January 10, 2025 • 23 mins
What happens when you find yourself in overwhelming despair, unsure of what steps to take next? Join brother Roy Grayson as we explore the extraordinary journey of the prophet Elijah, a tale of faith tested by fear and solitude, and the profound ways in which divine intervention can illuminate even the darkest paths. Through Elijah's harrowing flight into the wilderness, threatened by the wrath of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, we uncover a powerful narrative of hope and resilience. Experience the transformative guidance he receives at his lowest point, when God sends an angel to provide sustenance and strength, encouraging us to trust in a purpose greater than our immediate struggles.
Thank you for listening! Please follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube @myfaithline to stay updated about our weekly episodes. Let us help you Find Joy in Your Journey Today!! To support our journey please visit our web page at www.myfaithline.com God Bless!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Joy in this Journey podcast by
Faithline.
Join us as we bring you weeklyepisodes on Bible devotionals to
empower you to live in faith.
By faith, through God's grace,Find joy in your journey today.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey, god bless everyone.
How are you?
My name is Roy.
I'm going to be reading andtalking about the prophet Elijah
.
The very popular story in theOld Testament was found in 1
Kings, the book of 1 Kings,chapter 19, verses 1 through 9.
It was read name the Father,the Son and the Holy Spirit,
amen.
And Ahab told Jezebel all thatElijah had done and with how he
(00:47):
had slain all the prophets withthe sword.
Then Jezebel sent the messengerunto Elijah, saying so let the
gods do to me and more also, ifI make not thy life as the life
of one of them by tomorrow,about this time, for one of them
(01:07):
.
By tomorrow, about this time.
And when he saw that, he aroseand went for his life and came
to Beersheba, where it belonged,to Judah, and left his servant
there.
But he himself went a day'sjourney into the wilderness and
came and sat down under ajuniper tree and he requested
for himself that he might dieand said Is it enough?
(01:28):
It is enough Now, o Lord, takeaway my life, for I am not
better than my father's.
And as he lay and slept under ajuniper tree, behold, then an
angel touched him and said untohim arise and eat.
And he looked and behold, therewas a cake baking on the coils
(01:53):
and a crush of water at his head.
And he did eat and drink andlaid him down again.
And then the angel of the lordcame again the second time and
touched him and said arise andeat, because the journey is too
great for thee.
And he arose and did eat anddrink and went, in the strength
(02:16):
of that meat, 40 days and 40nights unto harab, the mount of
god.
And he came through there intoa cave and lodged there.
And behold, the word of thelord came to him and he said
unto him what doeth thou hear,elijah?
Amen, praise god.
(02:37):
Um many great stories in thebible.
The bible is filled.
The great stories um havewonderful, powerful messages
that can edify your life in manydifferent ways.
Um, I like this story aboutelijah um to give context.
I know it's very popular story,very common story.
If you know, if you read theword, if you grew up in a church
, you know the story.
But give a context andbackstory.
(02:59):
Uh of elijah um previouschapter, it's chapter 18 uh,
where god uses elijah to sendfire down from heaven to burn a
sacrifice.
It sounds crazy, but let me goa little further back in those
(03:20):
times there were and many kingsdid evil before the Lord and few
did good before the Lord.
King Ahab was his reign.
He was a king.
His wife was Jezebel and hiswife turned Ahab's heart and the
heart of the people of Israelaway from God, not to obey his
(03:41):
laws, his commandments and hisways, from God, not to obey His
laws, his commandments and Hisways.
They served a deity or a godcalled Baal.
This deity they believed was agod that gave fertility to women
and to agriculture, and theywould sacrifice to this deity
(04:08):
and bring their children to thefire abominable things.
That was not pleasing me forthe lord.
Um, this is how far astray thepeople of god have gone from the
lord.
And so god lifted up elijah touse him to turn the people's
heart back to him.
Uh, when god's mercy, no matterhow far we've come, he's still
there in his mercy and grace tobring us back when he's a plan
(04:29):
and purpose for our lives.
He will use anything and anyone, because god's a god of works
in mysterious ways, and he willuse people and things and
circumstances to get ourattention.
And so in chapter 18, it sayshow the prophet Elijah goes to
King Ahab and tells him let'ssee who's a real God.
(04:51):
Is it going to be your God thatyou serve, the deity Baal, or
my God?
And one part of the verse ofthat chapter really impacted me
is when the prophet Elijah asksthe people for how long you want
to be in two options.
Two, how long basically doubtin the lord?
How long you're gonna doubt godof abraham, isaac and jacob?
(05:12):
How long you're gonna doubt himwhen you've seen and heard from
your fathers the stories on thetestaments of what he brought
us to, he got us out of egyptand what he's done for us.
And now you want to go astrayand serve this God, god Baal.
And so God in his mercy hearsthe prayer of Elijah.
(05:35):
But before Elijah prayed, theyhad 450 prophets of Baal, the
false deity God, and they triedto pray and pray and pray that
the God Baal would consume thesacrifice, a burnt offering.
