Live Life Like You Mean It

Background:There are times when we don't want to, but keep slipping back into feelings, circumstances, habits, we've been trying to get rid off. Then there are times, when you're meant to stand apart, stand out, be different from the rest, but we get mingled, our thoughts get mingled with whats not even ours. God wants us to stand out, like he wanted the Israelites to stand apart from the rest of the nations around it, but they wanted to be just like them.Thats the lesson that came to me while reading 1 Kings 17

Lessons I learnt

1. When disobedience piles up, it destroys the foundation-v16And they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the [starry] hosts of the heavens and served Baal.So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria to this day."On Christ the solid Rock I stand" is one of the faith inspiring songs, but when our lives have disobedience creeping in, it slowly, digs away from under us, the Rock, our foundation moves away and with it, all the blessings we had received. This, I think, happens slowly and can be avoided if we remove the disobediences with repentance and obedience. Well the Israelites didn't do that, they didn't want to go back to their foundation, they wanted to go a different way and they did, they were overtaken by the Assyrian king and sent into exile into Assyrian country. They forfeited their land of blessing, their land of promise.


2. How to prevent losing one's foundation, how to overcome the sin of disobedience?-Its not much of a mystery, getting rid of sin from our lives, its all out there in the Word of God clearly stated, so that all may know and be saved and thereby be blessed. "v13Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all the prophets and all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the Law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets." The Israelites came to such a state because they let sin remain, even if some of them(the kings) had good intentions partially of following God it didn't bring any good fruit, because sin wasn't totally gone. God, in his warning signals had given them a way out of all this mess. (1) To turn away from the evil ways (2) To follow God's statutes and laws. Thats the sure shot way for overcoming any sin in our life. In my experience, its not enough to just turn away from sin, but to move towards the Word of God and follow God's Word. Thats the way to victory over any sin and sinful habit.


3. What we follow is what we'll become: "v15They despised and rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings to them, and they followed vanity (false gods--falsehood, emptiness, and futility) and [they themselves and their prayers] became false (empty and futile).". What they were following is what they became, they became useless, like the gods they followed. I don't think there has ever been a Christian missionary, who had followed Christ wholeheartedly and had not seen the fruit their life could bring. Truly without Christ in our lives, every part of it, we cannot bear anything fruitful.


4. What example have we set for others to follow?- I love the way LLL mentioned in her blog , "The only Jesus some people will see is the Jesus in you". When the Assyrian king relocated some people from babylon and other places to dwell in Samaria, the newcomers didnt know how to worship the Living God and were being destroyed. The king then sent one of the captive priests of Israel back to Samaria to teach them how to serve the Lord. Now these new people did learn to follow the Living God, but you know what happened next??? "v29But every nationality still made gods of their own and put them in the shrines of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nationality in the city in which they dwelt.-v32So they feared the Lord, yet appointed from among themselves, whether high or low, priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.
   33They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods, as did the nations from among whom they had been carried away." What have we here? They were doing what the Israelites had done, they didn't see any difference between their gods and the Living God. The Israelites never demonstrated their worship of the Living God being special in any way!!! Are we like that, do we try to be as common as the others. Well we were never meant to be. We were meant to be "salt" (no substitute) and "light"(no substitute). How could we have thought we were meant to blend in and disappear, have u ever seen salt like that, which blends in and u don't even know its there, I haven't. Have u seen light that was switched on and it disappeared in the darkness? For without the salt, the food wouldn't have any taste at all. So lets set the right example, if u say your God is a Living God, then LIVE LIKE U MEAN IT.

Conclusion: The reason we are a special people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, is because of our Living God, lets not be the common, the usual, the normal, the same, but be different, be holy, be righteous, be truthful, be faithful, be the light and salt of the earth, just as our God wants us to be. If we say Jesus is our Lord and God then let's live like we mean it. We are all that Jesus meant us to be and we will do all that Jesus wants us to do.

Knowing our Father's Voice

1 Kings 22

Israel and Judah have been separated since Solomon's reign and now for the first time after 3 generations the two divisions of the Israelites decide to act together to fight for Ramoth Gilead. At this time Israel is being led by Ahab and Judah by Jehoshaphat.

3 The king of Israel had said to his officials, "Don't you know that Ramoth Gilead

belongs to us and yet we are doing nothing to retake it from the king of Aram?"
4 So he asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?"

Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

5 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "First seek the counsel of the LORD."

Notice here that Ahab asks Jehoshaphath for alliance to win Ramoth Gilead, after all it was their territory and Jehoshaphath agrees to it, yet he also said "First seek the counsel of the Lord"

6 So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—

and asked them, "Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?"

"Go," they answered, "for the Lord will give it into the king's hand."
7 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?"

Notice again that Jehoshaphath asks him for a prophet of the Lord who could prophesy the real Word from God.

