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The holiday season should feel joyful, but for many of us it brings exhaustion, pressure, and a quiet heaviness that is hard to admit. If you have ever felt overwhelmed or on the brink of burnout, you are not alone. Scripture shows us that even Elijah, one of the strongest prophets in the Old Testament, reached a breaking point.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah goes from a powerful victory on Mount Carmel to running for his life and begging God to let him die. His story gives us a clear picture of how God responds to emotional collapse, physical exhaustion, and spiritual discouragement. It also shows us how God restores strength, resets our thinking, and renews our purpose.

Below are the truths I see in this passage and how they can help us today.

Elijah’s Collapse Shows That Exhaustion Is Not Failure

Elijah had been standing strong for years. He faced famine, confronted a corrupt king, called down fire from heaven, and defeated the prophets of Baal. He gave everything he had mentally, spiritually, and physically.

Yet after Jezebel threatened to kill him, Elijah ran 120 miles and collapsed under a broom tree. He told God he wanted to die.

This was not rebellion. It was exhaustion.

Many believers assume that feeling tired or discouraged means they lack faith. Elijah proves that is not true. His collapse shows that even devoted servants of God reach their limits, and God never condemns them for it.

God’s First Response Is Rest, Nourishment, and Touch

When Elijah falls apart, God does not lecture him. He does not shame him. He does not tell him to “push through.”

Instead, God sends an angel who does three things:

1. Lets him sleep
2. Touches him
3. Gives him food and water

God ministers to Elijah’s physical needs before addressing anything spiritual. This shows us that breakdowns often begin in the body and that true restoration requires rest and nourishment.

If you are drained, the most spiritual thing you may need right now is rest, healthy food, and time away from pressure.

Isolation Makes Depression Worse

Elijah left his servant behind because he felt finished. He assumed he had failed and that no one else in Israel cared about God. His exhaustion distorted the truth and pushed him into isolation.

When you feel like pulling away, that is usually when you need safe people the most. We were created for connection. Even the touch from the angel shows that the nervous system responds to comfort and reassurance.

When you feel overwhelmed, do not isolate. Reach out to someone who can stand with you and speak life into you.

Hearing the Still Small Voice Requires Slowing Down

After Elijah rests, eats, and gains strength for forty days, he heads to the mountain of God. His heart is desperate to hear from the Lord.

God does not speak through the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. He speaks in a still small voice.

Sometimes the noise around us is so loud fear, stress, pressure, expectations that we cannot hear God clearly. When we create space for quiet, we recognize His voice again. We remember that He is near and faithful.

God Corrects Elijah’s Thoughts Before He Restores His Purpose

Twice Elijah tells God he is completely alone and that everyone else has abandoned the covenant. That was not true, but exhaustion clouded his perception.

God responds with truth.

He tells Elijah that there are seven thousand people who have not bowed to Baal. Elijah was not alone. He was not a failure. He was not finished.

Many times the battle is in the mind. Depression makes our world smaller than it is. God lovingly resets Elijah’s thinking so he can see clearly again.

Renewed Purpose Comes After Restoration

Once Elijah’s mind and body are strengthened, God gives him new instructions. He is to anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha. His ministry is not ending. It is shifting.

When you feel like quitting, it may be because you are entering a new season. God never wastes your exhaustion. He restores you so you can walk into your next assignment with fresh strength.

If You Are Burned Out Today, God Has More For You

Elijah’s story models God’s compassion for the weary.

Rest is holy. Nourishment matters. Connection matters. Time with God matters.
And your purpose is not gone just because you feel tired.

God restored Elijah and He will restore you. You are not alone and you are not at the end of your story. There is more ahead, and God will give you the strength you need to walk it out.

