Holy Fire

2 Kings 1
The Lord 's Judgment on Ahaziah
1 After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel. 2 Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury."

3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?' 4 Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!' " So Elijah went.

5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, "Why have you come back?"

6 "A man came to meet us," they replied. "And he said to us, 'Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, "This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending men to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!" ' "

7 The king asked them, "What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?"

8 They replied, "He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist."
The king said, "That was Elijah the Tishbite."

9 Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!' "

10 Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

11 At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down at once!' "

12 "If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

13 So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged, "please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! 14 See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"

15 The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.

16 He told the king, "This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!" 17 So he died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken.
Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram [a] succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 18 As for all the other events of Ahaziah's reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?


Ahaziah is the son of Ahab. Ahab has just been killed in battle so Ahaziah has decided he will stay home where it's safe. He falls through the lattice of his upper room and injured himself. Sometimes the safest place is not in the safest place. Sometimes the safest place is being in the center of God's will. Ahaziah sends men to the prophets of Baal. The same prophets that just a few chapters back were unable to make their gods create fire.

His men were met by Elijah who told them to go back and tell their king that he is going to die.

The king sends three groups of soldiers to Elijah and the first two die because Elijah calls fire down on them and they are consumed. The third group asks Elijah to spare them and the Lord tells him to go with this group and he goes and tells this guy who despite all that has just happened with is dad, still when he needs help, calls on baal.

How can this be important to our lives?

Contrast this with what Jesus says in Luke 9

51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”[e]
55 But He turned and rebuked them,[f] and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”[g] And they went to another village.


Jewish kids were schooled in religion from the start and there were three basic stages. Bet Seder, Bet Midrash, and Bet Talmud

If you passed the first stage (which consisted of memorization of the Torah) you could move on to the next. which meant memorizing the entire Tanach. (acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Tanakh's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching," also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings") - hence TaNaKh. The elements of the Tanakh are incorporated in various forms in Christian Bibles, where, with some variations, it is called the "Old Testament.") If you didn't make it any further you would go home and learn whatever work your family did.

If you made it through the second stage you would apply to train under a rabbi or you would be invited. If chosen you would then become a "follower" of that rabbi,

They would want to know what the teacher knows, do what the teacher does, become like the teacher. There was a saying "May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi" In other words, you would be following your teacher around all day and so closely that you would be covered in the dust from his sandals.

When you think of the disciples you think of fisherman. Chances are the disciples were the ones who did not move on - not the best students. Jesus CHOSE them and they left their nets and followed him. They were the b team and they changed the course of history.

What wonderful pictures for us. First of all - when we look at the disciples and how they were not the "A" students and how they were still able to change the world because they followed the greatest rabbi - who is also our rabbi!

In Luke when the disciples ask Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven just as Elijah did, it' s obvious that they knew their bible. They just didn't quite get Jesus. The next time we are wanting to call down fire from heaven on someone we think is deserving of it - we can remember this picture and rejoice in the fact that Jesus came to save us. We can also pray that we would be following Him so closely that we would just be covered up in the dust of His sandals. We can pray that holy fire from heaven might rain down on us and consume the flesh and let Jesus light shine through. Amen?

Ya'll come on over!

I have finally posted on my new blogsite! Ya'll come on over and be a part of it.

http://ourgodisaconsumingfire.blogspot.com/

The time has come to journey back.....

TO NARNIA!!!! I love that part of the movie trailer! We're going to the 1 O'clock showing tomorrow! I can't wait!!!

Prayer Request

Dale's sister is in the hospital in Shreveport and they ran tests today. Hopefully we will have results tomorrow but they think she is having mini-strokes. Even if things are ok for now Dale and I may make a day trip Saturday and go spend a little time with her. We would ask for your prayers for her.

Answered Prayers

God is good!

I told you guys about my buddy at work, Daniel, who told me he was an atheist. After last nights Bible study, and the AWESOME discussion, specifically Matthew 28:19 (Make disciples) and James 1:22 (Be doers of the word), I decided to make a specific prayer to the LORD this morning on the way to work, that He would make a way somehow to open a door to talk about God/Jesus with Daniel, to bring it up in the conversation, because I am not one to just start talking about things like that cold.

And the LORD is faithful - HE did just that!! It blew me out of the water as it happened - Daniel and I talked about what he thought Christianity was, and what it really is as I see from the Bible. Our talk paves the way for further discussions down the road - where it leads ultimately I don't know, but all I do know is that the LORD is awesome. I just wanted to share that with you all. Keep praying for Colby also - that he would come to know how lost he is, how much he needs a Savior, how much GOD loves him. Pray that the LORD would bring him to salvation through Jesus Christ.

