Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 663 | Peace That Comes From the Gentle Whisper as God Meets Us In the Wilderness

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663 | Peace That Comes From the Gentle Whisper as God Meets Us In the Wilderness · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well.
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Ministries podcast with Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man,
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woman, boy, and girl must come to Jesus, just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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or on our website at watwm.org,
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We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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who God is and to strengthen your daily walk.
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The story of Elijah and the juniper tree in 1 Kings 19 tells of a great prophet,
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Elijah, who falls into deep despair and exhaustion, and how God meets him with gentle care.
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In seasons of fear, exhaustion, and discouragement, God meets us with grace,
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speaks to us personally, and gives us renewed purpose.
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Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim takes us on a
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journey through the scriptures, revealing that God doesn't abandon his servants in the wilderness.
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He restores them there and sends them forward with renewed purpose.
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Hello, and thank you for this time that you have chosen to spend at the foot
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of the cross with me and Jesus.
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I know that this is a message that God has given that is filled with hope,
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is filled with comfort, is filled with joy, and above all, I believe it's filled with purpose.
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I believe that all of us experience wilderness moments.
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We experience moments in our lives when we feel like the Israelites did when
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they were just circling round and round and round and round for years and years and years.
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And as we read the account of that, we just see they cyclically fall into familiar sins,
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that they often are ungrateful, and many times they just do the same wrong thing,
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and they complain and they're frustrated.
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Life for us, all these many years later, isn't all that different.
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Life holds for us disappointments. Some that are inevitable, people we love will die.
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Things that we used to do, we will not be able to do later.
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Some are disappointments that we are not prepared at all to have.
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We don't get the job we think that we should get in our workplace.
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Someone we love betrays us we find ourselves in in an illness or a sickness,
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for each of us our wilderness looks very different there are some similarities,
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but we each have our own wilderness and sometimes we go in and out of that wilderness,
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sometimes we choose to stay in the wilderness because we choose to reject and
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ignore what god has for us some people will look at you when you're in a wilderness
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and they'll judge you and condemn you,
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but today i want to bring into your hearing,
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how scripture accounts.
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For Elijah's stint in the wilderness.
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Elijah had just defeated Jezebel and all of her people.
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He wins this massive spiritual victory on Mount Carmel, proving the power of
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God over all of the prophets of Baal.
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But when Queen Jezebel, who is wicked, hears of this, she threatens his life.
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Telling him that she vows she will kill him before the next day.
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He has just had a massive victory.
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And when we get in 1 Kings 19, Elijah's on the run.
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And this, my friend, is the beginning of his time in the wilderness.
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If you would please, and are able, please read with me, beginning in verse 1
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of 1 Kings chapter 19, and we will read through 21.
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And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain
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all the prophets with the sword.
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Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me,
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and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
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And when he saw that, he arose, and he went for his life, and came to Beersheba,
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which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.
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But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree.
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And he requested for himself that he might die and said, It is enough now, O Lord.
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Take away my life, for I am not better than my father's.
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And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched
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him and said unto him, Arise and eat.
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And he looked, and behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coals,
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and a cruise of water at his head, and he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.
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And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him,
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and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee.
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And he arose, and he did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that,
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meet forty days and forty nights under Horeb the mount of God.
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And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there.
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And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him,
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What doest thou hear, Elijah?
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And he said, I have been very jealous, for the Lord God of hosts,
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for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars,
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and slain thy prophets with the sword, and I, even I, only am left,
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and they seek my life to take it away.
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And he said, Go forth, stand upon the mount before the Lord.
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And behold, the Lord passed by.
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And a great strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces and rocks before
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the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.
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And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake.
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And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire.
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And after the fire, a still small voice.
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And it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle,
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and he went out and he stood in the entering in of the cave.
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And behold, there came a voice unto him and said.
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What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous of the Lord,
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God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant,
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thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword.
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And I, even I, only am left.
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And they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord said unto him,
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Go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus.
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And when thou comest anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, And Jehu,
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the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel.