But there was no fire.
So whatever which God wouldenter in, fire would be the true
(05:57):
God.
And so for many hours theytried, got to an extreme point.
They started cutting themselves.
And you can read the story,chapter 18.
I'm just going to get contextto chapter 19.
The point is that, um, and notto to small and minimize what
god did, what he did wasglorious.
God answered elijah's call andprayer with fire from heaven,
(06:22):
something supernatural,miraculous and powerful and
glorious, if you allow the lordto put you there in the spirit
to understand what happened infront of all these people.
God responded and consumed thesacrifice and showed he's a real
god, he's a one true god, theonly god, the almighty god,
nothing else is above him andreminded them who he is.
(06:43):
He did the same thing in thedesert with the pillar of fire
by night and the pillar of cloudby day.
He opened the red sea and thejudgments upon israel.
I mean of egypt, I'm sorry, hetook out his people out of egypt
and so he just showed todemonstrate his glory again, to
turn the hearts of his peopleback to him.
A glorious moment for thepeople of israel, through god's
(07:06):
mercy and grace.
Um, and also, at that time,there was a drought for three
years that god used elijah, theprophet, to prophesize there
will be no rain for three yearsuntil he said so.
Um, and after this amazing,glorious demonstration of god's
power, consuming the sacrifice,he also uh, god also allowed it
(07:28):
to rain, a great rain, basicallysaying there's life back on the
land, because when the drought,there's no, there's no grass,
there's nothing to feed youragriculture, your cattle, water,
it's cows, people are dying,there's no meat.
It's a tough time to live.
I can't imagine.
But yes, and so bring us allback to chapter 19.
(07:48):
This happens, and so, afterthis demonstration god's glory
and power, king ahab goes toback to his castle and instead
of telling what great wondersand glory god has did and
demonstrated to his people, hecomplains to his wife in the
negative context, how Elijahkilled all the prophets by other
(08:08):
, seeing the negative instead ofseeing the power, turning his
heart around and humblinghimself before the lord, he went
to complain to his wife about,um, how elijah um did all these
things and how he slain all theprophets with the sword.
On verse one it says and sothis woman, jezebel, gets very
upset and basically threatenselijah and saying well, the same
(08:34):
way you killed my prophets, I'mgonna kill you by tomorrow.
In modern terms, um, she saidit very poetically, but in
simple terms, I'm gonna kill you.
She threatened his life bytomorrow.
This time you'll be dead.
And so when elijah hears thisnews, he runs away and drops off
(08:56):
his uh, his servant in bershebaand goes on his journey.
And that's where we startreading chapter 19, verses 1 to
9.
I will say for many years I'veheard this story preached in
church and sermons and powerfulmessages.
The Lord used all the leadersand the pastors to preach a
(09:16):
message and it got very edifiedthrough the word.
But I judged elijah for manyyears.
Um, even I read notes werejudging him, until god, like,
said hello and tapped me on theshoulder because my question was
how can a man of god be used sopowerfully by god, seeing fire
(09:37):
come down from heaven?
I mean, this is not somethingto see every day.
This is not even in ancienttimes, very, very popular.
That was just a certain timewhen the Israelites were in the
desert and God used the pillarof fire at night.
It's a glory.
I'd not, you would see it.
But after that, this is manyyears after that, there's been
kings and dynasties, um after,and so what god did was powerful
(10:02):
.
So I'm like I judged elijah andsaid how, seeing this and you
hear this woman going tothreaten your life and you,
you're scared, you run away,come on man what's?
what's wrong with you and justcall upon god to save you again.
And then, god, he reminded me.
How many times do you see myglory when you're in my house,
in your life?
I demonstrate my power, Imanifest my glory, I teach you,
(10:27):
I touch you, I talk to you, Iminister you, I cry, I thank you
, I feel his presence and I'm sograteful when I get up from
that powerful experience.
And then the next day, the nextweek, that same night,
something happens and I loseeverything God gave me.
(10:50):
And he reminded me he's not donewith any of us, even men and
women of God, today.
He's not done with any of us.
There's still areas in ourlives God has to work on.
And so I was like okay, lord,okay God, I'm sorry, sorry,
elijah, for judging you.
I apologize, but I thank Godthat he ministered and corrected
me that that even this greatman that saw your glory, um, and
you, you did a miraculous,powerful out of these world, all
(11:14):
this world, things still hadair in his lives that need to be
worked on.
And you see him run.
He runs for his life once hegets threatened by the queen, a
king ahab's wife, jezebel.
And so as many times in ourlives to bring it to modern time
(11:34):
, to us make it personal, wherewe christians, uh, believers of
god, believe of his power,believe in the east of those
miracles that we've experienced,miracles in our lives, whether
we physically, spiritually,emotionally, financially,
whatever situation god hasbrought you through that you
thought he couldn't know when Iwas done and he put his hand in
(11:54):
there in your situation andbrought you through.
