From Drought To Abundance

Introduction:

Drought and its effect is an unpleasant period of dryness and unfruitfulness which we all loth, while abundance - a period of plentifulness and fruitfulness is what we all desire.

Drought in a person’s life can manifest as sickness, disease, lack of fruit of the womb in a marital life, unemployment, etc. Abundance manifests as contentment, satisfaction, fulfillment, etc.

In the passage before us, we see God once again demonstrating His loving kindness and mercy upon a people that went to contrary to His will. As He uses one hand to punish, He uses the other to bring repentance. He used His prophet Elijah to punish and bring them to repentance.

For anybody in a state of drought to be able to transit from drought to abundance, such has to:

1. Examine yourself to know the cause of your drought ,

Ahab married Jezebel – who brought Baal and his worship to his kingdom. He built a temple and set up an altar of Baal. He also allowed and patronized Baal prophets.

1 Kings 18: 18 "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals.

1 Kings 16: 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.

1 Kings 17: 1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."

1 Kings 17: 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

1 Kings 18: 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria,

Like Ahab and his subject many people today, including believers are in a state of drought as a result of what someone did on their behalf or what they did themselves. Directly or indirectly they worship and patronize idols of shoe, clothes, jewelries, latest attires, etc, They thereby incur the anger of the Almighty and experiencing droughts in some areas of their lives.

What are the Baals and its prophets in your life that are responsible for your drought? Rather than accusing someone else as being responsible for your problem, why not examine yourself and find out how you have gone contrary to God’s will. Ahab was busy accusing Elijah for being responsible for problem he brought to himself and his kingdom.

2. Decide whether you want the drought to continue or not

1 Kings 18: 21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing.

Duet 5: 6 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.7 "You shall have no other gods before me. 8 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Acts 17: 24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' 29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and skill.30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.