I couldn't help but see the difference in these 2 kings and the following characteristics stood out

1. First seek counsel from God- While Ahab must have been thinking of acquiring more land,(even though it was theirs) Jehoshaphath knowing that it was theirs wanted to know what God would have them do, whether to go ahead with the plan or remain. Jehoshaphath clearly brings God first and asks Ahab to "First seek counsel from God" . The Word of God says "5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" It is to acknowledge God in ALL your ways, in ways when you can guess the right answer or not. A friend may need a good word for guidance, yet maybe God would have us shut up and just be there and that would mean more to the friend than us trying our best to do something we think is right and talk. Let is first seek the counsel from God for no matter what we face. The result, God will make the path straight
2. Discernment- Though 400 prophets were prophesying the king to go on for the battle, Jehoshaphath asks him, isn't there someone who can inquire of the Lord. It almost sounds to me like, don't you have any real prophets. Jehoshaphath had a discerning spirit to understand whats from the Lord and what is not. 1 Corinthians 12 says "7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good........10 to another distinguishing between spirits,". This is something God would have all His children, all His sheep know. The Bible says 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:26-28

Conclusion:These 2 points bring out to me the very heart of God. The centre of God's training of His sheep academy, to lean on God and to be able to discern His voice. When a child is born, they start recognising their parent's voice, it comes to them naturally, because they are born of them. So also we who are born of the Holy Spirit and of our Living God in our spiritual lives have the ability to listen to our God's voice in our spirit "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Romans 8:15-17. Now, how well we listen to our God's voice depends on how often we listen to His voice. If we get accustomed to listening to other voices of this world , soon we will start doing what other voices tell us. Let us continue to go to our Father in Heaven every single time we have a need and in every situation of our life, let us continues to read His Love Letter to His children, the Bible and God's Spirit Himself will help us get connected in our spirit to our Daddy in heaven.

Mercy

In the book of 1 Kings 16 onwards we have been reading through the life of Ahab. I am now on the 22nd chapter of 1 Kings. In the readings I find Ahab a very fickle minded person and disobedient to God, unless it was something that would benefit him.

• He and his evil wife Jezebel killed the prophets of the Living Lord
• He started following the gods of his wife Jezebel , baal, ashtoreths, asherah ..etc
• He takes over Naboth's vineyard by false means and killed Naboth
• Leading the nation of Israel to sin before the Living God by making them follow gods other than the Living Lord.

Then the word of the Lord came to Ahab through Elijah -" 20 Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!" "I have found you," he answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. 21 'I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. 22 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.'
23 "And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: 'Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of [a] Jezreel.'
24 "Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country."
25 (There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. 26 He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.)"

The Bible says "27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. "

In spite of all the Ahab had done all his life, God saw his change and took him seriously and the Bible says "28 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."

Lessons I learnt

God took notice of Ahab's humility, God noticed!!! And not for anything else but our God being the source of all mercy, who sits on the mercy seat, who looks down from above to see whom He can bless, God shows His mercy.

David constantly cried out for God's mercy for every situation of his life and God kept him safe in his arms. I went through Psalms and I find that David continually asked for God's mercy. He knew Whom he was approaching. Even Job humbled himself during his troubled times and said "Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.Job 9:14-16 Job was living a righteous life yet he did not consider that a big deal, he let everything in God's hand that he could not demand God his healing his restoration on the basis of his good works so far, but on God's mercy. Oh that brings God honour, knowing that God has mercy on us, not for our sake but because it is His nature, it is His discretion, it is His choice. The moment we start depending and counting on our own deeds for seeking God's mercy, we elevate ourselves in the position of demanding from God, yet this is not so. Just because our God is a Loving and Wonderful Friend to us, doesn't mean we forget His Position, His Power and His Authority over us. "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy".Romans 9:15-17

• God's mercy is from everlasting to everlasting-Psa 100:5 "For the LORD [is] good; his mercy [is] everlasting; and his truth [endureth] to all generations. " "Psa 103:17 "But the mercy of the LORD [is] from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; "
• The merciful shall receive mercy-"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" .Matthew 5:6-8 .
• Mercy is better than sacrifice-"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.Hosea 6:5-7

Resistance

1 Kings 20
After some time we see Ben-hadad king of Aram(Syria) went to attack Israel (now being ruled by Ahab). When Ben-hadad threatened Ahab that all the belonged to Ahab was his, Ahab sent word agreeing to it and calling Ben-hadad his lord!!! Ben-hadad sent another word besides saying he would send his men to search out Ahab's palace and take everything he chooses from it. Now Ahab was afraid and wanted to do something about it.