Where To Dive In:

00:00 – Welcome & Holiday Overwhelm
02:40 – Elijah’s Exhaustion Begins
09:50 – Running for His Life
13:30 – God’s Care: Rest, Touch, Nourishment
17:10 – The Still Small Voice
30:10 – Correcting Elijah’s Thinking
36:20 – Renewed Purpose
39:20 – Prayer & Encouragement

Full Transcript

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

00:09 – Jaime Luce (Host)
Welcome to the Jaime Luce podcast. I am so happy to be with you today. I just love knowing that there is a group of people out there who love to study the Word, and this gives me so much joy to be able to dig into Scripture, especially when I know that we are coming up here on the holiday season and we can be so overwhelmed, exhausted, especially if you’re somebody who is not just. You know it can be exhausting for anybody, no matter what occupation you have. But during the holiday season, if you happen to be in ministry of any kind, it can just be almost. What word do I want to give it? It can almost be defeating before you ever start, because you can feel the overwhelm before you begin to do the things that you know you need to get done. And your desire is right. Your desire is to help people, your desire is to celebrate, your desire is to bring glory to the Lord and to minister to his people. But all of that can be a weight that, unless you’re in that, you don’t quite understand. So I’m here today to bring encouragement to you. We’re going to be talking about depression and burnout Depression and burnout. I am not a doctor. I do not pretend to have all the answers when it comes to such an incredibly difficult and important topic, but I can see what God did to help someone who was in this situation, based off of the scripture, and give to you what I see clearly here in scripture, and so my hope today is that if you’re feeling tired, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, if you’re feeling depressed, if you’re feeling confusion and not knowing what to do, I really feel like today is for you. We have been in 1 Kings and chapter 19 specifically here for several weeks, and this is Elijah that we’re talking about. King Ahab and Jezebel and Elijah very main characters known to those who love the Old Testament, and if you’ve got something to write with I’m going to be giving you, let me count them one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, seven things that I see here in Scripture that I believe can help us in this season if you’re dealing with any of these kinds of feelings, emotions and overwhelm, and possibly depression.

03:15
If we start with some backstory here, elijah has, just over a three-and-a-half year period, been standing strong for the Lord and running for his life, surviving a famine. He went from having to rely on the Lord for himself, in that the famine meant he had to go and follow God’s instructions to get to a little riverbed area that he could have something to drink and literally the Lord provided his only means of food during this time was provided by the Lord. So there’s a lot of faith and a lot of uncertainty here during this time, and ravens came and brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening. Then there came a time when that water had just completely dried up and then God’s instruction was now go to the widow at Zarephath, and I’ve instructed her to take care of you there. And this is really, really interesting, because not only is Elijah knee-deep in having to live through the circumstance, having brought forth a very difficult word to the king, running from the king because the king wanted him dead because of this word, because it was true, because he said there’s not going to be famine, I mean, there’s not going to be rain, there’s going to be a famine in the land, and it happened. And so he’s wanting to. He’s holding him responsible. Instead of looking to God and submitting himself, humbling himself, he’s holding this man responsible for simply telling the truth. And boy do we see that in our society today. So much, but in that much. But in that his faith is being prepared during the season, that he doesn’t have anything. He’s waiting on the Lord to feed him and to take care of his basic needs. So he doesn’t have any provision other than the Lord. And then God takes him to an even more difficult situation and now he has to have faith, not only for his own needs but for the needs of this widow and her son. And so this faith has to have been growing for him to be able to extend such confidence to the widow woman, and she believes along with him. Then we see that during this time, god says I’m going to send rain. Go tell Ahab.

05:48
And he confronts the prophets of Baal. He says we’re going to have a contest. You all are not serving God the way you need to be. You are serving these false gods. They aren’t doing anything for you. I go into depth about that in some of our previous episodes, so you may want to go back to that. But a false idol will demand everything from you and provide nothing for you. It will cost you everything and you gain nothing. So they went through this process and he has a challenge put out to them and he says whoever answers by fire, he is God. And the people are just kind of watching this. They have been sheep, very much sheep, and wherever the king of the land, whatever they were doing, that’s kind of what the people were doing. And so the people are not serving God, they’re not doing what they’re supposed to. And when Elijah confronts them, he says if Baal is God, serve him, but if the Lord is God, you need to serve him. And they say nothing, they respond in no way. So they just wait to see who is going to answer by fire. They’re looking like who’s going to win. And not only does God answer by fire, and their God does nothing, though. They have sacrificed themselves. They’re jumping, they’re screaming, they’re hollering all day, they’re cutting themselves and bleeding all over the place, dancing and acting a fool and get zero results from it. But when God answers by fire, not only do the people see and respond the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. And at the same time then Elijah comes after the prophets of Baal and he literally kills them all.

