Elijah his Message
Elijah Review: 1 Kgs 17:2-4
Now we find Elijah
under orders from God to go to the brook Cherith and the promise of provision
while there.
It would become a place of testing but also of spiritual
nourishment and growth.
What does it mean to
have ears to hear? What about all the times we’re challenged to
hear what the Spirit says to the Churches?
The only way we find true satisfaction or meaning in life
is to hear the invisible, inaudible voice of the living God, the Lord Jesus,
through developing our capacity to hear and see Him by spending time with Him
in the Word.
Application: Spiritually speaking, God has designed our time alone with
Him to be a place where we can feed on His Word and think on the Lord, to be a kerith to us, a place of cutting, a
place where God can chisel away on our character and cut the thinking of this
world, this age out of our hearts.
We need this time alone that we might draw upon our supernatural
resources in the Lord, His Word and prayer which forms the basis for a life of
faith.
We are to do this to
bring God's influence over every area of our lives:
our motivations in life, what moves us, the things that
pull us to conform or to compete,
our perspective on life, why we are here and what are we
seeking,
our priorities and values, which impacts our use of our
time, talents, treasures, and truth, and
our thought processes (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
As we live our lives, we are challenged daily, nearly
everyday we are faced
with a number of tests that challenge our faith, obedience, love for God, our virtues
and priorities, and how we respond to these challenges demonstrate just how
real God is to us.
Like wise it is when we take time to hide ourselves in the
Word, to take some time away from the pressures of the day, that we begin to
really experience the power of God in our life.
Its there where we develop our dependence on Him and an
increased love of our Savior; and it
will result in bringing order and strength to our spiritual life.
If we desire to develop our
relationship with Him and want to have true spiritual success in our life it is
fundamental.
It is there that we experience the
power of God and the defeat of Satan and the influence of his world system with
all of its distractions and counterfeits.
Note the priority the Savior put
on having time alone with His heavenly Father in the midst of a very busy
schedule and how this directed his actions and objectives (Mark 1:32-38).
Another reason for Elijah's time
alone was PROTECTION.
It was protection from himself;
Therefore hiding ourselves becomes
a protection against burn-out, against lives of futility, against living to
please people rather than God, and from becoming preoccupied with this world
rather than with our God and what we have being in Christ.
This is not a call to monasticism.
Furthermore, we will certainly be
more apt to serve from biblical motives rather than the huvpt, often neurotic
motivations of self-centered living or from a misplaced sense of
responsibility.
Let's look at some
verses where satar is used; this word
that means "to
hide."
Deut 29:29
Psalm 119:18-19
143:7-8
Questions in Summary:
(1) What causes God to hide His presence from us?
(2) Why do we lose sight of God's presence when He has so forcefully
promised never to leave nor to forsake us?
(3) Why do we sometimes fail to experience the sustaining grace of His
presence, strength and support so that we do not burn out, blow up, fall away,
or deviate from a productive walk of faith with the Lord?
Answers:
(1) Because we fail to hide
ourselves in His presence to draw upon His life, to evaluate and reorder our
thinking according to the principles and promises of the Word
(cf. Ps. 119:30, 105, 130, 147-148; Ps.
119:23, 49-52; and 143:4-8)
(2) Another reason is because
of unconfessed sin. Many act as though
God does not know nor care about what we do and we ignore our sins (Isa. 29:15;
40:27; Jer.
Application: The command to Elijah was, "go hide, conceal, or absent yourself."
All around us voices are clamoring for our attention,
time, and service.
What God told
Elijah to do was no mystery. God's
directions to Elijah were clear, just as the basic principles of God's moral
will in Scripture are for us today.
God's guidance
usually comes to us one step at a time, which goes contrary to human
nature.
For the most part,
God's plan is one day at a time, i.e.,
"give us this day our daily bread."
But someone may ask, "shouldn't
we make plans and set goals?"
Yes, but it is
helpful to remember two important passages in Proverbs as we do: Pr. 16:1; Pr. 16:9
"Steps" is figurative of the course of
one's life.
We are to trust,
commit, rest in God's perfect wisdom, and loving care, knowing that His power
is sufficient, His purposes, and plan for each of us is perfect, its complete,
that’s true no matter how things look to us.
Ps. 119:133 Establish (kun)
my footsteps in Thy word, And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me.
Look at Phil. 2:13
“to will, to work”
shaping of the vpt/desires
How? Rom 12:2;