“And he requested for himself that he might die; and said, it is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:4)
In this passage today we find Elijah, one of the greatest Prophets God ever anointed, running for his life from the evil Queen Jezebel. Elijah had just come from a showdown on Mt. Carmel with these prophets of Baal. We are all familiar with this story, how Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal against the one true God of Israel. He had just called down fire from the sky after these false prophets cried aloud to Baal to prove himself real all day. Then after Elijah showed the children of Israel that the God of Abraham was the real thing, he systematically destroyed all these prophets with the sword.
It was one of the greatest showdowns of power against evil the world had ever known. And as soon as news came to Jezebel that her favorite prophets had been killed, she sent word to Elijah that she would kill him also. Now we come to our scripture. As Elijah fled to the wilderness of Beer-Sheba, he sat under a Juniper tree, in utter terror, praying to God that he would take his life. How could this be? I must admit that ever since I first read this story, I was dumbfounded at Elijah’s fear. How could a man of God, so anointed with power that he could call fire down from the sky, pray for rain and cause it to be so, and part rivers like Moses, become afraid of one little woman’s threat?
God has shown me recently, that this was not normal fear. Beloved, this was SUPERNATURAL TERROR! Satan, wanting revenge, unleashed a supernatural attack of fear and despair on this man. So powerful was this spirit of fear, that it could take a man of God, which has just moved in the power of his spirit, and utterly destroy his confidence in anything. Think about it! How could you go from calling fire down from heaven, and in five minutes running for your life in horrid terror? It would take a fear and hopelessness unleashed from the bowels of Hell, not drummed up from a man made fear or worry. How did Elijah come to his senses? How did he find the courage to face Jezebel and her evil army again?
It is simple; it took God coming to him personally with a word to strengthen him. The bible records a strong wind coming by, but God was not in the wind, then a great earthquake, but God was not in that either. Finally a great fire came through, but no presence of God was in the fire. It wasn’t until God passed by Elijah in a still small voice, telling him what to do and encouraging him he was with him, that Elijah could destroy the supernatural grip of fear and terror in his mind. This word, this still small voice, was tailor made just for Elijah, it belonged to him. It was given to him by God and it belonged to no one else. I tell you now, as I have told you before, Get into the presence of Jesus and ask him for a personal word from him to you for these last days.
Ask him beloved, and he will give it to you. And when you get it, you will find strength to fight against the fear and worry and terror to be unleashed on this world. When everyone is crying and weeping with no hope, you will stand with confidence that the Lord is with you, and will not forsake you. You have a personal promise from the Creator of the universe!
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