Reflection

 

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. (1 Kings 19:3 [NIV])

For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. (1 Corinthians 13:12a [NIV]) 

If you are like me, you would never consider saying you are like Elijah. He was the great prophet of God who told the king that God was sending a drought, then it happened. Elijah was the man who challenged the 850 prophets of Israel to burn sacrifices to their god, Baal, so God would show them He is real and almighty. He was the man who promised a widow she would not run out of oil and flour during the drought; God kept His promise. Elijah, along with Moses, stood with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3). God took Elijah and Moses to heaven without them first being buried. Both men pleased God and received the reward of their faith in God. Who of us even dares to consider ourselves equal to this great man of God? How can we say we are like Elijah?

We can say we are like Elijah the prophet in several ways, though we would not like to acknowledge them. We would rather say we have his faith, steadfastness, and obedience to the Lord. Yet, when we consider a person to emulate, we should consider that person’s characteristics, actions, and words. Elijah obeyed God. He did each of the above listed things. Still, he had his weaknesses.

Elijah feared Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife, would kill him because he had killed her priests, the ones who proclaimed what she wanted. He isolated himself from people who could encourage him as he walked with the Lord, including his servant. No person can work with God in reaching unsaved people without growing weary, needing encouragement, rest, nourishment, and counsel, and needing solitary time with God. For several reasons, each person needs other people who will walk with him or her-to encourage, teach, console, and correct him or her. Elijah became tired and had no one to remind him to rest and eat. God did this for him. He experienced depression because of obeying God while serving God; he chose isolation. God led him toward people.

This prophet of God had his mountain top experiences, literally, with God. In obeying God’s commands, he needed great faith and people to encourage him to go into the valley. Many of us cannot truthfully say we go into the valley when God tells us, but we read in the Bible that Elijah did. We might have a mountain top experience with God, but sometimes we refuse to serve God in the valleys. If we are truthful with ourselves, our commonalities with Elijah are more in his humanness. We fear, tire, isolate ourselves, and get depressed. We challenge God like Elijah did when the widow’s son died after God provided oil and flour to sustain them. We rail at Him asking, “Why”. Our faith in God is shallow. Our humanness is more comfortable to us.

Yes, we are more like Elijah in these ways than the others. We would love to say we are like him in his spiritual faithfulness to God, but honestly, that would not be the truth. The good news is that Elijah was not always close to God. He began his walk with Him like we do, with a step of faith. That step that takes us from promise to assurance, knowing without doubt that Almighty God is our God, and we have a hope and future with Him (Joshua 29:11). To perceive God’s voice, Elijah had to grow in his faith so he would learn how He sounds as a still, quiet voice, a voice like the roar of a storm, and the voice like the crashing and shaking of an earthquake. Elijah’s steps of faith continued. He wanted to follow God’s will for his life. Elijah desired to pursue God’s purposes. Though he faltered in his life’s purpose because of his human weakness, he continued to seek God and to love Him through obedience to Him. Elijah bravely faced 850 prophets and Almighty God showed He is real. When Elijah ran away in fear, God took him to a quiet cave beside a still brook so he could rest and replenish with sleep and the food and drink God sent.

Each time Elijah’s human weaknesses arose, God showed him He provides for the needs of those who follow Him with their whole being-heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-7 & Matthew 22:37). Elijah understood and related to God in the way Paul expressed when he wrote Romans about a thousand years after Elijah’s time. Paul said in Romans 8:26a & 28, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness…And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (NLT) Elijah’s spirit cried out to God in his weaknesses-tiredness, isolation, fear, and depression. Though he mentally and physically felt beaten and his heart fainted at the task, Elijah trusted God and relied on Him.

As humans, we are very much like Elijah. We can have hope, like him, if we take a step of faith. We can do like Elijah did and cry out to God. God can remake us in His image for His purposes. He makes us more than we could ever make our own selves. God made Elijah into the man who was His great prophet. Through Elijah, the Lord did great things to remind the Israelites He is one true God. He did that with each of His prophets and servants. He equipped, trained, and remade them for His purposes, to be people who would seek Him above everything and everyone. Just as Oswald Chambers notes in the title of His devotional book, God remade and remakes people to be the utmost for His highest, so that each person will come to hear about Him, trust in Him, and receive salvation from their sins and death through Him.

