Jesus Juva Candles in the Dark 1 Kings 18: 16-39 ¡°So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, ¡°Is that you, you troubler of Israel?¡± ¡°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. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel¡¯s table.¡± So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, ¡°How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.¡± But the people said nothing. Then Elijah said to them, ¡°I am the only one of the Lord¡¯s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire?he is God.¡± Then all the people said, ¡°What you say is good.¡± Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ¡°Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.¡± So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ¡°O Baal, answer us!¡± they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ¡°Shout louder!¡± he said. ¡°Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.¡± So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, ¡°Come here to me.¡± They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, ¡°Your name shall be Israel.¡± With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, ¡°Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.¡± ¡°Do it again,¡± he said, and they did it again. ¡°Do it a third time,¡± he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: ¡°O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.¡± Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ¡°The Lord?he is God! The Lord?he is God!¡± St. Francis of Assissi once said, ¡°All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.¡± Thirteen years ago, a small group of teenaged students in Burleson, Texas, met together in the living room of someone¡¯s house for a weekend retreat. They went there seeking God in prayer. They went there seeking His will for their lives. They went there rending their hearts in repentance. On the second night, something incredible happened. Sitting in a circle, gathered around the light of a single candle representing the light of Christ, they were each given a marble. This marble represented anything in their lives that was hindering their relationship with God?maybe it was a sport or an activity; maybe it was a boyfriend or a girlfriend; maybe it was some secret sin. But whatever it was for them, the marble represented their hopes apart from Christ, their fears that kept them from fully following God, their selfish ambitions to live for their own glory and comfort, their idols that they loved more than God. And as they were praying with their marble in their hand, they were challenged to search their hearts and lay down those things that had come between them and God, and to indicate that decision by laying down their marble at the base of the candle. At first there was silence, then sighs, then gentle weeping as each one of the students reached for the light. Each clang of the marble as it hit the glass base of the candle was the sound of an idol being smashed and a chain of sin being broken. God was working in them before He worked through them. God then gave them a burden for their friends, a burden for their schools, a burden for their generation. When evening came, moved by the Spirit of God, they went to their schools and held hands in a circle and prayed. That warm April night in Texas was the beginning of an international prayer movement among students known as See You At The Pole. 13 years later, more than 3 million students from all across the world participate in this sacred assembly of prayer. It started with a handful of teenagers who took a stand in conviction, shook their nation in prayer, and looked to God in faith. And little did they know that the dropping of a marble was the birth of a movement. Since then millions of students across America, Canada, Japan, Korea, and more, gather together one day in September to invoke prayer for our schools, our nations, our generation, our world. Millions of students, one heartbeat. Thousands of schools. One connection. Many voices. One song. One purpose. To see God lifted up in our nation, in our generation, to the ends of the earth. So we have seen potential of the gospel and the power of God working through his people. It¡¯s not in influence. It¡¯s not in numbers. It¡¯s not in anything that the world associates with power and success. It¡¯s the quiet, humble way in which the Kingdom of God grows. Jesus said, ¡°The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree¡¦(Matthew 13:31-32)¡± The power of faithful believers committed to one hope, one legacy, one truth is unyielding and unstoppable because it resides in God. God¡¯s will will be done. God¡¯s plan will be accomplished. With the power of God working through people to accomplish His will, nothing is impossible. That¡¯s what this passage talks about. The Scripture comes from 1 Kings 18 where the prophet Elijah stood alone on a mountain against an ocean of apostasy?he stood alone against an evil king and a wicked queen bent to see him executed; he stood alone against his own people?a compromised nation called by God¡¯s name but living as if God did not exist; and he stood alone?one true prophet against 850 false prophets propagating idolatry. But as He obeyed God who called Him, as He trusted God who promised never to leave him or forsake him, God worked through him as he did 3 things to route the king, to defeat the prophets of Baal, and bring a nation to its knees. Elijah took up the challenge with conviction. He shook up the place with prayer. He looked up to God in faith. Let¡¯s read the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to teach us and transform us through this text. 1 Kings 18: 16-39. I. Elijah stood with God and took up the challenge with conviction It¡¯s the 8th century B.C. The nation of Israel has witnessed a progressive deterioration of their moral and