Girls Gone Bible - Your Heart Is Divided… That's Why You're Struggling | Girls Gone Bible

Episode Date: July 17, 2026

hi GGB:) Today's episode is all about what happens when your heart is divided between what God is asking of you and what your flesh still wants to hold onto. This conversation is a reminder that peace often comes when we stop trying to live in two directions at once. God is not asking for a perfect heart, but He is asking for a surrendered one. We love you so much. Jesus loves you more. ORDER OUR BOOK! Order our new book, Out of the Wilderness: 31 Devotions to Walk with God Through Your Hardest Seasons: https://www.girlsgonebible.com/book JOIN US ON GGB+ 🥹❤ https://ggb.supportingcast.fm COME SEE US ON TOUR! Tickets are on sale now: https://www.GirlsGoneBible.com/tour ARI IS WEARING: Chloe Huggies: https://godsfavorite.co/products/chloe-huggies Chloe Cross Necklace: https://godsfavorite.co/products/chloe-cross-necklace THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS! Glorify — Get full access for $29.99 for the year at: https://Glorify-App.com/GGB Quo — Try Quo free and get 20% off your first six months at: https://Quo.com/GGB Mint Mobile — Get premium wireless for $15 a month at: https://MintMobile.com/GGB Forkful Meals — Get 50% off your first order today at: https://ForkfulMeals.com/GGB BetterHelp — Get 10% off your first month at: https://BetterHelp.com/GirlsGoneBible Grand Canyon University — Learn more at: https://GCU.edu

My smoothie matches my outfit. Your smoothie is demonic. Okay. I can't with these yoga pose and these yoga, these ball symbols. Freaking ball. These ball symbols. Or we can make it like the heart is the heart of Jesus. The peace sign is Prince of Peace.

Jesus. The girl with her hands above her head doing like some weird signal to the sun. We should, we should. Oh, I want to put on my necklace over. What necklace? So this beautiful GGB girl has this incredible company. Yeah, what's her name? This girl has this beautiful company called God's Favorite Shop,

and it's the most beautiful, beautiful jewelry. I want one. Look at this necklace. That's a beautiful. Oh my gosh. I'm obsessed, and then I have the earrings, and there's like a little cross-plated in. That's so cute.

It's amazing. I'll put it in the link for you guys. I'll order you one inch. Thanks, buddy. For my birthday, I'm turning 22. I know. I can't think I'm only a year older than you. I know.

Seriously. You haven't even hit 25 yet. Can you believe it? Well, it makes sense. We're pretty much chaffir-right. Well, our frontal lobes haven't developed. That makes sense. Look at this.

No, it's actually gorgeous. Yeah. Yeah, it really is. Oh my gosh, I want one. Oh, hey guys, I'm Ange. Sorry, you're ready for time. And I'm Ariel. You're going, yeah. And this is Girls Gone Bible. We are a faith-based podcast where we talk all things, spirituality, mental health, the Bible, relationships, sometimes. And we love Jesus so much. We read the Word of God every single day. To be a true follower of Jesus means that the Bible has the authority. to dictate your life. We talked about that last episode and we're going to read a lot of the Bible today. But before, we have so much to talk about. I need to get this blue eyeliner. It literally makes your eyes pop. Thank you. Do you think it would be good on a, yeah, we have brown eyes.

Do you want to try it on camera? Maybe I'll, maybe I'll try it like. Later. You know, I already had a nightmare of the eyebrow situation. It didn't even look bad. When it came to my complete, computer it didn't. Give me my brush book. Tell them the truth. This is my brush. Do you want it? I'll give it to. I don't know where your brush probably is.

It's probably in the big basket in your living room. Maybe. Maybe. What do we have to tell? Okay, listen. First of all, let's hide the, we're talking about idolization. No, Ari, we've got yoga poses. It's okay.

She's praying. I don't like it. I consecrate this unto the Lord by the blood of the lamb and the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. Anything divaned gone. I absolutely love yoga. I love hot yoga. Really? I love it.

I love stretching my body. I wish I could use some stretching. It's, I just love it. We should be stretching. You know, at 25. At 25. Your body gets a little tight. Yeah.