Elijah had a mother who delivered him into this world. He was a man. Just like any other person, Elijah had human weaknesses. He learned about Almighty God and believed in Him. Elijah believed God and determined to serve His purposes for his life by being obedient to His plans. God took this life offered wholly to Him for His use and remade it into who He wanted him to be. This enabled Elijah to do His will-telling and reminding the people of Israel about Him. Elijah, because of his love for God, willingly sacrificed his life to God for His purposes. He allowed God to direct His paths.

Are you like Elijah? Consider his life. Elijah was born, raised, heard about God, desired to know Him more, loved and obeyed Him, had human responses of fear, tiredness, isolation, and depression, learned to trust God more each day, and received God’s promise in full when He took him to His kingdom. We are like Elijah in our humanness and can be like Elijah in his faith in Almighty God. Our greater calling is to be as relationally close to God as possible. Through Jesus, His Son, God made that closeness to Him available to each person who believes in Jesus Christ. Consider, you are already partly like Elijah; you are human. Elijah became more than just a man. He had faith in God. Because of Elijah’s growing faith in God over the years, God called and trained him to be His prophet. His growth in faith and obedience to God grew him toward being perfect, toward being like Jesus, though he had not seen Him. Elijah saw Jesus in the glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12) but saw Him clearly, face to face, when God took him on His chariot of fire to heaven (2 Kings 2:11).

We are each like Elijah; we are humans. But God can remake us into His image, like at creation.

How much like Elijah are you?

·       Will you admit your human weaknesses of tiredness, fear, despair, depression, etc.?

·       Will you take the step of faith and move from promise to assurance of salvation?

·       Will you listen to God’s voice and obey Him by taking another step of faith, like Elijah?

·       Will you allow Him to train, encourage, correct, and lead you?

We can be more than like Elijah. We can be like the One he hoped for, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who came to earth and now sits on His throne in heaven.

Be more than one who sees his reflection in the mirror.

Begin to see Jesus as you allow God to renew you. 

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:11-12 [NIV])

Times of Our Lives

 

“Now it came about in the course of those many days…” (Exodus 2:23a [NASB])

Throughout the Bible, we read about men who encountered God, then sought for a secluded place. We read that God sent people to a place to prepare them for the next task, too. Often these times of preparation lasted forty days or forty years. The number forty denotes the separation of one epoch from another in Hebrew numerology. Sometimes the forty days/years was a time of rest and renewal and other times it was a time of testing. In each time, God intended it to be a time of growth in their faith in and relationship with Him. Let’s consider several passages that tell of God’s people and forty days/years.

Consider Moses. After he killed the Egyptian for severely beating a Hebrew (Exodus 2:11-14), he ran to Midian, helped water the sheep of the priest Reuel/Jethro (Exodus 2:15-22), and lived there for forty years before God commissioned him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt (Exodus 3:1-9). The years he spent shepherding sheep prepared Moses for the next epoch in God’s plans, to lead His people through the wilderness to His Promised Land. God used that time to attune Moses’ spiritual awareness to Him and grew him to learn how to lead, protect, provide, and intercede to Him. This epoch of 40 years changed Moses from being an Egyptian-taught Hebrew to be a man seeking God in all things.

If we continue considering other instances of forty days or years, we remember the Israelites spent forty years wandering in the wilderness. The Israelite adults, who feared the people of Canaan when their spies returned from scouting the Promised Land, would not see the land God promised to them. The forty years of their wandering separated two periods of time-the people who trusted God enough to leave all they knew in Egypt, but then lost faith in God and the time of God leading the new adults of Israel into the land He promised. The epoch of the forty years wandering in the wilderness changed the Israelites from fear and rebelliousness to newly maturing adults of faith. God grew the faith of the adults of the post-wilderness-wandering as they saw His hand in providing for and protecting them during the wilderness years. They became the people of God again and trusted Him completely during that epoch.  