• Sometimes satan also tries the same with us, he puts thoughts in our mind that our finances will never get better, our children may not be good students, teenagers are impossible, if we start agreeing to his lies, it is as good as saying what Ahab said to Ben-hadad and called him lord. Soon like Ben-hadad, would come to claim what he falsely declared as his.

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, thats what satan did. The Bible says " 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." (Matthew 4:8) How could satan give that land to Jesus? First of all nothing belongs to satan (Psalm 24:1-2 " 1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2 for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." ), he has laid claims on lands and people that have invited or allowed him to take claim of them.

So what belongs to us? I think anything that is related to you in any manner belongs to you. Remember we used to write our names on books that belonged to us, so I think since our family members bear our names with theirs as either wives, husbands, children, parents, relatives they are ours.The company which has your name in their registry, that work belongs to you. The property which receives mails in your name belongs to you (whether it be rent or otherwise). Our bodies belong to us, our health too, our minds our knowledge are gifts from God. What I mean to say is that everything that we have is a gift from God and we are His stewards while on this earth as we interact with our gifts. No one can take from us what we don't want to give. It is we who must value the gifts we received.

Ahab compromised with Ben-hadad and so Ben-hadad was bold enough to even threaten him to come to his palace and take everything.

Let us make no compromise, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:6-8

• The first point in winning over our enemy who falsely claims what we have is to submit ourselves to God. To submit meaning, to understand and obey what God's will and plan is for our lives and work with God to bring it into completion.
• The second is to Resist the devil- To resist our enemy means to disagree with ,to oppose, to withstand, strive against. Its not a fancy goody goody feeling when you're in resistance to something, it just makes use of a lot of effort on our part. In our heart and mind resisting the enemy.

And the result will be that the enemy WILL flee.

Conclusion- Next time we get suggestions from our enemy to try to defeat us, let us resist, not like Ahab who gave in, but standing strong because the earth and everything in it belongs to our Lord God Almighty. Who dares take or even suggest taking from my DAD's property!!! We've got to stand and resist in our spiritual war, for all that which God our Daddy has made us stewards of, you brothers and sisters in Christ.

Insignificant in the world, significant in God's eyes

1Kings 19

A glorious miracle now under his belt, Elijah must have felt so bold and strong, now that he has seen God send fire from heaven to affirm Elijah's calling, Elijah's life purpose and His Word to Elijah, in spite of all that, we see Elijah very distressed now. Ahab has gone and told Jezebel all that Elijah did at mount carmel and now Jezebel seeks to kill him all the more. "3 Elijah was afraid [a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, 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." (1 Kings 19:3) In a short moment of time, Elijah said words that were totally unbelievable, to me. Why does this powerful man of God want to die, isn't it wonderful that God is so "visible" through his life, but then I see that this was not such a great time to live in. The Israelites had rejected the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and even killed the prophets of God. Sounds like a time of anti-Christ like time. Yet in this moment, God was working in the times, with Elijah. He was the lone preacher, the lone prophet of the time.

In his despair, Elijah cried to God and was so tired he slept under a broom tree and "All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 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." 8 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."
After this God met him at the cave in Horeb, gave Elijah the assignment of anointing Elisha and Jehu, also God let Elijah know "18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.". This tells me that God knows ALL His people, whether other people know them or not.

Lessons I learnt

1. God examines the people of the earth-"The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them." Psalm 11:3-5 Before we can tell God of the oppressor, God already knows, He has been examining them.
2. God had been keeping track of his own people, though Elijah did not know of other followers of the Living God-"But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love " Psalm 33:17-19
3. God has His eyes on His people, to listen to their cries-"The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;"Psalm 34:14-16 There is never a time, when God is not listening to His children's cries. When Elijah cried out to God to kill him, God knew that Elijah needed food for strength and not death, so God provided him with what Elijah needed. What if God would have listened to Elijah's cry word for word!!! We wouldn't have known of the fire chariots and stuff I guess. It is good that God does not give us exactly as our heart desires, He knows what we need more than we do.

Conclusion:Whether others have noticed you or not, like those 7000 people who were yet faithful to God, God knows you. God has been keeping track of the believers in Jesus Name no matter how insignificant they have been. Those insignificant people whom Elijah didnt know, were in the message of strength from God to Elijah. It was so important for their existence to be mentioned to Elijah so that he could go on. Though these 7000 people's names are not mentioned, but they have been mentioned by God Himself at a time when Elijah had given up, Elijah wanted to die, Elijah was lonely. God knew the importance of the mention of these 7000 insignificant, unnamed believers of the Living God. Every child of God has a purpose, though may seem insignificant to the eyes of the world, they are critical in God's plan and God's eyes are always watching out for His children, no matter where they are.

Working out God's Plan

Elijah 18:1 says " 1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."

