Fire on my altar
The Contest on Mount Carmel
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. [1 Kings 18 : 22 - 24]
One of the funniest Bible stories I have come across is the contest at Mount Carmel as brought to life in the book of 1 Kings 18. In this rib cracking yet equally terrifying saga, the prophet Elijah at the bidding of the Lord brazenly challenges the prophets of Baal.
I suppose the tone of the whole episode is set right at the start of the chapter when Obadiah, walking along on his own merry way and enjoying a healthy dose of MYOB (also known as mind your own business), suddenly sees Elijah coming towards him. Spotting him, Elijah bids him to go and tell his master King Ahab that “Elijah is here.” Now Obadiah, highly conscious that Ahab has scoured the earth looking for Elijah to no avail, is petrified to follow his command. He would rather not obey on the off chance that as soon as he leaves Elijah, the Spirit of the Lord will carry him away to who knows where. What follows next is a series of grovelling and hmm’ing and humm’ing - basically Obadiah would have preferred to cut off his arm in that moment than do what was asked of him. In all fairness, the second Ahab spots Elijah he exclaims, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?” Obadiah can be forgiven for his obvious reluctance.
Boldly Elijah responds to Ahab : “I have made no trouble for Israel. You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshipped 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.” [1 Kings 18 : 18 -19].
Thus ensues an epic showdown between hundreds of false prophets and Elijah, the only remaining prophet of the one true living God. The witch Jezebel had by this point hunted down all the prophets of God. Scripture entertainingly tells us of the fate that befell these counterfeits.
“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 - 28].
Having by now given them sufficient time to disgrace and maim themselves in equal measure, Elijah repairs the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. He rebuilds the altar in the name of the Lord, using twelve stones to represent the tribes of Israel. He digs a three-gallon-deep trench around the altar, places a bull on top of it and directs the people to drench the altar and everything on and around it in water - they do this three times! We are told the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench. At the usual time for the evening sacrifice, our esteemed ever-charismatic prophet walks confidently up to the altar and prays, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”
Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!” [ 1 Kings 18 : 36 to 38].
Daughters of Zion, are you picturing this incredible scene? Truth be told, it reads like a script out of a Nollywood movie! Imagine the boldness, the level of faith Elijah had to have had to carry his own two legs to Ahab, speak insults to the fake prophets and Baal by his own mouth, to call fearlessly upon the God of Israel. Imagine the confidence he had to have had that God would hear him and not disgrace him? That God would preserve His reputation, for His name was at stake?!
You too can walk in this same authority! Now that you have paid heed to our Father’s instructions and built Him an altar. Now that you have faithfully began to clear the ashes from your altar. Now that you have understood that the place of prayer is a place of travail; that the Kingdom of God suffereth violence and only the violent take it by force. Now that you have received this divine revelation, I ask you, who is it that lights up and burns your altar? Who fans its embers to cackling flames? Whose flames is it that scourge the earth around it, the wood, the stones, the dust, licking up even the soaking despair in which the enemy has attempted to drench your prayers? Yahweh is His name, the Lord of heaven’s armies. Mighty warrior, God of vengeance, the I AM the I AM.
So I urge you today, pick up the wood, set it ready to light up your fire. Place it upon the altar that you have raised in the name of the one true living God. Strike up a match with the spark of prayer, see if He will not fan it to flame. As you press in, push and keep pushing. PRAY UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENS. Give the Lord no rest until you see the fulfilment of His promises. Do not despair. Do not wonder what is happening, that is not your business! In the realm of the spirit a great war is being waged - focus on your part, let God do the rest! Like King David in days of yore, look up to the heavens and call upon the name of God. Ask Him to send His consuming fire from heaven to burn up the offering of prayer placed upon your altar. Ask by faith, ask with authority, ask fully expecting to see the results. Knowing our Father, standing on His promises, in the order of the Prophet Elijah, He will surely send a firestorm from the very heavens to ignite your altar. So hot will be the sea of flames, so scorching, so searing that demons will tremble and flee as you call on the name of Jesus.
I feel led to address those that are dealing with generational curses and wicked altars. I hear the spirit of the Lord say, intentionality is everything. Where wicked altars have been raised by generations past and present, they must be broken. Where that altar went up, the altar of the Lord was compromised in the process. Like the prophet Elijah, speak restoration : repair that which was torn down and decree and declare that you are raising this altar in the name of the Lord, Yahweh.
Even as I write this I feel a spark in my spirit. It is the glare of righteous indignation, that Holy anger. Suddenly I find myself speaking in tongues as I fan the flames on my altar to life! I pray this lights up the fire on yours as we continue to move in our mantle of authority as Kingdom women.
Stay blessed.