Moses spent forty days on Mt Sinai. He often ventured up the mountain to be alone with God so He could speak to him, tell him how to lead the people, instruct him in how to handle and decide issues among the people, and grow him closer to Himself. During the time in which Moses spent forty days on Mt. Sinai, he received the Ten Commandments from God for the Israelites (Exodus 20). This forty-day’s-time signaled a new epoch for the Israelites. The new epoch occurred of Moses’ time on the mountain heralded in a time in which God’s laws would govern the people. The Ten Commandments provided a way for the Israelites to follow God. This epoch signified that God chose these people as His own. Before Moses’ forty days on Mt. Sinai, God called the Hebrews His people. Moses declared it to Pharaoh when he said, “Let my people go.” After his forty days on the mountain, the Israelites understood without doubt, as they bent their knees and committed with their mouths, minds, and heart, God chose them, and they chose Him to be their God. Their commitment to the Ten Commandments avowed this. For Moses, these forty days gave time for him to recharge and renew himself with God. He listened to God and committed himself anew to be His servant and lead His people. This epoch of time for Moses was renewal, recommitment, and continued guidance on how God wanted him to lead the Israelites. For the Israelites, this time was of rebellion and a time of recommitment to the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses came down the mountain the first time to see them worshipping a golden calf. He returned from the mountain with a second set of tablets holding God’s Ten Commandments to find the people submitting to God.

As we continue forward in time, we recall Elijah battling for the Lord to combat the pagan priests of Jezebel. After he slew hundreds of them, Jezebel declared her wrath on him. She wanted Elijah dead. Elijah, in fear, traveled with his servant into the desert. He walked for forty days to Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai). While at Mt. Horeb, Elijah stayed in a cave until God told him to stand before Him on the mountain. He experienced a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire while on the mountain. When this prophet heard a gentle voice after these three powerful acts of God, Elijah realized it was God’s voice. God knew about Elijah’s obedient deeds for Him. He told him to return to Damascus and anoint a new king and his own successor (1 Kings 19). These forty days for Elijah were an epoch of rest, reassurance, and revelation. Elijah went from a time of defeating priests of false gods and fleeing for his life to another time of God showing His love, favor, and provision with the anointing of a new king and prophet. Elijah would not walk alone. He believed God cared about him and understood his time was ending. A new prophet of God would speak to the people for Him. Elijah remembered anew God cared for him.

Before we leave the Old Testament, remember Noah and his family experienced forty days and night on the ark while it rained (Genesis 7). God took the world from one epoch to another. He cleansed it from the sinful people of the world. God used Jonah, too. He sent him to Nineveh to tell the people there that God’s judgment would fall on them in forty days. The Ninevites repented and returned to God during those forty days, and God withheld His judgment. The people confessed and repented of their sins (Jonah 3). God used that epoch of time to make them aware of their sin against Him and other people and to forgive and restore them into His good grace. The Ninevites had renewed life with God.

In the New Testament, after the dove of God descended from heaven on the day John the Baptist baptized Jesus and proclaimed God’s giving of the Messiah through Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17), Jesus walked in the wilderness for forty days (Matthew 4:1-11). During those forty days, He fasted, endured hunger, and resisted Satan’s three temptations. These forty days, this epoch in the wilderness, heralded a new time of the Messiah’s ministry on earth and His call to each person to believe He is the Son of God (John 1:29 & 36).  This instance shows the difference between the times in the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament shows movements of time as they relate to a person’s spiritual life on physical life on earth-a growing in faith, in doing God’s purposes, or rest and renewal. The New Testament shows the transitioning between Jesus’ life before baptism and after baptism and how that relates to a person’s spiritual life and eternity. Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness was an epoch that showed He is the Son of God and stronger than Satan. It served as the door-opener to Jesus’ ministry and thus, the door-opener for people to have more than just a law in how to see, seek, see, and follow God. Jesus is the door for each person to receive cleansing from their sins and be in God’s presence for eternity. With Jesus’ forty-day epoch, people grew from knowing about God to being able to be in a righteous and eternal relationship with Him. The epoch of forty days did not change Jesus. Before the wilderness He was the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. After this epoch, He was the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. God never changes, and no one thwarts His purposes. He is always faithful.