Elijah obeyed God and went to meet Ahab. Here's an interesting thing happening in Elijah's life
".....Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."
44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "
45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel." (1 Kings 18:42-45)

There are 2 things I noticed here, God promised Elijah about the rain. Elijah had to pray seven times and see that small hand of a cloud rise up in the horizon and then the rain poured.

1. Knowing what God has promised God is able to do-When God has promised something it sure will happen. We see this in the way Elijah persisted in prayer. Elijah had known from God that it would rain and that gave Elijah the base to build on to pray even more than ever. Has God given us a promise that He said He will bring to pass, take heart, trust the Word of God more than any thing. No matter what happens, or what the situation looks like right now, God will come through and His Promises will come true. Elijah knew that he knew that he knew, that what God has promised is true and will come to pass. If it has not, then maybe we're not hoping enough for it. Another thing of note is that, if we were to count all the verses in the bible and find the center verse, you know it would be Psalm 118:8 and it says "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man."
2. Who's report will you believe??- While Elijah prayed he asked his servant to keep bringing him back the status of the rain situation. The servant kept bringing a negative report, yet Elijah did not give up because he wasn't looking for the report from the servant but the result of the Word from God. Who's report do we readily believe. The moment we start praying for God's plan in our life, we are sure to get all sorts of reports in our lives, but above all we've got to stick onto what God says about our situation. If we've been praying for a loved one to meet our Saviour Lord Jesus and to be saved, we will find the appearance of the situation in our life and theirs going in a totally different direction, yet do not give up, God's foremost purpose and promise is that He came that all may know our Lord Jesus and be saved. We MUST (P)ray (U)ntil (S)omething (H)appens. So PUSH. Like Elijah did to bring God's Word to pass.
3. Pray in accordance to God's Word and His plan-Does praying mean praying anything we want? No. Elijah shows us that He had a mandate from God which had to happen and he prayed accordingly, without giving up hope, without being slack. Praying is a very very powerful means of bringing God's plan to come to pass on this earth. Even Jesus, when He taught us to pray "..let Your will be done on this earth as it is in heaven" Who can bring God's will to pass on this earth. Believers who pray God's will. Prayer is not ONLY for meeting our needs and blabbering our needs to God, it is bringing God's will to happen in our lives and in this earth.

Conclusion: Praying is an amazing tool, God blessed us with. Before knowing our Lord Jesus we did not know to pray. God opened the way for us to enter when Jesus died on the cross for our sins and the curtain tore in the temple and the Holy Place the Holy dwelling of God was accessible to us, because of our Saviour Lord Jesus. Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Elijah prayed in confidence on God's Word regarding the rain, and it did rain and that small hand of a cloud rained so heavily and so quickly became rain cloud I am sure, no one could have imagined. Why doesn't our prayers work that way? The Bible says in James 4:3 "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Dear brothers and sisters, lets get with our Father's business. Its been a long time since we prayed for God's will to be done in our individual lives and on this earth. Pray Until Something Happens, the Something that God has planned and promised will happen, if we pray according to His plan. Its ok if right now you don't know what to pray. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us and help us pray expectantly, like a pregnant mother, knowing for sure that in 9 months she will see her baby.

Remove the doubt and confusion

Reading through 1Kings 18, I am impressed at something Elijah says. In verse 21 we read "21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

This statement follows up with a clear demonstration of how the people should have responded. In other words, Elijah not only posed the question, but even laid out a demonstration of what is the right choice. I wonder if we could ever dare ask someone this question. I don't think we can can we??? What if we asked someone and then didnt have any live demo to follow up with it? How come Elijah did the live demo?? Well I grazed the texts from Elijah's life that I had read so far and found that this man was trained by God Himself.

Elijah had this confidence for the following reasons

1. Elijah was in need of food and shelter (as his story unfolds in 1 Kings 17)- He learnt God to be his provider
2. Elijah needed directions for his life- He was in a situation where he was so caught up with the Spirit of God that he really really needed God to direct him else he'd just be doing many things and getting nothing done. He learnt God to be his Guide.
3. Elijah had heard from God, and that was his confidence-Each time Elijah had to take action it was based on something God had told him to do. Now Elijah had heard from God and that was what gave him such confidence to boldly proclaim God's power before 450 people who didn't even worship his God.

How could Elijah go and dare someone not even of his own faith? Nowadays pastors have hard time convincing people from Christian homes that Jesus is Lord.

We have not experienced dire need, so we don't know divine provision. We have not walked in obedience so we don't know the triumph over test. We don't have listening ears, only hearing aids, no wonder we haven't heard from God. We're too busy with our own worlds.

I ask myself, How will others know of the power of our Living God, unless they see it from our lives. (Live demonstration). More than that, how will we know our God can provide unless we are in need. Its like unless we fall sick, we will never know God our Jehovah Rapha. Unless we are so poor that we can't say where our next meal is coming from, we'll not know Jehovah Jireh.

