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Transcript

The Cure For Burnout · The Bible Bit Podcast

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  Welcome back. This is Kimmy Miller of Woman at the Well Ministries bringing
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  you another Bible bit for you to enjoy.
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  The cure for burnout.
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  Today as we journey through the scriptures gleaning the truth from God's word,
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  we're going to take a look at an account in scripture where a great prophet
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  of the Lord, Elijah, falls deep into despair and exhaustion and how God meets him with gentle care.
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  1 Kings 19 gives us an account of Elijah retreating and running from the queen
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  Jezebel, just after he had won a massive spiritual battle on Mount Carmel,
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  proving the power of God over the prophets of Baal.
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  But as 1st King 19 opens, Elijah is overwhelmed by fear and fatigue,
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  and he runs for his life into the wilderness because he is afraid that Queen
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  Jezebel is going to kill him.
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  He has just defeated the prophets of Baal, and now he's running from one woman,
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  jezebel this goes to show that spiritual victories do not make you immune to
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  emotional or physical exhaustion.
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  Discouragement and disappointment can distort your perspective and cause you
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  to isolate yourself and many times to run from God instead of to him.
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  1 Kings 19, 1-4 says, And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done,
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  and withal how he had slain 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 under a juniper tree.
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  And he requested for himself that he might die and said, It is enough now,
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  O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father.
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  Pay close attention that Elijah isn't immune to emotional or physical exhaustion.
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  No, just like you and me, this amazing prophet of God finds himself exhausted,
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  frustrated, and emotionally spent.
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  No one is beyond falling into this state.
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  But through God's grace, mercy, love, and provision, all of us can be rescued
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  from it and to rise above it.
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  God calls us to do what he equips us to do, nothing more and nothing less.
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  However, the devil gets in our mind and distorts the truth. He makes us feel
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  as if we are all alone when in fact we are not.
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  Hebrews 13.5 promises us that God will never leave us or forsake us.
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  Therefore, we are never alone, and we always have exactly what we need when we need it.
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  The problem lies with how we live and maneuver through this world.
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  We sometimes get so busy working for the Lord that we forget the Lord of the work.
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  We often just do and do and do and find ourselves burnt out.
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  The truth is that there will always be something that has to be done,
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  a task that needs to be completed, a person that is begging for your time, wisdom, and energy.
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  But every assignment isn't yours, and every problem isn't yours to fix.
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  As servants of the Most High God, you must follow His commands.
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  You must work where, when, and as, he says.
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  You don't get to run your schedule, pick your assignments, or choose what you will and won't do.
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  God has a plan for your life, Jeremiah 29, 11.
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  And when we take control of our lives, we often supersede his specific plans for our lives.
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  When we become a Christian, we surrender our entire being and our whole life
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  to him, allowing him to be the Lord of our life and King of our heart.
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  This includes your day-to-day activities as well as your work for him.
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  Elijah was doing the right thing when he defeated the prophets of Baal through
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  the power of God, but he found himself completely spent, and so now it was time
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  for him to fully obey the Lord and replenish his body and be renewed in spirit.
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  It is vitally important what you do in times of sheer exhaustion.
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  Clearly, you don't think well, and you are vulnerable to the devil.
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  Here in this account, Elijah wants to die. He says he's done, 1 Kings 19.4.
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  This isn't a rational thought from a man whose heart is centered and focused on God.
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  No, this is the thoughts that happen when we are operating out of our flesh
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  and are vulnerable to the lies of the devil.
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  Remember the words of Peter in 1 Peter 5, 8, which says, Be sober,
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  be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
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  walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
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  The devil isn't going to miss an opportunity to attack. But praise be to God,
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  greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. 1 John 4, 4.
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  God cares for you, and he wants to bear your burden.
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  We are to cast our cares on him because he cares for us. 1 Peter 5.7.
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  We are to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace
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  to help in our time of need. Hebrews 4.16.
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  Instead of running away from God, we must run to God.
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  Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Join us tomorrow as we continue through 1 Kings 19 and watch God gently and
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  lovingly care for Elijah.
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  Please visit Woman at the Well Ministries at watwm.org for more resources,
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  podcasts, and to connect with us.