And still you know, we've seen,we hear things, or I think a
person, I'll hear somethingnegative about me or, uh, the
enemy will throw darts in mymind and I'll accept it and
believe it, instead of sayingwait, no, and that will cause me
(12:15):
to get in a path that Ishouldn't be on, like Elijah was
when he heard this message ofthis threat for his life.
The right thing to do now Iknow I'm learning as well is to
run to God.
Father, help me, strengthen me,protect me, protect me.
(12:42):
But sometimes we it messages offeeling pain, um, sorrow,
sadness may get us on a journeywe're not supposed to be on and
put elijah on this journey to, Iwould say, depression.
If you read it clearly, itlooks like he was depressed
because in verse four it says atthe end of verse four it says
oh lord, take away my life, forI'm not better than my father's.
He wanted to die.
Elijah wanted to die.
He was so depressed that hefelt he failed God, that he
(13:05):
didn't do right, that his lifewas being threatened.
He wanted to die from thismessage of being threatened.
He was a dark place at thistime.
He was sad and we've all beenthere or we will be there in our
lives.
Uh, this journey, this walk infaith with the lord, it's not
(13:26):
for the faint of heart, it's forthose that are courageous in
the lord and stand firm on hispromises, no matter what we see,
hear or feel.
And there'll be times that wewill cry, and there's moments we
will be sad and there's momentsthat we won't understand and
there's moments that may breakus.
But god's here to build us upand it's all working together
(13:50):
for our good in jesus name.
And so, yeah, elijah was verysad, he was depressed, he wanted
to.
And so, yeah, elijah was verysad, he was depressed, he wanted
to, he wanted, he not wanted tolive anymore.
That's extreme.
The enemy brought him, heallowed himself to get that.
He wanted to not live anymore.
I don't know if you ever feltthat way, or have you had those
thoughts?
And if you have, you're notalone, brothers and sisters, and
(14:11):
I can tell you that god isthere to help you get out of
that, if you're in a dark place,for whatever.
But whatever the reason may be,I don't know, god knows your
circumstantial situation andwhere you're at that moment, but
he's there to take you out.
And so the story goes that helaid in a tree.
(14:31):
The angel touched him, which weread over so quickly.
An angel God sent.
God was like listen, angel,please go talk to my son.
I'm preparing something greatfor him right now.
I see what he's doing, pleasehelp him out.
And tapped him to wake him up,told him to eat and drink.
(14:54):
And there's many times in ourlives that happens.
We're in a circumstance,situation and God will send
someone a message, a person, afriend, a family member.
Sometimes, even you know moderntime we're scrolling and
there's something that we seethat wow, that was God that sent
me that, or on television, orreading his word.
Or sometimes we're so sad let'sbe honest you don't want to
(15:14):
read the word, you don't want topray, you're in your honest.
You don't want to read the Word, you don't want to pray, you're
in your feelings and you don'twant to pray.
Read the Bible.
You don't want to do anything,you're sad or depressed and you
feel these dark thoughts and God, one way or another, will
intervene and get your attention.
That's what he did with Elijah.
He sent an angel, but Elijahwas so determined, so sad, he
(15:45):
didn't want to get up.
The angel had to tap him twiceto get him up, to continue on
this journey preparing to meetGod.
And what impacts me, I want tobring it home, is verse 9.
It says he came.
This is Elijah.
He came thither into a cave andlodged there.
So he came to a cave and lodgedthere.
So's like you make that yourhome now, right.
And so Elijah made a cave hisnew home.
(16:05):
He's like this is how I'm goingto live now.
He ran away after seeing God'sglory.
He heard the threat, got sadand depressed, wanted to take
his life and ran.
And God sent an angel, so,seeing all the god intervening,
and still ended up in a cave, adark place.
There's no light, there's nohope, there's nothing there.
It's like a dead end, if youwant to put it in today's terms,
(16:27):
dead end.
There's nothing there and wasready to die, give up.
It says he came to a cave.
He lodged there.
But this is the way I love andthis is the one to to emphasize.
And when god ministered my life,I wanted to share.
No matter what dark places youmay be at, what cave you might
(16:47):
be at, what um thought, feeling,emotion, um situation has put
you in this dark place and yousaid i'm'm stuck here, I don't
know, I'm getting out of here.
Whether it be depression orsadness, or maybe health
condition, whatever it is, orthoughts from the enemy, you're
not going to make it, you'reuseless, you have no worth, you
(17:11):
have no value.
The devil throws, it loves tothrow all these negative
thoughts and if you allow him to, it will really affect you,
your heart, your soul, your mind, and really do damage to you.
But this is the part where godcomes to say behold, the word
lord came to him and he saidunto him what are you, what do
(17:34):
thou hear, elijah?
God said el, what are you doinghere?
God didn't send him there.
So if God's asking Elijah whyhe there, it's saying I didn't
send you here, god knows whyhe's there, god sees all, he
knows all.
