Warriors Arise: July 19th, 2020
John 20:24-26 (NKJV) Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”
How long will you wait in the wrong place? God has told you to go there and you remain here. Blessings, protection, and provision come with one who goes where God tells them to go. God has prepared for our needs in the place where He sends us.
1 Kings 17:1-4 (NKJV) And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” 2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
God gives Elijah very specific instructions. God gives Elijah directions to the very place God has made provision for him. They are very clear instructions.
Get away from here
Turn eastward
Hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
These are very specific. God is serious. He told Elijah, "Get away from here." There is not another option. God doesn't send Elijah to find his own hiding place. Elijah trusts God and follows His instructions. Elijah does not go a different way, trying to find his own hiding place. He heard God and did what God said.
1 Kings 17:5 (NKJV) So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
Sometimes in reading this part of Elijah's history I have wondered what would have happened if he didn't go all the way to the exact location God specified. Because in verse 4 God has told him, "I have commanded the ravens to feed you there". Would the ravens have brought the food if there was there no one to eat it? If Elijah was a mile short of the place God sent him would he have seen the ravens fly overhead taking the food to the location he was supposed to be?
Have you been in a situation where you felt like someone was getting what God said was yours? Did you realize it might be because you weren't in the place God told you to be? I can't get upset with the person I think got my blessing, when I am not in the place God told me to be. Sometimes we get used to living "in-between". In-between the promise and the fulfillment of the promise. Then we want to blame God because He promised us something but we have yet to see it fulfilled. Is it because we didn't commit all the way? We didn't follow the instructions completely? We stopped a mile short?
God gave you and I the ability to make decisions. We have free-will. We get to make the final decision. The choice is really up to us. I used to think I had all these options. Years ago God showed me the error of that way of thinking. Yes, there are all kinds of options but there are only two choices.
I have two choices.
#1 I can choose to follow God's instruction on a particular matter or
#2 I could follow me, my way of thinking and all the options I wanted to entertain.
I can't express enough how simple life got when I understood the wisdom in the two choices. God gives us the freewill to choose because love is a choice. We can live our way or we can live His way. His way, He promises to make a way for us, provide for us, protect us, bring completion, and we live the best life possible. It doesn't mean it is with out problems. Life brings problems. But when we live according to His plan, we can trust He will always bring us through those problems.
I used think I had all these options and I needed to be diligent, thinking through each one, deciding which one would give me the best outcome. That was so exhausting and many times brought insecurity in my decision because the process brought confusion. I had to train myself to listen for God's instruction. The stress is alleviated because all I have to do is listen to God and follow His instructions. I trust His ways are not only good but the best plan. I am not wiser than God so there is no possible way I can plan a better path than Him. I cannot see into the future, but God can. Time is irrelevant to Him. Since He has more information to draw from and He wants what is best for me, I can trust He will tell me the best answer, giving me the best instructions, and seeing me in the best direction.
God sent Elijah with specific directions of where to hide. Elijah doesn't even find his own food. God sends food for him!
1 Kings 17:6 (NKJV) The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
Pretty amazing! God is awesome like that! He provides when we go to where He tells us to go. And when the brook dried up, God spoke very clearly to Elijah.
1 Kings 17:7-10 (NKJV) And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks.
Elijah followed God's instructions but the widow didn't get the same message as Elijah or the widow had not been listening to the Lord.
1 Kings 17:10-12 (NKJV) And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
The widow is similar to Thomas, and the other disciples before Jesus appeared in their midst. They were told by someone else Jesus would meet with them in Galilee. Elijah is a stranger to her; she doesn't know him and now he is asking for her last bit of bread. Her child's life is a stake.
This woman needed a miracle. If she only had enough food for one more day. What would it matter if she trusted Elijah and made him a a small cake first? There were not other means. She didn't have anyone else to provide for her and her son. This first day would be the hardest day of them all. After this she would already know the reality of the miracle. Make one first for Elijah and then there would be enough for her and her son.
1 Kings 17:13-16 (NKJV) And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.
Thomas is waiting for Jesus to appear so he can feel His nail-pierced hands. Yet, Jesus has sent word for His disciples and Peter to meet Him in Galilee. I guess I wonder how much more time they would have had with Jesus if they had gone when they first received the message, rather than waiting for Jesus to come to them. Maybe they wouldn't have gotten more time in Galilee with Jesus than they did; but our disobedience always costs us something.
If the widow had not given Elijah the cake first, would she and her son have lived? I don't know. I don't know what it would have cost them; maybe they would have had to sell themselves as slaves. But they would not have been provided for in the way God intended.
Father, our world has become a place of chaos. My prayers are for those who have not practiced hearing Your voice. Now we are bombarded with everyone having an opinion, wanting their 15 minutes of fame, and taking thier personal freedoms beyond personal and invading another's freedom. Confusion is overtaking people's ability to want to know the truth. Fear is causing people to disregard the facts, to run with the first information given. I ask for confusion to be bound in the name of Jesus. I ask for clarity of thought to return in the name of Jesus. I ask for fear to be bound and I ask for the disregard of the facts and personal opinions to be bound in Jesus' name. I ask for people to have a desire to know the truth, so we can be set free. I ask for people to search for the facts in Jesus name. We need You to intervene, to speak peace and the chaos to dissipate. I ask for You to break the bondage of the lies on our minds. I ask for You to plant the truth in our mind. I pray we would hear Your voice and do as You instruct. I pray we would willingly follow You no matter what we reason in our own mind. You know what is best and You desire for each one of us to life the best life Jesus died to give us. I pray we would hear Your voice and completely follow Your instructions in Jesus name amen.
A Warrior in the Lord’s Army,
Veridee Joy
My hope is for Believers in Jesus Christ to join together each day to pray, to push back the enemy as we release God’s power here on earth against the coronavirus. The prayers will be listed each day as Warriors Arise. I will put a date with it so we can keep them straight. If you have any questions please feel free to make a comment or private message me. If you would like this to come to your email directly please go to verideehand.com and subscribe.
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