A last instance of epochal change occurs after Jesus’ resurrection and before His ascension (Acts 1:1-26). During the forty days of that time, Jesus gave the people many proofs He is the Son of God, the Messiah, by coming back to life after being dead (Luke 24:1-9), by walking with two of the disciples to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), by “explaining the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27), by breaking bread with them (Luke 24:30), by showing His nail-scarred hands and feet (Luke 24:39-41), by eating with the disciples (Luke 24:42), and by opening their minds to the Scriptures (Luke 24:45-49). He spoke about the kingdom of God. Jesus heralded His Spirit coming upon His disciples and all believers (Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:4-5). Then, while His disciples watched, He rose into heaven (Acts 1:1-11). This epoch of forty days rang in the time of salvation and victory over death for all people who believe in Him. From this point, with the power of Christ, believers could defeat temptation and were victors over death. Before this epoch-Christ’s resurrection and ascension-death had victory over people. No hope existed for resurrection from death or power to defeat Satan. With Jesus’ resurrection, believers can know Jesus will resurrect them. They can defeat Satan’s temptations with the Holy Spirit Jesus gives them. People no longer must be the lambs led to slaughter by Satan. Jesus has the victory and gives it to each person who believes in Him. Before Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, people had their own limited strength to fight Satan and had no promise or hope of eternal life with God. After His ascension, with His Spirit living in each believer, they could have His power to defeat Satan and would have His hope of victor over death and eternal life with Him in His kingdom.

Notice, many of the people in these Bible passages experienced difficulties before their forty-day epoch that brought with it a newness with God. They faced hard times, then spent time alone with God. In other instances, some people went into a period of seclusion with God before a hard time. Jesus is the only one who experienced difficulties before, during, and after his forty-days’ seclusion with the Father. He is the model for how to go through difficulties and how to be with God, being nurtured and grown for His purposes.

We need to notice God had a purpose for the forty days/years each person or the group of people experienced. That purpose was to prepare them for God’s next task, to give him/her a chance to recover, and to renew and recommit themselves to God. We can recognize evidence of God’s hand in the lives of the people during the forty days/years of seclusion. God grew their faith in Him. He provided their sustenance and restored them. God taught them leadership skills. He tested each person’s resolve.  God used the forty years to discipline His people. He used the forty days to protect, provide for, and prepare His people.

Some people experienced spiritual highs during the forty days, but none of them stayed on the mountain or in the wilderness. Each of them walked from their epoch with God to His next goal, whether anointing the next leader, leading a people to God, or providing a sufficient salvation and eternal life. The epochs each person faced changed them; it improved them and their relationship with God. The epoch did not change Jesus. It told Satan he had limited time remaining to deceive and tempt people. Jesus’ epoch heralded His ministry on earth where He proclaimed Himself as the Messiah God prepared as their salvation from the beginning of time.   

What does this mean for us today? Does God still give people epochs with Him? Do we need these epochs? Without doubt, people still need epochs, times, with God. Just as the people of the Bible needed these times with God for recuperation, renewal, recommitment, and for God to grow them for His purposes, we need them. As we live in this world filled with sin, persecutions, trials, doubts, and needs, we need time with God for His infilling of us. Whether this time is a day, weekend, month, or long sabbatical, time with God is a necessity for each person. We need time to meet with and be with Him. Epochs with God are especially important for Christians.

Being a Christian, a follower of Christ, means living like Jesus lived and wants us to live. He experienced difficulties before, during, and after his forty days in the wilderness. Those time periods in Jesus’ life on earth were epochs for humanity. Christians cannot expect anything different. Jesus experienced daily, continual communion with the Father before, during, and after that epoch, too. God wants Christians to have that relationship with Him, daily and continual relationship. Whether we are doing the most menial things (like mopping, cleaning a house, or taking care of a sick person) or things that gain us attention (like leading an organization or country, teaching at a prestigious school, or finding a cure for a dreaded disease), God wants to be with us through the days. The epochs for Christians are each time we spend communing with God. He grows us through obedience to Him. Times of communion should occur day. They can be times we set aside seeking God’s will in certain situations or seeking recuperation, too. Most noted for all Christians is the day each person believes in Jesus as his or her Savior and confesses and repent of his or her sins.

Each person is on a journey in life. For Christians, the journey is to be with God and bring Him glory. In each journey, epochs of time will arise where we seek and be with God. These epochs often are at times in our lives when things are in flux or need to change. A transition is about to occur. Jesus’ life and His own epoch in the wilderness remind us we can face persecution before, during, or after our time with God. No believer is immune to those times. Yet, the epochs of time that God gives each believer rejuvenate, renew, and equip us for what we have faced and will face. Epochs can cause strain, but strain/stress can grow us to be the person we need to be for God’s purposes. These times of epochs grow us to be closer to God, be on a higher plateau in our relationship with Him. They will make us more obedient to Him, too. One thing we each must remember is what occurred after each person’s epoch. They did not stay on the mountain or in the wilderness. They each obeyed God and served Him to lead people to Him so they could come to know Him as their Savior and to help them grow in their faith with God so they could be more like Jesus. We should not seek to stay on the mountain or in the wilderness, but should always desire to do God’s will and bring Him glory.