But he asked Elijah what?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
are you?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
doing here?
To make Elijah reflect and makehim say what?
Because he didn't send him here.
And so, when we get to theseplaces, I want you to understand
, brothers and sisters, friendsand family.
God didn't God wanted us to bein those places.
Those dark places are not whatGod wants us to be.
So when an enemy wants to bringyou there and take you there,
don't let him.
It's easier said than done.
There's areas in our lives, guys, that we're going, whether it
(18:13):
be from past trauma orsituations that we've
experienced yesterday, 10 yearsago, 20, 30 years ago, whatever
it may be.
God wants to heal those areasin your life and he's there to
help us, if we allow him to.
The same way he came to Elijahwhen he was in a cave.
I want you to envision a cavewhere there is there's many
different caves, yes, in theworld, but in this case it's a
(18:34):
cave in the mountains.
There's no other side.
It's a dark place, who knowswhat kind of animals or anything
that could attack him or hurthim or kill him, but he didn't
care.
He was so sad and depressedthat he didn't care.
He made that his new home andGod's saying what are you doing
there?
I didn't, nor do I want you tobe in the dark, in death.
(18:56):
Christ came to give us life,and life abundantly.
He came to save us, transformus, and he is more than capable
and able to do it, if we allowhim to.
So I want to let my brothersand sisters know, if you're
listening, god's there to helpyou, no matter what situation
you're, in what place.
That makes you feel dark, thatfeels like you're alone or
(19:16):
you're sad, or you're depressed,and whatever thing that made
you feel this way, that put youon that path.
Like Elijah, he went fromseeing God's glory to the next
day or a couple of days later,running, turning around and
running far away, afraid, scared, doubtful, depressed, with no
hope in his life.
That's what he felt like, alldarkness, and that's what he may
(19:38):
feel right now, the way you'refeeling dark.
Oh God, I heard your word, Ifelt your presence, but look at
me now.
I failed you, I messed up.
I had a tough day at school, atwork, at home, in my
neighborhood.
These people bother me, they'recalling me, they're affecting
me.
Whatever the case may be,there's nothing hard for the
Lord.
There's nothing difficult forthe Lord if you allow him, if
(20:01):
you continue reading.
God glorifies himself in apowerful way.
He brings Elijah out.
He brings him out of that cavebecause God doesn't want us to
be there.
God didn't want Elijah to bethere.
God had to deal with him andGod will deal with every one of
us in a specific way to dealwith those areas in our lives
and bring us to the other sideof that for his glory.
There's a plan and purpose forevery one of our lives, and what
(20:24):
he started, he shall finish.
So, no matter what we're goingthrough, no matter what you're
going through, my brothers andsisters, I just want to
encourage you through this wordthat don't stay in a cave.
God's going to bring you out.
So this momentary suffering isfor eternal blessing, a weight
of glory, it says in the NewTestament.
(20:45):
It's temporary.
We're striving for eternal lifeand when Jesus help and in his
name, through his spirit, we'regoing to make it to eternal life
.
So I just want to encourage youno matter what you're going
through, it's for a moment, butthere's hope in the Lord and
there's strength in the Lord.
Reach for him, go to him.
Don't give up, don't give in.
God's there to help you and hewill take you out of any
(21:05):
circumstance or situation.
The devil is a liar.
I rebuke him in the name ofjesus christ, and god will bring
you out to the other side,because he's more than capable
and evil.
The same god of yesterday,today and tomorrow.
The same story's old testamentof him opening the red sea of
god, sending fire down fromheaven.
It's the same god we servetoday.
So believe in him, trust in himand know that he's there for
(21:28):
you.
He's there with you right now,as you hear this message.
He's there for you.
He's there with you right now,as you hear this message.
He's there for you.
So say encourage my brothersand sisters, I love you dearly
and may God bring you out thecave, bring you out of the dark
places.
He doesn't want you to be there, he wants to take you out.
He will take you out in Jesusname.
I believe it.
(21:48):
Father, I come before.
Your presence is here and it'smoving in a mighty way to do in
our lives.
You're here to liberate, heal,deliver, transform, mend the
brokenhearted.
Father God, there's nothingthat you can't do.
You raised the dead, father God, and I believe in your power.
I believe in your glory.
I thank you for your mercy.
If we've sinned, father God,when we've sinned, please
(22:10):
forgive us.
When you're blood, father God,wash us and repent for our false
errors and wrongs.
And what we're going through,father God, it's to see your
glory.
Please take us out of theseplaces that we're in right now
and, father God, give us thestrength to overcome and pursue
you in Jesus' name, going forththat we plan and purpose in our
lives be fulfilled.
I thank you, father God,because you're more than capable
(22:33):
and able to do more than we ask.
I trust in you and I thank youand declare that you shall do it
, father God, in all of ourlives.
In the name of Jesus, amen, saybless and God bless you guys.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
If you liked today's episode and find that our
podcasts are helping you findjoy in your journey, please
leave us a review in the podcastapp and tell us your story and
how we assisted you in findingjoy.
