

 

Just going deeper into this story with Elijah, we’ve learned about how all this relates to us. The past life and maybe current life of following our “gods” and the drought that we constantly find ourselves in because we go to the wrong place, looking for the wrong things, our personal gods instead of the one and only God! Once again I pray that we embrace people in our lives or situations that bring out that question, “how long will you waver between two opinions? If your gods are it then follow them but if God is your God then follow Him!” It’s crazy to me how much of my life I’ve wasted calling out to the gods in my life, addictions, sins, things I think I have to have to get through and I put them before the one true God of my life. At the end of the day I’m just like these prophets of Baal, I go to those obsessions or desires to the point of harming myself cause I’m so caught up in thinking those things are my ticket to a better life, and then I always find myself with no answer, no satisfaction or joy, just empty after I spent all day trying to get those things to fill me. It’s convicting looking back and even now still calling to the wrong things in the wrong place but that’s the beautiful thing about having a relationship with Jesus. Because of what He sacrificed to set us free and give us victory we don’t have to get stuck in that way. The decisions and sins of yesterday don’t have to affect or control the decisions we make today or tomorrow! How awesome is that!! And even if we don’t want to admit it we all have those gods in our life cause we’re all human, sinners before God. But the great part is Christ, what He did for us and the fact He lives with us everyday in this process of moving farther from those gods that have beaten us down and wasted our time, and closer to God and His purpose and plan for our lives! This may sound crazy but I feel like Elijah mocking them, telling them how stupid they are for calling out to nothing, useless worldly made up lies, it’s kind of like the Holy Spirit living within us reminding us, “Hey Jordan you know you don’t have to be the dummy you once were, those things are useless, just set your eyes on the one true God almighty and I’ll help ya keep moving forward.” That voice comes in so many ways, whether it’s people in our lives, situations or literally the Holy Spirit speaking through our conscious telling us what’s right, what pleases God and what will help us in this spiritual warfare we’re constantly in every day. The biggest thing these verses showed me was to take some inventory on what some of those “gods” may be in your life. Look to see what you put before God on your priority list and how it may be something holding you back from getting out of the drought you’re in and into the rain God brings down when He is #1 in your life. That’s where all change starts, in recognizing and admitting the problem then God will give you more than enough help to show you how to get past these gods if you stop calling on them and call on Him

 

FAITH FIRE #2

God Gold of the Day

 

Hey everybody! I wanted to share with you for the next few days some “old gold” that I had sent out awhile back! It’s on a story in 1 Kings about Elijah that I had studied and really found a lot of fire in my faith during that time so as you read through these I pray they will light your faith on fire as well!!!

“Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent. Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood.””

1 Kings 18:21-25

 

Continuing in this story from 1 Kings about Elijah, this part is where Elijah is standing toe to toe with hundreds of prophets for other gods, the king and all the people of Israel. 1 man and God vs. the world. The whole nation had turned from God to follow these other little gods and Elijah calls out the people of Israel with this question and then challenges all of these other prophets to show them His God was so much bigger and more powerful than their made up fake gods. Kind of hit me that, I bet these people of Israel were pretty butt hurt when he called out like that but they needed to hear that truth. I’ve been fortunate enough the last few weeks to join in an accountability group with some of my best buddies and having real, honest and Godly voices filled with truth in my life is changing my life more everyday. We may not wanna hear the truth that we have to make a choice between serving other gods and serving God, or be challenged in our faith but we all need an Elijah in our life, or maybe more than one. His sole purpose wasn’t to gain anything from it or judge them but to unite the nation again and bring them back to the one true God! Having real Godly voices and examples in our life, pushing us to sacrifice more and strengthen our faith by constantly challenging us, it’s not a suggestion but it’s a need! We all need that whether we want to admit or not cause we all sin, we’re all weak! That’s what brothers and sisters are for! The truth may not feel real good but Gods truth will set you free and cut through all the lies. I don’t know if you have people like this or think you don’t need em, but after meeting again tonight and see God like never before, make a point to have that time with others throughout the week! People you can pour it all out to and people who will listen and respond with the truth you need to hear! Be an Elijah and have many Elijah’s, I can tell ya from experience that doing this life by yourself only leads to straying farther away but having people to lean on changes everything, unites you, brings you back to God when you need Him most!

FAITH FIRE #1

God Gold of the Day

 

Hey everybody! I wanted to share with you for the next few days some “old gold” that I had sent out awhile back! It’s on a story in 1 Kings about Elijah that I had studied and really found a lot of fire in my faith during that time so as you read through these I pray they will light your faith on fire as well!!!

 

“When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?” “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel. ” So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.”

1 Kings 18:17-21

 

Usually try to send just 1 or 2 verses but this story that I got the chance to teach the kids about last night has way too much Gold not to share! I’ll be sending the story piece by piece cause every verse is so important! So Israel is in a serious drought since they have started following other gods which King Ahab has brought to their nation. Elijah is confronting Ahab about the situation he has brought upon everyone and tells him to bring everybody to Mt. Carmel. I thought about how I was before Jesus came into my life. I was worshiping other gods just like Ahab and all of Israel was doing. By other gods I mean whatever i thought was more important than the Lord, I spent a lot more time with those gods than I did the God. I’m sure it’s not just my testimony this speaks to but all of ours, no matter how bad your gods were, we were all lost before Jesus saved us. Just like the people of Israel prob thought well, everybody else is doing it, it was the kings idea so I guess it wouldn’t hurt. That’s what I thought, I was just flowing with what the world says is “okay” or “fun” and that’s the lie I told myself which led me deeper and deeper into worshiping those gods and putting God to the side. Just think about it! How many actions or decisions do you make based on what others do, what the TV shows you to do? Prob a lot cause it’s so easy to get caught in that comparison trap. But the truth is, that route always leads to a drought. Before Jesus came into my life that’s where I stayed all the time, in a drought, no matter how much “fun” I thought I was having it was only for a minute then I’d end up feeling empty, not satisfied so guess what? I chased it more and more and just like Ahab I was blind to the fact that my sin and decisions were causing this drought. So thankful that Jesus showed me what true filling of peace, joy, and satisfaction is! Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle but because of Christ it’s a lot better than it used to be! The last piece of this verse, Elijah calls the people of Israel out, asking them how long are you gonna keep messing around with that stuff from your old life and actually follow God! It’s a decision we make the day we give our lives to Jesus but what I know l forget a lot, it’s a decision we have to make everyday! It’s easy to let the sins and pain of yesterday let us detour us from following Jesus today. Whether you think you’re too far gone, too sinful, whatever it is, Jesus knows that you suck lol and he still loves you through it anyways. Everyday we’re faced with so much outside influence, so many voices and lies from Satan saying, “you’ll never beat this, you’ll never get past this addiction, you’re too weak.” The moment we feed into those lies we lose, the moment we decide to stand and confront the problem like Elijah did, speaking Gods truth over the lies, “I know I’m too weak, I’ll always be that way but with Jesus I don’t have to cause He’s more powerful than any of those little g gods, or anything that’s thrown at us.” It’s a constant reminder of looking back at the times Jesus brought you out of some pretty thick bondage or struggles, knowing who He is and what He’s capable of, and that He didn’t bring you out or sacrifice himself on the cross for you to be one foot in, one foot out, He did that for your freedom! So when you make that choice today, know what your choosing, know Who you’re choosing and get jacked up about what Jesus has in store for you!