People around us are confused on whether they should follow the "Christian's God" or their own gods or no gods at all, because we who believe in God don't have anything stark difference in our lives to show them what's different about our God.

Elijah had the entire session of sacrifice to differentiate between their god and his. He knew his was real. How convincingly do we know our God, so we can demo through our lives too? If we don't our God is an impartial God and is willing to meet with you and me to help us learn more about him. (Deuteronomy 10:16-18). This training from God is for the willing and obedient, it doesn't matter how well qualified you are, but whether you are willing and obedient to go by the Word of God. If we do, we will learn and be living examples like Elijah and all who "knew" Jesus our Lord, whether they knew Him in flesh (when He was alive) or in faith like we are.

Consequences of Obedience

1 Kings 18

The Lord commands Elijah to go meet king Ahab(1 Kings 18:1). It was the same king Ahab who's wife Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Living God. However during such time there was another devout man of God named Obadiah who had hidden 100 prophets of God in caves and had kept feeding them. At this time the drought in the land is very severe and Obadiah and Ahab have come out to look for grass so that the horses could be fed and kept alive. Obadiah and Ahab split ways in search of grass for the horses. Elijah meets Obadiah on the way and asks him to take him to Ahab. Obadiah is very afraid and tells Elijah "9 "What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' 12 I don't know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth." (1 Kings 18: 9-12) Obadiah is scared for life to take Elijah to Ahab. Yet Ahab is determined and finally goes to meet Ahab.

In this little episode from Elijah's life, I learnt the following lessons

1. Obeying God's commands opens communication with God-When God commanded Elijah for anything, Elijah did it immediately, not waiting not killing time. Obedience to God opens more ways for us to listen directly from God. Then God no longer has to ask someone else to tell us anything, He Himself will talk to us, because we are willing to listen and obey.
2. Obeying God's commands sets the course for our faith-As Elijah continued to follow God's commands, his faith grew and as a result the miracles in his life grew to higher power. From being miraculously fed by ravens, to the neverending jar of flour and oil, to raising the dead, to calling fire from heaven and then being carried into heaven. What a life!!! If there is a command God has given us a good way to find out if we are doing the right thing or not is to check the result of our lives, has the power grown or decreased. If it has decreased lets go back and do the last thing God had asked us to do and we will be back on track again.
3. Obeying God's command may bring obstacles, obey God rather than men- When God gives a command, soon enough something will come up which will challenge your faith, challenge your obedience even. When Elijah started off to meet Ahab, Obadiah (a man of God too) met Elijah and was so scared that he did not think meeting Ahab would be a good idea for Elijah. Yet "15 Elijah said, "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today." No matter what staying steady on the Word of God matters. Acts 5:29 "Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! " It may be a weird command, it may look contrary, it make look disastrous, but if thats what God would have us do, lets do it. For God gives us the grace to do whatever He commands us to do.

Conclusion: The only way we will grow is by faith and obedience. Willingness. Jesus said "Luke 11:28 "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." 1 John 5:3 "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,"

Dear God, I know I haven't fully been obedient to You and have failed many a times, yet You have been so merciful to me.I thank You for your grace and mercy. Please help me to be completely obedient to you that I may see Your work in my life and that my life would turn into a blessing to others.

In Jesus Name I pray.

Amen

"Obedience surely is better than sacrifice"

Learning from prophet elijah

It has now been some time since Solomon's death, right now Ahab is ruling the Israelites and Asa is ruling Judah. "29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. "( 1 Kings 16:29) So now you know the kind of ruler Israel had. However things aren't looking down during this time. The Israelites will see their God show them His power, His love and His concern for them, through one of the most powerful prophet, Elijah.
When we think, everything is going wrong, no one can ever correct this situation, no one serves the Living God anymore.... right in the midst of all that negative, God has His choicest people working for Him. God has His important tools of ministry hidden by the brook. God's timing is amazing. If Elijah lived on planet earth at any other time, it wouldn't have made much impact, like the way it did when he lived during Ahab's reign.

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe [a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."
2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
(1 Kings 17:1,2)

When situations are looking doomed, remember God has placed His army men and women in critical places ready for action when called to do so by the Lord. Even you are one of them!!! God has placed you and me at this time in the nations of the world so that when the time is right, we will be brought out of our " Kerith Ravine" and be sent for our assignments.