Don't forget to reach out to usby taking a screenshot of any
of our podcasts and posting iton your Instagram or Facebook,
tagging us in at MyFaithLine,and we will comment back.
(23:07):
Join us next week for moreepisodes on finding joy in your
journey through faith.
Until next time, remember tolive in faith by faith, through
God's grace.
God bless you.
Welcome to Joy in this Journey podcast by
Faithline.
Join us as we bring you weeklyepisodes on Bible devotionals to
empower you to live in faith.
By faith, through God's grace,Find joy in your journey today.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey, god bless everyone.
How are you?
My name is Roy.
I'm going to be reading andtalking about the prophet Elijah
.
The very popular story in theOld Testament was found in 1
Kings, the book of 1 Kings,chapter 19, verses 1 through 9.
It was read name the Father,the Son and the Holy Spirit,
amen.
And Ahab told Jezebel all thatElijah had done and with how he
(00:47):
had slain all the prophets withthe sword.
Then Jezebel sent the messengerunto Elijah, saying so let the
gods do to me and more also, ifI make not thy life as the life
of one of them by tomorrow,about this time, for one of them
(01:07):
.
By tomorrow, about this time.
And when he saw that, he aroseand went for his life and came
to Beersheba, where it belonged,to Judah, and left his servant
there.
But he himself went a day'sjourney into the wilderness and
came and sat down under ajuniper tree and he requested
for himself that he might dieand said Is it enough?
(01:28):
It is enough Now, o Lord, takeaway my life, for I am not
better than my father's.
And as he lay and slept under ajuniper tree, behold, then an
angel touched him and said untohim arise and eat.
And he looked and behold, therewas a cake baking on the coils
(01:53):
and a crush of water at his head.
And he did eat and drink andlaid him down again.
And then the angel of the lordcame again the second time and
touched him and said arise andeat, because the journey is too
great for thee.
And he arose and did eat anddrink and went, in the strength
(02:16):
of that meat, 40 days and 40nights unto harab, the mount of
god.
And he came through there intoa cave and lodged there.
And behold, the word of thelord came to him and he said
unto him what doeth thou hear,elijah?
Amen, praise god.
(02:37):
Um many great stories in thebible.
The bible is filled.
The great stories um havewonderful, powerful messages
that can edify your life in manydifferent ways.
Um, I like this story aboutelijah um to give context.
I know it's very popular story,very common story.
If you know, if you read theword, if you grew up in a church
, you know the story.
But give a context andbackstory.
(02:59):
Uh of elijah um previouschapter, it's chapter 18 uh,
where god uses elijah to sendfire down from heaven to burn a
sacrifice.
It sounds crazy, but let me goa little further back in those
(03:20):
times there were and many kingsdid evil before the Lord and few
did good before the Lord.
King Ahab was his reign.
He was a king.
His wife was Jezebel and hiswife turned Ahab's heart and the
heart of the people of Israelaway from God, not to obey his
(03:41):
laws, his commandments and hisways, from God, not to obey His
laws, his commandments and Hisways.
They served a deity or a godcalled Baal.
This deity they believed was agod that gave fertility to women
and to agriculture, and theywould sacrifice to this deity
(04:08):
and bring their children to thefire abominable things.
That was not pleasing me forthe lord.
Um, this is how far astray thepeople of god have gone from the
lord.
And so god lifted up elijah touse him to turn the people's
heart back to him.
Uh, when god's mercy, no matterhow far we've come, he's still
there in his mercy and grace tobring us back when he's a plan
(04:29):
and purpose for our lives.
He will use anything and anyone, because god's a god of works
in mysterious ways, and he willuse people and things and
circumstances to get ourattention.
And so in chapter 18, it sayshow the prophet Elijah goes to
King Ahab and tells him let'ssee who's a real God.
(04:51):
Is it going to be your God thatyou serve, the deity Baal, or
my God?
And one part of the verse ofthat chapter really impacted me
is when the prophet Elijah asksthe people for how long you want
to be in two options.
Two, how long basically doubtin the lord?
How long you're gonna doubt godof abraham, isaac and jacob?
(05:12):
How long you're gonna doubt himwhen you've seen and heard from
your fathers the stories on thetestaments of what he brought
us to, he got us out of egyptand what he's done for us.
And now you want to go astrayand serve this God, god Baal.
And so God in his mercy hearsthe prayer of Elijah.
(05:35):
But before Elijah prayed, theyhad 450 prophets of Baal, the
false deity God, and they triedto pray and pray and pray that
the God Baal would consume thesacrifice, a burnt offering.
But there was no fire.
So whatever which God wouldenter in, fire would be the true
(05:57):
God.
And so for many hours theytried, got to an extreme point.
They started cutting themselves.
And you can read the story,chapter 18.
I'm just going to get contextto chapter 19.
The point is that, um, and notto to small and minimize what
god did, what he did wasglorious.
