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He said I’ve had enough Lord. Take away my life.
Then he laid down and slept beneath the juniper tree, but as
he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him to get up
and eat! He looked around and saw some bread baking on
hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and
lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again
and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, for there
is a long journey ahead of you”. So he got up and ate
and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel
forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb, the mountain of
God where he stayed in a cave.
But
the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here Elijah?
He replied, “I have worked very hard for the Lord God of the
heavens; but the people of Israel have broken their covenant
with you and torn down your altars and killed your prophets,
and only I am left; and now they are trying to kill me
too. Go out and stand before me on the mountain, the
Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there the Lord passed
by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain; it was such a
terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord
was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an
earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And
after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not
in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of
a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his
face in his scarf and went out and stood at the entrance of
the cave.
And
a voice said, “Why are you here, Elijah? And he replied
again, I have been working very hard for the Lord God of the
armies of heaven, but the people have broken their covenant
and have torn down your altars; they have killed every one of
your prophets except me; and now they are trying to kill me,
too. Then the Lord told him, “Go back by the desert road
to Damascus”.
Can
you think back to the day when we first heard about Jesus and
His love for us? How on fire for the Lord we were then.
We promised Him that we would go with Him all the way.
We told Him how much we loved Him, and how much we wanted to
serve Him. We prayed, “Take my life, and let it be used
for your glory”.
Can
you remember the day when you first invited the Lord to come
into your life? We were excited to serve Him. We
couldn’t wait to get out there and begin working for Him.
We had high hopes and dreams of what God was going to do
through our lives.
I
can remember reading a tract one day that told of a ship that
was on fire. And many people were trapped on board and
couldn’t get out. And this man of God, who had a great
anointing of the Lord on his life, walked through the fire and
rescued each one of them without being burned.
After reading that I was
hooked! I wanted that anointing of God on my life in
such a way that God would use me some day like that. I
remember praying and fasting, going without water and food for
three days to receive such a wonderful anointing of God upon
my life. I was about 17 years old at that
time.
Today, I can tell you that I
never had to literally walk through a blazing fire, but I have
walked through, just like many of you some very hot and fiery
trials in my life, and God has brought me through them
all. And I am here today to remind us that God is
Faithful. And He desires us to Faithful too!
Revelations 2:10 be thou faithful unto
death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
But
sometimes our ways grows weary, and sometimes we become
discouraged don’t we? God see’s us in those times, just
like He saw Elijah in his time of discouragement.
Elijah thought he would run
and hide away so no one would know where he was at. But
God knew where he was. And God knows where we are at. He
knows the state of our faith, He knows the condition of our
heart. He knows when we are tempted and tried. He
knows the persecutions and the afflictions we’ve
suffered. He knows all of our labour, and our
weakness’. He knows the times we’ve been offended and
deeply hurt by the things others have said and done to
us.
When we come up against some
of those things, when we feel taken advantaged of,
unappreciated, unloved, when we’ve been persecuted unjustly,
we loose our focus and become discouraged, sometimes we even
faint.
Elijah was a man of God that
had such an anointing of Gods Power upon His life. He was fed
by ravens; He multiplied the widow’s barrel of meal and cruise
of oil that it didn’t run out. He brought back to life
the widows son. He prayed down fire from heaven, and
burnt up the sacrifice, yet when troubles came knocking on his
door, he became so discouraged in his work for God, that He
ran away from God and his responsibility.
Elijah felt as if he was the
only person standing for God, and decided that he had enough
and was ready to just lie down and quit. Elijah became
discouraged and he began to faint.
I
think we all from time to time have come to that place where
we have become discouraged in our work for the Lord. We
may feel at times like Elijah did, when He told the Lord I
have worked so hard for you Lord, but nobody cares! I’m
the only one left here standing for you, but what good am I
doing here. I’ve had enough, I quit! And we leave
off from doing the work God has called us to do. That’s the
place Elijah was at, and that’s the place a lot of Christians
are at today in their walk, and in their work for the
Lord.
This is no
time to faint beloved
Proverbs
24:10 says,
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is
small.
God
doesn’t want us to faint in the days of trouble. He
wants us to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His
might.
