- Jan 14, 2015
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The ministry of Elijah is arguably the most powerful and successful of all the OT prophets and encompassed a wide area of service - heavenly messenger, royal counselor, teacher, military adviser, etc. Though broad in its scope, the inspired words of God in Luke 1:17 sum up his entire body of work into two main themes - Revival and Reformation:
The church today is filled with lost souls who profess faith in Christ but know nothing of the Spirit and power of God. By their false ideas of what constitutes love and compassion - which is nothing more than empty saccharine sentimentalism - they self deceive. These are the Ahabs of our day.
When confronted with the Elijah message to "prepare the way" in their hearts for the Lord, and to manifest "fruits meet of repentance", they angrily and indignantly retort, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" Their consciences aroused from the blissful slumber of willful ignorance, their false sense of peace and security robbed of them, they accuse the messenger of hate, of sewing discord among the brethren, of causing derision, of fomenting insurrection against God. They will not tolerate the Elijahs of our day or their message. In short, they want nothing to do with the Spirit and power of God.
Our greatest enemies will not be from without, but from within the church, and we must gather strength from their weakness, warmth from their cold, courage from their cowardice. Only by this will the message of Elijah go forth "before the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
"And he (John the Baptist) shall go before Him in the SPIRIT AND POWER of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
This same Spirit, prophesied to be at work in the midst of God's people just before the First Advent of Christ, was also prophesied to do the same just before the Second Advent of Christ. Says Malachi 4:5-6:"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and DREADFUL DAY of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
The church today is filled with lost souls who profess faith in Christ but know nothing of the Spirit and power of God. By their false ideas of what constitutes love and compassion - which is nothing more than empty saccharine sentimentalism - they self deceive. These are the Ahabs of our day.
When confronted with the Elijah message to "prepare the way" in their hearts for the Lord, and to manifest "fruits meet of repentance", they angrily and indignantly retort, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" Their consciences aroused from the blissful slumber of willful ignorance, their false sense of peace and security robbed of them, they accuse the messenger of hate, of sewing discord among the brethren, of causing derision, of fomenting insurrection against God. They will not tolerate the Elijahs of our day or their message. In short, they want nothing to do with the Spirit and power of God.
Our greatest enemies will not be from without, but from within the church, and we must gather strength from their weakness, warmth from their cold, courage from their cowardice. Only by this will the message of Elijah go forth "before the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
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