And, no, stretching keeps you young. Keep your body young. I know. Oh, and I haven't stretched it in 15 years. So, 15? Like a long time. Okay, what do we have to tell the people? Okay, oh, this is good.

What's your coffee order? Thank you for asking. Iced almond milk latte, unsweetened almond milk with honey and cinnamon. What about you? I'll tell you. Iced oat milk latte with... No. Oh, iced whole milk latte.

Ice 2% latte. No. Ice vanilla latte. I know. I was going to say. vanilla but what milk oh do you think i was going to say oh but oh see okay well yeah seed oils on the oat milk so we can't do that anymore that's a big cancer no no anyways so ari and i a little announcement i don't even know if we can tell you guys this but we're going to tell you arie and i are

writing a book and that's all we'll say and it is not like our devotional it's something completely different and it's something that we're so proud of. It's something that we, I hate teasing stuff, whatever. We have something really, really exciting for GGB and hopefully the rest of the world. And I think you guys are going to really appreciate it. But in the process, you write a book, right? We've been doing this for over a year now. And we are in the last stages of like, well, excuse me. Did you chase that? You shut up.

It felt like something came up. No, no, you. So we have a manuscript and we're like literally in the final stages and we're with our editor and we're going through edits. And like, Ari and I, we have about 30 minutes of like admin work in us before we're done. We're done. Yeah, before we're like, no, we don't. We're so tired and we want to go do something else. And so Ari and I are on this call with our beautiful.

editor Julie. She's amazing. And she's so, she's just great. I can't explain it. She's amazing. And so we're, the three of us are on a call. Ari turns off her camera eventually. And so I know, okay. And so sometimes when we're doing things together, one of us just picks it up. I can't tell you how often. I'm like, Ari's doing a good job. I'm just going to mute and go off camera and I'm, she's got this, you know? And so Ari turns her camera off. And then so I'm with Julie. And Julie is, she's talking to us, we're going line by line, and then it gets to a point. She asks a question. After she asked a question, I fully leave mentally. I start playing. I didn't notice until I got the footage back. I start playing with my fingernails. I'm looking at my nails. I'm like looking

in. I think I was a Pinterest. Yeah, Ari's gone. I don't even know her. She shut her camera off. I don't even know where she is. But I am on the camera with Julie. And I've fully gone. Julie's staring at me going because she had just asked a question. She's waiting for us to answer. She's waiting for us to answer. We counted 45 seconds later. She goes, so friends, you have any thoughts? And I go, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, we just disassociate.

Like, we don't know this. We don't know her that well to like, you know what I mean? That's so rude. It's so unprofessional. We disassociate. So we'll play the video here because it is pure gold. What do we think in France? Sorry, I think we both just checked out.

Ari, where are you? All right. Oh my gosh. Wait. I was like, wow, they're pondering so deeply. I'm just going to give them the space and time that they need. And actually they're been napping. All right.

That is really bad. Okay. Okay. Whoa. I'm so sorry. Oh, God. No, God. Julie.

Wait. Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. I'm cracking up. Oh, my gosh. I actually have tears drilling. You go? What are we thinking?

I don't know how we've made it this far in our lives. Okay, okay. Okay, I'm so sorry, Julie. Okay, bottom line, get in the word. Get in the word. Okay, bottom line, we want you to read. Get into the word. Okay, we want you to read.

Okay, there we go. Get into the word. We like? Yeah. Okay. Oh, my gosh, I am crying. That's so funny. I'm laughing at myself because I'm like, I'm sorry, Jew.

No, no, I'm like, you're thinking deep thoughts. They're just. So. Oh, man, it was so funny. I don't know how we've gone this far. I really don't. And Julie's just like, and then after that, good luck to us. trying to come back.

I said, Julie, we're just wrapping it up for today. We'll pick it up tomorrow. We've lost it. Once you lose it, you can't come back. What is wrong with us? You would put it by the way. There was so many times where you would come in. You would come in and I know you weren't listening.

