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About the episode:

Seasons of struggle can wreak havoc in our lives and deplete our spirit. Like me, I’m sure you’ve prayed to God for relief, but sometimes we aren’t listening to what He is telling us. As a result, we miss out on His plan of action because we don’t like the words said to us. What if I told you that listening to what God reveals to us is vital to be prepared and protected? In this episode, we will study the story of Elijah and how listening to God allowed him to witness His commanded miracles! We will see how Elijah’s faith and obedience gave him, and others ordained blessings during a time of hardship.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

  • A deep dive study into the story of Elijah
  • How God commands a blessing
  • What listening to God’s instructions looks like
  • Understanding how faith works by obedience

About the host:

Jaime Luce’ story begins with emotional and financial struggle as a single mother trying to survive. Today, she has been married to the love of her life for almost three decades, owned two companies, and has become an author and podcaster. She is on a mission to help others walk through the valleys of life with hope and knowledge that God always has a way.  Learn more.

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Get a free chapter from my new book!

I’m so excited about this book! I didn’t want to write something that simply told about the financial miracles God has done for me. But I wanted to practically help others know how to have the same kind of results. So this book is a playbook. Just like in sports. It will have the story of the need we faced from small to the astronomically huge and how God provided every time. Then we will give you what I call “the play call.” After you understand the Biblical method that was used you are then given a teaching on how to use that knowledge. I can promise it will give you the tools to change your situation and to realize that “You Don’t Need Money. You Just Need God.”

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

Hey, welcome to the Jaime Luce podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Before we even start, I just want to say a quick prayer over you. Father, I thank you for every listener today, I thank you that they have needs that they have been waiting for answers for. And today, they are coming to you to get those answers met. So I just pray that there is an impartation that goes out from this message today into the hearts of every here that every need that they have, they will receive the instruction they need, and the need will be met and supplied in Jesus name. Amen. Again, I want to thank you so much for joining me, I am really, oh boy, what’s the word I’m pumped up today. I’m excited to bring a word to you.

I was in my own prayer time, my own personal time, study time, this morning. And I had plans to actually record some other messages. And while I was in my own time, I felt like the Lord said, go back and read what you read the other day. And so I flipped back to passages that I had read the previous days. And I had, you know, taken lots of notes already on those things. But he wanted me to go back over it. And when I did, it was just as if the presence of the Lord came into the room, I could not write fast enough for what I felt the Holy Spirit was revealing to me. And I wanted to definitely bring this to you, I am going to be doing several messages over the life of Elijah and a couple of passages in First Kings from chapter 18, LSU 1718. And I think 19. And I want to give those to you, but I feel the Lord gave me some prophetic words for you. And I don’t use that term lightly. I don’t, I have to know that God has said something. I Don’t lightly say that. And he, I mean, burst these words. In my spirit, I went into a time of intercession. And it was one right after the other. And what that really is, in fact, I’m going to look at what I actually wrote down I want to give you what he actually said to me. He said three different things he said, For the month of December, in 2022. He said December is a month of birthed miracles, birthed miracles, December 2022, is a month of birthed miracles.

He said, This is the time for miracles. This is the appointed time, this is the time for miracles. And he said this will be a prophetic Christmas. So I just was so stirred up in my own spirit, I had to hurry up and, and I stayed in that place of prayer and thought, I’ve got to get in here and record these messages for you for the month of December. And they will all go hand in hand with one another. I do have a separate Christmas message that is not out of Elijah’s life, it will be out of the life of Mary, that I believe goes with this prophetic message that the Lord is speaking for this month. But I want you to be encouraged. It does not matter folks what has taken place up to this point. And we’re going to start that by talking about in First Kings chapter 17. And the life of Elijah he kind of enters onto the scene we haven’t heard about him we’ve actually heard of a couple of different prophets coming in and, and giving some words to these kings after David and Solomon. And there were wicked kings and thank goodness, we had one good king king Assa. And but this it’s like Elijah just burst onto the scene. And it comes, he comes with a discouraging word. He comes onto the scene, declaring a famine. And I felt that there was such a correlation to what we are living right now. And we have gotten so used to in the in the body of Christ gotten so used to good happy positive messages. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t have had them or that we shouldn’t have them. What I am saying is sometimes if we get so used to hearing those, if a serious message needs to be brought if if a A direct word from the Lord comes, that sounds contrary to what we’re thinking. We may not listen to it, we may immediately turn our ears off, we may not pay attention, there might be a warning that goes out. And it’s because of our perspective. We don’t like hearing a word that we don’t think sounds nice.