Where are you today? Have you heard God calling you to Himself to accept His sacrifice for your sins and believe in Jesus as your Savior? Have you heard Him calling you to draw near to Him for rest, renewal, growth, and a new task? Have you responded to God’s call to meet with Him, but refuse to leave the mountain or the wilderness in which you met Him? Each of these questions brings you to a time of decision. God loves each of us. He wants us to grow to know Him better and become more like Christ. He has a purpose for each of us, a purpose about love, life, and victory. Choosing to say, “No,” to God and not believing in Jesus, not going to Him for rest, renewal, and growth, and not leaving the place He called you for an epoch is rebellion against God, others, and yourself. This rebellion is sin.

We each have a decision to make now. Will you deny yourself and submit to God’s will of blessing, purpose, forgiveness, and eternal life?

“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But, seek first His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31-33 [NASB])

Stand Firm

1 Kings 19 and Ephesians 6

            Stand firm said Paul to the church at Ephesus (Ephesians 6). Stand is what Moses did when he stood before the Lord on Mount Sinai (Exodus 33:21). Stand strong is what Elijah did in the face of death by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 19). Stand firm is what Elijah did as he stood before Yahweh at Mount Sinai/Horeb. 

In reading 1 Kings 19, we find Elijah busy at work for Yahweh. He called upon his God, Yahweh, to accept his sacrifice on the altar and show His power after the priests of Baal showed their god’s lack of power. Baal was a non-god. He was not able to be strong for his followers because he was not God. Yahweh, on the other hand, is mighty and real. He is God. God showed Himself as He  consumed the large sacrifice Elijah prepared for Him and as He consumed the gallons of liquid Elijah poured around the sacrifice and altar. The fire consumed the area around the altar; nothing remained, not even liquid. Queen Jezebel roared in outrage that an unimportant human showed her god to be fake and made it visible that not only was Baal not a god, but that she, as queen, was not right to demand the citizens worship this non-god. She abhorred the priests of Yahweh. Jezebel ordered them killed. Her soldiers killed every priest of Yahweh except one hundred and one. One hundred hid in caves and Elijah ran for his life. Elijah stood firm for the Lord.

When we next read of Elijah, he has run from Damascus in Syria to Beersheba in Judah. He ran ninety miles and then lay under a juniper tree, exhausted in body, mind, and spirit. Elijah used up his mental and spiritual strength to stand for the Lord and run for his life. As he lay sleeping under the tree, an angel of the Lord brought food and woke him to eat and drink. Elijah then went back to sleep. A second time, an angel woke Elijah to eat and drink. The angel then told him he had far to go and needed his strength. God understood Elijah’s exhaustion due to his obedience to Him and his human impulse to preserve his life by running from danger. Elijah stood strong for the Lord. He was the Lord’s man and Yahweh took care of him by providing rest, food, and drink. God gave to Elijah what he needed because of the energy he had used to get there. God then provided what Elijah needed because of what he was going to use to get to Mount Horeb 220 miles away. Elijah learned from his studies God met with His chosen one, Moses, on this mountain and so he went there in search of peace that comes from knowing  God. By going to Mount Horeb, Elijah showed his continued faith in Yahweh. He learned about Yahweh of old and His provision and protection. He wanted to meet Yahweh of his own experience again; the One who continued to give peace that comes from knowing He is God, the One of whom no other can thwart His will. 