And you'd be like, it'd be something random. And you'd go, talk about the Holy Spirit. Add some of the Holy Spirit. Add some reverence. Add some fear of God. I feel like, okay, okay. It was so funny. She didn't know what to do.

And other news, I think I'm going to go see someone. I put my arachnospobia. Oh my gosh. Oh, my gosh. I think there's something wrong. With what? Just like. I don't know if it's normal.

Like, it's like, even like right now, I just like peaked under the table to make sure there's no, like, bugs. And I'm like, it's just everywhere I go, I'm looking. Yeah, you need deliverance. Go ahead, preacher. All right. Go ahead, preacher. So here we are studying First Kings chapter 18. This is a story about a nation that is divided.

hearts that are divided, worship that is divided, and the fire of God coming down to extinguish lies and to amplify truth. I am obsessed with this chapter. So First Kings, as you guys know, we are obsessed with the Old Testament. Ari, tell them what happened to you when you started freaking out about the Old Testament. What happened to me again? It was like your whole mind open and the whole Yes, yes. The whole Bible started to make sense. It was as if I was reading it for the first time again. I am obsessed with the Old Testament. It's so good. It's so rich. It's so important, you guys. And so in First, FERC's, in First Kings chapter 18, oh my gosh, do you know what vocal stim I have right now? A vocal stim, like, where you keep like saying the same thing. I keep saying Stephen Ferdick when he goes, I feel like I just did cocaine. And I haven't even tried to, for the record. He really did say that.

Yeah. It's crazy. I, like, loved him. He was, he was such a, what's the word? He helped you so much, idol. No, he wasn't an idol. He was such a big part of my journey when I first started. Okay.

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show can get full access to glorify for just 2999 for the entire year. That's glorify's lowest price ever when you download the glorify app now at glorify dash app.com slash ggb. Feel closer to God this year with glorify. Get full access all year for just 2999 at glorify dash app.com slash ggb. That's glorify dash app.com slash ggb. Oh yeah, already called him Stephen for like, okay. So in this chapter, what is... 18? Yeah. So what's happening?

I'm just going to give you guys a little backstory of what's happening right now. We have ancient Israel in crisis. So Israel, the Israelites, they were delivered out of Egypt by God into the promised land. And now through First and Second Samuel, first and second kings, judges, we've talked about this absolute chaos within the nation of Israel. There's so much idolatry. They bring in so many gods from other cultures. the god of ball and then so at this point we're going to introduce you guys to a couple of people so

Elijah is a prophet he is a good man he is one of the he is the first prophet in a line of many so it's like Elijah and then it's Alicia and then there's so many prophets afterwards Isaiah Jeremiah and at this point Israel has been in a drought for three years they're in a crisis it has not rained and they're begging God for rain. They're in a really, really bad spot because if there's no rain, there's no crops, there's no food. So not only is there a drought, there's a famine. Like they're not having any food.

And then at this point, the king of Israel is King Ahab. We're going to talk about King Ahab. King Ahab is a weak man. He's not even considered necessarily a bad man, but his wife is Jezebel. And Jezebel, you'll hear a lot of people talk about Jezebel in a sense of like, you know, someone, a woman who is like overly sexual or like sexually deceitful. But Jezebel is so many more things is so much more than that. She's manipulative. She's controlling. She purposely, the whole goal of some of someone that has a Jezebel spirit is to get people's worship away from God. That's used through control and manipulation and deceit. And a lot of the time. It is like through sexual manipulation or sexual temptation, but that's not the only way that she works. And then so at this point, Jezebel manipulates her husband. So Jezebel is a Canaanite woman.

