We are going to continue our study on the Aleph Tav. If you are new here, I recommend reading through the very first post on this subject called, Jesus is the Aleph Tav. It will give you a great foundation for all the other posts in this series. 

We started this series on the myths of prayer and myths regarding prayer. Last week, we learned who Elijah and Jezebel were. Today, we are going to conclude this part of the study and discover what happened when Elijah prayed. 

God had enough

After all the destruction Jezebel caused in the land of Israel,it seems that God finally had enough. God sent a man who would not be controlled by Jezebel. We are told that Elijah wasn’t the only righteous person living in Israel. There were 100 others that were hidden in caves during this time period. 

The Showdown

Let’s read a showdown that happened between the one true God, and the false gods, Baal and Ashtoreth. 

“So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. 

Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.

” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 

And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention. 

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,” and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. 

And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water. 

And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” 

And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.” 1 Kings‬ ‭18‬:‭20‬-‭40‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

It’s Time

It was time for the people of God to make a decision. Were they going to continue to be God’s people or not? To help the people make their decision he gave a challenge. The god who could send down fire from heaven was the true god. 

Try as they may, the prophets of Baal and Astoreth couldn’t get them to respond. They prayed and prayed for hours and hours and hours. It must have become comical because Elijah starts saying things like, “Maybe he’s on the toilet, or on a trip. Yell louder. Maybe he will hear you then.” 

Praying to an idol will never result in good fruit. 

Then it was Elijah’s turn. He could have just walked up and said, “God, show these people you are the true God and send fire down.” Fire would have come, and that would have been amazing in and of itself. 

As God likes to do, he directed Elijah to soak the offering and the altar until water was running down into the trenches. 

I find it interesting that Elijah took 4 jars and filled them 3 times. I was telling a friend earlier this week that I found that interesting and he pointed out that 4 in the Hebrew alphabet represents a door. 3 of course is representative of the Trinity. It’s as if Elijah was opening the door for the people to experience the Trinity for themselves. 

Then Elijah prays and instantly fire comes down and consumes the water and offering. Elijah had spent enough time with the Lord to know what the heart and will of the Lord was. Then he prayed the Lord’s will and instantly saw the answer to his prayer. 

Praying Effectively

This is what we need to emulate. We need to be spending so much time with the Lord that it becomes easy to know how to pray to see our prayers answered. How do we do this?

1. We make time everyday to spend with the Lord in prayer and in his Word. How can we know who God is if we never read his word or spend time in prayer with him? I personally find myself praying all day. Someone will come to my mind and I will ask the Lord to work in their life. I wonder something and ask the Lord what he thinks about that subject. I practice listening to the voice of God all day everyday so that when he spontaneously says, “Go here.” or “Do this.” I am more certain that this is from him. This is not to say I don’t still question from time to time. If I am not thinking about something to do and suddenly I get this idea to do it, I will check with the Lord to see if this is from him. I trust that when I ask him a question and a thought pops in related to my question, it is his voice. After all, when my kids ask me a question I answer them right away. They may have to wait a minute for me to be able to listen, but they do get a quick answer from me. How much more will our Heavenly Father want to answer us when we ask a question. The good news is we don’t have to wait in line for an answer. He can hear and respond to everyone on the planet at the same time. 
2. If you want to see prayers answered, pray the scripture over your life. Learn to take a hold of what scripture says about you and your situation and declare it. The Word of God is powerful and effective in battling the lies that want to enter into our hearts. Take a hold of that sword and slice through the lies, and allow the truth of what God says to grow and mature in your heart and mind. 

3. Pray with other, more mature believers. Learn to be still and listen. When we spend time in prayer with other believers, we get to glean off what others have learned about prayer. We get to hear different ways others relate to God. It’s like learning how to have a great marriage from couples who have a successful marriage. People who spend a lot of time in prayer have learned things. They can and will teach you those lessons if you just ask. 

Aleph Tav

I’m not going to go through every verse that has the aleph tav in it. I’m going to pick out a few that the Lord highlighted to me and then we can talk about what we can learn. 

“Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other (Aleph tav) bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it.” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭18‬:‭23‬ (‭ESV) (words in parenthesis mine)‬‬

Elijah was about to use the strength of the covenant aka the sacrifice of the bull to show which god held real power. The bull was sacrificed as a sin offering. Elijah was using the bull as a  tool to show both God and the people that repentance is needed to come into fellowship with the one true God. 

“And they took the (Aleph tav) bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭18‬:‭26‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬ (words in parenthesis mine)‬‬

The false prophets of Baal took the same animal, the animal that represents repentance, to attempt to show the people that Baal was a real god. However, the strength of the covenant is not in falsehood. Fire never came down because there was no strength. There was no covenant. 

 “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned (Aleph tav) their hearts back.”” 1 Kings‬ ‭18‬:‭37‬ ‭(ESV) (words in parenthesis mine)‬‬‬‬

Elijah then prays and part of his prayer is that through the strength of the covenant that the hearts of the people would turn back to the one true God. 

“Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed (Aleph tav) the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭18‬:‭38‬ (‭ESV) (words in parenthesis mine)‬‬‬‬

And because of the covenant and the strength that it holds, fire came down. 

Closing

Through the strength of the covenant, fire came from heaven to show the people there that there is one God and his name is Yahweh. 

Fire often represents the Holy Spirit. It’s as if the Holy Spirit came down with fury to show and remind the people who he is. We, as followers of Christ, can live in the strength and power of the covenant of the blood of Jesus. We can have the fire of the Holy Spirit flow through us to do all that the Lord wants to do. It is through prayer and intimacy with the Lord that we can live a life of power and fire. 

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