My Epic Journey

I was reading 1 Kings 17 this morning as was struck by the story of Elijah and his interaction with a widowed woman and her son.  Perhaps if you grew up in going to church you would be familiar with this story as it surely taught in your Sunday School class, but for those that are unfamiliar with it, here are some bullet point highlights to give you some background:

• God told Elijah it would rain or dew until He (God) said it would.
• God sent Elijah to the home of widow and her son to be fed and taken care
• The woman had a little flour and some oil in a jar.
• Her plan–make one last meal for her and her son and then die.
• Elijah told her to take care of his needs first.
• The widow and her son never saw the bottom of the jar.

Here is what struck me about this story:

1.  God RADICAL provision.  The use of a widow to provide for Elijah would be tough in good times and yet God chose to use this woman during incredibly HARD times.  TRUTH:  God’s plans are not always OUR plans.  When times are tough (and they are) God will often stretch us to bless us!!!

2.  The AUDACITY of Elijah.  What?????????  How could someone tell a woman who has nothing and is planning on dying to take care of HIS needs first???  ANSWER:  Someone who knew the plan of God and had FAITH that God was going to carry it out!  TRUTH:  Sometimes we must be bold when not only stretching our faith but the faith of others.  We must also be careful though to make sure it is the WORD of God that is telling us so and not our own thoughts and wants!

3.  The PROMISE of God.  God kept His Word by not allowing the bottle to go empty which kept their stomachs from going empty as well.  TRUTH:  When we are FAITHFUL to follow the plan of God, He will be FAITHFUL to follow it through!!!!

As you celebrate the New Year with fanfare AND fear of what lies ahead, rest in the promises of God.

“11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  –Jeremiah 29.11-13.

I am teaching in "big church" and kicking off a team teaching series from the Narnia movie, Prince Caspian.  As a church, we have rented out a theater for opening night (May 16th).  Terry, our senior pastor, and I are taking two weeks to pull from the movie applications to the Christian life.

This week I am kicking it off with, "finding our way home," and am using the story of the prodigal son as my base.  It is interesting to me that the four sibling in Narnia don’t realize where they are at when they head back to Narnia.  It takes them some exploring and experimenting before they realize that this was once home for them.

I think this is true of us spiritually as well.  We often, as the angel pointed out to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, that we "have left our first love."  Like the prodigal son in Luke 15, we have been lured away by the world and have forgotten the joy and fascination of being at HOME with God.

My points this weekend on helping us get back home are:

1.  admit we are not where we need to be (v.17)

2.  recognize what has pulled us away (vs. 18-19)

3.  give up what ever is hindering us from going home (v. 19)

4.  begin the journey back home (v. 20)

I would love to get any suggestions and thought from you.  please comment them back to me.