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And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, shalt thou anoint to be king,
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to be prophet in thy room.
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And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu
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slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.
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Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed
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unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
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So he departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with
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twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth.
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And Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him.
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And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me,
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I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.
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And he said unto him, Go back again, for what have I done to thee?
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And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them,
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and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat.
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Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
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May the Lord have his richest blessings upon the reading of his word.
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The theme of 1 Kings 19 is that God restores discouraged servants and he redirects
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them for continued service.
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When the devil comes knocking at your door and he's telling you that God is
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done with you, that's a lie. Because as long as you have breath,
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we are to praise the Lord.
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And if we are praising the Lord, we are lifting him up. And he says,
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if all men will be lifted up, he'll draw all men unto me. If we will lift him
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up, he will draw all men unto him.
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That's working for the Lord.
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The devil would desperately want you not to remember 1 John 1.9.
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This is if we confess our sins.
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He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Romans would be clear when it says that anything done without faith is sin,
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and when we are in the depths of despair, the first thing people want to tell us is, is be happy.
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Get over it. Stop sinning.
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Well, if it was that easy, this man of God, Elijah, would not find himself under a juniper tree.
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Each of us have our own juniper trees. The place that we have gone because the
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world has just depleted us.
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Because we've thrown up our hands in disgust and in stress and in frustration.
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And we said, enough is enough.
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When Elisha finds himself under this juniper tree, he says that exact words.
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Enough is enough, God.
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Just let me die. Each of us have been in situations.
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Where others have lent themselves to the devil and have been a tool in their
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hands and sometimes on purpose and other times indirectly,
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they have delivered blows that have just knocked the wind out of you.
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They have depleted you of every ounce of confidence in yourself,
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which there's a large amount of that takes to be able to tell somebody about Jesus.
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You got to have enough confidence to know that you have enough faith in Jesus
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that he's going to do what he says he'll do.
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It's not about you and your works, but it's hard to work for the Lord if you
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don't feel like you are valuable, if you don't feel like you can do it.
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It's hard to work for the Lord when everyone around you is giving you grief and
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just analyzing what you've done wrong and figuring out ways that you could be
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better and making up lies and delivering hurtful words to you.
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Elijah was under a juniper tree because he was afraid of Jezebel and the fact
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that he had been threatened for his life because he had done all these things.
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He had been working very hard.
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He was doing what he thought he could do, and now he's in danger.
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See, in 1 Kings 19, 1 through 4, what we see is Elijah isn't looking at his,
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recent spiritual victory, which was massive on Mount Carmel.
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Where the power of God overtook all the prophets of Baal. No,
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he is concentrating and contemplating that Jezebel,
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one woman, a wicked queen, but one woman, was going to kill him by that time the next day.
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And so he's overwhelmed by fear and fatigue.
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So Elijah runs for his life into the desert wilderness. He runs away.
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Trying to outrun his fear, trying to outrun his stress, trying to take care of himself by himself.
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He's totally forgotten what the power of God that God gave him and bestowed
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upon him had just recently done.
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And he begins to move his eyes off of the power of God and the power of God
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in his life, like we're told about in Ephesians 3.20, when he says,
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Now know unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
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ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
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He's not looking at God in him. And we know in 1 John 4.4, that greater is he
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that is in us than he that is in the world.
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So we need to not worry.
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As he tells us in Philippians 4.6 and 7, to be careful for nothing.
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But in everything, with prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
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unto God, and the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
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What we see here is a natural reaction by a terribly tired, burnt-out,
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emotionally spent, tremendous man of God.
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And all of us, if we are honest with ourselves, we've been there.
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Some of us right now may be there.
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Others of us may be crossing over the valley, up the mountain,
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and we're almost on the top on the other side.
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Fatigue, scared, and honestly not sure that life is worth living.
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Some of us is because we've lost a loved one. Some of us is because we have
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children that have gone astray.
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Some of us is because we're at a pinnacle of our life and we're getting ready
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to retire, regardless of what it is that has thrown us into this state of confusion,
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state of frustration, state of exhaustion.