Ahab is an Israel man. Even before we start the reading, imagine this. We have Ahab who marries a Canaanite woman who worships a different God. She worships bail. So you see now Israel is completely divided because there are people who want to worship God, Yahweh, like the God of Israel. But Jezebel forces people, forces people to worship her gods, her false gods. And so now she has gone and killed all of the prophets of Israel except 100 that were hidden by a man that will meet. So Jezebel is a nightmare. Her primary goal is to get people away from the God of Israel and to worship these false gods because that's her culture. And I had a friend. recently say one line to me that like I want to share with you guys she said um an unequally yoked

relationship is a special kind of hell. If you're watching this and you think there's any option for you to marry someone or be with someone who does not love the same God you do the same way you do or even the same amount that you do you are asking for a life of. It's just not good. It's not good. So you know what I mean? That's great. So anyways, and then we have, so Jezebel has brought the worship of Baal, the so-called God of rain into Israel, right? So now Israel's been in a drought for three years. And Jezebel is saying, you guys need to pray to Baal because he's the God of rain and he's going to make it rain. And Jezebel silences anyone who opposes her. She's determined to replace the God of Israel with

her God. And then the nation at this point is spiritually divided, torn between the God of their ancestors and the false promises of Baal. So before we even start reading, we see how this matches up with today about how their God promises to provide, protect, be there for them. But then they have this false God promising them the thing that they need. And it feels like their God is an answer because it's been three years of drought. So they've become so desperate that they've said, we'll try something else. So obviously, this is a story all about idolatry. First Kings chapter 18, the NLT version.

Later on in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain. So in this moment, Elijah has been hiding in a cave for many, many years. And then the Lord says, leave your hiding. where you're safe and go to the very person who wants to kill you. Tell him that I will soon send rain. So Elijah went to appear before Ahab.

Meanwhile, the famine had become very severe in Samaria. So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. Obadiah was a devoted follower of the Lord. Once when Jezebel had tried to kill all the Lord's prophets, Obadiah had hidden a hundred of them in two caves. He put 50 prophets in each cave and supplied them with food and water. Ahab said to Obadiah, we must check every spring and valley in the land to see if we can find enough grass to save at least some of my horses and mules. So they divided

the land between them. Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself. As Obadiah was walking along, he suddenly saw Elijah coming toward him. Obadiah recognized him at once and bowed low to the ground before him. Is it really you, my Lord Elijah? He asked, yes, it is. Elijah replied, now go and tell your master, Elijah is here. So in this moment, Elijah has been hiding all this time. This guy Obadiah, he can't be open with King Ahab, that he genuinely does love the God of Israel. He is devoted. He hid these hundred prophets, but he's in a really hard position right now. But as Elijah truly believes that he's standing alone before Ahab representing the God of Israel, Obadiah shows that he's not the only one.

Oh, sir, Obadiah protested, what harm have I done to you that you are sending me to my death at the hands of Ahab? For I swear by the Lord your God that the king has searched every nation and every kingdom on earth from end to end to find you. And each time he was told Elijah isn't here, King Ahab forced the king of that nation to swear to the truth of his claim. And now he's not. you say, go and tell your master, Elijah is here. But as soon as I leave you, the spirit of the Lord will carry you away to who knows where. Because he's assuming that because Elijah is a true, devoted prophet of God, that the Lord would never let him get killed by Ahab. So if Ahab knows about his whereabouts, then he's just going to get taken up and protected. When Ahab comes and cannot find you,

he will kill me. Yet I have been a true servant of the Lord all my life. Has no one told you, my Lord about the time when Jezbo was trying to kill the Lord's prophets? I hit a hundred of them in two caves and supplied them with food and water. And now you say, go and tell your master Elijah is here. Sir, if I do that, Ahab will certainly kill me. But Elijah said, I swear by the Lord Almighty, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab this very day. So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, So is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel? I have made no trouble for Israel, Elijah replied. You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the

Lord and have worshipped the images of Ba'el instead. Now summon all of Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Ba'el and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel. So in this moment, this is basically the contest of fire. As we read this, you guys, I want you to picture this. So there are going to be 400 and 450, so 850 prophets of the false gods that Israel is believing in. They're all going to be on one side. And then imagine that Elijah stands alone on the other side. And so it's all these prophets praying to their false God and then just Elijah standing alone.

Sounds like us in the middle of West Hollywood. No, I'm kidding. No, actually. Should we go in a sunset boulevard and say, hey, we're going to do a contest, our God against yours? Verse 20. So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel.

then Elijah stood in front of them and said, how much longer will you waver hobbling between two opinions? Wow. If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Bail is God, then follow him. But the people were completely silent. This is such a powerful moment. So powerful.