07:31
I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a battle. I have not physically ever been in an actual military battle. My son has, and I remember the exhaustion that he would talk about. And you, you’re so exhausted. He told me the story once of being in a tower. He had to watch. It was his turn to watch and they had not slept for days and their food supply was very, very limited. So they’re not getting protein, they’re not getting help from outside, they are stuck out with no resources and no help and they have enemies surrounding them everywhere. And it’s his turn to watch in the night and trying to stay awake to watch. And he literally said I was so exhausted I actually hoped that they would just shoot me and I would die because of the pain of what the body goes through when you have had no rest. Exhaustion is real. It’s real. And my son wanted to die. He just wanted it to be over.

08:39
And I want us to take a look at what Elijah was dealing with in Scripture to validate you today on what you might be feeling and the thoughts you might be having, that you think I would never think this. And it’s not that your spirit, it’s not that you’re turned away from God, it’s not that you’re not trying to do right. You’re exhausted, you are completely exhausted, and God deals with this exhaustion in a very specific way, because what happens is let’s look at it Chapter 19, verse 1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying so let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as one of the lives of them by tomorrow, about this time, life as one of the lives of them by tomorrow, about this time. So she has just put out a very intense threat that I’m coming after you right now and by this time tomorrow, you will be dead.

09:55
So what does he do? What does Elijah do? And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life. He arose and ran for his life, ran for his life. Now he’s literally running for his life, but I guarantee you there have been seasons in your life I know there have been in mine that were running for our lives. You’re doing all you know to do. You are running at full speed and you were doing it, trying to get everything accomplished, to take care of every need, to fulfill whatever promise and purpose and things that you have been assigned to, and he ran for his life and he went to Beersheba. Now he had been in what was the city he was in? He was in Samaria when he challenged the prophets of Baal. He runs to Beersheba. I looked this up he ran.

10:58
Now we already know he’s a runner. He outran the chariots. God had had him already. I mean, you have to see the exhaustion of what he’s been through, because he had already told Ahab that there’s going to be rain and I hear the sound of the abundance of rain and it’s going to come so fast and hard You’re going to have to hurry up and get in your chariot and run back to town. And so he does, and he does what Elijah tells him. But then Elijah literally has to worry about the same thing. I’ve got to outrun the storm and he doesn’t have a chariot. He literally beat the chariot into town. He outran the chariot.

11:35
Okay, so he’s a runner, he’s running for his life. He’s just demolished all of these was it 300 or 400 prophets of Baal? I mean, he has been. His physical body cannot possibly exert anymore. That distance is 120 miles. 120 miles that he ran, and he did so in six days. So not only was he already at his limit. He runs for six days, six days, afraid he’s going to die, that Jezebel is going to get him. And he runs and went to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and he left his servant there. So basically he’s thinking if I’m leaving my servant here, I’m done, I’m just done, I’m not going to need a servant anymore, I quit, it’s over, I can’t do this anymore, I’m exhausted. That’s after six days.

12:36
Drops off his servant, leaves him there Verse four but he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. He went into the wilderness and sat under a tree, went another day’s journey and just collapsed in the wilderness under a tree and he prayed that he might die and said it is enough. Now, lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father’s. Like his fathers are dead, they’re done. He’s saying I’m no better, take me, I’m finished, I just can’t do this. I’m no, I can’t keep it up. You, I just need you to take my life now, please. I mean, the beauty is he understood the sanctity of life and he don’t. He doesn’t dare take his home life, but he’s begging God to take his life Verse five.

13:37
Then, as he lay and slept under a broom tree. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him Arise and eat. Then he looked and there, by his head, was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and laid down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank, and ate and drank. And he went in the strength of that food, for 40 days and 40 nights as far as Horeb, the Mount of God. Now, in case you’re not familiar with the name Horeb, it is Mount Sinai. That’s where Moses went to meet with God, the mount of God. This journey, the 40 days that he went, was 260 miles On foot. He went 260 miles and went without any more food or water. He went in the strength of what the angel gave him 40 days and 40 nights to come to the mountain of God.