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Whatever it is that has caused us to be overwhelmed by fear and fatigue,
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we have run to the wilderness. We've run to the desert.
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And we're in need of renewal and refreshing.
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See, I think some of us think that if we are doing all the right things and
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we're doing what God would have us to do, that we're immune to emotional or physical exhaustion.
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See but spiritual victories don't make us immune to emotional physical exhaustion
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they make us targets for the devil to come after they,
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make us in a place where we we know we're doing the right thing but sometimes it is super duper hard,
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to continue moving on and we need others and we we need encouragement but we
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need time of renewal we need time in front of the lord We need time to hear what God has to say.
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We have to be constantly in communication. I'm convinced that's what he meant
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when he said that we are to pray without ceasing, because in our own minds,
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we will keep ourselves working and doing, and so we'll work so hard,
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and we'll be working and doing the things that we think God wants.
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We are so busy working for God that we forget the God we're working for.
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And I believe what you're seeing, Elijah.
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Is this very thing. I feel like Elijah is doing the right thing and he's pursuing
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God and he's pursuing the task at hand, but he's gotten a little bit too entangled,
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in the task,
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and he's forgotten,
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who God is.
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See, in seasons of fear and exhaustion and discouragement, God meets us with
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grace and he speaks to us personally and he gives us a renewed purpose.
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And it's this personal conversation. It's meeting us with grace that I want
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us to really look at as we understand we are going to face times in the wilderness,
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and it can discourage us,
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and when we get discouraged, our perspective gets all out of whack.
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We don't see things correctly. Elijah wasn't seeing the situation for what it was.
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His flesh was telling him he was done. It was enough.
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When we find ourselves in a situation where we are claiming we are done and
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it is enough, that is a surefire indicator. It's a red flag that we're doing it in our strength.
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Perhaps we might even be doing it in our own way. Because God provides all we
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need and he provides the strength for us to do it.
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He wrote that for us in Philippians 4, 13 and 19.
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See, you can't be ashamed to acknowledge our weakness before God.
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See, Elijah, when God asks him, hey, what are you doing? He tells him.
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He's done. It's over. He's disgusted and he's frustrated and he's afraid.
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But all through Scripture, we are told that perfect love casts out all fear.
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So elijah when he hears about jezebel in verses four and five we see that he
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walks a full day into the desert and he collapses in the shade of a juniper tree,
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in the shade in a quiet place,
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and he's completely depleted so he prays to die saying it is enough now oh lord take away my life.
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Had gotten to him. The weariness of the work had distorted his thoughts.
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And what he had done in great power, his mind was now causing him to be weak,
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fatigued, and exhausted, and afraid.
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So he prays to die. And he falls asleep under this tree, worn out by all the
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physical and emotional stress, and he's suffering from burnout if ever we've seen it.
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He's physically and emotionally exhausted.
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But in verses 5 through 8, we see how God provides and how God comes to this
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man of God, Elijah, and ministers to him.
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An angel of the Lord touches Elijah and tells him to wake up and eat.
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And when he wakes up, Elijah finds fresh bread baked on hot coals and a jug
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of water, and he eats and he drinks and he goes back to sleep.
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God provided nourishment for Elijah.
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God was protecting him and allowing him to rest and to get his physical body under control.
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He was tired.
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When we're tired, we don't think right. And the devil is much more effective
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on a tired person than one that is well-rested.
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And the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
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The devil wants to destroy you, your relationship for the Lord,
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and above all, your witness for him.
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He wants to try to render you useless. And if he could wipe out Elijah,
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just think of all that would have spared,
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all the people that would not have heard or seen or come to know the reality of Jesus and who he is.
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The devil targets those whose heart is right with God.
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He targets those whose heart's desire is to serve him.
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None of that had changed with Elijah, but his perspective have gotten off-center.
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So there's a second touch. The angel wakes him up a second time,
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urging him to eat more because there's a long journey ahead of him.
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God wasn't done with Elijah.
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God was fixing him physically before he was ever going to touch him emotionally.
