Lessons from Elijah
We can all learn from hard knocks, but it's a lot less painful to learn by example. First Corinthians 10:6 and 11 say that the experiences of those in the Bible were recorded for our examples. Elijah's story is full of great examples, both good and bad.
| Some of you will remember me saying that the Lord spoke to me through my own television program back in October 2015. I was teaching that the Lord supplied all the food and air and everything else Adam and Eve could ever need, before they were even created. He didn't create them and then think, Oh, they will need something to eat and air to breathe, so I'd better create those things. No, their supply was created before they had the need. That's an awesome truth that is true for every one of us. The Lord always creates our supply before we have the need. The Lord spoke that directly to me while I was watching my own program. He told me that He has already supplied all the finances I need to accomplish His instructions for building our new Charis Bible College campus. The Lord never responds to us. He anticipates and creates the supply first, and then we respond to Him. Faith is just our positive response to what He has already done. I've been meditating on this principle for six months but felt like there was more to receive. Then this last week, while I was preparing to teach on Lessons from Elijah on my television program, I came across 1 Kings 17:9, which says,
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I
have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
Notice that the Lord had already commanded this widow to sustain Elijah. This issignificant. The Lord had already told this woman to give before Elijah approached her. You have to remember this as you read the rest of this story, or you could take this widow's statement about her situation as unbelief. She said she was going to fix her last little bit of food so that she and her son could eat it and die. But the Lord had already commanded her to sustain someone else. I don't believe this widow was expecting to die. She had a word from God, and she had to live in order to fulfill that word. She knew the principles of giving, and that's why the Lord chose her. In Luke 4:25-26, Jesus referred to her as being selected. This wasn't random, and miracles like this aren't random. There are reasons some people receive miracles and others don't. Faith is the key. She was believing God. She had very little to give, but she had a word from God. Anyone with a word from God is not broke. She had faith (Rom. 10:17). When asked by Elijah for her last little bit of food, she told him the natural facts-but not in unbelief. She was sounding him out, wondering if he was the one the Lord wanted her to sustain. Although the Lord had spoken to this widow about sustaining Elijah, He didn't send the widow to Elijah. He sent Elijah to the widow and told her to take that step of faith first and give. I can just imagine the headline in the Jerusalem Post: "PROPHET TAKES WIDOW'S LAST MEAL-DEATH IMMINENT!" That's the way most people look at giving. They see giving as money that is lost. It's down the drain. But God looks at giving like a seed. When we sow finances, they never leave our lives; they just enter into our future, where they grow and multiply. Elijah wasn't taking from this woman; he was giving to her. That's the way we have to look at giving. What this woman had wasn't enough for her need, so she needed to turn it into a seed and sow it. Elijah was anointed by God to be this woman's supply by getting her to give. The headline in the Jerusalem Post should have read like this: "PROPHET SAVES WIDOW'S LIFE BY TURNING HER NEED INTO A SEED!" But those who don't have faith never look at giving that way. Years ago I ministered in Decatur, Texas, at Pastor Greg Mohr's church. I prayed for a woman who had a weekend pass to get out of a mental hospital so that she could go to church. The following year, I went back, and that woman had been released from the hospital. She was free! Praise the Lord! She was working as a custodian at the hospital, which provided her with room and board, but she wanted out of there. She came up during the invitation and asked me to pray with her that she would get a new place to live and a different job that paid more money. I had just preached from 1 Kings 17 about this widow and Elijah, so I asked her what she had. She got her purse and counted out seventy-eight or eighty dollars. She said that this was all the money she had until her next paycheck in ten days. I held out my hands and asked her to give it to me. She said, "All of it?" I said, "All of it." I took all of her money and gave it to the pastor so that people wouldn't think I was doing this because I wanted her money. Then I prayed for her, and that was that. But the next week, Pastor Greg told me the rest of the story. On Monday, a man gave her a car. She didn't even ask for that. On Wednesday, she got a call from her mother, whom she'd been estranged from since she was committed to the mental hospital. The mother found out she had been released as a patient, apologized for cutting her off, and asked her to move back home. Then on Friday, she got a new job that paid twice as much. Wow! I wasn't taking from that woman. I was giving to her by receiving her seed. This is profound! The Lord could have kept providing for Elijah at the brook Cherith, but He didn't. The Lord could have sent this woman to Elijah, but He didn't. The Lord could have let this woman feed herself first, but He didn't. The Lord had Elijah go to this woman and ask for her last little bit of food. I don't know all of the reasons for the Lord doing things this way, but I do know that "without faith it is impossible to please him" (Heb. 11:6). God is a God of faith. He lives by faith and wants us to live by faith. It took faith on this widow's part, and it also took humility and faith on Elijah's part to do this. The Lord has spoken very clearly to me through this. He told me that He has spoken to people about helping me build these buildings, but I need to place a demand on them just like Elijah did-not for my sake but for theirs. Because Elijah got this woman to give, not only was her food miraculously supplied for three years, but also her son was raised from the dead (1 Kin. 17:17-23). If the Lord had just continued to have the ravens supply Elijah's need, this woman and her son would have died. The Lord supplied Elijah's need through this woman for her sake. Likewise, the Lord has shown me that He wants to meet my need through you because He wants to bless you. I know many of you have desired to be a part of what the Lord is doing in and through Charis, but like this widow, you think you don't have enough to give. The Lord is saying give what you have to Him first, and He will miraculously multiply it back to you (Matt. 6:33). The Lord gives seed to sowers; i.e., money to people who are givers (2 Cor. 9:10). Join with us through a special gift. Or become a Grace Partner-a person who gives at least $1 per day or $30 per month. If what you have isn't enough for your need, turn it into a seed and watch the Lord miraculously multiply it back to you. One hundred thousand people giving just $1 per day would allow us to complete The Auditorium and parking garage by the summer of 2017. Without these buildings, we would have to limit enrollment at Charis in the fall of 2017. I know that's not God's will. I know the Lord has spoken to enough people to get this done. When you call our Helpline: 719-635-1111, be sure to request my Lessons from Elijah teaching. I'm making it my gift to all of you who sign up to become partners today (this offer not available online). You can request this teaching in CD, DVD, book, or study guide format. The book is also available in Spanish. This teaching will go into more detail than I was able to cover in this letter, and it will build your faith and take you to a whole new level in your walk with the Lord. I'm excited because I know the Lord is going to use this to get our buildings built so that we can take the Gospel as far and as deep as possible. But I'm even more excited for you. As you take this step of faith with me, we are going to see God's miraculous supply in your life like never before. I believe it. Mix your faith with mine and get ready for increase (Is. 54:2-3). We love you, Andrew & Jamie Wommack P.S. If you want to be blessed, you need this. If you are poor, you really need this. God says that He'll supply all your need (Phil. 4:19)! And it's not going to be according to this world's system. When you learn to make God your source, you will have not only a supernatural prosperity but also a peace that people of the world don't have. Learn how to do this so you can live in abundance today! |
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Lessons from Elijah
We can all learn from hard knocks, but it's a lot less painful to learn by example. First Corinthians 10:6 and 11 say that the experiences of those in the Bible were recorded for our examples. Elijah's story is full of great examples, both good and bad.
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