If we don’t think that word doesn’t sound nice, then we just think, well, that’s not for me, I don’t want to listen to that. What we miss so often, is there could be great instruction. If if we heed words that come in a proper time, even if they are a warning, even if they are something that sounds a little scary. I’ll give you an example. We watch, I’m a weather geek, I love watching the weather channel, I’ll turn it on, even if it’s not my part of the country. And they’re telling what’s going on. I enjoy learning and listening and thinking about weather. I think that’s because I grew up in Southern California where there isn’t much weather. So because there isn’t much weather, I enjoy listening to learning about weather, I did get to experience thunderstorms like crazy when I lived in Texas for a very for a couple of years. And oh my gosh, how I loved them. And I would go sit outside and just watch the ghosts, we had a covered patio area. And I would just go sit out there on that couch out there and turn the fireplace on out there. It was really nice and it was covered. So I was protected. But I would just watch those thunderstorms. Even in the summer without a fireplace because it was hot, you would definitely enjoy if you if you like weather, you would enjoy those thunderstorms coming in and going by. But that’s because we love watching and knowing what’s going on. If you live in Florida, you may not like the fact that you hear the word that a hurricane is coming. But wisdom says that you listen to that word. And you pay attention to what they’re saying. So that you can make preparation so that you are not hurt by that hurricane. You make preparation. It’s actually a good word. That word of warning is a good word. It would be bad if you didn’t know it was coming and you were caught caught off guard and you were destroyed. Because you did not have a word. You need a word of warning. And we have tuned our ears to what tickles our ears. Instead of here being good. Here’s your know how many times in Scripture did does say that He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church that’s in the book of Revelation over and over again.

Do you realize that we are living in the last days because if you don’t, then that’s a word of warning going out to you right now. And it’s a good word. But to the churches, there’s a there’s a warning that goes out to the saints. And he says you need to have ears that hear you need to be those who listen, that you’re listening not just for the word that tickles your your fancy, but you’re listening to those words of warning. So that you can be prepared and protected so that God can take care of you that it’s so imperative that we understand this.

So as we hear this word from Elijah, I want you please don’t tune me out. Don’t turn off and turn off the announcement that’s coming over the loud airwaves here. Because it’s it’s a word that can that can save you and protect you and it has it’s full of hope. And it’s full of promise and it’s full of faith. And so I want you to stay with me and go on this journey with me. And I promise you if you are in a place of drought in your life, if you’re in a place of needing a miracle if you are in a hard place. If you’re in a place of lack and something is missing, then you want this word, you need this word, this word is for you today. So I want you to go with me Get your Bibles. Let’s Let’s Be diligent learners about the Word of God so that we can take this and chew on it, meditate on it, take it in, digest it, use it grow from it, let it be nutritious in us and birth something good in our lives.

First Kings chapter seven and 17 verse one says, Now Elijah, who was from Tisch Bay and Gilead told King Ahab so this word right off the bat goes straight to the king. Okay. As surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives as surely okay as surely this is this is a this is not a test, you know? On our TVs now they made I haven’t seen one in a long time. But when I was growing up, you would randomly on your television, if you were watching TV, a screen would pop up with the different colors like a bland, just stripes colors, and a beat ii sound comes on the TV. And it says this is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test. So they are testing their system that says in the event of an emergency, we will break into whatever you’re watching, I’m looking over at a TV screen, we will break in to whatever you’re watching to give you news you need to hear. Okay, that’s the emergency testing system. But what I’m doing today, Elijah is saying this is not a test. This is the real thing. I’m giving you an important message. As surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, the God I serve, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years. Until I give the word there will be no rain. There will be no do it’s like you can’t even go out into the morning and hope that a little bit of do has settled just a little residue, just a little something, there won’t even be due for the next few years. And if you are someone who has who is in a place, or you are afraid of because of everything you’re hearing around you if you live in the United States, I know this is happening. I know this is happening.

