Scripture reading: 1 Kings 19:1-12
Today I want to speak to you a word that pertains to our ability to be focused upon God. Everything around us is designed to distract us, to turn us aside, to get interested in this, to get interested in that. Some people have a hobby and that hobby becomes more important to them than God. Even during meeting times, some people are pursuing their hobbies instead of seeking God. One of the great tools in Satan’s arsenal is distraction. I want to talk to you a little bit about this distraction. When you turn to 1 Kings 19, you will see that this portion of scripture comes just after the great victory that Elijah had over the priests of Baal. But it also reveals that this was a low point in Elijah’s life, when he, after his great victory, was still afraid of Jezebel. It is difficult to understand, but I think that we are able to relate, being as we have some of that problem, too. Many of us feel that we are the only thing that God has here. What a poor God it would be if we were all that God had! The fact that you feel that you are a true Christian, the fact that you feel that you are 100% for God, should indeed be proof to you that there are others like you. What I am saying is that if you believe that you hear God, that in itself should indeed be proof to you that others are hearing God, also.
Of course, we are reading about Elijah, a man who did not know Jesus. Elijah knew God, but he didn’t know Jesus. Isn’t that something? Elijah did not have what we have – the living God moving through and through our being. You know, I sit in a meeting, I hear the singing and I can see God just seeping into us. We open our mouths to sing and the breath of God is breathed into our very beings. Hallelujah. This is proof of God. Hallelujah. So, here is Elijah talking to God saying, “I’ve been jealous, Oh God, and I have been a wonderful fellow and You lost everybody else besides me.” What a wretched thought. What an awful thought. “Everybody else is gone, everybody else is dead, nobody else is serving God, nobody else has the message. I alone, Oh God, am the only one that is left and all You have to depend on is me.” Do you see how preposterous it is for us to think that way? God is providing, preparing an army. We are just a little speck of it. Amen! We must realize that without the rest of this army, we are nothing, we are finished! Don’t you understand? God is preparing a first-fruits company, an Elijah company, I could call it thirty other names company, to save the rest of the church. Our duty is to be servants to the rest of the church! It is like you have a mouth, and the mouth takes in some honey, and the mouth says, “I love this honey, this honey is so sweet, I’m going to keep it for myself,” and the mouth decides to hold on to it, “I am not swallowing it, I am not giving it to any other part of the body, I am just keeping it for myself!” That mouth would soon be useless. We must realize that without the rest of the Body, we are nothing. We should be grateful, thankful to God that we are privileged to be a part of this magnificent thing that God is doing in the earth today. Amen.
So here is poor brother, Elijah, in a very low, low part of his life. He says in 1 Kings 19:10-11, “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind.” What happened? In the midst of the manifestation of God, the devil was right there. Because if God was not in the wind, who was in the wind? Have you noticed it? I mean, if you were not keen, you would not notice that passage, that God did pass by. But then, before God, rushed the devil breaking up rocks and carrying on. I am telling you, without the discernment of God, you and I would say, “God did it. It was God that did that. It was God.” God was not there.
Now, let’s read a little more. “…and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake.” We are talking about manifestations now. Manifestations. Some of the manifestations that we see are not God. God did come, God did do something, God did speak, but that one wasn’t God. Verse 12, “And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” Who must recognize it? Who must discern it? Do you see the problem we have? The onus, the responsibility, is on you to discern who is doing what and when. If you do not know who is doing it, you are in trouble, but why did God put such an awful responsibility upon us as Christians? I can tell you why. It is because inside of you, you have God. The Spirit of the living God in you must make contact with the spirit of whatever is doing that. You must be able to say, “This is God, but that is not God.” Right in the meetings! Right in the middle of your meetings you see God working and you see another spirit working. The other spirit is always trying to distract.
Satan always brings in a distraction. In your lives, you have to look out for that. But then, the still, small voice came. You know, you have that voice inside you. For Elijah, it was out there. He was hearing with his ears. You don’t have to hear God with your ears any more for the God in you will give you that strong, still, small voice that quickens you inside.
(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 12, 2004)
Thought for today: You don’t have to hear God with your ears any more for the God in you will give you that strong, still, small voice that quickens you inside.
Sonlight Devotional 