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What on Earth Am I Here For?
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Thursday, September 25, 2003
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, I know that after knowing Your Son, Jesus, as my Lord and Savior, the next most important thing I can do with my life is share the salvation of Jesus with others. I pray for a new anointing of Your Holy Spirit in my life today that I may boldly share the Good News that Jesus died to save each and everyone of us from our sins, and that You raised Him from the dead to demonstrate the power that You alone possess and offer to Your own for today and for eternity. I pray that my life will be a true testimony for others to see and hear, which will draw them to Jesus. Glorify Yourself in my life today and always that I may be a part of the process that leads to Jesus’ final victory and establishment of Himself as the Lord of lords and King of kings. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Verses
2 Kings 1:1-17
1After King Ahab’s death, the nation of Moab declared its independence from Israel. 2One day Israel’s new king, Ahaziah, fell through the latticework of an upper room at his palace in Samaria, and he was seriously injured. So he sent messengers to the temple of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether he would recover. 3But the angel of the LORD told Elijah, who was from Tishbe, “Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Why are you going to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether the king will get well? Is there no God in Israel? 4Now, therefore, this is what the LORD says: You will never leave the bed on which you are lying, but you will surely die.’” So Elijah went to deliver the message. 5When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned so soon?” 6They replied, “A man came up to us and said, ‘Go back to the king and give him this message from the LORD: Why are you sending men to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether you will get well? Is there no God in Israel? Now, since you have done this, you will never leave the bed on which you are lying, but you will surely die.’” 7“Who was this man?” the king demanded. “What did he look like?” 8They replied, “He was a hairy man, and he wore a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah from Tishbe!” the king exclaimed. 9Then he sent an army captain with fifty soldiers to arrest him. They found him sitting on top of a hill. The captain said to him, “Man of God, the king has commanded you to come along with us.” 10But Elijah replied to the captain, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and killed them all. 11So the king sent another captain with fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, the king says that you must come down right away.” 12Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men!” And again the fire of God fell from heaven and killed them all. 13Once more the king sent a captain with fifty men. But this time the captain fell to his knees before Elijah. He pleaded with him, “O man of God, please spare my life and the lives of these, your fifty servants. 14See how the fire from heaven has destroyed the first two groups. But now please spare my life!” 15Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Don’t be afraid. Go with him.” So Elijah got up and went to the king. 16And Elijah said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: Why did you send messengers to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether you will get well? Is there no God in Israel? Now, since you have done this, you will never leave the bed on which you are lying, but you will surely die.” 17So Ahaziah died, just as the LORD had promised through Elijah.
Reflecting on Evangelism
What does our putting God first in every area of life have to do with evangelism, and the credibility of our witness to others?
Exploring Evangelism
What did Ahaziah do wrong that caused Elijah to get involved in the situtation?
What would Elijah’s testimony to Ahaziah have done to the understanding of those closest to him, that God is in charge, when Elijah’s prophecy came true?
Understanding Evangelism and My Purpose
We usually think of evangelism only in terms of telling someone who doesn’t know about God, the Good News that God loves them and desires an eternal relationship with them. What role does speaking the truth to those who already know the Good News, but are forgetting about it have in the overall effort of evangelism?
How do you define evangelism in your life? What do you do to share the Good News of Jesus with others?
Applying Evangelism to My Daily Life
What can you apply from today’s reading that will make you bolder in sharing the Good News to others?
Elijah and Evangelism!
Elijah’s confronting Ahaziah was not directly an act of evangelism. By definition evangelism is sharing the Good News of Jesus with others, so they have the opportunity to respond to His offer of salvation. Yet, Elijah’s confrontation of an Israelite king for seeking healing or at least answers to his question of whether he would be healed from the gods of Ekron, points out the necessity of our refuting error as we share God’s truth. Elijah recognized that the one, true God will not tolerate being one among many gods, or even the first among “equals.” There is only one God in heaven, and Elijah had seen that demonstrated in so many ways throughout his life, that he could not permit King Ahaziah to trivialize this reality by seeking answers from idols. The story ends unhappily for Ahaziah—since he didn’t trust the living God, he ended up dying. The story ends up the same for anyone who doesn’t trust the living God—we die and are separated from God forever. While each of us will die, unless Jesus returns in our lifetimes-we don’t have to be separated from God at all! That’s the Good News that folks have shared for the last 2,000 years—Christ Jesus entered the world to rescue sinners! While evangelism is nearly always positive—look what God did for us!--we must also take Elijah’s lead and realize that sometimes evangelism is turning to a person who is off track and saying, “God wants you to trust in Him and Him alone! As we do that, God will use us to bring folks to Him and back to Him. Both ministries are vital to the Kingdom!
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