In the UK, I just read a report that came out about Prince not Prince anymore, King Charles is giving out of his own finances extra money to those who are servants in the castle who work for him and the palace because they know that things are tight and going to get worse. Okay, the word is gone out, it’s going to be bad. And I’m sure in other countries it is like it is here. It’s economically happening across the world. This is not a United States thing only. And you might be fearing what’s ahead, you may already be impacted by what’s been going on in the economies of the world and the different nations economies. But this is something we need to pay attention to. How are we supposed to live? How are we supposed to act? When we’re in a famine? How are we supposed to respond? When we get the word that there’s not going to be dew or rain for the next few years, we don’t know when it’s going to change. And we don’t know how bad it’s going to get. We don’t know what the outcome of this is going to be. So it says then the word I’m sorry, then the Lord, who is the word said to Elijah, go to the east and hide by Carisbrook. Now, before we even move on, you have to know that there was an instruction here because King Ahab didn’t like that word, didn’t want that word. And now he was after Elijah, as if, you know, we always say don’t kill the messenger. It’s the message I know you don’t like but I’m just the messenger.

Don’t kill the messenger. Elijah is not the one causing no rain. It’s God. He’s delivering the word of the Lord. Yet Ahab is wanting to hold this man responsible and says it’s his fault. Where this is so funny to me because the world gets so wrong. And they get mad at us for saying what the Word says. If we believe a doctrine of the Bible, they get mad at us for declaring the doctrine of the Bible as if it’s our Word. It’s God’s word. God’s the one who says if something is evil, or good God is the one who determines what lifestyles are okay? God is the one who determines how we live for him and what our identity is God is the one who determines what is sin and what is not sin. I don’t get to determine that I don’t have that power. That’s God’s determining. He’s the one who’s commanded His Word. I’m simply following it. And yet the word gets mad at us wants to shut us down, wants to shirt shirt shut churches down, wants to shut up, pastors wants to come against them and take them out, wants to ridicule and call them liars, because they’re afraid of the word we have. And they think it’s us. They think it’s us. They don’t because they don’t serve God. The power is God’s is just his power in us. They’re hearing the Word. They’re hearing the power of the word. And they’re so offended by it because they know it’s powerful. They wouldn’t attack it if it wasn’t powerful. It they wouldn’t come against it if it didn’t have power and authority. And they want to come after us. So King Ahab is wanting to destroy Elijah because of this word, okay? He wants to come after him. So God says, Okay, I know you don’t want like this, but I am going to protect you. But you need to follow my instructions, and I’m telling you to go hide, I’m actually telling you to go hide. So sometimes you just have to, you can’t think that God has not with you just because you’re having to do something that doesn’t seem, you know, hiding doesn’t seem like faith. Hiding doesn’t seem like faith. And yet it was God’s protection. It also didn’t seem like it was faith when he told when God told Joseph, take the mother and the child and go to Egypt, you need to go hide the Kings after you. Well, that was faith, he believed God’s word, and he acted on God’s word. That’s not no faith. That’s not living in fear. There’s a difference between you not hearing the Word of God and you acting out of fear, versus hearing a directive from the Lord that instructs you where to go and where to be. Because when you DO what He tells you to do, and go, where he tells you to go, that’s where your protection is located. That’s where the provision is.

So you have to follow God’s instructions, you follow his commands. And by doing that, then you are ensured that walk of faith, that act of obedience is exactly what you need for that point in time in your life. Perspective is everything folks, perspective is everything. Having a heavenly godly perspective, is what we need to walk out whatever it is that we need to get victory over or through.

So he says, go to the east and hide by Carisbrook, near where it enters the Jordan River, drink from the brook and eat with the Ravens bring you for I have commanded them to bring you food, I have commanded them to bring you food. So not only is he’s telling him, I’m setting up protection for you, because I know that this in the natural could be scary, but don’t worry, because I’m gonna hide you. In fact, we find out later that in the, in the subsequent chapters, that when Elijah comes three years later to present himself back to King Ahab, because the famine is going to be over it’s time, he appears to another man in the in the palace. And this man is also he hit God’s prophets, he’s prophetic himself. And he says to him, If I tell him that you’re going to show up, he’s going to kill me because he’s looked for you. And everywhere he goes, I said, they can’t find you. So God hid him. You know, sometimes, in your situation, you need the Lord to make sure you’re not seeing. It doesn’t mean that you’re actually going in hiding. What if, what if you go to do something, and you just you’re in a situation and you just need to say, Lord, I just need people not to see me. Right now I’m doing something. And I need to not be seen kind of how Jesus when he performed a miracle, he didn’t need the distraction.