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God ministers to Elijah by caring for Elijah's physical needs before he ever
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talks to him about his spiritual crisis.
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We are human beings in a fleshly body, and that body has to be able to hear
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and understand and to navigate and to move.
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And when you're at the point of complete physical and emotional exhaustion,
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you can't hear or do anything other than just be.
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And if you don't get what you need to renew that body, the temple of God,
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it's going to be very difficult for you to do the task God wants you to do.
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Can't forget that this earthly body is our temple, and God has a purpose for
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it, and it holds your soul, and it allows you to do the work God wants you to do, and we must be more,
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aware of how important the temple of God is.
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We have to take care of it. You can't go and go and go and go and go.
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You got to go, and you got to rest, and you got to eat everything in proper
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balance and proportion. and Jesus rode on the other side of the lake and he
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would rest and pray. And it was Jesus.
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How much more to me and you need to do that? God's care is compassionate,
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complete, and practical.
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Rest and nourishment, prayer and support are vital in all of our seasons,
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but never more so than in our seasons of distress.
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We've got to feed on the word of God. Man can't live by bread alone.
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Yes, the angel touched him. Yes, the angel fed him.
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Yes, the angel gave him something to drink, but the angel was God,
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and he gave him God's presence.
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And in God's presence, everything changes. Elijah needed a good view of who God was.
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Elijah was getting ready to see God like he had never seen him before.
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But Elijah was still obedient. I want you to see that carefully.
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Elijah is very obedient, and even in this season of distress and fatigue and exhaustion.
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He told him to eat and sleep, and he ate and he slept.
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He tells him to get up and go.
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He travels for 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.
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God doesn't condemn his weary servants. He strengthens them.
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The devil's going to tell you that God's through with you. You may have made a mistake.
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Maybe you didn't make a mistake. Maybe you just continued to work yourself into
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the ground, and you weren't doing it in the strength of God,
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which would be a mistake.
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But you didn't commit some error that somebody's holding against you.
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You just burnt yourself out because you neglected the time and the presence of Jesus.
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You didn't have time to pray. You didn't have time to study.
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You were too busy visiting this person and doing that and being at the church
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for this and all of those things very well may be things God has called you to do.
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But the one thing he is always calling you to do is to be in his presence.
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And when you get so busy and get so distracted and the things of this world
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hurt you and they are things that you don't expect and disappointments come
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your way, it seems to me the easy thing to drop off is the reading.
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The next easy thing to drop off is the praying for God to speak to you.
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You'll pray for the laundry list of what you want him to do for you.
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But the whole Psalms 4610, be still and know that I am God, it goes out the window.
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See, sometimes it's the wilderness.
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Helps us be shaped into what we need to be strong in the lion's den,
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to come out of the fiery furnace, unharmed and unscathed.
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The wilderness is a place when Jesus is with you, you're going to be just fine.
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But you got to believe.
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And I want you to see your friends, your religious friends, they all may have
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all kinds of condemnation to throw at you. They may have all kinds of words
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so if you just trusted more, this wouldn't happen.
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If you could just believe more, you'd feel better.
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You know how he was running because Jezebel said something to him like she was going to kill him?
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And that voice was what was playing bigger in his head.
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The voice of the power of God that had defeated the prophets of Baal,
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don't let your friends speak louder than God.
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And be careful who your friends are. Be very careful which friends you're listening to.
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Your closest friend may be your ally, but God may not have revealed to them,
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exactly what he has for you.
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It's great to have them, and we're going to see where Elijah got him a mentor.
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But when you're in a wilderness, it's you and him.
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And there's no mistaking if you got it right, because you're there in front of him.
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It's you and him. And he's not condemning you.
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He's strengthening you. He's no respecter of persons. What he did for Elijah
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in the wilderness, he wants to do for you.
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But Elijah was always obedient. it.
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In verses 9 through 10, God is inviting us to be honest with him.
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I've read this, and you see him say this twice in scripture,
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but I want you to hear what he says to him.
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He says, And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there. And behold,
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the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou hear,
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Elijah? This is the second time God has asked him.