GOD is so faithful. Praise HIS holy name. Praise HIM in the morning, in the evening, all day long!

(If you can't tell I am like totally flying right now! I want to go out and preach Jesus to everyone I see)

This has me worried!

When the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory starts saying that its okay to believe in aliens and that the big bang theory is the only logical explanation for the earth's creation, we need to start looking towards the sky and preparing ourselves for the ultimate vacation.

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer Tue May 13, 4:07 PM ET

VATICAN CITY - Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. "How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.
The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang Theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter. But he said he continues to believe that "God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance."

Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has "caused wounds."

In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.
"The church has somehow recognized its mistakes," he said. "Maybe it could have done it better, but now it's time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration."

Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."

The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world's best.

The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.
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Early Morning Reflection

I want to let all of you know how grateful I have been for being involved with this little Sunday evening service. I truly believe that God brings things into out lives for a season and for a reason.

As I sat and listened to a lesson about Elijah and how he got all whiny and wimpy about his faith even after he had just witnessed God's mighty power first hand, I thought, how like that I have been. Dale had just walked through the valley of the shadow of death once again and come out the other side and instead of me being the picture of the strong woman of faith that I like to think I am - I was, like Elijah, ready to go to a cave. Dale wasn't doing so hot either. I'm not talking physical - we were tired and pouty and not very nice to each other.

Like Elijah - we needed a nap and God sent us rest. Not a real nap - we had plenty of rest and too much time looking inward. We were tired in our souls. God sent us rest and renewal in the form of a small group of people who were serving the Lord and that group has been all of you. Through involvement with the Live at 5:55 service the Lord has been walking us through some things and He has done it through you all. Dale is even getting up and singing again and it seems like just a few short weeks ago he barely had the energy to walk in and sit through the service.

Like Elijah, we needed angels to feed us and the food we needed was the joy of the Lord and we have been ministered to. As Elijah was on the mountain looking for the Lord in wind and fire - a small still voice was where he found Him.

If you ever doubt that the Lord does things through you - remember that you were angels and small whispers of God for us. Sometimes God uses us to reach many but sometimes He uses us to reach two, and from what I hear - the Angels in heaven rejoice either way.

Prayer Request

I told you all about Dale's nephew Sage, who has had a bone marrow transplant. He is still on the unit and his Dad's name is Gary. I just got an update and wanted to share it with all of you.

"We were able to have a telephone visit with Gary today. He said that he'd been sick and is recovering from a virus or the flu. Of course, he's been "banned" from the BTU and has been able to visit Sage only by phone for several days. However, Sage continues to progress in a mostly forward manner. Gary said that there had been an issue with his kidneys a week or so ago, but about 12 hours after the doctors took him off all his medications, things began to improve. He's now eating solid food....a great step forward. Bless his heart....he's been in the unit for about 12 weeks now. Please keep praying."

Thanks for your prayers and please keep them coming!

Bible Quiz

Billie sent me a link to a Bible quiz. It's ten multiple choice questions and it's different every time you go there. I put the link in the sidebar under bible study. Thanks Billie!

What An Incredible Thing...

....to be able to spend an evening worshiping our Lord with friends, singing praises to the Father, listening to awesome testimony, and sharing very personal concerns with everyone. I mean, last night was awesome, in the true sense of the word. And the Tuesday night Bible study - I've always enjoyed studying the Word, but Tuesday night is even better than that - the fellowship, the, uh.. humor even when I don't sit next to Shawn, being part of a group of fellow believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, and all that. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for letting me be a part of that - both Sunday nights and Tuesdays. And a huge thanks especially to Marc for being the catalyst that got it all started - you have no idea just how much I appreciate what you've done. My relationship with Jesus has been strengthened, and because of this group's encouragement and your prayers, I've been stepping out in faith more and more. Just a few MONTHS ago, I would never have even considered thinking about maybe even a little bit doing any teaching of any kind - teaching adults is a far cry from teaching kids in Sunday school! And then here I am, doing the very thing I would never have even thought of. God is awesome!!

So I just wanted to say thanks guys for letting me be a part of this fantastic little group we've got going on here. And thanks for your prayers for Colby - God has been laying him on my heart for some time now, and I really am deeply thankful for your prayer for him last night. I plan on praying each and every day for him - just like the persistant widow in Jesus' parable! I hope that God gets so annoyed from hearing me constantly on the matter that He grants my request just to shut me up!! That would be fine with me, ha ha. Anyway, I hope you all have a great week in the Lord - may He bless each and every one of you!