Fear and a False Sense of Peace

You ever get to a point where you've been through so much you just don't want to move forward? If you could you would just put your life on pause so you can gather the energy to resume. We all have been there before. Satan will try to put you in that place to discourage you from moving forward. This leaves many of us sitting in the middle of the path to God instead of moving toward Him. Satan does this to push us into a lukewarm nonproductive place. Satan often does this by fear and through it he tries to convinces us slothfulness and dormancy in the spirit is the only way to get relief.  So many of us retreat, afraid to move forward. Today God is going to pull you out of that place and strengthen you.

Let's take a look at Elijah. One of my favorite moments in the bible is when Elijah shut down the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. This story makes me so proud to belong to the Lord! God really showed off His might in this incident. During this time Ahab ruled Israel and he was an evil ruler. He and his wife Jezebel brought in idols and murdered God's prophets. Ahab finally met Elijah, the only prophet left. Basically Elijah challenged Ahab to a showdown. His mighty God against their man-made lifeless gods. He asked Ahab to gather the 450 prophets of Baal and meet him on Mount Carmel. Here was the challenge:

1 Kings 18:23-24 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

Who says there aren't any light-hearted humorous moments in the Bible? It tickles me every time to read about how the prophets of Baal called on their gods all day begging for fire to consume the bull. Elijah even taunted them a bit. He told them,

1 Kings 18:27-29 "Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then it was God's turn.

Elijah was so confident in the wonderful God we serve he made it harder for God by the world's standards. He asked for water to be poured over the offering three times. Even though Elijah had his fun, he knew the purpose of this showdown. It was to remind Israel of the only true living God.

1 Kings 18: 36-38At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

Instantly Israel begin to repent and they turned from their idols and looked to God. Think of the amazing faith Elijah showed! Think of the damage he did in satan's camp by simply allowing God to use him in bold ways. He challenged the king who was seeking to murder him and put everything on the line trusting in God's ability. What amazing faith! We all have a lot to learn from this moment about how to be a bold servant for Christ.

We've all had superb moments similar to Elijah's in our own way. Maybe you had a week when you did everything you wanted to do. You spend time with God, you read your word, prayed for hours and it was great! Maybe you went witnessing and God used you to perform a miracle in someone's life. We had those moments when we are kicking satan's butt and holding God close. It feels great right? But many times satan says to himself "I know just what to do." That's when his weapon of fear comes out of the boxes. This is exactly what satan did to Elijah. Elijah went from the prophet so confident in God's ability that he arranged a showdown at Mount Carmel, to a man in fear hiding. Just that quickly! Satan used Jezebel to place a spirit of fear over Elijah. After hearing what he had done on Mount Carmel,

1 Kings 19:2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

When we operate in a spirit of fear we forget the power of God.

1 Kings 19:3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

Some of us are in this place right now in our lives. It feels like the harder we try to do right by God the more satan attacks us and you don't want to fight anymore. Seclusion and sleep seem like the only way to achieve peace. On top of that you feel like a failure because you've been brought to this place. This is where satan brought Elijah because he was angry at the damage he made. Pure retailiation. You don't know your own power. Your prayers are powerful and a spark of your faith can heal all wounds and move mountains. Satan hates this and he hates you. So he wants to scare you into a place of dormancy to prevent you from defeating him. 

Here's how beautiful God is. We tend to look at ourselves in this situation and call ourselves failures like Elijah did. However we serve a God who is understanding and loving. God responded by sending his angels to comfort and feed Elijah. God knew Elijah was going through a lot and He dwelled with him--loving him and strengthening him.

1 Kings 19:5-9 All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night.

God asked Elijah, 

1 Kings 19:9 “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

God knew the powerful man He raised Elijah to be and He knew he was bigger than satan's attacks. He then reminded Elijah of the God he serves. 

1 Kings 19:11-14 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

A quick note. God came to Elijah as a gentle whisper. How beautiful! God is so tender and gentle with us because He loves us so much. This is definitely one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Moving on. God repeated himself,

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

God responded by giving him instructions concerning the destruction of his enemies. This was reassurance he would be okay. 

Sometimes we need that reassurance. God knows it's hard. However let satan's attack push you closer to God instead of further. God loves you and it's during hard times when He wants you near Him the most so he can comfort and strengthen you. That was one moment in Elijah's life. Through that encounter with God Elijah defeated fear. Please read the last post, 2016....Hand of Deliverance or The Finger of God for reassurance that this year is a year of deliverance. You will be delivered from satan's blows and you will be who God called you to be. God is not disappointed in you. God looks at you and despite His mighty ways He approaches you as a gentle whisper. Be encouraged brother and sister and remember you never fight alone. God is there with you. Call on His name. Many times we feel alone when God is sitting next to us the whole time. Call Him. Be encouraged because it wont be like this always. Your deliverance is set to come forth this year. Be bold and most of all have faith because you serve a powerful God who loves you endlessly. Peace doesn't come from dormancy. Peace comes from knowing God is with you in times of good and times of bad. This is how Jesus was able to sleep comfortably despite the fact that a horrible storm was tossing the boat. With His words He commanded the storm to end and peace instantly came over the waters. He gave us the same ability through faith. Allow God to strengthen you and get back in the game. God is with you. He knows you can overcome this because you are His.

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