Encouragement

Elijah enters the accounts of I Kings 17 (- II Kings 2) during troubled times.  The first thing the Lord tells us about him is his confrontation with the evil king Ahab. 

Elijah proclaims that there will not be rain for 3 years.  Then he went to hide and was fed by ravens.  

Not a very glamorous picture – to be in a remote place and being fed by what the Jews considered an unclean animal.

After the brook he was living by dried up the Lord sent Elijah to a widow outside of Israel…away from his Jewish heritage in the land of his fathers.

Elijah healed the son of the widow, which shows his authority as a man of God and Profit.

When Elijah shows up on Ahabs territory again it had been three years since he prayed for it not to rain.  

 Elijah has a stand-off with the profits of Baal.  He challenges the false profits and the Hebrews to see who really is God – Baal or the Lord.

All day the profits of Baal cry out to Baal, to no avail. Over and over they asked for Baal to answer them even going to the extreme of cutting themselves.

Elijah pokes fun at the profits of Baal –

    * Hey!  Maybe your god is asleep!  Or maybe he talking, or on a trip.

  At the end of the day, Elijah says “Come near”.  He took great care to see that the altar of the Lord was repaired.  The sacrifice ready – water dumped on the confirm to those watching that there was no trickery involved in this sacrifice.

  Then Elijah calls unto God. 

   “Hear me, O Lord, hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.”

   Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed all on the alter- 

   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.

  Elijah then gave instructions to kill all 400 of the false profits of Baal.

   Elijah told Ahab there is a sound of abundance of rain – to get up.  This was before Elijah had even prayed for the rain to come!  Then Elijah goes and prayes 7 times.  

   After praying, Elijah ran with the Lord’s help and out run Ahabs chariot.

  Jezebel, Ahabs wife threatens to kill Elijah in the next 24 hours because he killed the false prophets.

   Elijah again ran for his life ending up in the wilderness. 

   Most likely Elijah was emotionally, spiritually and physically exhausted and turns suicidal – “It is enough: now, O LORD, take away my life…” Elijah was very discouraged.

  He slept.  An Angle touched him, he ate and drank, 3 times this happened.

  Then he fasted 40 days and went to Horeb the mount of God and llived in a cave.

God comes to him:

    Elijah.  What are you doing here?

I have done works for you and I am the only one left, and these people want to kill me. (BOO HOO)

God said,

  Go stand on the mountain before me.

A strong wind rent the mountains and broke the rocks.  

God was not in the wind.

Then an earthquake.  An earthquake not only rumbles and shakes you, you can see the earth roll like waves of the sea.

God was not in the earthquake.

Then a fire – and you know how a fire roars, consumes, and takes away the very air we breathe.

Then.

A still small voice.

Elijah wrapped his face in his mantel, went to the entrance of the cave and stood there.  Maybe Elijah was ready to listen.

God Said “ What are you doing here Elijah?

I have been jealous for you God, I have slain the profits.  I am the only one left. (Boo Hoo)

God said, Go anoint the next king – and by the way – I have 7,000 who have not bowed their knees to Baal!

You, Elijah are not alone!

Elijah went on to see the Lord save Israel 2 times from a mighty army. Kings came and kings went in Elijah’s life.

Then Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind after a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated him from his successor, Elisha.

Elijah’s Seasons

 Elijah had seasons of seeing the mighty power of God work through him.

Seasons of discouragement even when God was providing for him.

A season of listening for what God had for him to do.

Season of teaching other prophets.

A season to get up and get going again.

Where are You

What season of life are you in?

If you are find yourself in a season of discouragement, consider Elijah. He had seen the power of God work through him. God protected him, fed him and spoke with him.

Still, Elijah was down and out.

Questions

When I shared these notes with a group of ladies here, I asked them some questions. I have included some brief answers. So many times we already know the truth of these answers, but we do not pursue the application of those truths.

Do you know yourself good enough to know what you need to do to get out of the discouragement?  

What do you need to do in your relationship with God to be encouraged again?

• Spend time with God, in prayer and the Word of God.

What can the body of Christ do to encourage you?  

• Pray with me. (That does mean I need to open up and ask for prayer)

How can we as children of God encourage one another?

• Communication, prayer.

I personally have a hard time recognising I am discouraged – let alone admitting it to others.

One sisters response to my questions of how we deal with our discouragement was that she usually needed to change her own expectations.

I found this to be so true one winter when I was feeling the need for some quality time with my husband, and the long winter nights looming before me. He was pushing hard to get a big project done. I thought I was “being a big girl” to just quietly wait. He had no clue how discouraged I was feeling. Finally, by simply communicating with him I could let go of my expectations knowing he was on the same page with me. How silly of me to wait for weeks to just talk to him.

Sometimes in our discouragement we simply need to get some healthy food and sleep – consistently. God gave this to Elijah.

I think we are too hard on ourselves sometimes.  We are real. Life is real. Be honest with our expectations. Eat and sleep. And like Elijah, realize we are not alone.

Life has seasons. Accept them. Talk about it. Get support.

Enjoy this present season by doing what the LORD has told you to do.

Let others share your burden.

~Sheila

Some blog posts flow when I write them, others I fight it and argue with the Lord that I don’t want to post them. This one has been an argument. That is much of the reason you have not heard from me for weeks. May the Lord take these simple notes and bring you encouragement.

PS – I discovered that no emails were coming to me because of a miss typed technical error – so if I have missed responding to an email, please send it again! I do love to hear from you all and have missed your communications.