Elijah made history. He was about to do something that had never been done on several levels. He was getting ready to run his greatest race but let us see what happens first. Get ready to run your race. We are about to make history. He had the audacity to believe God would show up for him as he defeated four hundred false prophets that were proclaiming to be true prophets. Jezebel had already killed many of Gods prophets, but Elijah stood in the face of adversity and revealed the God that answers by fire.
What dimension of God’s character has He predestined you to reveal to the world to destroy the lie of the enemy?
Is it to help turn the hearts of the fathers back to children and the children’s hearts back to the fathers? Is it to help turn lesbianism and homosexuals’ hearts back to God to restore their hope in love and marriage? Have you been called to outlive the lie that marriage doesn’t work anymore because the divorce rate is just as high in the church as in the world? Is it to destroy the lie that this world is too evil, and you shouldn’t have any children? Is it to ignite love and hope in the hearts of women to believe a man can love honor and be faithful to his wife and kids? Is it to encourage older women that it isn’t too late to have a child?
Elijah was called to confront the lie that God was not the true and living God. God was about to allow him to outlive the lie of his character as a true prophet of the most high God. He had just poured out all the water on the altar and God came down to consume his sacrifice.
What is God asking you for as a sacrifice in this season so he can reveal himself as the God that answers by fire?
They were coming out of a three-year drought of no rain. Sowing that water was all they had, and he gave it to God. He was depending on God. God knows this is a new level of dependency he is requiring from you. But you are about to see him in a new way, you have never seen him before because he is asking you to give him what you needed the most.
To some it looked like Elijah wasted that water. God is about to show you nothing you have given was in vain. Just because you didn’t do everything right doesn’t negate your promises. Jezebel let Elijah know she was going to have him killed. Elijah was so discouraged and in fear after this victory that he went and hid in a cave and said he wished he had never been born. Be encouraged. God is protecting your life.
God has been trying to position you like he did the prophet Elijah if you are willing to trust him. Elijah positioned himself. He sends his servant Gehazi back seven times to see if rain was coming. You may have been waiting 7 weeks, 7 months or even 7 years but God wants you to know the rain is coming. It may look impossible. Everything God has promised you is on the way. You are about to get it and not just a little but in abundance.
The prophet Elijah was raised to be the answer to a 911 call and so are we. This drought was so bad mothers were eating their babies and they were buying bird poop to eat. We are facing some of the greatest times in our lives as a nation. It is dark but God is ready to answer our prayers like he did Elijah, but we must position ourselves and get ready to run.
God was building your endurance in this last season so you would be able to outrun and outlive every lie. Receive his strength. Elijah was so confident in God that he told Gehazi to give Ahab a head start by telling him to start heading to Jezreel before he got stuck in what was about to be a blessing to some. It also could be seen as a burden without having the God that answers by fire. God is releasing his blessing and at times it can feel like both if you are not positioned before the rain. The word says, the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel" (1 Kings 18:46). That is right Elijah had to gird his loins to be able to out live and out run Ahab this time for this assignment.
Some of us have been just like Sha ‘Carri Richardson. Three years ago, she was disqualified because she tested positive for smoking marijuana after learning about the death of her mother. This one mistake set her back three years banning her from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. However, she came back with a vengeance and won this year. I was there. I thought just like Sha’ Carri I was ready, but I too buckled under the pressure of adversity that was costly. I remember the 700 club had reached out to do an interview with me. I turned it down. I had prepared for many years for an opportunity to share my testimony at this next level. I had just finished establishing my non-for -profit. I had just finished my book in 2016 but didn’t release it. All hell had broken out in my home and the enemy rose up in my two sons in heavy rebellion. I was stressed and felt alone. I ended up being with my oldest son’s father and ended up pregnant this time. This decision cost me years like it did her.
Just like Sha ‘Carri Richardson won this year after a three-year delay, so will we. It’s our time. God has been waiting generations for this moment for us to take our place in His race. So many have laid their baton down before us. So many decided the price to train was more than they wanted to pay. So many have fallen and never gotten back up to try again. Get ready to run your race. He has given us another chance to get it right where others failed, quit or in times past, disqualified themselves in a previous season like Sha ‘Carri. She won. I won. You win. We win and everything connected to us will too.