Lessons:

1. God has us hidden before our real assignment, to learn total dependence on Him- Elijah was hidden in the Kerith Ravine, where he was fed by ravens and drank from the brook. He wasn't doing anything great there, just hiding and being fed. He was all alone.The hebrew word Kerith means "the cutting ". It is the place made by a natural cutting off of the place. This is where Elijah learnt to be totally cut off from people, from society, from earning for living..from family even, being fed by ravens, drinking from the brook. And this episode happened soon after he had made an appearance before the king Ahab and warned him of drought.Cut off means nothing else is there to divert your attention from God and there is no one to provide except God. If we're in a place where we aren't doing much, just waiting, even though our heart so wants to serve the Lord, lets remember, God is teaching us to wait and depend upon Him. We are waiting for the opportune time of assignment, when God would have us face, probably even to chase out, the prophets of baals. You wanna see something ...even Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights before He started His mission on this earth. Paul (Saul) was blinded by the power of God and was waiting and praying (Acts 9:10-12 ). After which we all know the tremendous ministry that came out through Paul's (Saul) work and the amazing power that shone through the life of our Lord Jesus. Such kind of immense demonstration of power can come only through lives which have been in the "cutting".
2. Waiting on God for our provisions-I was wondering at this next point. Now God had told Elijah that the rain wouldn't come unless by his word, as Elijah had declared to Ahab. Now the brook from which Elijah was drinking dried up. I wonder whether Elijah would have even thought of using the 'power' to make it rain. After all God had given him that word. Yet he did not. For God gave him different directions. He obeyed God and went to Zarephath to an old widow who would give him food and drink. I dont know what distance it was from Kerith Ravine to Zarephath, but Elijah went. We'd have to learn to use the power God gives us at the time that He wants us to use it. This can come only with total dependence on God, even to move.
3. Learning to be faithful in few things- Elijah's first encounter with a person after that "cutting" experience is with a widow in Zarephath and his first amazing task is the neverending jar of flour and oil. Wow, I just realised wasn't this the first thing Jesus did too at the wedding!!!.(John 2) and the Word of God says "11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him."(John 2:11) Elijah didn't start on the very first day calling fire from heaven, but started with the simple miracle of flour and oil. God will teach us to walk in His power little by little. Thats why the Word of God says "Matthew 25:21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'" God starts with us little by little so that we will learn to be faithful in the few things He gives us and from there we grow step by step. We cannot handle God's immense power in a split second from the day we were born again, so God teaches us to dwell in His obedience and walk in His Spirit as we learn His ways.

Conclusion: Our God is a wonderful teacher. He is able to guide us to our best potential, when we learn to listen to His every command so that the best in us is brought out. Not of our mind and our plan, but of God's plan and God's work. Only then can we be powerful in God and see God's power work through our lives, to bring healing to bring God's directions, to bring God's Word to His children who are living in these desolate times, like the time Israel was going through under king Ahab. Only then can the people see the great difference there is in the power of God and the power of man. Only then will the distinction be clear and evident to the people of the potential of our Living God and only then can we stand before the 450 prophets of baal and demonstrate how powerful our Living God is.If we haven't been able to show our God's power through our lives to the people around us I think its because we ourselves haven't experienced God's power in our own lives in staying dependent at the cutting place. Lets learn at our the Kerith Ravine where God has placed us, to find spiritual strength(food and water) through our Lord's provisions.

For Who's sake ?

David is no more, Solomon is no more and Israelites are being led by 2 kings. I couldn't help but read on to find out how many kings followed God and how many didn't. Only 7 out of 37 kings, who came after Solomon ever truly followed the Living Lord. Even with the 7 who followed the instructions of the Living Lord God, no one was like David.

God's testimony of David

• When Solomon turned from the Lord, God told Solomon "1 Kings 11:12Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son."
• When another descendant from Jeroboam was going to take leadership fo Israel God said 1 Kings 15:4 "Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong."
• When Jehoshapat became king and did evil in the eyes of the Lord, 2 Kings 8:19 says "Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever."
• When in fear, King Hezekiah called out to God to save Israel from Sennacherib's attack, God said 2 Kings 19:34 "I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant."
• When Isaiah had given the final word to King Hezekiah that he would die, King Hezekiah prayed with tears and God did add 15 years to his life, however about Israel's protection God said "2 Kings 20:6 "I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.' "

I learnt some very valuable lessons here-

1. God's faithfulness-God did much for Israelites for the sake His servant David. In reading this account, I am reminded of our Lord Jesus Christ, who belonged to the line of David and like God remembered David every time the Israelites did something wrong, deserving punishment, so also whenever God sees unrighteousness among us, God remembers His Son Jesus and we go unpunished so that we may be saved, because of Jesus. The thing is our Living Lord is a just God and to not punish sin would be unlike His just nature, hence God made a WAY for us so that we may escape the penalties of sin. John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God gave His Son so that we may "believe" in Him and be saved. All God wanted the Israelites to do was be faithful like David and walk like him.
2. God's patience-I wondered, how could the Israelites go on in disobedience the way they did. From having 2 kings, then to idolatry, then worshipping asherah poles, to male shrines to prostitution and whatever vile they could think of. I was getting impatient, but you know what God was very very patient with them, I wondered why and I read in 2 Peter 3:15 "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him." It was for salvation.
3. Covered from total destruction- God constantly remembered David in His dealings with the children of Israel. Some very good prophets came by after David, yet the people were not fully willing to follow God. God constantly remembered David and for his sake, saved Israel. Isn't it the same case with us? Romans 13:14 says "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Also Galatians 3:27 "for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." So when a Just God looks at me, He sees me, yet in my weak flesh but He sees me clean, because of Lord Jesus, because we wear Jesus. He sees me clean, not because I am clean, but because He sees me through Jesus and so I escape God's wrath because Jesus bore my punishments. Hence 1 Corinthians 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." This is what Jesus did for us. Overcame death for us, so that we may not die eternally.

