Letting Go

Some of you may have heard of the song "Nothing I Hold On To" by United Pursuit. It's a great song, with easy to remember words. The bridge of the song is really simple, it just says, "I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open" 

These lyrics remind me of in Genesis, when God told Abraham to go up to the top of Mt. Moriah, and sacrifice his son Isaac. God asked Abraham to do this to test his faith. God had it all planned out ahead of time that a ram would be caught in a bush at just the right time, and an angel showed up to stop him from sacrificing Isaac. But Abraham didn't know all of this up front. 

Mt. Moriah was a few days away. So they packed everything up, the wood, the oil, all the supplies, and they got some of their servants together and they went off on this trip.

When they get near Mt. Moriah, Abraham tells the servants to wait for them while they go and sacrifice. In Genesis 22:6, Abraham says, "I and the boy will go and sacrifice, and we will return to you." 

Check out Abraham's faith here. Even though God told him to sacrifice his son, and he's ready to do it if that's what God wants, Abraham knows that they're coming back. You see a few chapters earlier, God promised that through Abraham's seed (Isaac), God would raise up a nation. Abraham knows that God isn't done with Isaac yet. 

So they are walking up the mountain, and Isaac asks, "Hey dad, where's the sacrifice?" Awkward question at that moment... Well, Isaac.... you're the sacrifice... Probably wouldn't be the most fun trip. But that isn't what Abraham says. In Genesis 22:8, Abraham tells Isaac, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering."

So they went up the mountain, with no offering but Isaac. 

What a picture. Abraham is letting go of everything that he holds dear. Isaac is the son that he was promised in his old age. It isn't like he has a bunch of other kids at home, or can have more kids. Isaac is their only shot. But Abraham walked in obedience.

Is God calling you to let go of some things like He did to Abraham? It would have been really easy for Abraham to get defensive, and say something like, "No, God! Not Isaac! YOU gave me Isaac!"

But Abraham didn't say that. If he had said that, he would have been elevating Isaac higher than God in his heart. 

You see, God wants our hearts to Himself. He'll give us blessings, and He'll put people in our lives that He allows us to share this life with, but ultimately, we are His. We've been bought at the price of the blood of a Lamb. 

All of this was a beautiful picture, because a few thousand years later, God would give His own Son as a sacrifice. God did provide the lamb, not only for Abraham and Isaac, but later for the whole world. Jesus' blood that He shed on the cross, and His death were the payment for our sins. The price that we owed was put on Him. He has purchased us with His blood, and that is why He can ask us to let go of these things.

Ask God today, "Is there anything in my heart that I've put higher than You? What changes do I need to make to keep You as the Lord of my life? Please give me Your Holy Spirit to walk in, so that I will have Your strength to let go of these things, and to follow You will all of my heart. Amen."

How to Start a Revival

Have any of you ever asked God to change the world? I've prayed some big prayers, asking God to bring revival to our nation, but the more I pray those things, the smaller my prayers become. Not smaller in the sense of not asking God to do those big things, but more focused. It went from asking God to bring revival to our nation to asking Him to bring revival in this city, of Wilmington, NC. From there it went to asking for a revival in our church, and eventually, my prayers worked their way down to, "God, bring a revival in me. Revive my heart for You!"

The more that I thought and prayed about this idea of revival, the more I realized that it has to start somewhere. Someone has to be the first one to seek after revival, not in others, but in themselves.

So what is a revival? 

Dictionary.com defines "Revival" as an improvement in the condition or strength of something, or an instance of something becoming popular, active, or important again. 

If we want to see revival in our cities, and in this nation, it has to begin in our own hearts.

We must be the ones to put God back into the place of Lord in our hearts and our lives.

In 1 Kings 18, Israel is completely wrapped up in idolatry. The nation that is supposed to be God's own has turned their backs on Him. There is only a small remnant of people seeking God, and all but one of them are in hiding. All of them but Elijah.

Elijah goes to the King, Ahab, and puts him on the spot for his rebellion against God. It hasn't rained in 3 years, and Elijah puts the blame on Ahab for leading the people away from God.

Elijah challenges Ahab to a duel of the gods. He says, "Hey! Why don't we let what we're worshiping decide for us. They can't both be God." So they set up this contest. 

Two altars

Two sacrifices

No fire.

The 400 prophets of Baal set up their sacrifice, but they aren't allowed to bring fire. They have to ask their god to bring the fire. So they have this whole elaborate worship service to Baal. They're going at it for 3 hours. Nothing happens. 

No fire.

So it's Elijah's turn. He rebuilds an altar to the Lord, and then he makes it interesting. He has some people get water, and pour it all over the sacrifice. The wood is soaked, the animal is soaked, the water even fills a trench around the altar. 

And then Elijah prays. 1 Kings 18:36-37, "And at the time of the offering of oblation, Elijah the prohet came near and said, O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back." 

Simple prayer. Elijah asks God to show up and defend His name. "Show them that You're God!" 

"Show them that You're calling them back to You!" 

Any guesses as to what happened?