And it wasn’t his time. And and so when they came to throw him off of the hill, he just vanished into the crowd here, they couldn’t see him anymore. In fact, he did that when he healed the man at the pool of Bethesda, he just kind of disappeared in the crowd, he just was hidden from their site, they couldn’t see him. Sometimes God needs to protect you and hide you in situations so that you can maneuver and do what he’s called you to do without being seen. So that those you can’t be hindered. Sometimes that protection of being hidden is so that you your journey, and the thing that God has you doing can’t be hindered by those who would try to stop you and hinder you Okay, so it’s not always a life and death per se, though it could be, but he may need to hide you properly and keep you from being seen from the enemy. You know, when David was running from Sol, he had to continually be hidden. Because there was an agenda God had to live out through his life. And so you can pray these kinds of prayers and say, Lord, I need to be hidden from from certain people site, I need to not be seen, I need that protection of mover. movability and being able to, to accomplish what you’re calling me to do without a hindrance without people coming in and just constantly being a problem and trying to hinder me. So, you know, that was there was a constant hindrance for when we think of Hezekiah No, no, Hezekiah sorry, Nehemiah with building the wall. And they were constantly buffered by these people while they’re trying to build and they’re constantly trying to lower them down into a different fight. When they were called not to go there to fight they were called to go there to build.

So this hiding thing is a very spiritual thing. It’s to be seen when you need to be seen and not be seen when you don’t need to be seen. He tells him though, that he commanded these ravens to bring him food and he took them to a source of water. So I looked up this word commanded because I felt that it carried so much weight because he says it again to him in the next passage, but This word commanded means more than what we think we just think a command, like in the military, and they give you a command. And it does mean that it does mean that like I’ve given them a command, and I have to follow it. And especially when we’re talking about ravens, the Lord just commands what he has created, and it’s forced to do what he needs it to do. And so he’s commanded these birds to bring food and water. But this word also means several other things that I think are pertinent to this, this message. And so it means to be laid down. So his word is being laid down. His word is been, Oh, if you kind of think of that in terms of, they lay down the law, okay, somebody who’s laid it down, they’ve made it plain, they have laid it out, they’ve laid down so he has commanded what he wants to happen, he’s laid out what’s gonna happen, he’s laid out the plants, okay? He has ordained them. That word commanded also means ordained. So he has pre established something to take place. He’s ordained it. He’s already established it. He has sent it. So his word, he’s already sent out the command, he sent out the word. He says he sends out his word to complete what he needs completed, he sends out that word, and it has to do what it was sent out to do. It’s that same sent, okay. It means put, so he’s putting in place all the things that need to be in place for this miracle to take place of having food and water in a drought. Okay, God is putting in place, laying down, establishing everything that needs to be establishing ordaining at all, so that every need that Elijah has during this time of famine is met. So God wants to do this for you.

You are the man or woman of God, there might be a famine in your life. And God, if you will get the instructions from the Lord, he will go before you and ordain and establish what’s going to take care of you. During this time. He’s going to make the plan, send the word command, those that need commanding, and make sure that everything you have is where it needs to be okay. That’s the command of the Lord. That’s what he has sent his Word to do. And if that’s you, I want you to receive it by faith today.

I want you to take that word and make it yours, that the Lord is going before me. I will have ears to hear, Lord, what is your instruction to me, speak into my ear, let me hear you clearly. And I will go forth, you will hide me like being hidden in the cleft or the rock. Why did Moses Go and hide in the cleft of the rock? The word tells us that he got in there. And the Lord said, I can’t show you all of me. You can’t take it. There’s just too much of me to take in. But I’m gonna pass by you. And he hit him in the cleft of the rock. And he says when he passed by him, he showed him his backside. And when you look that word up, it means he showed him his goodness. He showed him his goodness, he didn’t show him all the judgment of God. He didn’t show him all the wrath of God he did to show him all the all the deep things that that would have been a distraction and, and hard to see what did he show him when he passed by he showed him his goodness, in His glory as his glory went by. He showed him his goodness. And sometimes that’s what we need.

