I was talking to a pastor friend the other day. He was telling me about a recent message he preached that really had an emotional affect on him. I made the comment that sometimes we as preachers are preaching to ourselves and we may not even realize we are doing so.
I had one of those messages recently and several days later Elaine told me that the message I had preached was for me. Of course, as always the wise woman that she is, said it and it was true.
I had preached on Elijah and how he had experienced God’s hand in his life. God was using him in a very important way. In the message I made these points-
The message was entitled Desperate Situation and I noted there are 2 things that cause a Desperate Situation?
-Taking our eyes off of God
-Allowing fear to overtake our life
Warren Weirsbe said this about Elijah:
“Elijah was a man just like us, he was not perfect. He was righteous…that is, obedient to the Lord and he trusted God. God’s promises of answered prayer are for all His children, not just ones we may call the spiritual elite.”
“Too many times we fail to get what God promises because we stop praying. Elijah was determined and concerned in his praying.”
Go to 1 Kings 17 and read about Elijah and you will see some interesting things about what God had done through him and the successes he had. You might say when things are going good put yourself in Elijah’s shoes-
-feel pretty good?
-sense that you are right where God wants you to be?
-certain that you are doing all that God has required of you?
-obedient in all things?
Let me tell you that I was there recently. I have been dealing with a medical issue and all was going well. As a matter of fact, I was on top of the world. Praising God and excited that things were going to get back to normal right on the schedule the doctor had given me.
Then I went in for a followup. Because of what they had found earlier, there was another issue that they now saw. In and of itself, no big deal. For me it was a really big deal. It took a day or so of study and prayer to recognize again that God had and was working in my life. No reason to take my eyes off of Him or allow fear to overtake my life. That was the always wise advice of Elaine.
It may seem amazing to you, as I know it does to me, that we can be right in the middle of God working in our lives. Then something happens and what do we see a moment ago? There are 2 things that cause a Desperate Situation?
-Taking our eyes off of God
-Allowing fear to overtake our life
We all went and certainly have those times when we-
-feel pretty good
-sense that you are right where God wants you to be
-certain that you are doing all that God has required of you
-obedient in all things
Then that desperate situation arrives and we have to keep our eyes on God and not allow fear to overtake our lives.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again right now, God’s got this!
In God’s Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy
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