It was a hot summer afternoon, years ago when my father took off work early to take me fishing at one of the Snake River reservoirs in southern Idaho. We were positioning ourselves on the concrete slopes of the reservoir, anticipating a great time of fishing. I had noticed since some of the water had been released the day before it had left wet damp moss exposed on the lower section of the slopes. Yet, as a naive young man, I foolishly ran over across the moss without any caution and immediately began sliding down to the water level. It was with a quick protective hand that my father grasped me and pulled me out of what could have been a slimy slide to a momentary destruction.
In like manner there are definite seasons in our lives that we can find ourselves going through, that if not careful or clothed in God’s armor (Eph. 6:12-13), we can slide deep into dark waters of despair.
When you listen to the voice of the enemy, it will always plunder you in depths of despair.
It’s in our vulnerability that the enemy, will begin to plunder us with his accusations and lies, trying to destroy us as children of God. (Jn 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8) He looks for every opportunity to entice you into venturing out on the slippery slopes of your journey.
The demonic spirit that was working through queen Jezebel when she announced her intent to kill Elijah, which began his slide down the wet slope of despair. We read, in 1 Kings 19:9-10, “…he went into a cave…”, where the Lord said to Him, “What are you doing here?”. Elijah, had just experienced God’s awesome victory on the summit of Mt Carmel days earlier, but now finds himself in a cave, wallowing in despair and causing him to have a distorted perspective. Speaking out of his fear and hopelessness Elijah replies to the Lord “I alone am left; and they seek to take my life”. He began to feel that everyone was against him when it was actually just the demonic agenda through Jezebel.
Elijah was a victorious Godly prophet that was in the flow of what God was doing, until He started listening to the voice of the enemy through the queen. Then instead of him standing in the victory of God, he ran and hid in a cave. He began to believe the lie that everyone was against Him. He came to the place of not wanting to stand for God but
Jesus will always call to you from the banks of your failures so He can realign you.
to Die. (v4) What a change and drastic plunge into the deepest of darkness! Who would have even imagined this fearless and determined prophet that the king and godly officer feared? (1 Kings181-1 7)
Peter himself was also deceived to the point of being pushed onto the wet mossy slopes of despair, through the extraordinary circumstances that he and the other disciples went through. Being under such pressure, Peter slid to such a dark place that he uttered these words to the other six disciples in Jn 21:3, “I am going fishing.” In other words he was saying, I quit and I am going back to my former lifestyle. Evidently he had kept his tackle box from years earlier, so to speak, by the back door making it easy to fall back on. And not him only but his despair moved the disciples present down that same deluge of discouragement.
It was in those times that we see the graciousness of our Lord. With Elijah it was that still small voice that reached out and brought him out of the cave with a new fervor. Peter was pulled out of the depths of the unfruitfulness of despair through the words of the resurrected Lord. (1 Kings19, Jn 21:12-19) Let me encourage you to allow the word of God to reach out to you also and pull you back to Him.
A society surrounded by the convenience of instant everything, brings a slow death to the tenacious spirit. Many people want prayers answered before their lips stop moving, unfortunately, many times, it doesn’t happen that way. The scriptures teach us in Colossians 4:2, “to continue earnestly in prayer,” and in Romans 12:12, it says “continuing steadfastly in prayer.” We are exhorted to be persistent in our prayer life. Jesus shares a parable in Luke 18:1-8, driving home the point of persistent prayer. It says, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily…” When I was young, I was told that if I asked or prayed for something more than once I would be
What seemed to be so natural and come so easy growing up, now seems to be a monumental achievement. One of those things for me is when I would walk the water ditch to the intake and clear out any blockages. That was a common occurrence since we lived in the mountains and received our water supply out of the “good ole mountain crick”. Back then I would run up to the ditch with no problem, but recently when I was back home “reality hit” when I had decided to make the climb for memory sake. Well, I sure couldn’t run up anything and actually thought someone would have to carry me out on a stretcher.
Have you notice the epidemic of people who are offended and living their lives entrenched in the bondage of offences. Maybe it is a friend that out of the blue won’t talk to you or a co-worker that becomes standoffish after your promotion. Maybe it’s even hit closer to your home with a family member who hasn’t communicated with you for sometime. Whatever the scenario might look like most of us have been defiled in someway by offended people.
Are you a person who knows how to pray with expectant faith? In James 5:16–18, Elijah was not superhuman, but was an ordinary person like us. The scripture goes on to say that he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and for three and a half years it did not rain, not even one drop. Then, in verse 18 it says, “He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
Have you ever tried to climb a mountain and felt as though your heart was going to pound through your chest? If you’re like me the answer is more times than I’d like to remember. One of those times was when I was returning back to my parent’s ranch, which is settled in the midst of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I had decided to climb one of the peaks that I had conquered many times growing up. Whether it was self-deception or a shortage of oxygen that made me think I was in shape enough to start
The moment the gun goes off the sprinters bolt out of their starting blocks with one thing in mind, to be the first to cross the finished line. Many times, the finish can come down to several runners pushing with everything they have to thrust themselves past the others to win by inches. Paul exhorts believers to run the race of faith with victory in mind, not to just participate but to win. (1Cor. 9: 24-26)
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