Father hide me, show me where I need to be hidden, that I might see Your goodness and Your glory passed by me, even in a time of famine, even in a time of drought, even in a time of lack. God can show you in that hidden place that He has prepared for you. The goodness of his end the provision that he still has for you the power and his might during a time when you would normally not see it. When those around you may not see it. But when you’ve got a word from the Lord, that’s what you can count on. That’s what you can. That’s what you can hold on to that he will hide you and he will command and prepare for you and lay it all out for you and give you what you have needed and make sure it’s all there. Everything you need is there. There’s not one thing lacking, but we need His Word. We need His Word. Let’s keep let’s keep reading. So Elijah did as the Lord told him, and he kept beside Carisbrook east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening. And he drank from the brook. Now get this so God did everything you said he was going to do. Elijah his needs are met. He’s followed that first step of faith. He’s taken this was a, this was a step of faith, he had to take a step of faith. But as he took that step of faith, God made sure that the thing that he needed was there. Then it says after a while, this is verse seven, but after a while, the brook dried up. Now this, this is a, this is an important thing to know that you need to pay attention to this, because you can actually be following God’s commands. You can actually be walking by faith and seeing the miraculous take place, actually seen the supernatural God set him up for a supernatural. God set him up for a supernatural, and he’s living in that supernatural doing what God called them to do. And one day while he’s obeying while he’s doing what God told him to do, while he’s sitting in the supernatural, one day that Brook dries up one day, the source that was your source, your sustaining stores, your sustaining nourishment, all of a sudden it dries up, what are you going to do? You wonder, what now God, I mean, the panic that we allow to sit in, when we should be living the Scripture, I’m talking to me to folks, I am not harping at you believe me. I am talking to Jaime too. We so quickly jump from walking in a place of faith to jumping into fear. What am I going to do now? The Brook has dried up, God, you said, this is where I was going to get my nourishment. This is what you set for me to do when I did it. Now what do I do? And we totally go from a place of faith to a place of fear. Instead of walking in the scripture that says Be anxious for nothing. Or instead of knowing, Okay, God, you told me to do this. And I did this. So obviously, you have a new, a new step for me to take. Obviously, there’s a turn a new instruction, something I need to hear from you, I need a new word from the Lord, because this is no longer doing what it did. So I want to encourage you, whatever step you’re in, you might think you’re already in that step of faith.

You’ve all been doing it you’re walking it out. Don’t be afraid if the brook dries up, don’t be afraid if the thing that you were counting on, what if you got a pink slip the job that was your your sustaining power, God gave you that job, he directed you to that job he provided for you when you needed it, it’s been exactly what you need. And you you I mean, it was a miracle. You got it, you’re living the blessing. You’re, you’re you have it, you’re doing it, and all of a sudden you get a pink slip. All of a sudden, that job’s not there anymore. It just dried up like that went from one day it was good. The next day, it’s gone. What do we do? What do we do? Instead of panicking, we need a word from the Lord. Lord, you brought me here and provided this. And by faith, you’re going to take me to the next place, and you’re going to provide for me there, you’re going to do it again. You’re going to do it again. That’s what God does. That’s what the testimony is for. He’s going to do it again. And so this is our this is our clue, not a place to get afraid. This is our prompt. This is our Emergency Broadcast System. This is telling me the instructions. What do I need to do I need Lord, what do I do next? What’s the next place the next thing you have for me?

So what is what is the Lord say? And we know Elijah was talking and communing with the Lord because the Lord tells us we know by this passage that the Lord is talking to him. So verse eight, then the Lord said to Elijah, go and live in a village in the village of Zehra fath near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you. Now in I’m reading from the New Living Translation. So it says the word instructed a widow. It’s actually the same word commanded, that we saw earlier with the birds. So God has commanded this widow. And the funny thing is about this this command, the widow doesn’t know. The widow doesn’t know. And that’s what actually made me look the word commanded up because I thought, Lord, how can you say that you commanded a widow to take care of him? And she has no clue. She’s a widow who is eating her last meal. Let’s read it. So he went to zero fat as he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks and he asked her Would you please bring me a little water in a cup as she was going to get it? He called to her bring me a bite of bread too. But she said, I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug, I find this interesting because she says the LORD your God, this woman that God has commanded, is actually setting up a woman who isn’t even necessarily believing that God is real. She not only doesn’t have enough food to feed Elijah, she doesn’t even have faith.