You know, how much do we do this today? We waver between, I want to follow God, but I also want to pray to the universe. I want to follow God, but I also want to read my horoscopes. I want to follow God, but I'm making an idol out of a relationship or whatever it is. And so I see this so much. And that was me. Like I wanted to love Jesus, but I made an idol out of all of these things.

We cannot follow Jesus, but do all these other things. It does not work that way. It really doesn't. And I just, it grieves my heart when I hear people being like, just pray to the universe. And then they'll start talking about God. And I'm like, there is no wavering between God and then praying to the universe. You cannot waver between the two. God is the only way the truth, the life.

And so I remember these moments when I would like, I would know God and I would talk about God, but I was also reading, the universe has its back. Yeah. I was also like, you know, watching videos on manifestation and all of these things. And it was just keeping me paralyzed. and stuck, and I was just getting deeper and deeper into, it was death. Yeah. It truly was death.

And I remember when I was seeking and going through such a depression, and I was doing all these things, and I was getting worse and worse and worse, anything else outside of God is truly dead. Ball symbolized rain and fertility and storms, and then there's a drought. And so that's why God is showing us the emptiness of other religions. It's dead. It truly is dead. There is no other option. Please take this as a sign, you guys. I hope that this story, and you can read it a hundred times if you have to, how much longer will you waver hobbling between two opinions? Even that word hobbling, I wonder what it is in the Greek, whatever. Do you want to look it up? I kind of do. Is that weird?

I think I saw, it's like teetering back and forth on. So First Kings was written in Hebrew. How long will you go limping? between. It comes from the root. It means to limp, to hobble, to halt, to waver, to move uneven, am I okay, to move unevenly from one side to another. The image Elijah paints is incredibly vivid. He isn't saying that people are thoughtfully weighing two options. He's saying they're limping back and forth. They're unable to walk straight because they're trying to stand in two different places at once. It is the definition of double-mindedness, having one foot here, one foot there. Being divided, that's what true purity is being completely united in soul singular devotion to Jesus. The second you go somewhere else looking to help, looking for help, looking for comfort,

trust me, we've been there even today. Guess what a, guess what a form of looking, All of this when you, and we haven't even finished the story, but the Israelites in this moment, the people of Israel, they're not bad. They're not bad. Yes, they're being disobedient and unfaithful and idolatrous, but they're scared. They're scared. There's been a drought. There's a famine. They don't have food to feed their children. So when you get desperate, you look for comfort somewhere else. You do. You look for, you look for provision somewhere else. This is the definition. definition of waiting on God because, and I've been there. I've been there in a really hard time. I know what it's like to reach for something that's not Jesus for comfort, even scrolling on

your phone for hours numbing out for comfort. Yeah. You know what I mean? Um, that's even like, it's just because our relationship with Jesus, we hear him by faith. We experience him by faith. It's not this instant gratification. Usually when we walk with God through something, it is a long suffer. It's a fruit of the spirit is long suffering. He wants us to walk things out because that's how we grow. That's how we become like him. That's the whole point of being a Christian.

You walk things out. You learn to endure. You learn to long suffer. You grow in that uncomfortability. And whatever it is, he's trying to teach you. And how often we bypass that and like cut it short. by reaching to something else for comfort, reaching to something else to provision, you know, like, there's just so many ways that this can come up in our life. And we just want to encourage you guys,

like, is there an area of your life that you want to wait on God, but you're scared and you're desperate? So you've chosen to go your own way. Yeah. It could be a relationship that you know is not God's best for you, but you're like, or even it's sinful, but you're like, but I don't want to wait anymore. And I honestly don't trust him. So I'm going to go make. it happen myself? Or is it a job that you know the Lord has not called you to? And maybe it's sinful and maybe it's not good. And maybe you're doing something that you never thought you would do. But like, of course the bills have to be paid. We get that. We understand desperation. We understand, we understand trying to find comfort. But like read this story and realize that

waiting on God is the best answer because everything else you're going to is not sufficient. It will never actually satisfy. All right, guys, when you have a vision to build, every connection matters. Whether you're growing a business or a community, missing one important call could mean missing the opportunity you've been waiting for. And that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled QUO, the business phone system built so you never miss an opportunity. When you're building something, you already have so many things competing for your attention.