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First he's under the juniper tree then he gets fed rest a little bit more fed
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again and then he heads off for his 40 days and 40 nights to the mountain of
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god horeb and here the angel of the lord is saying to him again,
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the word of the lord says to him what are you doing here.
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Elijah doesn't lie. He doesn't try to modify the truth. He doesn't church speak.
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He doesn't put on his religious persona. He says the truth.
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I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel
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have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the word.
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And I, even I, only am left.
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And they seek my life to take it away now i can only imagine the attitude at which,
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elijah spoke those words there had to be some sting in the in the tone,
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i'm sure it was less than it would have been before the two meals and the lord
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guiding him to horeb but he's really frustrated that he finds himself in this situation.
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And the truth of the matter is, you're going to find that because he's so disgusted, so
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frustrated, so upset, so distressed, that he's not even thinking correctly,
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and he's revealing his perception of the truth, and it's wrong.
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He's saying, I'm the only one in this whole place that believes in you, Lord.
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You're going to see Jesus gently, God, the Lord.
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Gently corrects the error of his thinking.
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When we bring our questions and pain and confusion to God, that's showing we trust him.
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That's a relational conversation.
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That's a relationship.
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It's not a dictatorship.
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It's not a recipe. It's a relationship.
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Honest prayer is not unbelief, people. It's a relationship with God.
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Be honest. Don't formulate your prayers before you say them.
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He already knows what you're thinking.
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Have a relationship with God that is so strong and so true and based on such
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a foundation of the scriptures that you can tell him, I don't like this.
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I don't understand this. Why are they winning? Where's everybody at now?
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I did what you asked me to do.
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It's an honest prayer with an open heart because of the relationship.
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Elijah isn't blaming God for anything.
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And Elijah isn't taking away from any of God's power. Elijah's not even thinking about God's power.
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And when God begins to speak, Elijah listens.
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That's how you know it wasn't a venting fest. That's how you know it wasn't him blaming God.
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That's how you know it wasn't him taking away from the deity and power of God
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but it was a relational prayer,
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God I need you you gotta talk to me,
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my faith is running dim and it's running low
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and I know the word and I know what you say and I know who you are and I desperately
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believe it but God I need to feel it I just need an affirmation I just need
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to see something and I want you to see what he does, he
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comes to him in his presence.
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Because Elijah's seeking the face of God. He's seeking the word of God.
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He's seeking a relationship.
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It's God he wants to be in front of and ask, and we shall receive,
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seek, and ye shall find, and knock, and it shall be added unto you in Matthew 7.7.
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And this is what Elijah's doing as he's gone to the cave.
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God asks him, what are you doing?
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Tells him flat out about his fear, his loneliness, and his frustration.
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God already knew Elijah's condition, but he was inviting him to speak.
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He was inviting him to enjoy the relationship of a God that sticks closer than
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a brother, of a God who loves you like no one else.
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God listens, even when we are completely off the mark.
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It's our heart. It's not unbelief. It's fatigue and distress.
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We can't live there, but we know in our hearts, those of us who know him,
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that in his presence there is joy evermore, and at his right hand we'll have pleasure.
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That will show me the path of life, in thy presence is fullness of joy.
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At thy right hand there are pleasures evermore, in Psalm 1611.
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We know this, and Elijah knew this. So Elijah was attempting to get in the presence of God.
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Whether he knew it or not, his soul knew where he would be nourished.
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His soul knew where he would be renewed. He knew in front of God.
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And though he sat under a juniper tree, the relationship we are talking about
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here in 9 and 10 had long been established before he went to the juniper tree.
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And that relationship was with a loving, mighty God who shows up.
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Leads him physically, stays in his presence, lets him rest.
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He's away from the problems, sends him off to the mountain of God.
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And then you have 1 Kings 19, 11 through 13.
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God speaks in a still, small voice.
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I love this passage of scripture, and we're going to read it again.