Now she can recognize Elijah obviously had on the garments of a prophet. We know that he passed his mantle to Elijah, he’s obviously wearing his mantle. And so she can recognize that he’s a prophet. But she has no relation. She doesn’t necessarily believe Him that that he’s, you know, in those days, there were false prophets, just like there are in these days, there were false prophets then, and there are false prophets now. And I don’t know what words she ever heard, or if she ever even heard that any of them ever were true, or that they came to pass. This was after years and years of kings who served all kinds of false gods doing not God’s way. So who knows what this woman knew, and what she had lived through and what she had seen or heard, and then it did or did not come to pass. This woman is a widow, who doesn’t have faith. And yet God has commanded her What is he saying? He’s not saying that he went to her and said, widow, I’m telling you to feed this man. He’s saying, In My goodness, in my provision, in my plan, I have not only planned to care for this prophet, but I’ve planned to take care of the one who is faithless, I have a, I have an answer for you. I have planned for the one who thinks they don’t have enough that they don’t even know I’m the answer. God wants to take us living from the supernatural. Elijah is arriving after living supernaturally for a period of time. So in that learned lesson life, a learned life lesson and learned of oh, how do I even say that, that that process of being someone who lives supernaturally, okay, from taking that life of living supernaturally, he is now needed, God is now going to take the one with the need to the one with a need, in order that they both now can live supernaturally. Gods God’s command is that even in your place of drought in your trouble, he wants you to so be cared for, and provided for by him. And so live a life supernaturally that you now can take it and impart it to others, that you’ve learned it that you know, it’s faithful and true, that your faith is sure and you are now taking it to the one who doesn’t have it. And you’re going to impart it to them too. Because we have a world around us who needs help. They need saving, they need salvation, we’ve got to be the answer. We are the carriers of the answer folks, the ones who carry the gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ. You know, it’s it always reminds me of when I was a kid, I never understood the Scripture. And I just thought it was the weirdest scripture, until I understood when I got older what it meant, but it says that the feet of them, it’s to bring good news, it’s to love the feet of them, but come and I just thought who loves feet who are I mean, I just never could understand it. Until you understand the beauty and the analogy and the poetic pneus of what it’s saying. But that we are those who run with the message of faith, our feet are the carriers. And we have a message for those who are in lack, who are eating their last bite and think they’re gonna die.

They’re at the end, they don’t have hope anymore. And we should be the carriers of the supernatural, to deliver not only ourselves because he needs a new miracle to Elijah is still in the place of need. It’s like that scripture that basically says, what you make happen for others, God will make happen for you. This is Elijah is going to be living this out. So she says that she’s according to your God. She tells him your God, I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t even have a single piece of bread in the house. I don’t have anything. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal and then my son and I will die I mean, it’s drastic and it’s real. I’m not making fun this woman is at the end of the end. She has no one else. She has nothing else. Folks, God sees you. He sees you. If you think you’re down to the last penny, that’s all you’ve got. I’ve been there. I know what that feels like. I know how the enemy taunts you when you’re in that place. How fear tries to come on you that spirit of fear stays very close. And it’s up to us not to receive that spirit of fear, but to step out in faith. It takes faith folks, it takes faith. It takes faith, it takes faith. But Elijah said to her, don’t be afraid. And that’s what I’m saying to you today. Don’t be afraid. Go ahead and do just what you’ve said. But make a little bread for me first. So here’s the test. When God brings the instruction, it might look like it’s going to cost you all you’ve got. It may look like this is the end. I mean, I’ve shared that testimony before I was down to my last dollars. I had I had children, I in essence was like a widow, meaning that I had no male provision for my life, no covering for me at the time. And I I was in that place of need. And I needed, I had bills to pay, and I needed to put food in their mouths. And I understand what that’s like. And when when you’re at that place, you feel like you are at the edge of the cliff. And to take that step of faith, and to obey what God tells you to give what He tells you to do. It just seems like this is the end of me. I promise you if the Lord is commanding, then he has ordained your blessing. He has all ready commanded.

He has all ready determined your answer your provision, your protection, he has already determined and ordained what your blessing will be. He takes Elijah’s nothing. He has no food, no water. He’s taking that. And he takes him to a woman who has one bite left. And he says, give me that bite first. I mean, he tells her Don’t be afraid. Isn’t that how we always know that the Holy Spirit is whispering to us when he says don’t be afraid. Just do what I asked you to do. Don’t be afraid. We need to not be afraid, folks, I’m telling you today, don’t be afraid. When God gives you the instruction to give. And I’m not telling you to give to me. I’m just telling you, I know how this works. God may be asking you to sacrifice right now he may be asking you to give what little you have left away. He may be asking you to plant some seed, he may be asking you to do that to your church, to someone in need to admissions to I don’t know, I mean, he could be asking you to do all kinds of things. He might be telling you that you have no time left. And God says but I want you to invest your time over here. I don’t know. But he he expected a gift. He expected her to not be in fear. And give. And I know that sounds hard. The world hates this message. They hate it. And I want to tell you again, we don’t like the words because they’re powerful. If you can see behind the word, if you can hear the emergency broadcast going out if you’re willing to listen, if you’re willing to hear the instruction. Your answer is on the other side of your obedience. Your answer, and your protection will come from heeding the message by listening to what’s being said. If God is telling you to do something, obey, don’t be afraid. I know it’s a powerful word. And power can be scary. It’s a powerful weighty Word. But don’t be afraid. Your provision. It’s God’s math folks. Elijah has nothing this little little woman has next to nothing And what happens? Let’s see, let’s see what happens. So she did well, let me finish reading, don’t be afraid, go ahead and do just what you said, but make a little bread for me first, then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. So right away, he’s expecting that she’s going to have enough, she doesn’t think there’s enough in Elijah saying, there’s enough, there’s enough for that last meal, you can give me this and you’re still going to have enough, there will be enough.

