MONDAY, OCTOBER 24
Scripture: 1 Kings 18:1-2

1 Kings 18:1-2 says, “And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, ‘Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.’ So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and there was a severe famine in Samaria.” Everybody knew the famine in Samaria was the result of Elijah’s word. Therefore there was a death sentence on Elijah. But that did not bother God – He commanded Elijah to go where they were trying to kill him and present himself to Ahab. Following such a command took a fair measure of faith. Ahab hated Elijah. He blamed Elijah for the famine and was looking for him to kill him. But God sent Elijah regardless. When we use our faith to restrain evil, we need to know there may be confrontations involved. The question is, are we willing to do the confrontation when the Lord says so? If we are affronted or upset by evil are we willing to wait to confront if the Lord has not yet given the go-ahead? If we are afraid of the consequences are we willing to rise above fear and to confront if the Lord directs? Elijah was. And we need to learn to use our faith on our flesh to embrace God’s timing until we see a burning bush, hear His voice or until an angel taps us on the shoulder. Elijah had to wait a significant amount of time – his confrontation came to pass after 3 ½ years. That length of time appears prophetic when we look to the book of Revelation. Is God preparing us for a 3 ½ year period? We don’t know but we have to walk it out one day at a time using our faith on our flesh to obey.