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Try Quo for free, plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash GGB. That's QUO.com slash GGB. Girls Gone Bible is proud to be sponsored by Grand Canyon University, an affordable, private, non-profit Christian University, based in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. They say higher education is outdated, irrelevant. Well, GCU doesn't settle for the status quo. They shatter it. At GCU, academically rigorous, industry-driven programs are built to move at the the speed of relevance, with practical skills, career readiness, and opportunity for every learner.

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Yeah. I just want to say what an idol is again. An idol is anything that takes God's place. I love how John Piper says it. An idol is anything that we come to rely on for some blessing or help or guidance in the place of a wholehearted reliance on the true and living God. Yeah. So good. Yeah. Like Anne said, what are you, what are you turning to for security, for peace, for identity? Some of you could be in this place where you are, you just, I mean, we talked about this last week, about relationships, and you feel like you're being punished, but it is out of the love of God. He took that relationship away from you. Or maybe you're in a season where you're struggling financially. I know for me that was my story, and it was out of the love of God because I had been making idols out of all of these things. And sometimes he does things not to punish us, but he's like knocking on the door of our hearts because he wants to fill that with more

of him. And we can't see that in the moment, but there's so many things unknowingly that we make idols out of. And what I, the way I was making idols out of all these things, it was literally ruining my life because the only person that can fill the, the deepest hunger of your hearts is Jesus. And so, um, could you, would you say, like if you really think about it, the air, think of like all the people you know and the different issues people have. Yes. Yes. would you say that where someone struggles the most in their life is probably the most amount of idolatry? Yes. Like people who struggle financially probably or like struggle career wise might have so much idolatry towards it.

Yes. Or people who struggle in relationships make an idol out of it. You know what I mean? Yes. Like success. People want success so bad. They'll do whatever it takes. They think it's going to fill that void.

especially men. Yeah, yeah. All they want to do is make money, make money. Oh, yeah. And even in relationships, they think if I just, when they're in a relationship, if I just get married, I'll be okay, I'll be whole. We do that with social media. Oh, yeah.

If I just get to this place, if I get to this number of followers, I'll be good. If I get this many views. Yes. If I get this thin, if I become this beautiful. Yes. And then you will find that you will get to the top of the ladder, but you still feel depressed, anxious, dead. It's death.

Yeah. You know? That's why the only person that can feel that is Jesus. I know this because I lived this. Yeah. And then I see like many people, you know, we know many people. They're like, they rely on all these things. They're like, they talk about God, but they're going to a temple.

They're talking about God, but they're talking about their, it's like. We go to the temple. I know many people, but they say God, God, whatever, you know, whatever. Everyone's God. Everyone's God. You're God. Yes. You know?

And it's like, get out of that. If I'm God, we're all in trouble. But that's what ball is in today's society, right? Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Success, wealth, accolate, just, yeah, especially for men. Can I say to men, any men that are watching, you are so deeply, deeply loved by Jesus if you never do anything else ever again.

having ambition and having purpose and making money and providing for a family and providing for yourself, these are all amazing, important things that you should pursue and go after. But first things first, that's not who you are. There's nothing you can do to make God love you more. And there's also no amount of success that can make a woman who is truly for you, love you more. And I genuinely believe that. Like, of course, women want to be, we want to find someone who will provide. That's literally the call of God for them.

But the woman that's for you that loves you would be willing to live in a cardboard box with you. I genuinely believe that. Yeah. I know I would. But you know what I was thinking the other year. I know we have to move on. But I was, it's funny you say that because I can't imagine how much pressure men have. It's kind of like us with the way we have to present ourselves and look and stuff.

Like it's like that with men in their careers. So sad. And there's so much pressure that they have because they have to provide. They have to, and so it's so eagle. It's so easy to make an idol out of money and success and all these things. You have to have a healthy balance for everything. Okay. Verse 22.

