Cave Time
Word of Life – January 29th, 2012
Intro: About 10 years ago, I was attending a meeting where a highly anointed Prophet was ministering. At the conclusion of the service he called me out and began to prophecy over me. In this Word from the Lord, several things were said to me that were absolutely life changing.
He called me an eagle; which was ironic because there was no way of knowing that God often revealed things to me through the eagle. Then he said that as an Eagle I was entering a “waiting upon the Lord time” and I would be sent to the cave for a season. While in that cave, other eagles would feed and take care of me. I would molt my eagle feathers, beak and talons; and it would take a while for my new feathers and things to grow back……. But do not fret, God would be with me in the cave, even though I would feel lost and vulnerable; it would be a good time. A healing time, a renewing time, a recharging time. It would be a refreshing time. And I would come out of it better than ever. And you know, that word was a very accurate word. I did go to the cave spiritually. And I experienced everything the Prophet said I would and more.
I do not want to repeat it but am very thankful for my cave time. I would not be where I am today were it not for the cave. Some of you are saying to yourselves, what’s all this about the cave? So, okay….. let’s talk about it.
Text: 1 Kings 19:8-9 NLT, “So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 9 There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.”
Why do we find Elijah the mighty prophet of God hiding in a cave?
We find the answer earlier in this chapter -1 Kings 19:1-9 “When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. 2 So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: "May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them." 3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died." 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, "Get up and eat!" 6 He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, "Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you." 8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 9 There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.”
Elijah goes from the mountain top victory over the Prophets of Baal, to a Juniper tree and from there Elijah’s next stop is a cave
Why is Elijah hiding in a cave?
The answer is fear and depression.
The bible says Ahab told Jezebel what Elijah had done, how he killed the false prophets and called down fire and rain from heaven, then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with the message that she was going to kill him. The bible says 1 Kings 19:3 that he received the word that Jezebel wanted to kill him. This means Jezebel’s words painted a dark & negative picture in Elijah’s mind and in his heart. Just as faith cometh by hearing, fear also come by hearing, and driven by fear Elijah finds himself in a cave.
There are all kinds of reasons that people find themselves in a cave. It could be divorce, it could be an abusive situation. It could be a financial disaster. It could be ministry itself, or it could be broken dreams. I don’t know all the many reasons for finding yourself in a cave, I just know if it could happen to a mighty prophet of God like Elijah, it can happen to you and I.
It also happened to David while he was running from Saul.
1 Samuel 22:1 “So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and all his other relatives joined him there. 2 Then others began coming—men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented—until David was the captain of about 400 men.”
I know as soon as you mention the word cave we shudder.
Why? Because People dread the thought of a cave experience,
Why? Because to us the cave is a dark, dismal, confusing, cold and lonely place.
While I must admit that is a fair description, I must also add that you are only looking at it from one aspect; one point of view. I have come to believe that at some point in our lives every one of us will come to a cave experience, and from my perspective it’s not a question of “if;” but when! If I am going to come to a spiritual cave in my life then it’s really important that I know what to do, and equally important knowing what not to do.
The first thing I would say to you is don’t despise your cave, The cave may very well be safest place you could be. There was a man in the Old Testament named Obadiah who hid 100 of the Lords prophets in a cave and sustained them with bread and water, and saved them from Jezebel’s hand; her plan was to destroy every prophet of God from the land. I am sure this was hard for these prophets because, prophets are not generally the kind of people to hide; they are usually in your face with “Thus saith the Lord”. But the fact is, sometimes God says show yourself, and sometimes God says hide yourself, and the truth is the hide yourself time is just as, if not more important than the show yourself time.
In fact had Elijah not obeyed the Lord and hid himself at the Brook Cherith, he would never have been positioned to show himself on Mt Carmel and called fire down from heaven and turned the nation of Israel back to God.
As we make our way back to the first scripture we mentioned today, it’s interesting to me that Elijah comes to the place called “The Mountain of God” and finds a cave there.
Everybody won’t know what I’m talking about, but somebody here knows what it feels like to be in a cave, to come to the mountain of God where there should be glory all around….
Where there should be unspeakable joy….
Where you should be enveloped in the presence of God…
But instead, you feel like God is a million miles away…..
It seems like every one around you is experiencing the goodness of God, and you can’t even feel Him…..
You question your experience,
You question your calling,
You question whether you’re really anointed or not,
You question if you’ve missed God somewhere,
Have I been disobedient?
Did God turn right and I turned left?
I can’t understand it? What is happening to me?
It could be that you are experiencing what Elijah experienced “A Cave.”
