Carter Conlon | Daily Devotionals

Elijah once said to the people, “How long will you halt between two opinions?” And the Scripture says the people answered him not a word. 

The word halt means to hop, to skip over, to dance as a lame man. Elijah was asking why they would skip over truth, spare themselves the deep dealings of God, and worship as the lame when they could be whole. They stood halfway, unable to move forward or turn backward. They knew Elijah was a man of God, yet when confronted with the call to choose, they chose to remain silent. Conviction settled in, but response did not follow. Silence became a way to avoid surrender. 

God still asks the same question today: Will you come back to Me? Do not hope that this conviction fades away. Let it lead you to obedience and a full surrender. Today, my brother, my sister, choose the Lord Jesus Christ without delay. 

It’s time to pray. 

In the Bible, Elijah gathered the people to Mount Carmel, a place of remembrance where God had once given victory under Joshua. The Holy Spirit always draws the people of God back to remembrance. It does not come to condemn the church, even when she has grown apostate. It comes to woo and to draw back what has been alienated from the heart of God. 

Elijah stood before the people and asked a simple but piercing question: How long will you halt between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. If Baal is god, then follow him. This was not confusion; it was conviction. Deep inside, they knew Baal was not God. They could not fully yield because their hearts still knew the truth. 

God still asks His people to choose—not halfway, not with hesitation, but fully. Make a decision today that you will follow the Lord Jesus Christ. 

It’s time to pray. 

In the Gospel of John 10, Jesus said that He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Jesus didn’t only come so that we would have eternal life, but that we would have an abundant life on this side of eternity and a reason to live. 

He came to give us a purpose in life. Now, it won’t always be easy, but it is divine. It bears eternal dividends and gives us a reason to live. God calls us and gives us opportunities to give glory to His name right where He places us. 

It’s time for you and me to get out of places of conformity and comfort and even to get out of isolation. We must choose to go with God. Don’t allow the enemy to steal, kill, or destroy any longer what belongs to you. It’s time to live an abundant life as promised on this side of eternity. 

It’s time to pray. 

In the Bible, during a morally religious practice, God raised up a voice of truth. The people of God had become captivated by a false god called Baal—a god of personal increase and prosperity, a religion that allowed sensuality and immorality while still claiming the presence of God. If the crops grew and the rain came, they said Baal was pleased. But this was a licentious and wicked worship that led them far from the heart of God. 

Yet God was not silent. In every generation, He is never left without a testimony. His voice may not be popular or embraced by the majority, but it will be heard. God still governs this world and holds every life in the palm of His hand. He still speaks to anyone who still wants to hear Him. 

Open your heart today to His truth. Refuse the counterfeit. Find the real Christ. Begin to walk with Him. 

It’s time to pray. 

The Kingdom of God advances through those who know where their strength comes from. Walking in the flesh is trying to follow Christ by human will and human ability alone. It will always fail. 

In the fire, this truth becomes unavoidable. God is building a testimony in your life that cannot be sustained by human effort. When you surrender your rights and yield your life, the Spirit of God takes residence within you. He becomes your courage, your wisdom, and your endurance. 

Turn fully to Jesus Christ as the source of your strength today. Join us every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Eastern Time at itstimetopray.org, where people from all over the world are gathering in this last day to pray. And we are praying one thing: Jesus, give us freedom, give us vision, give us strength, give us a voice, give us a testimony. 

It’s time to pray. 

In the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal. Elijah rebuilt the altar carefully and put the wood in order before anything else happened. Nothing was rushed; nothing was skipped. The altar was prepared according to God’s design, not human urgency. God is intentional about order because order reveals trust. 

At the center of the altar was the sacrifice God Himself had established. Growth in the Christian life flows from understanding what was accomplished at Calvary and trusting that the Holy Spirit will make it real. We are called to present our lives as a living sacrifice, and that surrender is not emotional only—it is deliberate. 

Bring your life today into agreement with what God has already done through His Son, Jesus Christ, and allow Him to shape you patiently and thoroughly. Talk to God. 

It’s time to pray. 

At the center of Christianity, there is wood that must be dealt with. God planted that wood on a hill called Calvary, and on it He laid His sacrifice, His Son. Growth in the Christian life depends on how you and I understand that sacrifice. If we lay hold of the complete victory won at Calvary and trust the Holy Spirit to make it very real in us, then transformation of our lives will follow. 

We are called to present our lives to God as a living sacrifice. Order matters. Surrender of our lives into the hands of God also matters. This altar of God is not about emotion, but about agreement with what God has already done through His Son. 

Put the wood in order in your life, and trust God today to work out in you and through you the things that you can’t do in your own strength. 

It’s time to pray. 

When the Spirit of God came into your life, He didn’t just come to be a part of your life. He came to evict everything that is unlike Himself from your life. He literally took over your life. He gave an eviction notice, and those old things inside of you, although they may try to hang on, they may even try to argue a reason why they are staying, but they can’t stay any longer. You see, they’ve all passed away, and all things have become new. 

So today, I want to encourage you to start longing for this new life in Christ. Long for the new things and have enough courage to let go of the old ways of thinking and of living, and the old ways of doing things. It’s time to let go of habits that bring you into captivity and destroy everything around you. It’s time to walk in the power of God’s Holy Spirit and take hold of God’s promises. 

Pray today. Talk to God about this, because it’s time to pray. 

In the story in the Bible, Elijah the prophet dug a trench around an altar. He dug it wide and deep, and it took time. He was in no rush. 

False religion is quick. It surveys what people want, secures financing, and builds something that never challenges the heart. What God builds takes time. Digging the trench mattered because it prepared the altar for what was coming. God is never hurried when He’s doing something real. Deep work in the heart always takes longer. There is preparation that cannot be skipped. 

God is not interested in quick sacrifices from us that cost us nothing. He is building within us something durable. Please don’t despise slow and careful obedience. Let God today take the time that He needs to speak to you and to prepare your life to receive His fire. 

It’s time to pray. 

Today I want to remind you that Jesus could not carry the cross to Calvary in His physical strength alone. God sent Simon of Cyrene to help Him finish the journey. If the Son of God needed strength beyond Himself, then so do we. 

The call to take up the cross is not a call to self-powered endurance. It is an invitation to dependence. God always provides strength for the journey that He ordains. Stop trying to carry what God never intended you to bear alone. Receive the strength He provides and continue forward in His power and His power alone today. 

Join us every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, where people at itstimetopray.org are gathering. We are believing God for the strength that we will need in this final generation to become the people He has ordained us to be. 

Above and beyond everything today, it’s time to pray.