Word of God at IFCC on June 15 – 2024
Faith that stands climate change
It’s always a great privilege to share God’s word with the people of God because while digging into the Bible and praying to know what spiritual food the people of God need, we receive ourselves great blessings in the process and also grow.
The Lord has put into my heart to share today a word in the passage of 1 King 17: 17-24. This is a very famous passage in the scripture but as we go through it today, please open your heart to hear what God wants to say, for I am only a messenger standing here today.
I will read in the scriptures from the New International Version
1 King 17: 17 – 24
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing.18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”
22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”
Elijah was a servant of God and this story has happenned at a time when the land was going through trouble times.
A word on the context of this story:
There was a king in Israel named a Achab. He inherited the Kingdom from his father, who was an army man. The father of Achab got power through election. This was the first time in the kingdom of Israel when a king came to power through a democratic process. Chosen by the majority of people and not by God or by inheritance. The father of Achab ruled for 12 years, then Achab became king.
While Achab was the son of a man chosen by the people, it is said of him that his ways were not right before God. It was this king Achab who married Jezebel, a wicked woman who turned his heart even further away from God.
So in those days Elijah rose as a servant of the living God. He spoke to king Achab and said: “there won’t be rain in the land these years except at my command”. And it came to pass that it stopped raining in the land. Now without rain there was hunger in the land, as lack of water affected crops production.
The whole land was under a prophetically created climate change and no one, not even prophet Elija was spared from the devastating effects of lack of rain. In fact the prophet stayed hidden for many years near a stream and after sometimes even that stream got dry.
Then God led Elija to the house of a widow where he stayed. There God would supply food for that family in a miracle way. As long as prophet Elijah was in this house of that family, there was always sufficient provision for them to live.
The God of the Widows and the Orphans
Now the young boy got sick, very sick and the widow got upset at Elijah and asked whether he came in that house to remind her sins and make the son die. This lady saw a direct relationship between her sins and the death of her son.
How come God provided all these months for food and never saw her sins, and now all of the sudden God would see her sins and punish her son with a deadly disease ? I want you to notice that the same God who provided for the 3 people could have also provided for Elijah alone where he was before. But God chose to send Elija in that specific area because he wanted to cover the needs of not just Elijah alone, but also the needs of the widow and her son.
God is not just the God of the prophets or those who serve Him, He takes care of the needs of the widows and the orphans. God is the God of those in despair. God is the God of those who nobody see, those that are left aside, those whom nobody dares to notice or to love, to them God shows love and mercy.
Faith to come to God in every circumstances
But the widow had forgotten the mercies which God has shown. It took only one thing to make her forget of the goodness God has been showing all these days. She accused the prophet of bringing the memory of her sins. The point here is that guilt can cause us forget the goodness of God and guilt can cause us loose sight of God’s purpose and direction. Be careful when guilt moves you away from seeking God’s will. A broken heart that repents before God is not the same thing as a guilty mind which runs away from God. The purpose of God has never been to create guilt in people so that they would run away from Him.
And Elijah was a man of the same nature as this woman. He was not a superman. Had he been a superman, he could have had a palace on his own with fountains and servants. But he lived under the same roof, under the same condition as this woman. That man, under the same condition came to God and prayed and the young man came back to life. This shows us that our present condition shall never stop us from coming to God.
The first Adam was the one who would try to hide from God because he sinned. After he ate of the forbidden fruit he tried to hide himself away from God’s sight. But the second Adam, Jesus Christ of Nazareth while carrying on him the sins of the entire world spoke to God and said “ABBA forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing”. The second Adam came to God, spoke to God, despite carrying on him the sins of the entire world. We should always be able to come to God. Always ! No matter what our condition is. Whether in good or bad times, whether we feel it or not, let’s do like Jesus and always cry “ABBA, Father”.
Faith to develop a personal relationship with God
The second point I want to say here is that this woman lived under the same roof with somebody of a great destiny. Elijah had a calling and a mission that involved the House of the king and the entire land. And you will remember that he’s one of the only persons in the Old Testament who never died because God took him alive in heaven. You will also recall that Elijah appeared to Jesus when he was praying at the mount of transfiguration. So this is a man with the power to shut down heavens so it won’t rain, having a mission that transcends time and space, but living in a very simple and humble condition.
The point is that one can live under the same roof with a prophet of God yet not being personally at peace with God. One can have friends who are saved, walk with men of God everyday yet remain lost and not knowing God’s mercy or plan for salvation of the world. Be not just a friend of good people, but make sure that yourself you are born again, renewed in your spirit and mind. Make sure here and now, that you are in that position of peace with God. It is written whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Can you start calling upon His name today ?
Faith to impact those surrounding us with God’s life
I will finish by saying some words about the desperate situation in which this widow in the Bible was. She had no health insurance to cover such situation, she had no money and the son was sick at a time when the entire land was going through difficult times. The only source of provision which she had was the word of a prophet for something which was very uncertain.
There are times where our faith would be tested. It is very interesting to read her last words “now I know you are a man of God”. Had she not known it all this time ? What feature had this miracle that makes it so different from the other miracles ? This lady surely had a point : It is one thing to multiply food and earthly things, it is something else to give back life. The miracle of creating wealth and prosperity is something, but the miracle of imparting life is something else. Providing food and care for our families is surely a great thing, and whoever does not do that is not doing the will of God. But imparting the life of Christ to those surrounding us is a greater deal. Let’s keep praying that our ministry is something that can restore lifes back, provide genuine hope for the broken, and impart Gods life to those surrounding us.
May God bless you !
Brother Pierre