Then Elijah said to them, I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left. But Ball has 450 prophets. Now bring two bulls. The prophets of bail may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces. and lay it on the wood of the altar, but without setting fire to it, I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then call in the name of your God, and I will call in the name of the Lord.

The God who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God, and all of the people agreed. Okay, let's just, just, this is so important. Imagine this. So there's two altars. They take bulls as sacrifice. They cut them up. They set them on the wood of the altar. So imagine 850 prophets on this side. Elijah is standing alone on this side. They both have altars made of wood on the wood is a bull that's cut up.

And he's basically saying, you call your gods and ask them to set it on fire. I'll call on the name of the Lord and I'll ask him to set it on fire. And whichever God answers and sets fire to the altar is the true God. They have to make a movie. That is the most beautiful picture. No. Okay. Then Elijah said to the prophets of bail, you go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls and prepare it and call on the name of your God, but do not set fire to the wood. So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on. Oh, so all of Israel is watching. Like everybody is watching this. So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of bail from morning until noon time, shouting, Oh, bail, answer us, but there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced hobbling around the altar they had made, that word hobbling again. And then they danced. So not only are they shouting to their gods to set it on fire, now they're dancing, they're hobbling around, they're going around and around the altar.

About noontime, Elijah began mocking them. He'll have to shout louder. He scoffed for surely he is a god. This is literally us. Why is Elijah us? I know. He's such a great man. You'll have to shout louder. He scoff for surely he is a God. Perhaps he is daydreaming or he is relieving himself, which means going to the bathroom. Oh, it is? Yeah. So basically, Elijah is making such a mockery of whatever God this is because he's not answering.

They're dancing around. They're acting like fools. And Elijah is like, oh, who knows who knows where he is? Maybe he's out to lunch or he's using the restroom. And I just want to let you know that this is what? it looks like when you do anything else outside of Jesus. Yeah. Foolery. Foolery. Okay. And then this, or maybe he's away on a trip or is asleep. It needs to be awakened. And then verse 28. So they shouted louder and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. They raved all afternoon until the time

of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response. This is what it's like calling on anything or looking to anything or reaching for anything other than Jesus. There is no reply. There's no response. There is no sound. It's silent. Then Elijah called to the people, come over here. They all crowd around him. My gosh, you guys, I want you to picture this. Elijah called to the people, hey, come over here. They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. He took 12 stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons. He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, fill four large jars with water and pour the water over the offering in the wood. So at this point, he's making it physically impossible, impossible for this to catch on fire. It's drenched in water, four gallons.

It's completely covered, the bull, the wood, the altar, everything. Because he wanted to show that it is only and only by God that his miraculous power will come down. Amen. And not from Elijah, not from anybody else. And even when he says, couldn't be a trick. couldn't be anything. And when he says, when he comes and repairs the altar that was been torn down, that's what repentance looks like today. When something has been torn down, if you are someone who has been teetering between God and Horatsobs, God and Manifest, and God and whatever it is,

and making out of whatever it is in your own personal life, where he rebuilt the altar, that is the time that you can just turn. That's the gift we have of the cross. You can turn. You can turn. turn back to God and say, God, I am sorry that I have made a lot of this thing. I repent, help me. I don't want to keep teetering back and forth. That is what repentance looks like. This description right here of how it was torn down and he rebuilt it back up. I love teaching the Bible with you.

Me too. So good. Then he filled the four large jars with water and poured the water over the offering in the wood. After they had done this. as he said, do the same thing again. And when they were finished, he said, now do it a third time. So they did as he said.

And the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench. At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are, God in Israel, and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command.

Oh, Lord, answer me. Answer me so these people will know that you, oh, Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself. And I just want to say one thing. That is all you need to do. If you are weary and you don't know who to believe, say the prayer that Elijah did. God, I answer me. Make yourself real and known to me. That is the only thing I had to do when I came to Jesus. And he will. That's all you have to do is turn to him and say, Lord, I need you, make yourself known to me. And then verse 38 says, so this is right after, right after he prays. Elijah says this prayer. And then verse 38, immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench.