God answered elijah's call andprayer with fire from heaven,
(06:22):
something supernatural,miraculous and powerful and
glorious, if you allow the lordto put you there in the spirit
to understand what happened infront of all these people.
God responded and consumed thesacrifice and showed he's a real
god, he's a one true god, theonly god, the almighty god,
nothing else is above him andreminded them who he is.
(06:43):
He did the same thing in thedesert with the pillar of fire
by night and the pillar of cloudby day.
He opened the red sea and thejudgments upon israel.
I mean of egypt, I'm sorry, hetook out his people out of egypt
and so he just showed todemonstrate his glory again, to
turn the hearts of his peopleback to him.
A glorious moment for thepeople of israel, through god's
(07:06):
mercy and grace.
Um, and also, at that time,there was a drought for three
years that god used elijah, theprophet, to prophesize there
will be no rain for three yearsuntil he said so.
Um, and after this amazing,glorious demonstration of god's
power, consuming the sacrifice,he also uh, god also allowed it
(07:28):
to rain, a great rain, basicallysaying there's life back on the
land, because when the drought,there's no, there's no grass,
there's nothing to feed youragriculture, your cattle, water,
it's cows, people are dying,there's no meat.
It's a tough time to live.
I can't imagine.
But yes, and so bring us allback to chapter 19.
(07:48):
This happens, and so, afterthis demonstration god's glory
and power, king ahab goes toback to his castle and instead
of telling what great wondersand glory god has did and
demonstrated to his people, hecomplains to his wife in the
negative context, how Elijahkilled all the prophets by other
(08:08):
, seeing the negative instead ofseeing the power, turning his
heart around and humblinghimself before the lord, he went
to complain to his wife about,um, how elijah um did all these
things and how he slain all theprophets with the sword.
On verse one it says and sothis woman, jezebel, gets very
upset and basically threatenselijah and saying well, the same
(08:34):
way you killed my prophets, I'mgonna kill you by tomorrow.
In modern terms, um, she saidit very poetically, but in
simple terms, I'm gonna kill you.
She threatened his life bytomorrow.
This time you'll be dead.
And so when elijah hears thisnews, he runs away and drops off
(08:56):
his uh, his servant in bershebaand goes on his journey.
And that's where we startreading chapter 19, verses 1 to
9.
I will say for many years I'veheard this story preached in
church and sermons and powerfulmessages.
The Lord used all the leadersand the pastors to preach a
(09:16):
message and it got very edifiedthrough the word.
But I judged elijah for manyyears.
Um, even I read notes werejudging him, until god, like,
said hello and tapped me on theshoulder because my question was
how can a man of god be used sopowerfully by god, seeing fire
(09:37):
come down from heaven?
I mean, this is not somethingto see every day.
This is not even in ancienttimes, very, very popular.
That was just a certain timewhen the Israelites were in the
desert and God used the pillarof fire at night.
It's a glory.
I'd not, you would see it.
But after that, this is manyyears after that, there's been
kings and dynasties, um after,and so what god did was powerful
(10:02):
.
So I'm like I judged elijah andsaid how, seeing this and you
hear this woman going tothreaten your life and you,
you're scared, you run away,come on man what's?
what's wrong with you and justcall upon god to save you again.
And then, god, he reminded me.
How many times do you see myglory when you're in my house,
in your life?
I demonstrate my power, Imanifest my glory, I teach you,
(10:27):
I touch you, I talk to you, Iminister you, I cry, I thank you
, I feel his presence and I'm sograteful when I get up from
that powerful experience.
And then the next day, the nextweek, that same night,
something happens and I loseeverything God gave me.
(10:50):
And he reminded me he's not donewith any of us, even men and
women of God, today.
He's not done with any of us.
There's still areas in ourlives God has to work on.
And so I was like okay, lord,okay God, I'm sorry, sorry,
elijah, for judging you.
I apologize, but I thank Godthat he ministered and corrected
me that that even this greatman that saw your glory, um, and
you, you did a miraculous,powerful out of these world, all
(11:14):
this world, things still hadair in his lives that need to be
worked on.
And you see him run.
He runs for his life once hegets threatened by the queen, a
king ahab's wife, jezebel.
And so as many times in ourlives to bring it to modern time
(11:34):
, to us make it personal, wherewe christians, uh, believers of
god, believe of his power,believe in the east of those
miracles that we've experienced,miracles in our lives, whether
we physically, spiritually,emotionally, financially,
whatever situation god hasbrought you through that you
thought he couldn't know when Iwas done and he put his hand in
(11:54):
there in your situation andbrought you through.
And still you know, we've seen,we hear things, or I think a
person, I'll hear somethingnegative about me or, uh, the
enemy will throw darts in mymind and I'll accept it and
believe it, instead of sayingwait, no, and that will cause me
(12:15):
to get in a path that Ishouldn't be on, like Elijah was
when he heard this message ofthis threat for his life.
The right thing to do now Iknow I'm learning as well is to
run to God.
