God. God submits His claims to our intelligent consideration. God proves His right to reign. Men are driven to decision. Josh. 24:15; Matt. 12:30; I Cor. 10:21; I I Cor. 6:14-18. God vindi- cates His faithful servants. The right is not always popular. You can test your God by what He can do for you. If you believe in the Lord God, serve Hkn. Repair the altar which is broken down, let it stand in the midst of a scof- fing, unbelieving world. Wait upon God until the fire falls and the enemies are compelled to acknowledge that the Lord He is God.
had been made. The conditions had been fulfilled. The idolatrous altars had been broken down, the people had confessed their sins and acknowledged Jehovah as their God. There is no use in praying until sin has been acknowl- edged and put away and Christ has been confessed as Lord. Prevailing with God. He went up to Mt. Carmel, a place of retirement and privacy. Matt. 14: 23; Luke 6:12; Eev. 10:9. He cast him- self down in humility and reverence. He prayed in faith: " Go up and look.'' He rested on the promise of God. Persistence in Prayer. The servant brought no good news. Go back again. "Delays are not de- nials." Six times the servant goes and brings no answer. The seventh time a little cloud appears; the prayer is an- swered. We must not weary in our prayers. The walls of Jericho were compassed seven days before thqy fell. Josh. 6:15-20. Naaman was" cleansed after he had washed seven times. Jacob continued until God answered his pray- er with blessing. The rain which Eli- jah prayed for a type of the Holy Spirit, without which the heart of man is barren. Isa. 32:15. Water refreshes, purifies, vitalizes. As the dew and rain falls upon the parched ground and re- freshes the earth, so the Holy Spirit fell upon the early church and filled the waiting souls with heavenly blesing. Ac's 2:3, 4. 17, 32. The coming of spir- itual blessing is heard first by those who are in communion with God. The little cloud is but a forerunner of the overcast heavens and the abundant rain.
LESSON XYII. Sunday, October 23d, 1910.
Elijah at Prayer. I Kings 18:42-46.
What a vivid contrast between Eli- jah in this picture and the last. In the former he is like our Lord with the whip driving out the money changers. Here he is like the Lord in His inter- cessory prayer. The apostle James views Elijah as a man of prayer. James 5:17, 18, and as such holds him up as an example. He was a man of like pas- sions; we are not to think of him as some great hero, living in a different sphere, but just a man subject to all temptations like ourselves. The Promise. Elijah had said rain could only be given upon his word. Chap. 17:1. Now he tells Ahab that there is the sound of abundance of rain, verse 41. This he hears with the ear of faith, for as yet there is no sign to eye or ear. The Preliminary Work. Preparation for the coming showers
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker