Two Elijahs and which one are you

Two Elijahs, which one are you?

 

Elijah is one of the most well known prophets in the Bible.  But have you realized that Elijah seemed to have a split personality.  One moment he would be brave and fearless, the next moment he is running and hiding for his life.

The brave and fearless Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal in what a friend of mine refers to as the God test.  The Baal prophets built their altar and laid the sacrifice on it with Elijah taunting them that maybe their god was on a journey, or was he asleep, cry louder and maybe he will hear you.

Then came Elijah’s time, he had a trench dug around his altar and water poured on the sacrifice until the trench was full and overflowing.  The he prayed to his God (my God also) to send fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice.  God answered Elijah’s prayer and consumed the sacrifice.  Elijah the commanded that the prophets of Baal be slain. 

Next Elijah and his servant climbed to the mountaintop where Elijah began to pray for rain.  Seven times he sent his servant out to look for signs of rain praying between each time.  On the seventh time his servant came back and said there was a cloud about the size of a man’s hand.  Elijah said lets get down off the mountaintop.  Elijah told Ahab on the way down to flee for there was an abundance of rain coming.  This was the brave and fearless Elijah.

 

But when Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, heard of the Baal prophets being slain she stated she would not rest until Elijah was dead.  Elijah heard of this and fled for his life taking refuge in a cave where he complained that he was the only one left serving God.   God began to speak to him.  1^st Wind, 2^nd earthquake, 3^rd fire and last a still small voice is when God finally spoke to him and told him  to leave the cave and anoint another person as King.

 

So many times I have been the second Elijah fleeing and hiding from the enemy, moaning as if I am the only one left serving God, instead of confronting the enemy.  God has always come through for me and just as with Elijah my path may have been changed and my goals reset to match what God had in store for me.  Let’s all listen to the still small voice and go forth with the confidence of the first Elijah that God will answer prayers and His work will be done with His name glorified.

Miracles in my life

Miracles in my life

You now a lot of times we are looking for the big miracles, the walking on water  or floating in the air type of miracle that we overlook the real miracles and protection that God places in our lives.

Our daughter was to begin working on her advanced degree at the University of Georgia in
Athens, We borrowed our neighbors trailer and drove it around town to pick up some furnishings before loading the trailer for the trip to Athens.  I looked at the tires on the trailer with misgivings and prayed for God to look after us, keep us safe and let the tires hold up for the trip.

We got the trailer loaded and started out early in the morning from Albany for the 200 mile trip to Athens.  I stopped and checked the air pressure in the trailer tires and said another prayer for the tires to last.  We continued on to Athens and made it fine.

The next morning, after unloading the trailer, I left it attached and went to return a TV to Walmart .  As I left the apartment complex I hit a speed bump a little too fast and hard.  No the tire(s) did not blow out but the trailer came off the hitch.  I dragged the trailer using the safety chains to a level spot and hooked the trailer up correctly, double checking everything this time.  The only damage was a small scrape to the pickup bumper and cut trailer wiring.

I took the TV back and bought replacement wiring for the trailer and thanked God many times for the miracle that the trailer did not come loose during the trip especially going up the interstate at 75 mph and for the miracle of it happening when I could control it in  without any damage.

Another miracle (be careful what you ask God for).  I always said I wanted about a 2-3 month paid vacation.  When the company I worked for went through another downsizing and I was one of the ones chosen to be offered a retirement package.  I was out of work for 4 and half months while drawing my severance package before I finally started to work at another company.

There are many more miracles and answered prayers in my life that I could mention (God did not usually answer in the way that I wanted but He did answer)

So look for the amazing occurrences in your life and you will realize that miracles do happen.

Is your church a cult

A lot of churches are almost ‘cultish’ in that the majority of their social interaction is only with other church members.  Some even go as far as saying interaction with the people outside the church is wrong. This to me is against the teaching of Jesus when he stated the great commission:

 “Matthew 28: 18-20 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always(s), even unto the end of the world. Amen”.

He distinctly tells us all to go and teach all nations (people) and since people within the specific church should already know about Jesus they should be going also not just interacting with others in the church.Another instance of this is the Sermon on the Mount, it was given to various people who were sitting on the ground, not in a tabernacle listening to Jesus talk.  These people were not ‘church’ people, but came from all walks of life to hear our Savior speak.  All in one mind and accord and that to hear what Jesus had to say.

Our day to day lives are our testimony not the words we say or the acts we do in church on Sunday or Saturday if your denomination is one that observes Saturday as the Sabbath.  Our lives should be a testament for Jesus and we should not need a button on our lapel to indicate that we are a Christian, the presence of Jesus in our lives should be readily felt by anyone we come in contact with.

If we do not associate with non-church people and show them God;s love or our lives are not a Christian witness on a daily basis, then people will not trust us enough to believe what we tell them about Jesus and we are not performing the great commission

Are you like Christ?

Are you like Christ?   Are your views and beliefs different than the majority of people in modern Christianity?  Are you continuously at odds with others concerning what it means to be a christian?

You are in good company

The apostle Paul was killed because of his beliefs and willingness to share them.  He did not fit into the church or temple leadership of his day.  But the greatest example of a misfit in Christianity was Jesus himself.  He continuously confronted the religious leaders of his day concerning their actions.  The majority of his sermons, miracles and recorded history of his life was outside the religious infrastructure of his day. There is even an instance when he drove people out of the temple and said they had made it a den of thieves, buying and  selling in the temple.

So if you love God and are serving Him, and keeping the two great commandments (Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength  - and love your brother as yourself) you may not fit in with most people's definition of modern Christianity and religious organizations but you are a true christian.

Religion protects itself

Do you ever notice that the ones with the most to lose are the strongest defenders of the current system.  This is especially true in religion and churches today just as it was in Jesus's time.  The pharisees and rulers were afraid of losing the following of the people to this new upstart and also they would lose control.  Look at the churches today and see if the majority of them are not structured to protect the current leadership and way of thinking.  Jesus gave very few commandments - Love the Lord with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength , and to love thy neighbor as thyself.  Jesus stated and I agree that all other commandments hinge upon these two.  If we obey these two commandments we will obey the others.  Just saying.

May God bless you as you go about His work