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Go forth and stand upon the mountain before the Lord, and behold the Lord passed
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by and a great strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces the rocks
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before the Lord but the Lord was not in the big wind,
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and after the wind an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and
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after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice,
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and it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face and his man only
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went out and stood in the entering of the cave.
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And behold, there came a voice unto him and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah?
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God wasn't in the big wind.
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God wasn't in the earthquake.
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Fire appeared, and God wasn't in the fire. But then came the still small voice,
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that said, what do you hear?
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God is able to work through dramatic events, but he also speaks through quiet communion.
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He doesn't need the drama, the chaos, the loud.
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The still small voice asks him, what do you hear?
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But we have to slow down enough to hear him. Elijah moved out of his cave,
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and he stood there. He obeyed God.
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And the big things wasn't where God was at.
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It was the still small voice. Psalms 4610 is a real thing. Be still and know that I am God.
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That takes discipline, effort. It's not passive.
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I think we get so busy with the busyness of the world and the busyness sometimes
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of the call of God or of the walk of God or our life or the things that are
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happening that we're just not still in his presence.
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And activity and fear make it very difficult to recognize God's direction.
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Keeping you busy is one of the greatest tactics the devil has.
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And especially if we're busy doing things we think are good,
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like teaching the gospel, witnessing, helping those that are sick,
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being a light, doing the things we're supposed to do, studying.
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All of that we have to do, and we need to do, but we need to follow the command
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of God and go where he says go and do what he says do when he says do it.
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Just doing it isn't following God's commandment.
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What follows God's commandment is walking in his ways, being ready and capable
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and able to go, and where he goes, you go.
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When he says go, you say, here am I, send me.
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It's being in a state of readiness. it's being a soldier that is prepared
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it's being dedicated and loving to god it's being willing to do whatever he
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asks and close enough in your relationship to him to be able to ask him is it
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it is this it is this what you want
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is this where i'm supposed to go is this what i'm supposed to do
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how was the last thing not it i thought i followed you but god what are you
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talking about what am I supposed to do, get in his presence, and be ready and follow.
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That's what Elijah teaches us.
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He comes out of the cave.
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I'm sure he thought this wind must be it.
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It's big. God is big. Well, I didn't hear him in the wind.
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This earthquake must be it. He's rattled my soul.
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Well, I don't have the answer.
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The fire is, it's burning the sin out of me. It wasn't about that.
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It was about how laser-focused are you?
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Are you looking for the flashy, the loud, or the logical?
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Are you looking for Jesus? The wind would have been flashy. The earthquake would have been loud.
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The fire, That would have made sense.
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But here he comes again.
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Honestly doing exactly what he did when he was under the juniper tree.
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Laja, what are you doing?
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A simple reflection.
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Elijah believes in 1 Kings 19, verses 14 and 18. He believed he was the only faithful servant left.
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This is getting to that point that when we're fatigued, when we are distressed,
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when we are completely exhausted and frustrated, we don't think clearly.
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And even your best of Christians are going to make mistakes in that time.
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But God, he forgets our sins as far as the east is from the west.
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So when Elijah now, we've had some food, we've had some rest,
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we've been in the presence of God for a little bit,
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we've proved that we're not easily distracted or fooled by other things that
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look like God or seem like they should be God.
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And we're listening for the still small voice.
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God corrects that distorted perspective. God reveals that 7,000 had not bowed to Baal.
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See, Elijah's feelings were real, but his conclusions were not accurate.
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That's how the devil really gets in. We open a small door by being too tired,
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too frustrated, not spending any time alone with the Lord, not trying to get in his presence.
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And what is a situation that may be big, but it becomes catastrophic because
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we are making decisions based on a faulty mind, a limited data set,
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and what we feel. We've all done it.
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Out of feeling. And many times acting out of feeling has cost us.
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Sometimes people are going to accuse you of acting out of feeling when you've
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really been sitting in front of the feet of Jesus,
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and you make a decision that does not suit them, does not serve them,
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does not help them, but comes straight from God himself because you've been to the Mount of Horeb.
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You've been to the mountain of God, and you've watched the wind pass by.
