Time with Jesus - 24
Nov 2013
Very often, the Lord challenges us to do what we have
been teaching. It’s not surprising really. You can’t teach what you do not
know. So if you think you have heard something from God, one of the first
things He does, is tell us to “put your money where your mouth is”!
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| Icon Of Elijah St Catherine's Monastry |
Phyllida and I moved from Worcester to Fish Hoek in
1996. We believed that our time in Worcester was over and that the time had
come to move. We had bought a modest house in Sun Valley in 1994 and felt it
timely for us to leave the Methodist Church. We wanted to move on and be part
of what the Lord was doing in the environs of Cape Town. The Vineyard Church in
Cape Town had visited Worcester for a “Crusade”. The Vineyard was one of the
first churches in the Cape Town area to experience the “Toronto Blessing”. Furthermore,
their leader at that time was a very well-known and capable Bible Teacher. We liked
what we saw, heard and experienced and thought the time had come for us get
back into the “Main Stream” of what God was doing. Once in Fish Hoek we found the
Lord had other plans for us. We became part of International Christian Ministries,
now called World Christian Network (WCN); a network with which we both remain
actively involved.
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| Kingdom of Israel - Blue Kingdom of Judah - Gold |
In Fish Hoek, Phyllida became involved with Women Aglow.
In 1998 they invited her to be Chairlady of the Fish Hoek Branch. She agreed,
subject to a special requirement. She wanted to meet with the members of the Fish
Hoek Branch Executive once per week for prayer and Bible Study. The ladies
agreed. However, there was a small problem. What was it the Lord wanted her to “teach”
her executive? There was only one way to find out. She prayed and asked the
Lord what He wanted her to teach. He said she was to teach the ladies, “Hearing
from God”. The problem was she didn’t know what to teach. Thus it was that over
the next several weeks, He took her step by step through her series which we
call “Hearing from God”. The teachings were well received. Since then, it has
been refined and taken to various parts of the country. Where possible we have
asked for 10 evenings for the course. i.e. Two weeks, Monday to Friday with a
break in the middle so that people are able to be “in church” over the intervening
weekend.
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Statue of Elijah in Cave of Elijah |
Having developed the course, the Lord began prompting us
to do something about what we were teaching. This began in October 1998 with the
Scripture in 1st Kings; 9 There
he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to
him, and he said to him, "What are you
doing here, Elijah?" 1 Kings 19:9 ESV
It didn’t take very long to realise that God was asking
me what I was doing in Fish Hoek. How do you answer a question like that from
the Lord? Looking at what happened to Elijah, it soon became clear that God had
a new challenge for Elijah. The meaning of “Elijah” is, “My God is Yahweh”. Now
that corresponded for Phyllida and me. What we then did was explore some of the
background concerning why Elijah was in the cave on Mt Horeb. We quickly found
that after his triumph on Mt Carmel, he had run away from Queen Jezebel, the priestess
of Baal. God had led him to the cave on Mt Horeb. So, why was God asking him
what he was doing there? Elijah’s answer was factual, but sounds more like an
excuse than a real answer. 10 He said,
"I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people
of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your
prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to
take it away." 1 Kings 19:10 ESV
Take time to read the Scripture passage. This is the
place where the Lord speaks to Elijah in a still small voice. Then He repeats His
question to Elijah, "What are you doing here,
Elijah?" Elijah again responds with exactly the same words. This time, the Lord responds with, 15 And the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 1 Kings 19:15 ESV
For Phyllida and me, the words of this instruction took
on a slightly different meaning. At that time I was asked if I would like to go
to Syria to assist the Syrians with the building and commissioning of a power
station between Homs and Hama. We read the words of the Lord to Elijah. The
Lord could not have spoken more clearly. Damascus may not have been in a wilderness.
However, as far two English speaking people in the Middle of Arabic speaking
people is concerned; it was very much a wilderness! Accordingly, in the Middle
of March 1999, we flew from Jo’burg to Damascus via Istanbul. We’d set out on
one of the strangest and loneliest times in our married life.
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| Elijah in the Chariot of Fire |
We were effectively “cut off” from all our Christian
brothers and sisters in South Africa. Sunday was a normal working day. It’s a
Moslem country, so our “day off” was Friday. Strangely enough, we thrived in
this environment. We loved the Moslem people we met. Furthermore, we found we
had to rely upon the Lord for everything “Christian”. It was the best
experience in our lives. When there is no one else to lean on, He is all you
need! Our relationship with Jesus deepened and we were both sorry when it was
time to return to South Africa.
Shalom
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Sunday, 24 November 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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WHAT
DOEST THOU HERE?
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I was born in the town of Reading in March 1942.
World War 2 was in full swing. That’s what I’ve been told. I can’t affirm or
deny it. I don’t remember arriving and asking mom if there were any Nazi’s in
the area. I don’t really remember anything from those dim and distant days. I
do have the odd things buzzing in my head. But whether or not they were from
those days is anyone’s guess. I have heard many tales of what happened back then.
I’ve been told that my mother was a very anxious person. So those days must
have been very traumatic. We lived in Hull for some of those war years. Hull
got a terrible pounding from the Luftwaffe. It would be reasonable to assume
that anxiety and fear must have gone hand in hand with her. She told me that
we were “evacuated” to Strensil, close to Beverley in Yorkshire. From there
she could hear the sound of the bombs falling on Hull. She could also see the
flashes of light from the action taking place in the air as the “ack ack guns”
(artillery designed to shoot upward
at airplanes) were
firing in an attempt to drive the Luftwaffe away. I was only 3 years old when
the war in Europe came to an end. At my age now, who knows what they did or
didn’t do 68 years ago? One thing I can tell you is that many people in the
UK lived with constant fear for their lives. Certainly mom would have experienced
this. This has left me with an anxious personality.