15:08
Why is he going to the mountain of God? Because he’s desperate to hear from God. He’s just God, you didn’t take my life. I’m desperate, I need to hear from you, I need help from you. And he goes to the mountain of God, verse 9,. Zealous for the Lord, god of hosts for the children of Israel, have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life. You can hear his desperation. He feels like God, I’ve done everything I can for you. I’ve given my life for you. I’ve been so zealous, I’m so exhausted. I’ve done so much for you and I’m the only one doing it. There’s nobody else helping me. I am totally alone.

16:07
Then he said go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by. Doesn’t this sound like Moses, very familiar? The cleft of the rock and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces, before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after a fire, a still small voice. So it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And that word cave there. Some scholars say that they chose that word cave, but it could actually also be cleft, and it is possible that he was in the exact spot that Moses was when he went into the cleft of the rock and the Lord passed by.

17:16
What are you doing here, elijah? And he said I have been very zealous for the Lord, god of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant. They’ve torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life. He’s in repeat, going crazy. Gas prices are soaring, there’s wars and rumors of wars. We’ve got everything hitting us all at once, with interest rates rising. You need to know what to do, and so many times we think we need the money, but you don’t need money. I’m telling you, the answer is you need God, and that’s exactly what we want to teach you through this book. We’ll give you practical ways to know what to do and how to do it, so that you get answers now. You can find my book on Amazon. You can also go to jaimeluce.com. You can also find this book at youdontneedmoneyyoujustneedgodcom. This book is available today.

18:33
Verse 15,. Then the Lord said to him Go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also, you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king over Israel, and Elisha, the son of Shavuot of Abel Mahola, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. So he departed from there and found Elisha. I’m not going to finish that, but you needed to know that he immediately obeyed. Okay.

19:31
So I’m going to take this and I want you to go with me, and we’re going to look at each thing that took place during this passage to see how God dealt with Elijah’s exhaustion and his depression. His desires were messed up, his thoughts were a failure. The reason I say they were a failure is because here he had gone and repaired the altar, he had destroyed the prophets of Baal, and we can probably assume that by doing that, especially hearing the people say the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. That he I mean. His desire was that the king would submit his life and then righteously lead the people of Israel. But instead what happened was Jezebel threatens his life. So he now feels like I’ve done all this and I’m a failure and nobody seeks you. He doesn’t even see the result of his own efforts, because he had rebuilt the altar and he’s saying they’ve torn down your altars. He’s stuck on how they’ve been living. He’s stuck on what they’ve been doing and he’s not seeing the full impact yet of what he’s done To him. It’s just the work he’s done and he’s done it alone and he feels alone and he thinks there is no one serving God. He thinks that all the prophets have been killed, which they haven’t. We learned earlier that Obadiah had hid 50 of the prophets from Jezebel when she was killing prophets. They were killing the prophets, but she didn’t kill them all. So he’s not alone.

21:15
He’s got wrong thinking. He’s in a negative downward spiral. He’s in this repeat mode. I wish I could give you the technical terms. I’ve done some research on this, but I know that the brain, when you are in a fight or flight mode and you are thinking negative thoughts, if you aren’t able to do a reset in your thinking and reset your nervous system back to a place of feeling safe, then your brain goes into this continual cycle. It’s an endless cycle and you can’t get off the merry-go-round of the thoughts you’ve been having.

21:56
And we can see what’s been running in his hand. He repeats it over and over again I’ve done all I can do. He tells the Lord, I’m zealous for you. The people are not doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I’m all alone. No one’s serving you. I mean, he’s going through this rabbit trail in his mind over and over and over again. It’s called rumination, and he’s ruminating. He’s stuck on these thoughts. He can’t break it, and so something needs to change for him. God has to get his thought life right. God has to realign things for him physically, get him back into a safe place and get him back on mission.