For somebody, this is going to be good news,
No you are not backslid,
No you have not been disobedient,
No God hasn’t forsaken you,
Yes you are still called,
Yes you are still anointed,
And No, God has not changed his mind about using you.
It’s just a temporary condition called the cave.
I am convinced that the cave was exactly what Elijah needed at that point in his life. why is it that we dread the cave?
Lets analyze the cave for a minute.
A cave is a dark place = no vision
= a lonely place
= a confining place
= a dead end
I am convinced that a cave is a very critical place in the Christians life. I believe that when you find yourself in a cave you are actually in process of transformation.
The cave is a potential Tomb.
Or, the cave is a potential Womb.
You can either die in the cave, or you can actually be transported to a whole new level.
Ministries die in the cave or ministries are birthed in the cave, and it all depends on the way you conduct yourself.
Our first tendency is to despise the cave, to fight against it, to try to keep going, to keep on trudging forward, pretending like everything’s fine, until we can’t pretend any longer and we give up the charade,
Notice I did not say give up the fight. The cave represents a place of darkness, = no vision, can’t see where you’re going; when you lose your vision you lose your sense of purpose and when you lose your sense of purpose you lose your passion. Here is where we begin to learn the blessing of the Cave.
Though No one wants to lose their vision, and their sense of purpose and their passion, it seems that at some point it happens to most people, if not everybody. The cave is the place where we are forced to stop; it is the place where we are left alone to wrestle with God, it is the place where we are forced to examine ourselves, and take inventory. It’s where we have to answer the questions. Am I moving with the anointing or just going through the motions? Am I really serious about this thing or not? If we respond correctly, the cave will become the womb of a brand new vision, and a brand new anointing. You will come out of your cave with a renewed sense of purpose and a unquenchable passion for God.
What looked to Elijah like a tomb, where his life and ministry would end, actually became the launching pad for the next phase of Elijah’s Destiny.
What can we learn from Elijah’s Cave Time? Simple stuff…. Simple but Heavy, like a concrete block. What can we learn?
#1 Don’t despise the cave. Before Joseph was promoted to the palace he spent time in the pit and the prison.
#2 Stop - Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
#3 Listen - 1 Kings 19:11-12 “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”
#4 Quit looking back. Elijah was so overwhelmed by what was behind him that he couldn’t see what was in front of him. As far as he was concerned, his whole life and ministry was over.
What was it that launched Elijah from his cave into the next phase of his ministry? It was a word from God; that still small voice; that inner witness that is unmistakably God.
When the word of the Lord came to Elijah, it brought a new vision, a new sense of purpose, and a new passion.
Elijah left that cave with a new anointing, a new passion and a new lease on life. New, New, New!
The fear of Jezebel was gone. Elijah was no longer looking back, but now he was consumed with taking this anointing to the next generation. One word from God turned a potential tomb, into a womb and his ministry was reborn… he was a man on fire.
When Elijah left that cave he was a new man, he was fearless! Jezebel meant nothing to him anymore.
He wasn’t looking back anymore, he had a new anointing.
What changed?
Did Jezebel change?
Did Ahab change?
No nothing changed outside the cave. The change took place inside the cave; Elijah changed, he transitioned from the old to the new and because he made the transition he was able to pass it on to Elisha. Maybe like Elijah you feel like you are in a cave, like your life and destiny are at a dead end. I’ve just come to tell you that it’s not a tomb, it’s a womb. And it’s not the end; it’s just the beginning of a brand new chapter. And God hasn’t taken his anointing from you; it’s just time to transition to the new anointing. In actual fact the cave is one of the greatest blessings that you could ever know.
The caterpillar would never make the transition into the most glorious and beautiful butterfly were it not for the dark confines of its cocoon.
And you and I would never make the transition to the fresh and the new if it wasn’t for our cave time.
I may be in a cave right now, but this is just a temporary condition because I am in transition and like Elijah I am coming out with fresh fire,
A fresh vision,
And a new passion,
And a new sense of purpose.
And the very thing that ran me into the cave is ultimately going to be responsible for pushing me to my next level.
Conclusion:
So here we are finishing up the Daniel Fast. And some of you went through it with ease and some of you struggled. And some of you did not participate and that’s okay as well.
But for those of us who did the fast, it was a purifying experience, fault revealing experience,
A flesh killing experience,
A recommitment experience,
A getting closer to God experience.
A breakthrough experience.
I am very excited about our future. These are great days and even greater days ahead for us.
People are loving each other more.
People are fellowshiping more.
People are getting hungrier for God than ever before.
People want to step up and serve the Lord any way they can.
People around here are becoming more like an Acts 2 church.
Remember Acts 2:42-47? “42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to prayer. 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
This is what we are becoming.
