It's Okay to be Overwhelm...1 KINGS 18:46
It seems that I'm always in a state of being overwhelmed, from March 13, 2020 to April 29, 2020, I had Covid-19 along with struggling with my MS issues and falling behind with financial issue, my anxiety meter is going through the roof. So when the Lord gripped me with the verse in 1 KINGS 18:46 in the AMP version, Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah [giving him supernatural strength]. He girded up his loins and outran Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel [nearly twenty miles]. I saw a supernatural power that the Lord could only supply in use when everything seems to fall apart. Here I am reminded that the apostle Paul also says in Phil 3:14 that we should throw off all weights and measures and anything that may hinder us from running full force toward the prize of what God established for us.
Along with the supernatural strength that he needed to outrun the chariot of Ahab, God gave Elijah more than just natural strength. Elijah received strength of body, as well as courage and fortitude of mind. God gave his mind the endurance, grit, stamina, determination and resilience he would need for the 20 mile journey to Jezreel.
In this story, there was a three-and-a-half-year drought in Israel. If it did not rain soon the people would perish. God was ready to pour out a blessing upon the land and Elijah prayed for rain to come. As he sat praying on the mountaintop, Elijah looked out to see if his cry was being answered but there was no evidence of a response from God. Like Elijah, we must continue in earnest prayer and not faint or give over to doubt and unbelief.
Elijah’s commitment to prayer for rain, was a call upon God to show up and show out. Elijah’s prayer was for something greater than himself that would bless the world around him.
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We often cannot hear the Lord because, just as with Peter and the others, we are still leaning on our own strength and understanding. It is similar to the time when Jesus told Peter, "Where I am going, you cannot follow Me." What was Peter's response? "Oh, yes, I will follow You. And if You go to Jerusalem to die, I will go and die with You. These others here may not have the courage to go, but I will not turn back!" (see Matthew 26:33, 35). He was full of himself—full of his own ideas and his own strength.
Yet Jesus was trying to speak to him, saying, "Peter, before the rooster crows, you are going to deny Me three times" (see Matthew 26:34). But Peter could not hear it because he was still relying on his own strength and ideas. He did not understand that where Christ leads, we cannot follow without His strength. So, God had to bring Peter to the end of himself.
He had to bring him to a place where he had nothing left to say. After he denied Jesus three times, all he could do was weep bitterly. All his boasting came to an end, and when it did, he could finally start to hear the voice of the Son of God.
Sometimes we are unwilling to make the break from our past achievements. We want to sit in our office and gaze at all our certificates on the wall. Yet consider how the apostle Paul said, "What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ" (Philippians 3:7). We must be willing to be led away from even good things. Remember, Peter had concluded, "Lord, it is good for us to be here" (Matthew 17:4). Yet what God has for us is even better than what we declare to be good.
That is exactly what happened in Acts chapter two. The disciples were in the Upper Room having a marvelous experience. The Spirit of God filled every one of them, and they were given this explosive ability to communicate with people of other cultures and other languages. They could have just stayed there and spoken in tongues for the next five years.
However, they were led by the voice of God to spiritual need. Just outside, there were thousands of people coming from the temple, making great journeys to get there. Worshiping God in the best way they knew how, they remained deficient and short of redemption through the Son of God. The disciples heard the voice of God leading them out of their wonderful spiritual experience right into a morass of spiritual need. That is how the Church was born, and that is how she was led all the way through the Book of Acts.
- Psalm 94:19 “We never know what we may encounter each day. That is unknown, but we can’t fear the unknown, our anxiety seems to multiply. Why is that? Because we have God. We have God in our hearts. We have something to lean on. So, no matter what issues we encounter, we’re not afraid; we have the Holy Spirit to lean on and we have motivation. When we are back into a corner, being constantly afraid of what might happen. We don’t want to get into a car accident, we don’t want to provoke a lawsuit or a quarrel, we don’t want to offend our boss, colleagues, relatives, or people who are useful to us, we don’t want to run into any disasters…. We get wound up tightly in our hearts, multiplying these thoughts of anxiety every day, fearing that these things might happen. We seem pathetic, helpless, and with nothing to lean on. We’re different. We don’t need to fear those things; God is supreme, He is our Lord, we can lean on Him, He is our Rock. God has already told us the principles of what we should practice when we encounter an issue. We live our lives in the light, in peace. ”
From August till now, I have experienced the worst episodes of my MS ...I wanted the Lord to take me home ..with going in and out of the hospital and rehabilitation nursing home with blood clotting and stroke episodes, l ask the Lord why this dark valley? Luke 4:28-30 honestly made me feel the fury of that crowd, in my current situation, I was ashamed of myself.
What infuriated me was that I built my identity on being God's and suffering like this should not continue like this...I was feeling like in a down fall, my nerves on edge my anxiety off the charts..with circumstances so desperate rock bottom was visible.
In the middle of his despair, Job had a moment of clarity. His faith flickered to life like a candle in a dark room. He said, “[God] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (v. 10). Christians are tried and purified when God uses difficulty to burn away our self-reliance, pride, and earthly wisdom. If it seems as if God is silent during this process and He is not answering our cries for help, He may be giving us an opportunity to grow stronger in our faith. Pain and problems can produce the shining, rock-solid character that comes from trusting God when life is hard.
— Jennifer Benson Schuldt
You are not alone, you never were!. In every beat of my heart, you carry an echo of that courage that held you on difficult days. I embrace you with love and acceptance. Reminding you that you deserved then, and you deserve now