Father, help me, strengthen me,protect me, protect me.
(12:42):
But sometimes we it messages offeeling pain, um, sorrow,
sadness may get us on a journeywe're not supposed to be on and
put elijah on this journey to, Iwould say, depression.
If you read it clearly, itlooks like he was depressed
because in verse four it says atthe end of verse four it says
oh lord, take away my life, forI'm not better than my father's.
He wanted to die.
Elijah wanted to die.
He was so depressed that hefelt he failed God, that he
(13:05):
didn't do right, that his lifewas being threatened.
He wanted to die from thismessage of being threatened.
He was a dark place at thistime.
He was sad and we've all beenthere or we will be there in our
lives.
Uh, this journey, this walk infaith with the lord, it's not
(13:26):
for the faint of heart, it's forthose that are courageous in
the lord and stand firm on hispromises, no matter what we see,
hear or feel.
And there'll be times that wewill cry, and there's moments we
will be sad and there's momentsthat we won't understand and
there's moments that may breakus.
But god's here to build us upand it's all working together
(13:50):
for our good in jesus name.
And so, yeah, elijah was verysad, he was depressed, he wanted
to.
And so, yeah, elijah was verysad, he was depressed, he wanted
to, he wanted, he not wanted tolive anymore.
That's extreme.
The enemy brought him, heallowed himself to get that.
He wanted to not live anymore.
I don't know if you ever feltthat way, or have you had those
thoughts?
And if you have, you're notalone, brothers and sisters, and
(14:11):
I can tell you that god isthere to help you get out of
that, if you're in a dark place,for whatever.
But whatever the reason may be,I don't know, god knows your
circumstantial situation andwhere you're at that moment, but
he's there to take you out.
And so the story goes that helaid in a tree.
(14:31):
The angel touched him, which weread over so quickly.
An angel God sent.
God was like listen, angel,please go talk to my son.
I'm preparing something greatfor him right now.
I see what he's doing, pleasehelp him out.
And tapped him to wake him up,told him to eat and drink.
(14:54):
And there's many times in ourlives that happens.
We're in a circumstance,situation and God will send
someone a message, a person, afriend, a family member.
Sometimes, even you know moderntime we're scrolling and
there's something that we seethat wow, that was God that sent
me that, or on television, orreading his word.
Or sometimes we're so sad let'sbe honest you don't want to
(15:14):
read the word, you don't want topray, you're in your honest.
You don't want to read the Word, you don't want to pray, you're
in your feelings and you don'twant to pray.
Read the Bible.
You don't want to do anything,you're sad or depressed and you
feel these dark thoughts and God, one way or another, will
intervene and get your attention.
That's what he did with Elijah.
He sent an angel, but Elijahwas so determined, so sad, he
(15:45):
didn't want to get up.
The angel had to tap him twiceto get him up, to continue on
this journey preparing to meetGod.
And what impacts me, I want tobring it home, is verse 9.
It says he came.
This is Elijah.
He came thither into a cave andlodged there.
So he came to a cave and lodgedthere.
So's like you make that yourhome now, right.
And so Elijah made a cave hisnew home.
(16:05):
He's like this is how I'm goingto live now.
He ran away after seeing God'sglory.
He heard the threat, got sadand depressed, wanted to take
his life and ran.
And God sent an angel, so,seeing all the god intervening,
and still ended up in a cave, adark place.
There's no light, there's nohope, there's nothing there.
It's like a dead end, if youwant to put it in today's terms,
(16:27):
dead end.
There's nothing there and wasready to die, give up.
It says he came to a cave.
He lodged there.
But this is the way I love andthis is the one to to emphasize.
And when god ministered my life,I wanted to share.
No matter what dark places youmay be at, what cave you might
(16:47):
be at, what um thought, feeling,emotion, um situation has put
you in this dark place and yousaid i'm'm stuck here, I don't
know, I'm getting out of here.
Whether it be depression orsadness, or maybe health
condition, whatever it is, orthoughts from the enemy, you're
not going to make it, you'reuseless, you have no worth, you
(17:11):
have no value.
The devil throws, it loves tothrow all these negative
thoughts and if you allow him to, it will really affect you,
your heart, your soul, your mind, and really do damage to you.
But this is the part where godcomes to say behold, the word
lord came to him and he saidunto him what are you, what do
(17:34):
thou hear, elijah?
God said el, what are you doinghere?
God didn't send him there.
So if God's asking Elijah whyhe there, it's saying I didn't
send you here, god knows whyhe's there, god sees all, he
knows all.
But he asked Elijah what?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
are you?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
doing here?
To make Elijah reflect and makehim say what?
Because he didn't send him here.
And so, when we get to theseplaces, I want you to understand
, brothers and sisters, friendsand family.
God didn't God wanted us to bein those places.
Those dark places are not whatGod wants us to be.
So when an enemy wants to bringyou there and take you there,
don't let him.
It's easier said than done.