22:32
So here we see in verse let’s start with verse five right after, right before five, of course, he’s saying it’s enough. Now, lord, take my life. He wants to die, he’s exhausted, he’s collapsed under a tree. Then, as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him. Okay, so the first thing that we see that was necessary is rest. You don’t have God coming, sending an angel saying Elijah, get up. Why are you doing this, you shouldn’t be tired. I’m the one who strengthened you. I supernaturally gave you the power to outrun the chariots. I’m the one who’s gone before you. I’m the one who answered by fire. God wasn’t coming to condemn Elijah. He understood Elijah’s current condition and he says you just need to sleep, just sleep. Now the angel has touched him. Okay, sitting under the broom tree. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him arise and eat.

23:42
So there are three of the seven things here that I want you to see, the first being sometimes rest is absolutely necessary. I heard a preacher once talk about this and he said sometimes you need a bed and breakfast by the sea. And this is basically what he’s saying to poor Elijah you need to sleep, you need some food, you need some water. You know he’s giving him three things. He is touched, so he needs rest, and he is touched. He’s touched by an angel. We know Jesus. When he was ministering well, not ministering when he was suffering in the garden ministering, angels came and touched him to minister strength to him. I really believe that that’s what’s happening here. He touched him not just to wake him up, but to receive touch.

24:46
And so many times we isolate. What did Elijah do? He ran to be as isolated. He didn’t take his servant with him. He felt like he was finished. He was completely alone, felt alone. Take his servant with him. He felt like he was finished. He was completely alone, felt alone, felt the loneliness and in that place of feeling like a failure and not accomplishing what he wanted to accomplish and feeling like he’s done all he knows to do and there’s nothing left he can do. That loneliness so many times. We have to understand. We should not isolate. We need to find those of faith who can touch us.

25:23
Do you know our human bodies actually need touch? We respond to touch. Do you know that a baby, a little infant, when they’re crying one way that the um, that scientists or doctors in this field say that you can if a child is just you know, crying out of control many times they tell you have them lay on their back and you start by taking your hand and placing it on their head, like cupping their head, and then, after you hold it there for a moment, cupping their head, then you move the hand down to their lower pelvic region and the belly I’m sorry, the chest. Then you do the chest. You hold your hand cupped on the chest, then you move to the pelvic area and you just lay your hand and rest cupped and then, when you’re doing that, you go back to their head, you’re just. That touch is calming the nervous system and telling it you’re safe and you can reset. You don’t have to be out of control, you don’t have to be in fear, because an infant doesn’t have the brain connections yet to understand what’s going on. All they know is their senses, and those senses produce feelings that they cannot control. So they need help, they need to be touched, and it’s that way so many times, when we are beside ourselves, so to speak, we’ve come to the end of ourselves. We are so frazzled, our nerves are shot. We aren’t kidding when we say they got on our last nerve. You don’t have any nerves left. We get into what we call our I think it’s called the parasympathetic nervous system. We have to calm our nervous system and so many times it’s touch. And you need to be around those who can bring calm, who can just sit with you, maybe a hand on your hand, maybe a hand on a shoulder, maybe touching you, laying hands on you to pray for you. Don’t isolate. Let’s take what we see here in scripture. And let’s do these things. Let’s understand you’re not failing by needing rest and if you need to make changes to your schedule to rest, you need to do that. You need to understand and see what’s going on in your life and the symptoms of what’s happening, and you need to rest. You need to have touch. You need nourishment. You actually need to eat and drink things that will nourish the cells of your body. This isn’t when you’re pounding down lots of sugar. That’s going to really throw your system out of whack. You don’t need to be drinking energy drinks to keep you going. You don’t the stuff that’s bad for you. You need to rest and you need actual nourishment. You need touch. This is so important. Not only did they do this. Let’s read on.

28:24
Then he lay and slept under a broom tree. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him arise and eat. The only thing he wanted him to wake up to do was to eat, just eat. Don’t put anything else on the agenda, just nourish yourself, just eat. Verse 6. Then he looked and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and he laid down again Went right back to laying down Just rest, just rest.