He’s encouraging her in it. Verse 14, for this is what the Lord the God of Israel says, There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers, until the time when the Lord sends rain, and the crops grow. Again, he’s making her a big promise. He’s saying, The Lord is saying to you, if you will obey, that during this entire duration of drought, whatever this length of time is, whatever the jobless time is, whatever the relationship lack is, whatever the circumstance is in the country, whatever’s going on in the economy, folks, whatever that duration of time is, if you will obey God and DO what He tells you to do. The answer is this, that during this entire time, there will be enough, there will be enough you will not go without you will have what you need, if you will walk in obedience. So she did, as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days, there was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.I want to, I’m really, I’ve gone longer than I wanted to go. But I don’t want to leave this out. After this event, God did the miraculous folks. He did what he said he was going to do, he commanded the blessing. He commanded the provision, he commanded it. And by her obedience, by his obedience, God always took him to the place that he needed to go, that he needed to be in, be in. And that’s important. I don’t want to miss giving you that point. It’s important that when God tells you to be in a certain place that you be in that place, that blessing, God isn’t saying that you get to pick and the blessings just going to be there that you don’t just to go off willy nilly, and pick what you want to do and how you want to do it. And think that God’s going to bless it because you have faith.

Faith works by obedience. We have faith in God, we know he’s a good God, we know he’s going to provide our faith is always working in that area. But when God gives an instruction, that instruction needs to be followed, we need to do what God asks us to do, we need to be in the place of blessing. We just talked about that when we were talking about Ruth and Naomi, they had to be in the place of blessing in order to be blessed. And that took following God’s instructions living the way God tells you to live. You know, just how Ruth didn’t know this God, but she was willing to seek after him.

And because she was willing to do it, and follow the instructions of the man who was that that gave her the blessing. She reaped even even more abundant blessing that blessed her and and Naomi, both. This is the same thing we see happen here. If you will follow God’s instruction, God will command the blessing. He’ll set it all up. But you need to be where he tells you to be if he’s telling you to be in a particular church, go get in that church, if he tells you to get involved, if he tells you to go to a particular place and look for a job. My dad has this amazing testimony. He had lost a job. And it was really down to crunch time. It had been quite a while and they did not have the money. My parents did have three children to feed and house payment to make and bills to pay and cars to take care of and and what are they going to do and they were desperate. They were absolutely desperate. I mean, their their faith would rise and somehow it would last for so many days. And then my mom as she put it, she would just crumble on the weekend and cry. Just just in what do I do God what do I do God and and faith would come back and then faith would wane and faith would come back and faith would wane. And my dad were gone. I was faced before the Lord and cried out to God and I’m going to give I’m going to show you that where you cry out to God for an answer. God gave the instruction to my dad This sounds crazy. I mean, it literally sounds crazy. But what he heard the Lord say was that you’re going to get a call from somebody that you know who’s going to introduce you to somebody who’s going to introduce you to somebody else who’s going to hire you. And so my dad gets a phone call from a friend he hadn’t heard of in forever. And the man says, I want to introduce you to somebody.

So my dad knew immediately that was the Lord. That’s the Lord. And he went with him. It was introduced to that man, who when he talked to that man, realize, Oh, you don’t want to work for me, I need to introduce you to somebody else. And that man didn’t even have a business. When he got there. That man literally asked my dad, what he did for a living. And he showed him an old classic car lady had out in the back, that was literally one of those rust buckets up on containers. And he said, Can you fix this? Can you do something with this? And he said, Yeah, you can. But it’s going to take a lot of money, and it’s going to take time. And he asked him how much money and how much time and he said, well, and he told him, and he said, Okay, can you start Monday. And the man what started literally a business from nothing, hired my dad that day without a business and began a business for him that ended up lasting the built the business, they hired lots of people, this business, I think he worked for them for 20 something years. It was a long time. And and that was provision of God. He got an instruction he cried out to God. Here’s what happened. And I’m telling you this because, again, you we saw Elijah, he got instruction from God, he obeyed God, he had provision from God. And then after he got that the brook dried up, so he had to receive the next set of instructions, right? He goes to the widow now they both have to take the instructions. Now look what happens. Now, in verse 17. It says, sometime later, the woman’s son became sick, he grew worse and worse. And finally he died.