There's areas in our lives, guys, that we're going, whether it
(18:13):
be from past trauma orsituations that we've
experienced yesterday, 10 yearsago, 20, 30 years ago, whatever
it may be.
God wants to heal those areasin your life and he's there to
help us, if we allow him to.
The same way he came to Elijahwhen he was in a cave.
I want you to envision a cavewhere there is there's many
different caves, yes, in theworld, but in this case it's a
(18:34):
cave in the mountains.
There's no other side.
It's a dark place, who knowswhat kind of animals or anything
that could attack him or hurthim or kill him, but he didn't
care.
He was so sad and depressedthat he didn't care.
He made that his new home andGod's saying what are you doing
there?
I didn't, nor do I want you tobe in the dark, in death.
(18:56):
Christ came to give us life,and life abundantly.
He came to save us, transformus, and he is more than capable
and able to do it, if we allowhim to.
So I want to let my brothersand sisters know, if you're
listening, god's there to helpyou, no matter what situation
you're, in what place.
That makes you feel dark, thatfeels like you're alone or
(19:16):
you're sad, or you're depressed,and whatever thing that made
you feel this way, that put youon that path.
Like Elijah, he went fromseeing God's glory to the next
day or a couple of days later,running, turning around and
running far away, afraid, scared, doubtful, depressed, with no
hope in his life.
That's what he felt like, alldarkness, and that's what he may
(19:38):
feel right now, the way you'refeeling dark.
Oh God, I heard your word, Ifelt your presence, but look at
me now.
I failed you, I messed up.
I had a tough day at school, atwork, at home, in my
neighborhood.
These people bother me, they'recalling me, they're affecting
me.
Whatever the case may be,there's nothing hard for the
Lord.
There's nothing difficult forthe Lord if you allow him, if
(20:01):
you continue reading.
God glorifies himself in apowerful way.
He brings Elijah out.
He brings him out of that cavebecause God doesn't want us to
be there.
God didn't want Elijah to bethere.
God had to deal with him andGod will deal with every one of
us in a specific way to dealwith those areas in our lives
and bring us to the other sideof that for his glory.
There's a plan and purpose forevery one of our lives, and what
(20:24):
he started, he shall finish.
So, no matter what we're goingthrough, no matter what you're
going through, my brothers andsisters, I just want to
encourage you through this wordthat don't stay in a cave.
God's going to bring you out.
So this momentary suffering isfor eternal blessing, a weight
of glory, it says in the NewTestament.
(20:45):
It's temporary.
We're striving for eternal lifeand when Jesus help and in his
name, through his spirit, we'regoing to make it to eternal life
.
So I just want to encourage youno matter what you're going
through, it's for a moment, butthere's hope in the Lord and
there's strength in the Lord.
Reach for him, go to him.
Don't give up, don't give in.
God's there to help you and hewill take you out of any
(21:05):
circumstance or situation.
The devil is a liar.
I rebuke him in the name ofjesus christ, and god will bring
you out to the other side,because he's more than capable
and evil.
The same god of yesterday,today and tomorrow.
The same story's old testamentof him opening the red sea of
god, sending fire down fromheaven.
It's the same god we servetoday.
So believe in him, trust in himand know that he's there for
(21:28):
you.
He's there with you right now,as you hear this message.
He's there for you.
He's there with you right now,as you hear this message.
He's there for you.
So say encourage my brothersand sisters, I love you dearly
and may God bring you out thecave, bring you out of the dark
places.
He doesn't want you to be there, he wants to take you out.
He will take you out in Jesusname.
I believe it.
(21:48):
Father, I come before.
Your presence is here and it'smoving in a mighty way to do in
our lives.
You're here to liberate, heal,deliver, transform, mend the
brokenhearted.
Father God, there's nothingthat you can't do.
You raised the dead, father God, and I believe in your power.
I believe in your glory.
I thank you for your mercy.
If we've sinned, father God,when we've sinned, please
(22:10):
forgive us.
When you're blood, father God,wash us and repent for our false
errors and wrongs.
And what we're going through,father God, it's to see your
glory.
Please take us out of theseplaces that we're in right now
and, father God, give us thestrength to overcome and pursue
you in Jesus' name, going forththat we plan and purpose in our
lives be fulfilled.
I thank you, father God,because you're more than capable
(22:33):
and able to do more than we ask.
I trust in you and I thank youand declare that you shall do it
, father God, in all of ourlives.
In the name of Jesus, amen, saybless and God bless you guys.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
If you liked today's episode and find that our
podcasts are helping you findjoy in your journey, please
leave us a review in the podcastapp and tell us your story and
how we assisted you in findingjoy.
Don't forget to reach out to usby taking a screenshot of any
of our podcasts and posting iton your Instagram or Facebook,
tagging us in at MyFaithLine,and we will comment back.
(23:07):
Join us next week for moreepisodes on finding joy in your
journey through faith.
Until next time, remember tolive in faith by faith, through
God's grace.
God bless you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.