December 17, 2003 Wednesday
Sacrificed and Consumed

"The fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench." - 1 Kings 18:38

You declare that you've sacrificed and given it all to Him, but have you contemplated what happens when a sacrifice has been genuinely approved of and received by God Almighty? As Elijah stood at the showdown of the gods, in the midst of a people professing faith, but denying the power thereof, he knew there was a very simple method of proving the reality of his personal relationship with the only true living God....a simple, yet true sacrifice. So simple, yet genuine, is the sacrifice He desires that Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Yet as simple as it is to lay it all before Him, Oh how we allow the residue within us to completely corrupt the sacrifice. We are quick to speak profound, heavy words of our passion and unbending commitment to the Lord, yet we aren't usually offering much more than a kiss of deceit when uttering these things, and the proof lies in the residue itself. Almost more incredible than witnessing the fire of the Lord utterly consuming the sacrifice was the consummation of "the wood, and the stones, and the dust"....everything surrounding the sacrifice itself, even "the water that was in the trench." Through our own sinful lusts and ambitions we've inflicted are souls deeper than we could ever dig ourselves out of, but don't doubt for a moment the power of His fire in your life because when you finally allow Him to fall on you even the deepest waters of sin, which have filled the deepest trenches in your life, will be totally dried out and filled with His presence. When Jesus Christ has finally become the consuming fire of our life there will be nothing left to see within our lives except Him, and Him alone. We will then understand what life Paul spoke of when he said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ". (Galatians 2:20) Everyone around Elijah knew without a doubt that he had been absolutely consumed by God as "the fire of the LORD fell...and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God." (1 Kings 18:38,39) Have you been utterly consumed by God to such extreme measures that people around you are forced to say, "Jesus Christ is the Master of his life?"

Locked up in me,
is a bitter spring from the enemy.

I've allowed it to consume my passions,
when Christ alone should be my possession.

For this, O God, I plead for Your mighty hand,
to guide me to a faithful, everlasting, blood-bought stand.