Text; I Kings 19: 3
1 Kings 19: 3. And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which <em>belongs</em> to Judah, and left his servant there. (NKJ)
Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. (NLT).
We return all the glory to God for what He revealed to you yesterday from this passage, today we shall focus on verse three.
From the two versions of the Bible we found out that it was what Elijah heard from the message of Jezebel that triggered his flight to Beersheba.
The King James versin says, ” when he saw..” figuratively speaking here, the man actually perceived, he understood the message to be a serious threat, his mind told him of an impending sudden death, this is called fear, New Living Teanslations said he was afraid !!!!.
Fear is a major destabiliser in a man’s spiritual journey, and it must be properly addressed such that it does not truncate one’s blissful journey and compel a major shipwreck of an otherwise glorious spiritual and ministerial life.
The story of Peter in Matthew 14:29-30 is absolutely similar and therefore relevant to our discussion. Let’s juxtapose a few pounds between the two and use the points to oray:
A. Both of them did exploits, Elijah had obtained clear victory over the false prophets ealier, and Peter had successfully walked on the water for a while.
Meaning that yesterday’s victory does not stop the enemy from planting fear in your mind to truncate your progress today. BE WATCHFUL AND BE PRAYERFUL.
B. Both of them saw something that destabilised them. While Peter saw the wind boisterous as a threat and faltered, Elijah saw the message of Jezebel as a threat he bulked. It is not what you see that matters it is what you interprete it to be, what you are seeing now in an area of your life is not different as such from what others are seeing in fact many others are seeing greater threats than you are seeing. Don’t blow your experience out of proportion.
C. Both of them took their eyes away from Jesus totally and momentarily and focused on their distractions, this gave birth to the fear taking deep root in their lives. There threats were there right from the beginning when they accomplished great feats, but the threats became magnified as they were given more attention.
Beloved, don’t focus on your problems, there is no life without challenges, in fact a life without challenges is not worth living. Rather take heed according to Hebrews 12:1-2 as follows:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” (NLT)
Look up to Jesus all the time in all places for all situations. Whenever the serpents bit the children of Israel in the wilderness on their way to Cannan they were told to looked up to image of the serpent that was hunged on the staff of Moses for their healing. This hunged snake is today the logo of medical practice globally. God can intervene and heal your situation too.
D. Never, never, never take fear for granted however small it may be, take action either by praying, reinforcing your faith by searching the scripture or listening to the word of faith, because faith comes by hearing and goes by not doing so. Why is this important?
This is because fear can be fatal, fear is usually initiated with doubt, when Satan stepped in to the garden of Eden to tempt Eve, it was the seed of doubt he started with.
1. Never doubt the faithfulness of God. ( I Corinthians 1:9)
2. Never doubt the infallible word of God. (Psalms 119:89)
3. Never doubt the power of God (Psalms 62:11) that is accessible by just a single word of prayer as Peter’s story sited above amply demonstrated.
4. Never doubt the love of God for you even if you made a mistake ealier, God is loving once you repents He forgives. (I John 4:8)
Finally, beloved stop looking up to a person those who shift their trust to a man are only attracting God’s curse into their own lives.(Jeremiah 17:5) but blessed is the man who trust in the Lord says the seventeenth verse of the same chapter.
Dont put your trust in your education, your organisation, or your economic status, only God Almighty will be there when nobody will be there for you. Trust in the mighty hand of the God of Israel and He will as usually faithfully see you through.
In order to get the best from God turn away from your sinful life by deliberately confessing and repenting, then invite Jesus into your life as Lord and Saviour NOW if you have not done so. Let up pray.
PRAYER FOCUS.
A. Isaiah 41:10- Father, mercifully uphold me with your right hand of righteousness, let your presence preserve me on this journey in the mighty name of Jesus.
B. Isaiah 41:10b – Father, with your right hand of righteousness, keep me and multiply my courage and boldness, let my presence terrify my enemies to submission everywhere I go in the excellent name of Jesus.