Conclusion: Over time it is easy to forget, how we came to the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the first place. Who got us introduced to God first of all? Who intercedes for us day in and day out before our Father in heaven? How could we ever call a Living God our Father? It is not by our righteousness, but by our Lord Jesus Christ. After some time is passed on, when we get that joyous feeling that God hears our prayers, I am friends with the Eternal God, it might slip our minds how we got there in the the first place. Its because of our Lord Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8-10 "8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do"

Recognize

Solomon did a some things right and a some things wrong. The things he did wrong, would cost Israelites a lot. His heart turned away from God, because of his wives from foreign nations. Also he treated the Israelites very harshly. Here's what the Israelites had to say to Solomon's son Rehoboam. " So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." Well needless to say Rehoboam turned out more worse than his father Solomon. Also in his time the Israelites split up. 16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:"What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!" So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them." So now Israel has 2 kings Rehoboam (Solomon's son) and Jeroboam (another guy who was good at his work but had rebelled against Solomon). I read from Rehoboam's life, of an account which really upset me, but taught me a big lesson. Under Rehoboam (David's grandson) the people did evil in God's eyes and started following other gods in the high places. More than that, "25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. " and you know what Rehoboam did??? "27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. " Can you imagine that, replacing the gold items from the temple with bronze and guarding it with your life??? I can't. I was immediately reminded of the time when the Amalekites had attacked David's camp in Ziklag in 1 Samuel 30 and how David asked God and chased them down and the Bible records "18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back."(1 Samuel 30:18-19)

Here's what I learnt

1. A lesson of stewardship -David knew what it meant to be a good steward, he had been a shepherd after all. With the sheep his father had given him he knew he had to take care of them and protect them. With God, he knew that which God had given to him belonged to God(Psalm 24:1). Above all he learnt obedience by prayer, every step of his way, to check whether God had intended that to happen in his life. He had this wonderful "habit" of verifying from God all the situations of his life and every action he needed to take at those times. The moment he knew what he had to do, he acted on it and recovered all. I wonder if Rehoboam ever paid attention when his granfather would have told him stories of the exploits he went on. Rehoboam was quick to replace everything with a cheaper substitute rather than checking and finding out what God would have him do. When pressures from the world try to overwhelm us or our family members, instead of running to take strength from God like David did, we are quick to replace that with other distractions and pay close attention to the distractions. There is a constant attack on the people of God, the evil one tries to steal our wives, our husbands, our children away from us, from our God, hence the Word of God says "Matthew 11:12 "And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize--a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion]."
2. Life of passion- Whatever David did, I could feel the passion he had in his life to live it to the best for the glory of the Living God. I sometimes think of him like a hyperactive young boy wanting to do a lot of things with his dad, trying to keep a close fellowship and following God. He wasn't trying to rule a kingdom, he was just trying to live as close to God as possible. Here on, the kings who followed Solomon were trying to maintain a kingdom. They were just there to rule, to have some group of people they wanted to boss over. With David not so. He was passionate about whatever work he did, a wonderful shepherd, even when he struck Goliath he did with the passion he had for the honour of His Living God. Now this guy Rehoboam is quite the opposite. He even goes on to replace the gold of the temple with bronze!!! God's honour and His glory should not and must not be replaced by anything or anyone. In our lives too there are situations when God's honour is at stake because of us, will we replace the glory by something cheaper or fight to get back the glory of God. Even today there are families who are praying for their loved ones to turn to Jesus, lets keep fighting for this is one place where we know we have won and it is God's glory to get back that which already belongs to God (Psalm 24:1).
3. Live like a conqueror-Rehoboam was David's grandson, he surely had the blood of a mighty warrior running through his veins. If he wanted, I am sure he could have defeated that king and taken back all the gold he had taken from the temple of God. However it didn't make much even if David's blood was flowing in his veins because it majorly depended on Rehoboam whether he wanted to use that knowledge and power or not. Even so for us, when we believed in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour the Word of God says in John 1:12-13 "12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. " Our being the children of God was of a pure conception, not becuase of a human desire, but of God, a Holy God. There is no contamination in it, no faults in that connection of blood. So if we are children of God, the blood of our God, pure and powerful flows in our veins and its up to us what we do with that kind of a legacy, sit like losers or get up and be a conqueror like our Lord Jesus. Conquering sin, conquering souls for the Kingdom of God, conquering sickness and diseases. Its in us people of God, the blood of our Lord Jesus of an Almighty God is flowing in our very spiritual body. Oh let us not be like Rehoboam and compromise the glory of God when God has already given us all the equipment we need to have "Romans 8:37 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Conclusion: Lets not make the mistake that Rehoboam made, lets not let other things steal the glory that belongs to our Living God. More than that lets not replace God's glory with ours. Above all remember we are more than conquerors, the blood of our Living God flows through us, since we are born into the Kingdom of God and have the status of being the children of God according to John 1:12 so lets be conquerors like our Lord Jesus and take back what the devil is trying to take from us, be it our families who dont know the Lord yet, or the possessions that which God has given us to be stewards of (house, car, office work). Lets be passionate about the tasks assigned to us. Its not merely enough that we are kings and princes of our Living Lord, we've a relationship to keep with our Living Lord with passion like David did, to successfully live like kings and priests of our Living God. It wouldnt be that David came and spoke vain words about Goliath if he didn't have th passion to defend the honour of the Living God. Daily, the evil one tries to bring up problems which mock us, and if we truly know how great and mighty our God is and how dare this filthy devil tries to mock at us, we will give the Word of God right back at his face. Thats what wins, thats what makes us true heirs, we have the royal and Holy blood of our Living Father in our lives, lets quit being wimps.