religious fiber. And things were about to get worse. Their king and leader, a man named Ahab, entered into a diplomatic marriage with the daughter of one of the kings of a foreign nation in an unholy alliance. Jezebel, his wife, and Ahab, once they were married, went on a systematic campaign to make Israel a multi-religious society. Jezebel brought with her 400 prophets of Baal and 450 prophets of Asherah, put them on government salaries, and sent them out among the people to practice. In a nation founded and birthed on a faith in one God, this was the first time in Israel¡¯s history that the power structure itself, the government of the nation, systematically tried to get rid of the True and Living God and create a religiously pluralistic and idol worshipping society. Many of the prophets of God were thrown out. Many of them were killed. And Elijah was the last functioning prophet left. He was the only one. And so, in a dramatic moment, Elijah presents himself before the king and said, ¡°As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.¡± He proclaims that the Lord will send a drought throughout the land. No rain. And that was direct challenge to Baal worship because Baal was supposed to be the god of the rain. He was supposed to be the lord of the storm. He was supposed to be the one who sent rain if you did his bidding. And so God says, ¡°We¡¯ll see who the real Lord of the Heavens is.¡± And He sends Elijah. A drought falls on the nation. And Ahab and Jezebel go on an international search to kill Elijah the prophet. 3 years pass, and now Elijah emerges again to face off in a once for all sacred showdown to see who really is the True and Living God. And so he challenges the king and says, ¡°Get all the people of Israel, all the prophets of Baal, and meet me on Mount Carmel.¡± In a public display to a backslidden nation, to stand and fight for the glory of God, Elijah cried out, ¡°See you at the alter.¡± He made a stand. And people, this is not an easy thing to do. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ¡°The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.¡± Your life speaks louder than your words. It¡¯s real easy to be a Christian here, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s real easy to be a Christian in youth group. It¡¯s real easy to sing songs here and carry our Bibles. It¡¯s real easy to be a Christian when it doesn¡¯t cost you anything. But you see, the question is not where we¡¯ll stand when times are easy but it¡¯s where we¡¯ll stand when our convictions cost us something. What if your faith in Jesus costs you all your friends? Would you keep it? If your faith in Jesus costs you your popularity, would you keep it? If your faith in Jesus costs you your reputation, would you keep it? If your faith in Jesus costs you your grades, would you keep it? What if your faith in Jesus costs you your comfort? What if it costs you your dreams of a nice house and a nice car? What if it led you to prison? What if it led you to persecution? What if it led you to the cross? What if it led you to death and martyrdom? Would you follow Jesus at whatever the cost? I was reading a book entitled Fox¡¯s Book of Martyrs for this message. I was reading about men and women who gave their lives to make a stand for the glory of God as a testimony to all people. I was reading about a man named Polycarp, who in his late eighties was captured for the sake of Christ. He was taken before the governor and was condemned to be burned at the stake. After his sentence was given to him, the governor said, ¡°Renounce Christ and I will release you.¡± Polycarp answered, ¡°Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never once wronged me. How then shall I blaspheme my King who has saved me?¡± With that, he was tied to a stake and burned in the marketplace. I read about John Lambert who was persecuted under King Henry. They burned off his legs first. Then they pierced him with spears and held him above the fire so that he would burn more slowly. As John Lambert hung there, his fingertips caught on fire and he lifted his hands up toward Heaven and cried to all the people, ¡°None but Christ! None but Christ!¡± At that, his executioners let him down as he fell forward into the fire and there gave up his life for Christ. I read about John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim¡¯s Progress, who was thrown into prison for 12 years for preaching. They told him that he could leave anytime we wanted if he just promised not to preach. To that he would always respond, ¡°I would rather rot in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience. If you let me out today, I will preach again tomorrow.¡± Taking a stand is not an easy thing to do. So why do it? Why not choose the wide and easy road? Why not settle for less and avoid confrontation and altercation? Why not live for the world on Friday night and live for God on Sunday morning? Why not cruise into Heaven with comfort and ease? Why? Because we are a chosen people. We are a people of destiny. Imagine two planes. The plane on the right is Air Force One?the presidential plane. Soft leather seats. Thick plush carpet. Delicious food and expensive wine. Stewardesses to tend to your every need. Personal DVD player to watch any movie you want. And all the benefits of modern technology to give you the smoothest ride possible. The plane on the left is an old rugged cargo plane. The only leather in that plane is on the cow that¡¯s sitting next to you. Your seat is an empty storage box. It¡¯s cramped. It¡¯s narrow. It¡¯s rough. The ride is bumpy and a lot times you think you¡¯re not going to make it. Which plane would you choose? Any person in their right mind would choose Air Force One. You¡¯d have to be a fool not to. But what if I were to tell you, that Air Force One, after a short ride, was headed straight