People who are frightened usually run away. Watch TV
or movies about sudden catastrophes and you will see it for yourself. When an
explosion takes place near them, few people pause and wonder what happened.
Mostly they “high tail” it out of there as quickly as possible. “Discretion
is the better part of valour”. So most of us want to be at a discreet
distance from what happened. I’m told that heroism is very often incidental.
Things happen so quickly that the hero or heroine acts instinctively. Don’t
be too surprised by this. Many men and women decorated for an act of
outstanding bravery often say that it happened so quickly they didn’t know
they were being brave!
You would think that our Biblical heroes would be
very different. They are not much different from our average hero today.
Things sort of happened and here they are still! This means that even great
heroes can sometimes falter and make a mess of things. It also has a great
deal to do with knowing whether or not their actions have the backing of God.
Elijah was like this. He had no problem with confronting the Baal priests on
Mt Carmel. He knew God was on his side and he would be victorious in the end.
Then, when it came to praying for rain, he knew that the Lord would answer
his prayer. God had told him this much earlier. In view of this, we may be
tempted to state, one of the greatest miracles of the day, was God empowering
him. He ran in front of Ahab’s chariot from Mt Carmel to Jerusalem. How can a
man run faster than a horse? So here was an exhausted prophet of God being
informed that Jezebel intended to kill him. He freaked out and ran for his
life. God wasn’t quite finished with him. He had to get from the broom tree
in the wilderness to Mt Sinai (Horeb) without food. So what was in the hot
freshly baked bread? Good question. My guess is it was “high performance
manna”. It lasted him 40 days. Then he came to the place where we all have to
get to. The place where God asks us all, “What are you doing here?”
Jim &Phyllida
Strickland
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9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. Then
the LORD spoke his word to Elijah. He asked, "What
are you doing here, Elijah?"
1 Kings 19:9 GW
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Elijah was no coward. But
he had run away,
Frightened by a woman,
who said that she would slay
Elijah for his killing
her false prophets on Carmel.
This infuriated her, this
bad queen Jezebel.
Please do not be angry. We know Elijah won.
But somehow, all his
bravery vanished and was done.
Sometimes men are
frightened, when that which they’ve achieved,
Aggravates a woman who is
feeling very peeved!
She had lost her
prophets; they were dead and gone.
But she was still
determined, that she would carry on.
“I’m going
to kill Elijah!” this wicked woman swore.
“I’m going to keep pursuing him, until he is no
more!”
Elijah didn’t like it.
This great big man of God.
Did something the people
thought was surely rather odd.
He ran into the
wilderness and found a great broom tree.
There he said, “I’ve had
enough, Lord Take my fife from me.
I’m surely little better than my ancestors who’ve died.
Lord please
let me pass away!” is what our hero
cried!
He lay beneath the broom
tree and soon fell fast asleep.
And since he was
exhausted, his slumber was quite deep.
And then an angel touched
him. He’d heard his hungry groans.
There was a jar of water
and baked bread on hot stones.
“Get up and eat!” the angel said. He ate
and drank his fill.
And then he went to sleep
again and carried on until,
Once more the angel
touched him. “Get
up and eat some more!”
There is a lot of travelling. The journey that’s
before
Is going to take you forty days; Mount Sinai’s
your goal.”
There’d be no more
nourishment to feed his hungry soul.
At last he came to Horeb
and a cave in which to rest.
He went inside and spent
the night. Then came Elijah’s test.
The Lord said to Elijah, “What are you
doing here?”
He came with his excuses,
prompted, I think, by fear.
“I have been very zealous and now there’s only
me.
No one else is still alive who wants to worship
Thee!
The people broke Your covenant; Your altars have
been smashed.
And now they want to murder me. Then I too will
be trashed!”
Elijah was mistaken. Some
seven thousand more
Were left who hadn’t
bowed their knees and Yahweh still their adored.
Elijah’s days were
numbered. God told him to anoint,
Elisha to succeed him.
Elijah would appoint,
Elisha as the prophet to
do what God had bid.
And in the course of time
it is precisely what he did.
Jim Strickland
Written 24th November 2012 |
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10 But he knows the way
that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
Job 23:10 TNIV
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For the director of
music. Of David. A psalm. 1 You have
searched me, LORD, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my
thoughts from afar. 3 You
discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Psalms 139:1-3 TNIV
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7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 9
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle
on the far side of the sea, 10 even
there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalms 139:7 & 9-10 TNIV
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17 Elijah was a man with a
nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and
it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
James 5:17 NASB
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25 If you are afraid of
people, it will trap you. But if you trust in the LORD, he will keep you safe.
Proverbs 29:25 NIrV
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24 Even if the man trips,
he won't fall. The LORD'S hand takes good care of him.
Psalms 37:24 NIrV
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16 A righteous person may
fall seven times, but he gets up again. However, in a disaster wicked
people fall.
Proverbs 24:16 GW
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9 So let's not get tired of doing what
is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we
don't give up.
Galatians 6:9 NLT
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41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in
to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the
body is weak!"
Matthew 26:41 NLT
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13 The LORD is like a
father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.
Psalms 103:13 NLT
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