Elijah arrived at Mt. Horeb and the Word of the Lord asked him what he was doing there (vs. 9). Elijah told his story; he was zealous for the Lord, every prophet of God had been killed, and he was running for his life. The Word told him to go up the mountain. Elijah climbed and went into a cave on the mountain. A strong wind blew, an earthquake erupted, and fire rained down, but God was not in any of these. A “sound of a gentle blowing” (vs. 12, NASB) then occurred and Elijah covered his face with his cloak and went to the entrance of the cave. There Yahweh asked him again, “What are you doing here Elijah?” (vs. 13, NASB). Elijah knew he needed God’s power to remain standing firm and strong for Him. Yahweh showed His power through the strong wind, earthquake, and fire. He showed He could move mountains, break rocks, and control the winds. Elijah experienced God’s power firsthand. He had just seen it on Mount Carmel. There was no doubt Yahweh was powerful. What Elijah needed is what God provided, a gentle wind from which a small voice came. Elijah needed peace that comes from the Lord. Elijah needed the touch of God for himself this time, after the power He displayed for the worshippers of Baal. God gave him the chance to speak his need to Him again. The peace of God soothed Elijah’s soul here. Yahweh’s next statements showed Elijah that God was making a way for him. God told Elijah to anoint Elisha to be prophet in his place. God also told Elijah to anoint two new kings to replace the corrupt men who reigned at the time (vs. 15-16). God met his heart, spiritual, and human needs of mind and body. God said He would provide new kings over Israel and Judah and a new prophet in the place of Elijah. We do not read of Elijah speaking after this. We see him walking from Horeb to Damascus and on the way throwing his mantle upon Elisha. God was providing an easier life for Elijah with the appointment of Elisha. He was also providing judgment over Ahab by replacing him as king of Israel. Elijah received peace through God’s presence, words, and works. Elijah continued to stand for the Lord by going forth and following these commands. 

As we look at the stance of Elijah for and before God, we recall Paul writing to the Ephesians. Paul told them in Ephesians 6 to put on the whole armor of God and stand firm. This armor is not an offensive armor but a protective, defensive armor. Paul said they were to “stand firm.” The Ephesians were to remember the truth they had learned about Yahweh. They were to shield their hearts and minds from the flaming arrows of the evil one and deceiver. The church at Ephesus were to plant their feet deep and strong in the Word, in the gospel of peace, which Paul and others had taught them. Paul told them they are not just to stand passively, but to actively resist the evil ones. Notice he did not say to fight them. There is no need to fight them. Jesus defeated them already. God is not equal in power to evil; He is greater than all powers. Furthermore, He defeated death and Satan on Easter morning. We do not need to fight evil; that fight is finished. Our job is to resist it. Evil will try to deceive, trick, and put us into so much chaos we are tired and prone to doubting. That is why we have the sword of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. That righteousness comes from God through the Son. Through His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus made us sin free; He made us clean and righteous. Evil would love to trip us up, make us succumb to temptation, make us feel unworthy, and make us doubt we can be in God’s army any longer. That would be one less person evil would have to worry waging the war for God and His children. We are to stand firm, actively resisting the arrows and darts of the evil ones for ourselves and for the others for whom Jesus died. We are to stand firm in our faith and for others so they will come to experience God’s saving grace, become God’s children, and put on His armor. Satan knows he cannot pierce the armor. Your life is safe in God’s hands forever. Satan desires to trip you and make you fall and doubt so others will not hear of or see God’s love for them.

Elijah had put on the armor of God. He stood in His strength knowing the might and truth of God; He is Yahweh. There is no other God. Elijah stood firm, but he needed support after his strong standing for Him. He needed rest, recuperation, and re-affirmation of God’s care for him. Elijah had been zealous, but he was not finished standing strong and firm with and for the Lord. We learn God accounted him as worthy not to ever “taste death”; He took him into His hands and His presence without ever Elijah ever “tasting of death,” as the Bible says in 2 Kings 2:11-12. We do not know much about Elijah before his coming on the scene abruptly and strongly for the Lord in front of King Ahab and with the pronouncement of a drought. We do know how strong Elijah was for God in the last years of his life on earth. We learn of God’s care for him during and after his service for the Lord. Elijah was a Tishbite from Gilead, the “hill of testimony.” Elijah stood firm. 

Can this be said of us? Have you stood firm for God? Not, have you fought evil for God but have you fought for God to show His purposes and love to others, to protect others and yourself in the strength of God’s truth and righteousness? To stand firm, God must clothe you in His armor, which comes from truly knowing Him, loving Him, and becoming more like Him. Satan wants to deceive you and trip you, but the more you study the Word and recognize, acknowledge, and trust God, the more His Spirit makes you strong so you can stand firm against the fiery arrows and darts of evil. Can someone say that you stood firm?