Fire.

Fire fell from Heaven, and it consumed the offering, the wood, the stones of the altar, and the water around it. It even burned up the dust!

When the people saw it, they shouted out! "The Lord, He is God!" 

God showed up in a major way, and He defended His name. There was a revival in the nation. But it started with one person. It started with only Elijah. A man willing to take a stand and say "this isn't okay." 

Notice that in 1 Kings 18:30, "Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down." 

For revival to come, the altar had to be rebuilt. It took work. For there to be change in our lives, it takes work. We have to rebuild some things that have been torn down. Maybe it's your devotional life, your prayer life, or your marriage. 

Maybe you're on the other end of the spectrum, and there are some things in your life that need to be torn down...

If that's the case, keep reading 1 Kings 18. In verse 40, Elijah takes the 400 prophets of Baal, and he kills them. 

Maybe you're thinking, "that's a bit harsh!" But think about it. These were men who had led the nation away from God. They needed to not be able to do that again. Deuteronomy even says to kill false prophets who lead people away from God. 

It's a serious thing.

But think about this with me. There might not be 400 prophets following your around every day, pulling you away from God. That would be kind of weird. 

But there might be things in your life that are pulling you away from God. Maybe it's the group of friends you hang out with, or your entertainment choices. 

Just like Elijah did, it's time for us to put those things to death. If we want to see revival begin in our hearts, we need to build up the things of God, and tear down the things of this world.

And watch. When you do that, when you take a stand for Jesus, the world will notice. 

"Lord, let revival come in my heart. Help me to see the things that need to be rebuilt and the things that need to be torn down. Give me the strength by Your Holy Spirit to make these changes, to follow You with everything I have. Help me to live for You, and for You alone. In Jesus' name, amen."

Distracted

In 2 Kings 22, we're told of a king named Josiah. Throughout 1-2 Kings, we're told of different kings of Israel and Judah. Some of them walked with God, more often than not they "did what was evil in the sight of the Lord." Josiah was in the minority. He was one of the few kings who followed the Lord. In 2 Kings 22:2, it says that He didn't only follow the Lord, but he didn't turn aside to the right or the left. 

Josiah was committed to the Lord, and he wouldn't let anything turn him from that. He wasn't looking around, he wasn't interested in what the world had to offer. He made up his mind that he was going to follow God. 

The picture of a racehorse comes to my mind. The horses are lined up, waiting for the gate to open, adrenaline is high. The gate drops, and they take off! If you look closely, you'll see that the horses in these races have something called "blinders" on their eyes. These blinders take away their peripheral vision, so that they can only focus in the direction that they are facing. It removes the distractions to help the horses focus on the goal. 

Josiah gave himself mental, and spiritual blinders. He refused to be distracted by other things. He made up his mind that he was going to run as hard as he could towards his goal of pleasing the Lord. 

This world needs more men and women who will follow in Josiah's footsteps. There are so many things in this world that want to take our focus off of God, and onto things that don't matter, things that will pull us away from God. Will you join me in taking a stand against this? Will you join me in setting our eyes on Christ, and refusing to let the things of the flesh steal our hearts? We will see this world changed when God's people devote themselves fully to Him, let's be the generation that makes the change, that refuses to follow. We're a generation of rebels, refusing to follow standards that have been set. Let's refuse to follow the standard of this world, and be driven towards our goal of following Jesus. 

Paul said it this way in Philippians 3:13-14, "brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Voices

In the book of 1 Kings, we meet a guy named Ahab. Maybe you've heard of him. Ahab was the king of Israel, and he was a wicked king. (1 Kings 16:30)  He didn't follow God. In the 7 chapters that his story is recounted in, a few people come along and try to tell him to do the right thing. However, in 1 Kings 22, two men stand for God, and ask him to do the same.

1 Kings 22:5 "and Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Inquire first for the word of the LORD."

Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, and he's asking Ahab to go to war with him. Ahab agrees without hesitation, but Jehoshaphat says, "hold on a second. Let's see what God says first."

Through the course of events, Micaiah the prophet is brought to Ahab.

1 Kings 22:14 "But Micaiah said, "as the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak."

Micaiah was being pressured to say what the king wanted to hear, just like all of the other "prophets" But Micaiah understood something. He didn't have to worry about what the other prophets thought. He didn't have to worry about what the king thought. Micaiah was only concerned with what the LORD thought of him.

He knew where God stood, and he wasn't moving from there.

Micaiah prophecies that Ahab will be killed in battle, and later in the chapter that happens. It's sad when you look at all of the opportunities that Ahab had to turn back to God, to live a different life, and to leave a different legacy.

Just like Ahab, we have voices in our lives. Some of them want to push us toward the world. They say the things that sound good, but aren't what God has. We need to learn to distinguish between the voices, and hear the voice of the God who leads us.

Be careful what voices you listen to. What are they leading you toward? Are they bringing you closer to God, or are they leading you farther into sin? Just like Ahab, a big part of the legacy that you leave is dependent upon the voices that you listen to.