Do you trust God to provide during difficult times?

 8 May 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One


Readings:

1 Kings 16

1 Kings 17

1 Kings 18

John 1:29-51


And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). 


Do you trust God to provide during difficult times?


Baal worship is firmly established under Ahab. Yet Elijah, being in the minority numerically, confronts the powerful king, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). God sends Elijah to the Brook Cherith to hide the prophet and supernaturally meet his needs. Subsequently, He leads the obedient prophet to Sidon to care for, and to be cared for by, an impoverished widow. The single parent tells Elijah, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread” (1 Kings 17:12). She refers to God as “your God.” Elijah’s great faith moves her to embrace the promises of God, and the Lord meets her needs. 


Employment Point: Serve God, knowing that He will provide for you.

———————-

Reflections

“Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.””1 Kings‬ ‭17‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • I find this verse super encouraging. It proved again that the Lord has the ability to provide our needs, not just for flowers in the field or the birds in the air. For we are worth more than sparrows since they neither work nor toil. 
  • Whenever we start to get worried about our needs, be it shelter, food, etc., remember Elijah.


““As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ””

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭17‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • The Lord provides! Even as the brook was dried up as there was no rain and when food was scarce and this widow had nothing left, the Lord can still make use of her to bless Elijah! No only does she have no lack of food for herself and her son, she has surplus to provide for Elijah even! Praise You Lord!!


“Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.””

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭17‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • when we are desperate, we often have the tendency to miss out great details. The widow is desperate as her only hope had died. She does not know how to move on from here and kind of finger point that it was Elijah who had brought calamity upon her family. But the Lord is merciful and had her son revived!
  • The widow became a witness of how the Lord can bring the dead back to life.


“So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.”1 Kings‬ ‭18‬:‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • this reminds me of something that another religion do. But then, would God expect you to do that to prove that He is God? Doesn’t that sound occult to you? What are the people truly worshiping? True God only need prayers from our hearts. Nothing else


““How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.””

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭48‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • there were many records of the Lord knowing even before things happened. And all that He declares is the truth. He is also indirectly saying that He is God, who is omnipresent, and is omnipotent and is omniscient.

——————

The Patience of Faith

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

May 08


We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. — Hebrews 6:12


Patience is more than endurance. Our lives are in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something we cannot see. He stretches and strains, and every now and again we say, “I can’t take it anymore.” God doesn’t waver. He goes on stretching until his purpose is in sight. Then he lets the arrow fly.


“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15). Trust yourself in God’s hands. Maintain your relationship to Jesus Christ through the patience of faith. Faith is not a pathetic sentiment. It is vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. It is the heroic effort of your life.


A mental poise comes from being established on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Is there something you need patience for just now? Maybe you can’t see God, can’t understand what he’s doing. But you know him. God has given everything in Jesus Christ to save you. Now he wants you to give everything for his sake. He wants you to fling yourself out in reckless abandonment to him.


There are parts of us that this kind of abandoned faith hasn’t reached yet, places that remain untouched by the life of God. There were no such places in Jesus’s life, and there must be none in ours. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything without wavering. If we take this view, life becomes a great romance, an opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time. God is disciplining us to bring us to this central place of power.


2 Kings 4-6; Luke 24:36-53


WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.

———————-

Reflections

“God is disciplining us to bring us to this central place of power.”- I believe this power is the power of faith. A faith that is 100% in our Lord and Saviour, one that does not waver in times of challenge, grieve, or even war. It is a kind of living, like we are already in eternal life. We are living out this faith, which in turn draws people to us because it is not something that they see in others.


However, can we achieve such faith? A complete trust in the Lord that we can have no fear and the courage to stand for who our Lord is?


We look to Abraham, our father of faith to learn how to build faith. We want to be like Abraham but that means we also have to be like Abraham. The most famous story about Him is the sacrifice of his one and only son. He placed the Lord in first place, obeying Him to the point of giving up the son that he has been waiting for for years. What was going through his mind?


We know earlier, he tried to fulfil this promise by his own and gave in to his wife Sarai when she gave her slave Haggai to him to bear him a son. Ishmael was born but he was not to be the chosen one for he is not from his own family line. Abraham too struggled during this journey of faith and finally learnt that Isaac was the promised son. The one whom his descendants would come and he believed. The Lord then credited this to him as righteousness. 


Abraham was not filled with faith right from the start but he had to start somewhere. From his leaving his homeland towards the promised land and everything that happened along the way, helped him to build his trust in the Lord. He saw how the Lord delivers His promises and He never fails. Slowly and surely, Abraham knew that this Lord is the one person he can trust and have complete faith in Him.


Likewise for us, through our journey with the Lord, our faith is also being build up. 


Let’s pray:


Heaven Father, we thank You for walking beside us and showing us the ways on how we can build our faith. We want to be like Abraham, who fully trust in Your plans and abide in Your commands, even though we may not understand or rationalise anything that is ahead of us, Father help us to stand firm in the knowing that You are never wrong. If You are the God that can bring the dead to life, if You are the God that can command waves and storms, if You are the God that is the creator of heaven and earth, is anything too difficult for You? Help us then, to fully trust in You Father Lord, and to live a life full of faith. In Jesus’s most precious name we ask and pray. Amen 🙏🏻 

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