into the mouth of a fiery volcano and the cargo plane was headed to a place of paradise where there was an everlasting party awaiting your presence? Then which would you choose? Any person in their right mind would choose the cargo plane. Why? It¡¯s the same reason why we choose the straight and narrow road. It¡¯s the same reason why we walk the way of the old rugged cross. It¡¯s the same reason why we would choose rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Why? Because the Bible says in 1 Peter that we are alien and strangers in this world and this world is not our home. Because it says in Philippians that our citizenship and our residence is in Heaven?so we¡¯ll pass on this world because something better is coming. Because it says that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ and his love is better than life. And so we are a people who live not for the ride but for the destination. And we follow a loving King who bought for us every blessing with his blood. And we¡¯re headed to the New Jerusalem, the Celestial City, to meet him. And though we may face suffering in this lifetime, and though we may experience hardships in this world, and though we weep tears of heartache for this moment, we will one day reach the Dwelling Place of God where He will wipe every tear from our eye and there shall be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things will have passed away. And so we know what Paul means when he says in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs them all. Though it may be hard to make a stand we will know that one day it will be more than worth it. And tonight the Lord is calling some of you to hear the voice of Elijah. ¡°If the Lord is God, then follow him.¡± God wants to work in you before He works through you. So tonight He is drawing a line down the center of your hearts, through your idols, through your worldliness, through your compromise, and he¡¯s calling you to make a choice and to take a stand. He¡¯s calling you to cast off the chains of compromise and remove the manacles of materialism. He is calling you to hear the words of Joshua 24:15 : ¡°¡¦choose for yourself this day whom you will serve¡¦But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.¡± The first step in making a difference for the Lord is to stand with God and take up the challenge with conviction. II. Elijah called to God and shook up the place with prayer One of my favorite quotes on prayer comes from Leonard Ravenhill. The church has many organizers but few agonizers. Many who pay but few who pray. Many resters but few wrestlers. Many who are enterprising but few who are interceding. Much fashion but little passion. The pastor who is not praying is playing; The people who are not praying are straying. The two prerequisites to successful Christian living are vision and passion, both of which are born in and maintained by prayer. The ministry of preaching is open to few; the ministry of praying?the highest ministry of all human offices?is open to every child of God. Don¡¯t mistake action for unction; commotion for creation; rattles for revivals. The secret of praying is praying in secret. A worldly Christian will stop praying but a praying Christian will stop worldliness. Tithes may build a church but tears will give it life. That is the difference between the modern church and the early church. Our emphasis is on paying, theirs was on praying. When we have paid, the place was taken. When they have prayed, the place was shaken. In a matter of effective praying, never has so many left so much to so few. Brothers and sisters, let us pray. Samuel Logan Brengle once said, ¡°The great battles, the battles that decide our destiny and the destiny of generations yet unborn, are not fought on public platforms, but in the lonely hours of the night in moments of agonizing prayer.¡± No great move of God has ever happened without the sacrificial prayers of His saints. In September 1857, a man named Jeremiah Lanphier started a businessmen¡¯s prayer meeting in the upper room of a church in Manhattan. In response to his advertisement, only 6 people out of a population of 1 million showed up. But the following week, there were 14. And then 23. In a couple of months, they were filling the whole church. By February and March, every church and public hall in downtown New York was filled. The landslide of prayer began and people started to come to Christ?10,000 a day in New York City alone. The movement spread throughout New England and raced up the Hudson River and reached all the way to Chicago. And it started with the intercession of 6 people. In 1949, 2 old ladies in Scotland (one 82 and the other 84) answered a call to pray. God gave them a vision of revival in the youth. So they met with their church leaders and got the elders and the pastor to commit to pray for revival. They started praying from 10PM-2 or 3 AM for 3 months. Then revival hit. The people of the community started to flock to the church. No one could sleep because they were so gripped by God. The church would be packed but there would still be about 600 people outside struck by the presence of God. At 4 in the morning they were still praying in the streets. The community was paralyzed by God¡¯s presence. People were saved left and right. Everyone was God-conscious and no one doubted that God was moving. And this tidal wave of God¡¯s presence was unleashed all because 2 old ladies uttered these 3 life-changing words: Let us pray. In 1806 Sam Mills answered that call to pray with a few of his friends. They started the famous Haystack Prayer Meetings. These were a few students from Williams College who met together twice a week to pray for revival. One August afternoon while they were praying in the countryside, the sky darkened and it started to rain. They sought shelter under a nearby haystack. And