Hearing From God!

A Servant’s Lesson:  Outer victories mean nothing if I do not win the inner battle.  You would think that Chapter 18 of 1 Kings contained the biggest battles of Elijah’s life.  He battled the powerful King Ahab, he battled 450 false prophets!  But in Chapter 19 he faces an even bigger battle, the battle within himself.  He won the battles of Chapter 18 fairly easily, yet almost lost his life in the battle with himself.  In 1 Kings 19 Elijah gives clear expression to the kinds of inner battles which God’s servants will inevitably have to face.  See if you can relate to any of these feelings he expressed.

“I want to run.”

We often feel like running after a great victory.  The combination of physical and emotional fatigue makes us feel like escaping when everyone else is celebrating.  When we are run down, we want to run away.

“I have had enough.”

The feeling is, “I have reached my limit…”

“I am all alone.”

The greatest inner battle is the battle of loneliness.  When you decide that you are all alone the inner battle is lost.

The inner victory for Elijah was won on 6 different fronts.  God told him: You need rest! (v.7), You must worship! (v.8), You can tell someone! (v.9-10), You need a fresh encounter with God! (v. 11-13), You are useful! (v.15-17), You are not alone! (v.18).

Let’s focus for a moment on the idea of a fresh encounter with God.  Elijah, who had always seen God in the fire and the storms, heard God this time in a gentle whisper.  You might feel desperate to hear God’s voice right now.  Keep listening!  Elijah didn’t hear God the first or second or even the third time.  But he was faithful to be where God wanted him to be, and eventually heard God’s still small voice.  What do you need to do in order to hear God whisper to you?

Pray this servant’s prayer: Lord, I want to serve you for the rest of my life.  I pray that you would give to me the wisdom to rest when it is needed, the desire to place a priority on worship, the courage to tell You about the problems I face, the inner confidence that I am useful to you and the assurance that I am never alone in serving you.  I pray that I would regularly hear you speaking to me in fresh, new ways.

Do whatever you need to do in order the hear from God…from that still small voice.

I am looking forward to seeing you this weekend. I want to thank each of you for the privilege of living life with you the last 14 years and you will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers.

Blessings

Pastor Bill