And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and they cried out. The Lord, he is God. Yes, the Lord is God. Then Elijah commanded, seize all the prophets of bail. Don't let a single one escape. So the people seize them all. And Elijah took them down to the Qishan Valley and killed them there. This is so, this is what like miracle signs and

wonders do they reveal Jesus to people who wouldn't otherwise believe like to see a miracle like this happen to see God answer in this way that's why guys we have to be believing for our own for our own lives that when we pray miracles will happen for as a witness for other people to come to Jesus as a witness for other people to say okay that can't be anybody else except Jesus because if that's who she's praying to and that's what happens insane. It's so beautiful. Yeah. Then Elijah said to Ahab, go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming. So Ahab went to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Mark Carmel and bowed low

to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees. I love this moment. What a beautiful moment. God just performed this unbelievable miracle. You don't see Elijah in the crowd. of these people. You don't see him saying, okay, the victory's done. If you think about this moment of Elijah, he wasn't praying in this normal posture. It literally says he bowed down low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees. Do you understand that posture, how he was praying? While he tells Ahab, okay, it's done. He's coming. I know he's coming because he said he was coming. go and get something to eat and drink. But you see that the importance that even though you know the victory's coming, you don't stop praying. And this is a posture of what it looks like. I love

Elijah. This is a posture of what it looks like to stay humble, a posture of humility and dependence. And something that I just, I love so much is like even though we know Jesus and even though God says he'll do it. That doesn't mean that you don't stop praying. Even though the victory's coming, you don't stop being in that posture of humility. You don't stop being in communion and dependence with Jesus. Then he said to his servant, go and look out toward the sea. The servant went and looked. Then returned to Elijah and said, I didn't see anything. Seven times Elijah told him to go and look. Finally, the seventh time his servant told him, I saw a little cloud about the size of a lot. I saw a little cloud about the size of a man's hand rising from the sea. Yeah, I love this part. He says, I saw the tiniest little cloud,

just seeing that the tiniest little cloud was enough faith for Elijah to be like, no, it's going to happen. And even though he went the first time, he said, no, no, no, I know it's coming. Keep looking. Sometimes we will pray for something and we won't see it, but that doesn't mean that you give up. Yeah. He didn't even waver. He said, no, no, go back. Okay, you don't see you now. Go back. it's coming. How much of that for us is it to be like, I know, it's going to happen. Just keep praying, keep looking. Keep the faith because it's coming. Keep going back to the promises of God because it's coming. Even though you don't see something yet, keep going because it's coming because we rely on this more than we rely on our emotions. Then Elijah shouted, hurry to Ahab and tell him, climb into your

chariot and go back home. If you don't hurry, the rain will stop you. And soon the sky was black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm and Ahab left quickly for Jesrael. Then the Lord gave special strength to Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab's chariot all the way to the entrance of Jisrael. That's the end of the chapter. And then there's, I really quick, I want you guys to hear verse 44 when he says, Elijah shouted, hurry to Ahab and tell him, climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don't hurry, yeah, what we just read, if you don't hurry, the rain will stop you. There's even an element to like, Sarkat, like, you have to imagine what Elijah just went through.

Like, he just saw the biggest, most major victory of his entire life by God. And so there's been a drought for three years. And he gets to say to the king who wanted to kill him, go and tell him, the rain might start. Like, there's just such a, there's such a lightheartedness to that of like, yeah, God so easily did. what you guys have been trying to do for a long time. Yeah. I'm just going to end it with God will give you special strength. When you walk with God, there's a strength that is, it's not like you do things on your own strength where you're constantly grappling.

And it's, God will give you special strength. God is with you. God was with him through that. And I love that. I love this story. I, we want you guys to really read this story again. let it soak it, let it soak into your heart and take root. Let Jesus like reveal even more about the scripture to you. We love you guys so much. This was so fun. We love reading the Bible with you.

Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. God. God. God's plan. Okay. We love you guys so much. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn his face towards you and give you peace. Shalom. Shalom. Shalom. We love you.