thus the Haystack prayer meetings were formed. From these prayer meetings God sent a revival with an impact so great that it not only touched and transformed their college but the colleges all around them as well. 1/3-1/2 of all the students in that area got saved. From this launched one of the greatest missionary thrusts in America of all time. Young people were committing their lives to the mission field to share the gospel in the hard places among the hard people. And so the Student Missions Movement began?the first foreign missions organization in the history of the United States of America. And it wasn¡¯t started by seasoned pastors. It was started by sold out students who prayed. The power and potential of prayer is immeasurable because prayer is accessing the power of God. There is power through prayer because prayer moves the hand that moves the world. Elijah was a man familiar with the power of prayer. One man against the multitude. One man against the king. One man against the institution. People wanted to kill him. They wanted to take his life. He did not fight in the physical realm. He fought in the spiritual one. But he fought not with the weapons of this world, but he battled with the weapons of divine power. And so he prayed. He prayed and the rain stopped. He prayed and the dead rose. He prayed and the fire fell. He prayed and brought a nation to it knees. And so we pray. We pray because the Bible says in James that Elijah was a man just like us. We pray because God says that the prayers of His people are powerful. We pray because prayer moves the hand that moves the world. And through prayer, mountains can be thrown into the sea. Through prayer, the dead live, the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the lost are saved. Through prayer, the strongholds of Satan can be destroyed. Through prayer the shackles of sin can be cast off. Through prayer the hearts of men can be turned. Through prayer, the history of a nation can be changed. 2 Chronicles 7:14 ¡°¡¦if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.¡± Through the serious, sacrificial, penitent prayers of God¡¯s people, the world can be won for Christ. Nothing can stand in the way. You see, ¡°The lost may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our argument, despise our persons?but they are helpless against our prayers.¡± The second step in making a difference for the Lord is to call to God and shake up the place with prayer. III. Elijah waited on God and looked up to God in faith Who stopped the rain? It wasn¡¯t Elijah. Who cast down the fire from Heaven? It wasn¡¯t Elijah. Who allowed it to rain again in Israel? It was Elijah. It was God. God did the extraordinary work. And that¡¯s important for us to remember. That¡¯s why you don¡¯t have to know a lot of things in order to make a huge difference for the Lord in the world. The people who have made a difference in the world were not people who have mastered a lot of things. They were people who have been mastered by a very few things that are very, very great. If you want your life to count, you don¡¯t have to have a high IQ or a high EQ. You don¡¯t have to be smart. You don¡¯t have to be popular. You don¡¯t have to have good looks. You don¡¯t have to be from a good family or from a good school. You just have to know a few, basic, simple, glorious, majestic, obvious, unchanging, eternal things?and be gripped by them and be willing to lay down your life for them. That¡¯s why any one of you can make a worldwide difference because it¡¯s not you but it¡¯s what you¡¯re gripped with. And the One whom you¡¯re gripped by loves to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things. So if you don¡¯t feel very talented, if you feel broken and scarred, if you don¡¯t feel like much in this world, come to the One loves to put treasures in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ¡°For God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things?the things that are not?to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Cor. 1:27-28)¡± Mother Teresa, a woman who impacted the world and transformed a country with her love and compassion, said, ¡°I am convinced that when I¡¯m gone, if God finds a person more ignorant and useless than I, He will do greater things through that person because it¡¯s His doing.¡± God loves to use ordinary people to do great and extraordinary things. I think one of the best examples of this comes from the narrative of Moses and the burning bush. Have you ever wondered why God used a bush speak to Moses? Why a bush? It¡¯s so small, so simple, so plain. He could have gotten a tree. They¡¯re high and exalted. He could have gotten the grass. It¡¯s wide and it¡¯s all over. But He chose the bush. Just a bush on the side. Who knows why it turned into fire? Who knows why this was happening? But the fire that fell on the bush attracted somebody who otherwise would have never come by. And that fire of God is falling on this generation, even though sometimes it¡¯s uncomfortable, and even though He could have chosen the tree and He should¡¯ve chosen the grass, but He chose you. And that fire is drawing the unbelievers. You need to embrace the fire and let the fire of God consume you because He¡¯s going to use you to catch a generation. He¡¯s looking for a Moses and all He needs to catch a Moses is one bush?and you are that bush. Because the same fire that fell on the bush, the same glory, the same holiness, the same beauty, the same mystery can come into your life and turn you into a burning bush for this generation. Who can fathom the awesome things that God can do through someone who is consumed by the holy fire of God? Let your eyes be opened in Jesus name to see past the trivialities of popularity, acceptance, fame, and fortune and to gaze at the great and glorious things of God. On my wrist I wear a rubber band that reminds me of what I¡¯m living for. On it, it says, ¡°1Life2Live4ThisGeneration¡±. It comes from a quote by Keith Green, ¡°Every Christian is responsible for their generation of souls.