28:59
And the angel of the Lord came the second time and touched him. We see the exact same thing. He touched him and he said Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. So there’s two things happening there. He’s giving him a time of rest, a time of being ministered to, a time of nourishment.

29:20
Then he says you need to know, elijah, your job isn’t done. You’re not dying here in the wilderness. God’s not finished with you yet. There is still purpose for your life. You didn’t fail. We have more for you to do, but you need strength. So that’s why this rest, that’s why this nourishment, that’s why this touch. And so in that you can know for yourself this isn’t the end. It doesn’t end this way. It’s not always going to be this way. There is still future in front of you. There is still purpose in front of you. God has a plan and you’re involved in that plan. It takes cooperation with God, it takes still leaning on him, it takes still doing what he needs to do. But Elijah at this point just knows okay, there’s something ahead. And God is making sure that the angel tells him. You need rest, you need nourishment, you need touch. Okay, let’s move on. What does he need?

30:31
So he arose and ate and drank, and he went, in the strength of that food, 40 days and 40 nights, as far as Horeb, the mountain of God, and there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him. Okay, what’s the next thing? That we need Time. We need time, time in God’s presence. Where did Elijah go? To the mountain of God After you have rested, after you have received nourishment, and just let your physical body. We are human too, though we are spirit. We live in a human body and sometimes you need to just let everything else go for a little bit and truly take care of the body.

31:20
Once he was strengthened, then he knew I’ve got to hear from God, I need to be in God’s presence. So where does he go? The mountain of God For you, that might be your quiet place with the Lord. It might be in the sanctuary, it might be getting away literally to a place to be alone with God. Whatever that means for you, you need to understand that gaining your strength doesn’t mean you run back at it. First, you need time with the Lord. You need time with the Lord.

31:52
So he goes, he spends time with the Lord and what did we see that twice God asks him what are you doing here, elijah? He’s wanting Elijah to understand the reason he’s ended up in this place. He’s asking him a question, not because he doesn’t know, but because Elijah doesn’t know, and God wants to help Elijah to see the truth. And so in this, he asks him this question twice. He makes sure that he stays in his presence long enough that he recognizes okay, god, you’re not in the thunder or whatever was the first thing. What was the first thing? Great wind, you’re not in the wind. It wasn’t in the first thing. Great wind, you’re not in the wind. It wasn’t in the crazy noise of the wind.

32:38
Hearing God wasn’t in all the chaos of that, it wasn’t in an earthquake and in an earth-shaking manner. You’re not hearing God in that some. He’s not coming thundering at you, talking to you. You’re in his presence and he wasn’t in the fire. He came by fire to demonstrate to the people, but now to him personally, intimately, he’s not in the fire. Where is he? He’s in the still small voice. You hear him when you hide away in the cleft of the rock to hear the Lord’s voice speak to your soul. To hear the Lord’s voice speak to your soul. That might come through reading his word and meditating on it and asking the Lord questions and waiting for him to give answers to those questions, to guide your thoughts, to help renew your mind. So what does he do? He talks it out with the Lord. I love the old little hymn have a Little Talk with Jesus. We’re going to tell him all about our troubles. He will hear our faintest cry and he will answer by and by. That’s what he did.

33:47
Elijah had a little talk with Jesus and he talked it out. He complained, he got it out, he said what was bothering him and he let the Lord answer him about it. So many times we come running to the Lord and we are complaining and doing all of our—we’re upset and we want to get it all out, and we should. He wants us to come cry to him and tell him what’s going on, tell him what we’re feeling, tell him what we’re afraid of, tell him what we’re dealing with. But we have to get quiet in his presence, get in the cleft of the rock so that we can hear his response, so we can hear his instruction, so we can hear what we should be thinking, what we should be, how we should be seeing this, that we get a right perspective. Okay.

34:36
So in this, the four things, the last four things that we see happen here are time in God’s presence. He talks it out with the Lord, the Lord corrects Elijah’s thoughts and renews his mind and I’m going to show you that just one second and then he reestablishes his purpose and his mission is restored. Okay, so let’s read that again, verse 15,. Then the Lord said to him Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also, you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king over Israel, and Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel-Meholah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. So here we see that God says I still have things for you to do. There is still a journey you need to take. There are people you need to meet. You need to anoint them for my purpose. There is still time ahead of you. Your time isn’t right now. I have more for you. He reestablishes his purpose and here he corrects his thinking. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, elisha will kill.