Seriously Faithful

I had a wonderful time studying David's life, and the way he "clung" to God it'll be difficult to continue with the Word of God without mentioning him. More than that this man leaves lasting impressions in the lives of people who come after him. I have now moved on to the Book of 1st Kings and I am amazed at the faithfulness that God is showing, to the promises He had made to David.

David has now passed away and Solomon has taken David's place. He has a done a good job of building the temple, asking the right thing, wisdom to rule God's people. However in the long run, Solomon fails to remain faithful to God. The Bible says in 1 Kings 11 that Solomon had a weakness for women and because of this, "4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been."(1 Kings 11:4) So much so that "9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command." (1 Kings 11:9-10). Though God could have removed Solomon from the throne immediately, as he did Saul, God does not remove Solomon and you know why? The Bible says "11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." God did not remove Solomon for the sake of David’s faithfulness. Later on Ahijah the prophet met Jeroboam ( a man faithful to his duties, though he rebelled against Solomon) “and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have [d] forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon's father, did.” Then Ahijah continued saying “34 " 'But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who observed my commands and statutes. 35 I will take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 37 However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38 If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. 39 I will humble David's descendants because of this, but not forever.' "

God talked about David so many times, and kept reminding his descendants how faithful David was and that He would do everything for the sake of the promise God had made to David.

Lessons I learnt

1. Faithfulness to God goes a long way-David’s faithfulness to God sowed the seed for his children’s lives. Our God is a God who remembers His promises to His children from generations to generations, kept David in mind and dealt with them keeping David in mind. Our faith is more powerful than we can imagine. It goes beyond our lives, right upto the lives of our children and our children’s children.
2. Does God really have to bribe us to follow him?-Another big lesson I learnt from David’s life is that, David was not asking God for more money, more kingdoms, more people, more followers etc. All I remember from his life is, he did what he was asked to do. Even when he had to go for battle he would ask God if he should go for it or not. David just followed God. When he fumbled or made a mistake, he asked for forgiveness and went right back on track after God. Doesn’t the Word of God say in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." I guess this is the biggest lesson I learnt from David’s life. David followed God and God blessed him in whatever he did. Isn’t that the same thing that happened to Joseph, though he went through trials and slavery and punishment for someone else’s fault, God blessed him in whatever he did and finally he came out a winner and all things were added unto him. When Abraham decided to follow God and trust him, he left Ur and later on we see he became rich and famous, just because he had faith in God.
   
   Conclusion-There are two very important lessons I learnt from this, how important our faith and faithfulness is, not only to us but also to our children. The other important thought I was thinking is, if a father had to pay his son or daughter to spend time with him, how cruel that would be. How sad that situation would be. Isn’t that the kind of attitude we’ve got for God today. Going to Him (our Father in heaven) only in time of need and in times of trouble and when we want something. It is true that God is our help in times of trouble, but then what about when the times are good, what’s our relationship with our Living Father then?? Let’s look at our relationship with our Lord very closely and see what our real attitude is towards our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Do we keep looking at God’s hand for all the things we can get or do we want to see His face and enjoy being His children, obedient in bringing a smile upon His face?