Then she said to Elijah, oh, man of God, what have you done to me? Again, we blame people not in the Lord, not the Lord, have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son. See, this was a woman who didn’t have faith before. Now she’s coming, she’s coming to know and coming to have faith because her needs are being met. She’s taking care and letting this man Elijah live in her house. But her son gets sick and she thinks, Okay, God’s judging me. This terrible thing has happened, because God’s judging me, folks, so many times, that’s how the enemy does. Something will happen. And he’s he’s trying to rock your world. He’s trying to get you out of faith. And you’ll think, why is this happening to me? Is God mad at me? He’s punishing me. i Why did I believe God? Now look what happened? I want to shake you today and say, No, that is not true. That is the enemy lying to you. Let’s keep reading and see what happened. But Elijah replied, give me your son. And he took the child’s body from her arms carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying, and laid the body on his bed. Then Elijah cried out to the Lord. I told you, my dad was in that situation that it got so bad, he cried out to God. Sometimes it’s not this little tiny prayer. Oh, God help me. Jesus, would you just help me I need you to provide sometimes you gotta cry out, oh, God, I need you. God, I need your help. Tell me what I need to do. Elijah was a man like you and I, he saw miraculous supernatural miracles. But the secret was, he knew how to cry out to God.

He knew where the answer would come from in his time of need. And he said, Oh, Lord, my God, why have you brought tragedy to this widow, who has opened her home to me, causing her son to die? And look what he did. And he stretched himself out over the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, oh, Lord, my God, please let this child’s life return to Him. Folks, I’m telling you today, whatever your circumstances, you lay that out. Didn’t I tell you that the word commanded, said he lays it out? God lays it out. And what does Elijah do? He takes that boy and he lays him out on the bed. And he gets out on top of them, folks, you got to get all over that thing. He laid himself out over that boy, and you’ve got to get all over that, that you you put that problem before the Lord, you lay it out. You get all over that thing. You let your faith get all over that thing and cry out to God. And the Lord heard Elijah’s prayer and the life of the child returned and he revived and I’m telling you today if you will receive this message, and you will put your faith out over that thing and To climb out all over that child, if it’s a child, if it’s a circumstance, if it’s a job, if it’s finances, if it’s a relationship or a marriage, you get out all over that thing and you pray, you cry out to God, who hears and answers prayer. He knows you’re in a time of drought, he knows that you want to that you are by faith, reaching out to him for the answer.

And the Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, He will hear your prayer, and the life of the child return and he revived. Then he lied, you brought him down from the upper room and gave them to his mother, look, he said, Your son is alive. Then the woman told Elijah, this is the culmination of all that God wanted to do for this woman. She says, Now I know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the Lord truly speaks through you the Lord. She now knows who God is, her salvation is complete, her son’s salvation is complete, her need was met, God did the impossible. And God will do the impossible for you. Today, if you will lay hold it this word, the Lord has an answer of provision for you. Take it folks. Take it by faith. Be willing to follow God’s instructions GO where He tells you to go. Give where he tells you to give. And then ask for what you have needed. And watch what God will do for you.

Thank you so much for investing your time today. If I were you, I’m not you. But if I were you, I’d go make a place of prayer. And I would offer to the Lord, my heart, my life, my surrender, that I might have what I need from him. And we’ll close in prayer. Father, I thank you that you have seen each one listening today and the faith that they are stretching out towards you today. I ask that you give instructions today, that you command their blessing accordingly, Lord, and that by faith, they will be obedient to Your instructions. They will do what you’ve asked them to do, even if it’s a sacrifice, and they will see the miraculous take place. Not only that, but the thing that is a haunting them that thing that troubles them that thing that looks dead, is going to come back to life as they cry out to you their god for the answer for the for the empowerment, of resurrection power over their life, and over this time in their life, that drought will not have its way famine will not have its way but the provision of God will prevail. We give you all the thanks the praise and it is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thanks so much for joining me today. I really do pray this has been a blessing to you take it, use it and make it yours today in Jesus name. God bless you. We’ll see you next time. Bye bye