36:00
Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. He’s saying you’re not alone, elijah. I know you feel like you’re alone. You’re not alone. I have 7,000. And that number, 7,000 isn’t that? He had exactly 7,000. That represents the perfect number and complete number of God times 1,000.

36:27
I still have a lot out there. There’s a lot of people out there who still haven’t bowed to the bales, who are serving me and waiting on me and living according to my ways and listening to my instructions and doing things the way I’ve told them to, so they could have a blessed life. They’re still out there, elijah. They haven’t kissed Baal. They aren’t toying around with what God calls adultery and serving other false gods. They love me, they’re serving me, they’re going hard after me.

36:56
Elijah, you’re not alone and there is still purpose ahead of you, and I want to say this to you today there is still purpose for your life. God has new purpose, new things these were new things, new instructions. He has new things. You haven’t failed. Let’s go. Let’s get up in the strength that God gives us.

37:20
Once we’ve rested, let’s make sure we’re amongst believers who can touch us. Let’s feed ourselves both naturally in our physical body, but let’s also nourish ourselves spiritually. Make sure that you’re eating a nourishing diet that feeds your soul. Get alone with the Lord, spend time with him and don’t do anything until you hear his voice. Make sure you know you’re not just listening to the clamor of all the noise around you, that you wait for the still small voice and he will lead you. He will be specific. He will tell you the people that you need to minister with and two he will show you the things he has for you and you will finish once you have completed all that God has for you. And Elijah goes up when he is done, when his time is over, he goes up in a fiery chariot, a whirlwind of God. He doesn’t die the way most men die. He’s carried up to heaven. What a success story. He wasn’t a failure, and neither are you. God has so much more for you.

38:32
Let’s take instruction from the Word of God. Even if you’re feeling depressed, even if you feel like you are completely on the brink of complete burnout, you just want to quit, you want to die. You want to be done. Let’s let the Lord lead you to a place of healing and restoration with new marching orders, full of strength. He had received the strength he needed. Full of strength, he had received the strength he needed. Full of strength, not until then, but when he did, he went in that strength.

39:05
Let me pray for you, father. I just thank you for your word. What would we do without your mighty word? Your word is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Father, you know how to divide between our thoughts and intentions, the way that you go into our heart. Father, you know how to speak to us like nobody else. You wonderfully and beautifully created each one of us. You said we were fearfully and wonderfully made.

39:39
Lord, I pray right now for each person who is experiencing, whether it’s depression or exhaustion and burnout, father, that you would touch them. Send an angel, father, to touch them. Show them how to rest, how to be nourished. Send help, lord, let them make the decisions they need to make to pull away and to stop and rest. May they be obedient and taking care of themselves in a way that glorifies your name. That they are able to finish their race well and with strength. Father, I thank you that you have purpose for them, that you will give them your thoughts and not their thoughts, that you will renew their minds, that you will correct the thinking that might be taking them off course, god, that you will do what no man can do in them and for them, and you are calling them to new things. New things, god, new purpose. So, father, we give you all the glory and all the praise for what you’re doing, what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it, and it’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen, amen. I hope that this was an encouragement to you. Think about this, as we are going into this holiday season and a new year coming up on us, that we can start new, renewed, refreshed and able to do what God’s calling us to do.

41:09
I’d love to hear from you. If you either have prayer requests or praise reports. You can send them by email at mail at jaimeluce.com, and you can visit me at my website that’s jaimeluce.com as well. It was my privilege to be with you today. I hope that you will share this with someone who needs the encouragement. If you don’t yet, or haven’t yet, got subscribed to this channel, that would be great. Do that. That way, you get notified when a new episode comes out. It helps us with our algorithms as well. If you’ll give us a thumbs up at this, minister. To you Again, it was my pleasure to be with you today. I hope that this was an encouragement. We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.