Send Fire from Heaven Lord! (His Kingdom has been added to)

This morning during my quiet time, I was reading out of First Kings. I read about one of my favorite Bible figures, Elijah. What a crazy dude! As I was reflecting on his meeting with the 850 prophets of pagan gods, I thought about evangelism and how I present the gospel. I wanted to see principles from Elijah`s life that could be applied to mine.
Elijah was a bold man in this moment of truth. When Elijah tells Ahab in chapter 18 of 1st Kings to have all the prophets of the pagan gods meet him at Mount Carmel as well as all the people of Israel, I get excited. Elijah showed up, knowing what God was capable of, and wanted to see God vindicate Himself. Elijah poses the statement "If God is God, then follow Him... If He's not, then don't." Simply stated. Simple.
So, they set up this cool sacrifice system and the rules, and the pagan dweebs go first. They dance around, cut themselves - and Elijah just taunts them hard. Finally, after their many exuberant efforts to rouse their sleeping gods, Elijah steps in. He fixes the altar that the prophet-wanna-bes had messed up, and puts his sacrifice on there. He has them put one bucket of water all over the sacrifice; then another and another. The thing was drenched!
Then God sends His fire from heaven consuming everything. And in good fashion, Elijah has all the 850 dancers killed.
Application:
First.
Be bold for God & show up, no matter how wild the odds look.
Second.
Allow for others to explain themselves, so that they get to see how twisted their beliefs might be (just don't taunt them like Elijah).
Third.
Proclaim the message that "If God is God, follow Him", then let God do the work.

God wants us to be obedient to His call, go where and to whom He sends us, and just proclaim what He has done - and let Him work. And try not to kill them, because that would be bad news! Isn't it great how God vindicates His own name, and He also vindicates His prophets and His people. Maybe not today, or tomorrow. But don't turn away and cower to a group that is telling you that you are wrong. Remember Elijah.
Sometimes I feel like John & James, the sons of thunder, and want God to throw fire from heaven and vindicate Himself, but I know what Jesus says to them, "you don't know what spirit you're of". So, I repent, and ask for the fire of the Holy Spirit to be sent and reveal Jesus to the hearts of the lost. (I still think that it would be cool to see fireworks from heaven though). But, I know that my aim should not be to see people consumed by fire because I'm always yelling "Send Fire from Heaven Lord!", but I want to see people consumed with the love of Jesus, that they leave everything behind and count everything loss in view of His surpassing Value and Greatness.
Go.
Be Bold.
Allow others to express.
Proclaim the Message!
Let God Work.


Tonight - Weird night on the streets. Had some satanist dudes come and try to intimidate us, but they don't know who they are trying to serve. Satan doesn't even care about them, as long as they can proclaim anything but God, satan doesn't care if people are following buddha or mohammad. Anyways... real different spirit amongst the city-dwellers tonight. But we stood our ground and took our authority, given by Christ and shared His message in a bold way! What a bold night of preaching!
Menchee, one of the Filipino women that goes with us, led a lady to the Lord after one of the messages that was preached! Praise God! Another soul can now find satisfaction in the Only All-Satisfying Jesus! He's now the King of kings and Lord of lords to another soul! Praise God for that. Praise God that He chooses to use men and His Word.
I talked to a muslim guy named Osama tonight, and he was very close-minded to who Jesus was, until I showed him John 1:1 & 14. He was blown away and wants to read the New Testament to see what Jesus says about Himself. Praise God that He is doing so much work in the lives of people, that I don't or could never see it all.
Well, it is late and I have to come up with a new message tomorrow, so good night for now.

Jesus Saves, Lives, Loves & Gives - For His Glory.
For His Glory.
Dwight