So
God had to remind Elijah of who He really is, and of those
things that His power can perform. God told Elijah to go
out and stand before me on the mountain. And as Elijah
stood there the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the
mountain; it was such a terrible blast that the rocks were
torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the
wind, there was an earthquake, after the earthquake there was
a fire, and after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle
whisper. And Elijah heard it.
God
is still the same today, and His power is still the same in
our days, as it was in Elijah's. But Gods ability is not
where He desires to be found, it is in the still small voice
that we find His presence today.
Galatians
6:9 and let
us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall
reap, if we faint not. I encourage you today church to
“Press on, to Endure” in your work for the Lord. You
have no idea the things that God is doing through you and your
ministry.
How
many today have come so close to hitting the mark, for the
prize of the high calling of God in their life, but because of
discouragements or because of offences, they become weary and
faint.
Galatians
5:7-8 ye
did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the
truth, this persuasion cometh not of him that calleth
you.
I
think of Paul the Apostle in the bible. He endured and
suffered so much in his life and in his ministry. Five
times he was beaten with 40 stripes, three times he was beaten
with rods, he was stoned, he was shipwrecked and spent a day
and night in the deep waters. He was robbed, put into
prison, he suffered hunger and thirst, and he endured the
cold, and even went without clothes.
But
at the end of his journey, he had this testimony when he said,
“The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith.” Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also
that love his appearing.
We
are living in days of adversity, just like Elijah who fled for
his life when he found out that Jezebel wanted to kill him.
But what ever we may be facing today we can’t
afford to faint spiritually in the trials of our life.
Jeremiah
12:5 if
thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee,
then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the
land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then
how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
I
think God was telling Jeremiah, if you become discouraged and
faint over the little trials in your life, how will you stand
when you have to come up against greater and much harder
trials?
I
see in this passage a wonderful revelation of scripture that
speaks so much to the weary and faint pilgrim on their
journeys way. I see how the angel of the Lord touched
Elijah while he was sleeping and waiting to die, and told him
to get up and eat!
He
looked around and saw bread baking on hot stones, and a jar of
water. And again the angel told him to get up and eat
some more, for there's a long journey ahead of you.
Jesus said in John 5:35, I am the bread of life; he
that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on
me shall never thirst.
In
our times when we become so discouraged that we begin to
faint, I hear the words of this Book saying, “Get Up” and eat
of this Bread and drink of this water, for your journey is not
over yet, you still have a ways to go.
This is the only bread that
will sustain us on our journey down here on earth. It
will give rest to the weary, strength to the weak, hope to the
discouraged, joy to those who sorrow, and help to those in
need. Jesus is this Bread of Life.
Now
God asked Elijah over and over again while he waited to die
there in the cave, “What are you doing here Elijah?”.
And God was saying, I didn’t tell you to come to this
cave! What are you doing here? When we allow
those things that we come up against to discourage us to the
point of giving up, we often times leave from the place that
God has called us to stand in and retreat, and God is saying
today, “What are you doing here”. I’ve not called you to
quit, I’ve not called you to give up, I’ve not called you to
lie down, but now, go back to the place that I have called you
to, and carry on the work that I have given you to
do.
 Hand
in Hand Publications November 2008
It is my joy to welcome to Hand
in Hand Publications as this months Guest Writer, Rev. James
Beach from Columbiana Ohio. Rev. Beach pastors
the First Baptist Church in East Liverpool Ohio, and we are so
glad to have Him
 join
hands with us this month to help publish the "Good News" of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
You can certainly see the Love of
God reflected in our Pastors life through His dedication to
His church and family, and his compassion that He has for
others, especially for those who are hurting, and in great
need.
It is indeed my privilege to
welcome this month for the first time our Pastor, as He shares
with all of us one of His favorite sayings, "Too Blessed to
be Stressed".
Here is an excerpt from Pastors
message this month....Although single men constitute about sixty percent of
the homeless population, families constitute about one third of all homeless and
are the fastest-growing group of homeless. That means those families are
not stressed over how many are coming to their house for Thanksgiving or what
the menu will be. Maybe they are wondering where they will be sleeping
tonight.
I would
invite you all to stop by Pastor Beach's page this month and
listen to what the "Spirit is saying". I sure would
appreciate it if some of you who have been with us for a while
would take the time to write and introduce yourself to our
Pastor. He certainly would enjoy hearing from you.
Here is
the link...
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