“Do not let one of them escape!” (1 Kings 18:40)

When the prophet Elijah’s request was granted, and fire came down from Heaven to consume the sacrifice in the presence of all the people, he called upon the assembled Israelites to seize the priests of Baal, and cried, “Do not let one of them escape!”. He took them all down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. So must it be with our sins…they should all be put to death. Even your darling sins must die. No matter how loudly they cry, “spare me!”, Strike, though they are as dear to you as Isaac was to Abraham.
Strike, for God struck at sin when it was laid upon His own Son. Strike, with deadly purpose, for you must kill the sin which once ruled your heart.

Do you ask, how will you be able to do this? God gives saints  the power to overcome
“the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), so now you are to “present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:13-14).

The best place to discover inward sin, and recover from its power and guilt, is the immediate presence of God. Look to Christ, “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:23). He won’t consume your spirit, only your sins. Let the goodness of God excite you to sacred jealousy, and holy revenge against those sins that are hateful in His sight. Go forth to battle, and utterly destroy them: don’t let even one of them escape!