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You've watched the earthquake happen.
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You felt the heat of the fire, but you stayed the course.
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You stayed concentrating on him. You never changed your focus.
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You never changed your purpose.
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You never changed anything. In front of Jesus, you're willing to do whatever
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God asks because you love him.
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Under the juniper tree, you've just removed yourself from his presence,
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but your heart still loves him.
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I guess the moral of that story is, when you get under the juniper tree,
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start calling for Jesus.
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There's some great things about the juniper tree. It was shaded.
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It's a great place for a picnic and a nap, because that's what Jesus used it for for Elijah.
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That's what God commanded.
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God sees the bigger picture. And when we're discouraged, we often think in extremes,
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I'm alone, nothing's ever going to happen, my work is useless, nobody cares.
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But God sees the bigger picture. We could never be alone.
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Because Hebrews 13.5 says he never leaves us or forsakes us.
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He was with Elijah when he beat the prophets of Baal. He was with Elijah.
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Elijah when he sat under the juniper tree. He was with Elijah as he walked the
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journey 40 days and 40 nights to the Mount of Horeb.
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He was with Elijah in the cave, and he brought Elijah out.
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And Elijah's relationship with God could see through the wind and the fire and
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the earthquake, and he heard.
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In verses 15 through 17 and 19 through 21, God renews the purpose for Elijah,
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and he gives him the next step.
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The devil all along has been telling Elijah, you're done.
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You're done. His flesh, his mind, his body, everything bought into it because
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his body was done, because he had removed himself from focusing on God.
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And Isaiah 26.3 says, I will keep him of perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
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on thee because he trusteth in thee.
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Sends Elijah back to his assignment. He gave him specific instructions.
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He directed Elijah to call Elisha as his successor, and Elijah's ministry would
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continue through faithful obedience and mentoring.
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Elijah had accountability.
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Elijah and Elisha have an enormously wonderful relationship,
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and all that Elijah does, he passes it on to Elisha.
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God never let Elijah's ministry die.
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He never let Elijah die that night under the juniper tree either.
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God may not reveal the entire future, but Elijah teaches us one thing.
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He gives us the next faithful step. up.
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Restoration isn't merely relief from the pain. It's renewal for the service.
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That time under the juniper tree, you say, well, if God made me some bread and,
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gave me some water, I would surely turn my life around too. He has.
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He is the bread and he is the water. And we have all of him.
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The ticket is giving him all of us.
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Elijah was fully man, with God living in him. But he was fully committed.
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And in a moment when his flesh was just too weak.
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He thought. But the merciful, graceful, gracious God that we serve wasn't done with him.
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Elijah moved from victory to fear, from strength to exhaustion,
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and from isolation to renewed purpose.
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And God was with him during every stage, not with condemnation,
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but with care, the truth and direction.
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See, the scripture says that he who is free is free indeed.
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And it says the truth shall make you free.
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Elijah is a massive, massive account in scripture that each and every one of us need to look at,
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absorb, and take note of.
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Because as ministers of the gospel, and that's what every single one of you
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who've been saved are, he says, go you into all the world and preach and teach the gospel.
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A minister is one who serves. and we are to serve the Most High God by being
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His hands and feet extended and serving those around us.
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God was with Him during every stage, strengthening Him.
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Was purposed on God. He wasn't perfect, but he was purposed.
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We can't be perfect in this world because we live in a fleshly body,
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but we can strive towards the prize of the high calling.
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But we can be purposed. So when you're weary, Elijah teaches us to receive God's care.
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When you're afraid, Elijah shows us how to bring our fears honestly to him.
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And when you're confused, Elijah teaches us to listen for God's voice,
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to silence the other voices.
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When you're lonely, Elijah tells us to remember that God preserves his people
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and he never leaves us or forsakes us.
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And perhaps the one we need to remind ourselves the most of,
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when you are discouraged.
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Just take the next step of obedience.
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God does not abandon his servants in the wilderness. He restores them there,
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and sends them forward with renewed purpose.
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Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
47:41
references from this episode in the show notes.
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