Posted in Messianic Judaism
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Go Out and Stand On the Mountain
“And Eliyahu came in there, to the cave, and lodged there, and behold, the word of Adonai came to him, and said to him, ‘What are you [doing] here, Eliyahu?’ And he answered, ‘I have been very zealous for Adonai… Your prophets they have slain by the sword, and I am left, I, by myself, and they seek my life—to take it.’ And Adonai said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before Adonai.’ And behold, Adonai passed by, and a wind—great and strong—rent [the] mountains, and rocks shivered before Adonai:—[but] not in the wind was Adonai; and after the wind [came] a shaking:— [but] not in the shaking was Adonai; and after the shaking [came] a fire:—[but] not in the fire was Adonai; and after the fire [came] a voice still [and] small; and it came to pass, at Eliyahu hearing it, that he wrapped his face in his robe, and went out, and stood at the opening of the cave, and behold, to him came a voice, and it said, ‘What are you [doing] here, Eliyahu?’ And he answered, ‘I have been very zealous for Adonai… Your prophets they have slain by the sword, and I am left, I, by myself, and they seek my life—to take it.’” M’lachim Alef (1Kings) 19:9-14
“What are you doing here?” the Lord asks us. Why are you hiding? From what are you running? We answer, cowering in our dark cave, “Lord, don’t you know what’s going on in my life? In the past, I have been zealous for you, Adonai, but now I am all alone and there is no one to protect me. I am vulnerable, I am exposed—my destruction surely awaits me.”
Adonai answered Eliyahu’s fears. You’re afraid, are you, Eliyahu? I’ll show you something to be afraid of... “A wind—great and strong—rent [the] mountains.” Eliyahu stood his ground; Adonai was not in the wind. “After the wind” came an earthquake. Eliyahu was not shaken; Adonai was not in the earthquake. “After the shaking [came] a fire.” Eliyahu remained unsinged; Adonai was not in the fire. “And after the fire [came] a voice still [and] small.” Eliyahu covered his face—this was the voice of God.
It is not the troubles of life that we should fear, but the One who can save us from them with only a word from his mouth. He is in complete control of everything, and He will never harm us or leave us, but will protect us from our enemies and save us from death. Eliyahu finally understood this and stepped out of his cave to stand on the mountain of God.
Adonai asks again, “What are you doing here?” And again, we now answer, in exactly the same way as before. “In the past, I have been zealous for you, Adonai, but I am all alone and there is no one to protect me from my enemies. No one, that is, but you, Lord, and that is all I need to know.”
P R A Y E R
My Protector, my Deliverer, I worship and praise you with all my being, for you are all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, never-failing. I fear you, Creator, with a holy fear, yet I come close to you in reverence knowing that I can rest my head on you and fall into your arms. Thank you, Father, for your still, small voice that is so awesome and great in the earth! Teach me to hear your voice even in the worst of circumstances. Lord, I abandon myself—my whole life—to you... © 1997-2006 Perfect Word Ministries |
Posted in Messianic Judaism
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Messianic Daily Devotional
23 Nisan 5766 / April 21, 2005 S'fiyrat MeOmer - Day 2 [ Omer - Day 8 (traditional) ] Pesach/Chag HaMatzot/Omer Sprout, Grow and Yield “But other [seed] fell to the good ground, and produced fruit, sprouting up and increasing, and it grew—one thirty-fold, and one sixty, and one a hundred [times what was sown]. Mark 4:8 One of the reasons people do not grow and mature in their walk with Messiah is because they expect the impossible. They expect God to do a radical transformation of their life and make all their problems go away in an instant. Adonai does indeed change us, and He can do so in the blink of an eye—but He does not change us in the way that we would like. Our desire is to enter into a relationship with the Lord, holding on to all our previous experiences, and emerge on the other side of a dramatic transformation with those experiences still intact—the only distinction being that our attitudes, values and desires will be different from that point forward. In reality, however, God does not change us and then have us pick up our lives from the moment we left off—we are supposed to die, and then be born again. We have to start over. Our idea is that we want to be the seed that falls into rich soil and produces grain—but we want it now, no waiting. We want to go from a little seed that has had no nurturing or sustenance, yet suddenly and miraculously be a mature, fully functioning believer. But in God’s economy, that seed needs to sit in the ground for a while, growing and maturing as it hides beneath the surface. Then, one day, it emerges—not as a mature stalk, but as a tiny, fragile sprout. Over an extended period of time, that sprout grows; and only when it reaches full maturity does it yield a crop. It is not by coincidence or convenience that our maturing process can be likened to a crop with its agricultural schedule. According to Adonai’s biblical calendar, the crops that have already ripened at this time of year are not expected be fully threshed and stored until the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. At this season, the transformation process has only just begun. We need to submit to this process, and not try to rush things along through artificial means. As we allow Adonai to mature us and bring forth our fruit in His timing, we will yield a crop “thirty-fold… sixty… a hundred [times what was sown]…” P R A Y E R Adonai, I submit fully to you. Remove from my heart any agendas or ideas that I can move you along in my maturing process. I joyfully resign myself to your masterful ways, and I await the nurturing of your gardener’s hand. I praise you, Father, for planting deep inside me the desire to live for you. I bless your Name, for you have plans to grow in me thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was sown…. © 1997-2006 Perfect Word Ministries Subscribe |