If we obey the Word of God, what we have will not run dry until God fulfills every promise. There is a great responsibility on us to obey God; our obedience will affect unbelievers. If we as individuals, and collectively as the Church, are disobedient as King Ahab was in 1 Kings 16:33, then God's anger is roused. We are called to be 'salt and light'. Salt is a purifer and preserver; if the salt loses it's saltiness, it is of no use anymore. There is a danger today that the Church is abandoning the commands of the Lord to adjust to society; I cannot overemphasise this need to obey God's Word.
Let’s look at the story of Elijah when he called down Fire from Heaven. Although I would normally focus on the Fire that fell, I want to first look at 1 Kings 17:1. Because of the wickedness and idolatry of King Ahab, Elijah says to him, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, the rain and the dew will be stopped and there will be no more – until I give the word!” From that moment there was a drought – but what happens to Elijah? God commands him to go to the brook by the Jordan, “You will drink there, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you.” The ravens literally brought bread and meat for Elijah! But then of course, because of the drought, the brook dries up…
What’s Elijah to do now? God told him, “Go to a widow woman by Sidon, and she will take care of you.” So Elijah went. When he saw the widow, he said, “Fetch me some water, and bring me a morsel of bread.” She replied, “You know there’s a famine, there’s no water, the crops won’t grow, and all I have left is a tiny bit of flour and a little oil. I’m just getting some wood to make a fire and bake the cake, then I and my son will eat it and die.” Elijah said, “Don’t be afraid, make that bread for me, and then God will provide for you and your son until the day He sends rain on the earth again.” She did exactly as Elijah said, and from that moment onwards, the barrel of flour was never empty and the oil never ran dry.
This as an illustration of the Power of God when we trust Him! Our physical needs, the food, and the anointing which the oil symbolises, will never fail, though the rest of the world may be in chaos! There can be drought and famine – but God literally fulfilled His Promise to the widow! The cruse of oil and the barrel of flour never failed throughout all that time, until the rain fell again. But don’t think yet of the Fire that was to fall on Mount Carmel. Before Elijah could get there, the widow’s son is taken sick and then she thinks God is punishing her for some old sin... And he dies! But Elijah takes the boy, lays him on his own bed, stretches himself out on him three times – and the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the child lived again!
So far we have four miracles: 1. Because of Ahab’s sin, Elijah has the authority to command the rain to cease and it stopped. 2. God commanded the ravens to feed him. 3. When the brook dried up, God commanded him to go to the widow, she fed Elijah, and as a result, she and her son were able to live from the miraculous flour and oil which never ran dry! This is so strongly prophetic of God’s blessing in your life and mine. When we trust God, our bread and our water, the basic necessities, everything we need for life, will always be there. The Power and the Anointing of the Holy Spirit will never run dry. It doesn’t matter how much I use the Holy Spirit, how much I pray, how many miracles I see, that precious cruse of oil of the Holy Spirit will never, ever run out. God’s supply is inexhaustible. I KNOW that! I have no fear of the future. I have no fear that the miracles of the past will diminish and go away. No, the miracles I see in my life get stronger and stronger all the time. And lastly, 4. We have the miracle of the boy brought back to life!
It’s with this background that in 1 Kings 18, after three years of drought and famine, the Lord again speaks to Elijah, “Now go and show yourself to Ahab, and I’ll send rain on the earth.” This is so interesting! Elijah now knows rain will come, but the precise moment hasn’t yet been revealed. Other things still have to happen first. Elijah meets with Ahab’s servant who’s out searching the land to see if there is any water anywhere or any grass to keep at least some of the animals alive. Elijah tells him to inform Ahab of his presence in the land. But Obadiah is afraid that the Spirit of the Lord may carry Elijah away again and then Ahab will be so angry, he will kill him! But finally, in v17, Ahab and Elijah meet, and Ahab asks, “Are you he that troubles Israel?” Ahab, that wicked, sinful idolatrous king, is accusing Elijah of being the one who is causing the trouble in Israel – the drought and the famine. Elijah replies, “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals,” (v18).
So now in 1 Kings 18, Elijah calls the prophets and sets up the challenge, let’s see who is the real God! He says, “The God who answers by Fire is the real God!” He let the prophets of Baal go first. They set up the sacrifice, they pray and they cut themselves – but there’s no answer! Elijah mocked them, because he knew that those gods have no life, no power and cannot answer! Then it’s Elijah’s turn. He took the stone, the wood and the sacrifice, and poured twelve barrels of water on until the sacrifice and the wood were soaking wet and the trench around the altar was filled with water… It’s interesting to find where he got the water from! But importantly, here is Elijah, he’s about to call on God for a miracle of Fire, and yet he has done everything to make it impossible to get the answer! And when he begins to pray and call on God, God sends Fire from Heaven – so miraculous, it burnt up the drenched sacrifice, the wood – even the stones – and dried up all the water that was in the trench!