¡± And all of us here, every Christian here, is responsible for this generation?now. One of my favorite scenes of all time comes from the movie Braveheart. The scene commences with the English troops systematically placed with such decor across the field of their antithesis?a ragamuffin band of farmers and commoners who are on the field of battle without sense, hope, or motivation. As the facade of negotiations proceeds, the army of commoners begin to disband as the eminence of death falls upon them. And then out of the blue, with the grandeur and entrance befitting a hero among heroes, William Wallace and his army of patriots, ornate with armor, weaponry, and warpaint, come and grace the battlefield. And he speaks¡¦ You have one chance in your life, one moment, one opportunity, to live for something greater than yourself, bigger than yourself, more glorious than yourself. One chance to make a difference. One chance to leave a legacy. Once chance to be a part of something that will shape the history of man. And if you miss it, you¡¯ll regret it for the rest of your life. I am utterly convinced that God is going to move in a great and mighty way in our generation. Perhaps we will see the world evangelized within our lifetime. Perhaps we will see the gospel reach the ends of the earth. Perhaps we will see the 10/40 window shattered as we hurl the stones of our lives overseas to go to the hard places among the hard people. But He is looking for men and women who will put their lives on the altar of God and allow His holy fire to consume them so that there is nothing left of them. That they would decrease so that Christ would increase. To let their dreams of worldly success and comfort to be set ablaze and burn for His glory. And then, He will use them. God consumed a bush and caught a Moses. God consumed the sacrifice on the mountain and brought a nation to its knees. And if you allow God to consume your life, there¡¯s no telling who God will bring to you as you blaze and burn for His glory. 4 years. 4 years to impact your school. 4 years to bring the gospel to your teachers and professors. 4 years to shine the light of Christ in the darkness so as to change the face of your academic institution. 4 years to cast down your nets, as fishers of men and women, and to bring up souls?the souls of your peers, your friends, every person in your school?that they may be saved from sin and destruction by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who conquered death on the cross. 4 years to live the life. 4 years?live in a manner worthy of the gospel. 4 years to own this Scripture from Acts 20:24?I consider my popularity, my grades, my reputation, my very life worth nothing except that I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me?the task of testifying to the gospel of grace. You¡¯ve got 4 years. Don¡¯t miss your chance. May we not waste our precious years seeking the triviality of popularity or worldly success but may we use our God-given time for something greater, Someone greater. And one day, as the people of God stand with God and take up the challenge with conviction, as they call to God and shake up the place with prayer, and as they wait on God and look up in faith, may God pour forth His healing love and may He flood the nations with His grace and mercy. May the light of Jesus Christ break forth with blinding brilliance from the streets of New York to the prodigious hills of Pennsylvania. May it overflow into the grassy plains of Virginia and streak past the sunny shores of California. May it advance over the oceans and flow down from the heights of the Himalayas to the depths of the 4 Great Rivers of Tibet. May it go forth past the Great Wall of China and into the divide of North Korea. May it stream through the streets of Afghanistan and pour into the islands of Japan. May it cover the sands of the Sahara and fill the rivers of India. May His glory cover the earth as waters cover the seas. May the songs of His people fill the air and may all hear the gospel of Christ preached in their own language, in their own tongue so that one day, the diverse faces of this world may join together in one voice as one body and proclaim 1 Chronicles 16:31?¡°Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let them say among the nations, ¡®The Lord reigns!¡¯¡± And so, may the people of God stand firm to fight for His glory and His renown. Let them not flag nor fail. Let them not wane nor waver. Because so much is at stake. Because nothing worth having comes without a fight. So may we strike and kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight. When you go back to your campus, to your classes, you may feel like Elijah. You may feel alone in the dark. You may feel like the only one standing on a lonely mountain for the Lord. You may feel like the sole voice of reason amidst an abyss of apostasy. And if you feel like that, remember this. God never leaves His prophets. He never abandons His priests. He never forgets or forsakes His people. And where His will takes you, His grace will keep you. And so, even if God has you preach against a backslidden nation, even if God calls you to stand against a king, even if God sends you against an army of false prophets, you shall not be defeated because in a showdown of God¡¯s glory, He will always win. So as you¡¯re living all day for God, and you find yourself standing alone in a world of darkness, if you find yourself staring down all the shadows of Satan as you fight for His Kingdom to come¡¦ Remember: Don¡¯t back down. Let your light shine brighter. Because All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. S.D.G