Stand On The Mountain

STAND ON THE MOUNTAIN

I want us to look at the prophet, Elijah, today. He was a great man of God, bold, courageous, disciplined and faithful to what the Lord had called Him to do.

If we have any aspiring prophets today, this is the man you need to study. The story of Elijah is a challenge to us all, but there was a time in his life that he seemed to have lost all of his admirable qualities.

In a moment, I want to share with you that time in Elijah’s life. Before I do, I want each of you to know that there are times when you may not be too sure if the Lord is still on your side. You may have all of the training and life experience to faithfully serve God.

But there may come a day when you realize that your faith in what you believe (in) is slipping away.

Last week we talked about the hot and fervent fire that the Lord has for us that will restore and refine us.

You may have found the fire from God to have died down to little more than a smoldering ember. Even though you can still remember how it used to be with the Lord, you know when there is something missing.

There may have been a time in your life when:

· Nothing could ever stop you and the faith you had in the Lord.

· You may have sensed God’s presence with every breath you breathed.

· You made all of the right choices (in living for God)

But then comes the time when you sense that the enemy is determined to take everything from you.

He wants more than your possessions.

He wants to destroy you once & for all.

In this story of Elijah, his enemy was a woman who wanted to take everything from him.

This brave man of God was now panicked. He ran and hid in a cave for his protection. Elijah had lost his hope and trust in the Lord, but God came looking for him.

Text: I Kings 19:9 thru 13

Prayer:

I trust that I am not the only one here today that can relate to Elijah. I believe there are those who have (at one time) experienced great miracles in their lives.

Many of us can testify that God has always stood by us. Through the thick and the thin. The good times and the not so good times. We have shouted the praises of God when He has given us the victory.

Some victories we had to be patient for, while other times God chose to surprise you with a victory that came from nowhere. God is in the nowhere. God doesn’t have to have anything to perform His miracles.

Many years ago there was a man who believed that that God was NOWHERE. This was the motto that he lived his life by. This man hated God.

He told everyone that he was an atheist.

Someone would speak to Him about the Lord and he would always say, “God is NOWHERE.”

He had a family that he wanted to convince that God was NOWHERE. He wanted to teach his children what he believed to be true. When his children were small and in school they were learning to read and write.

The man thought this would be a good time to instill his motto into the lives of his children.

As they were learning to write, he had his children write his life’s motto, God is N-O-W-H-E-R-E.

But (much to his amazement) when the children carefully wrote the letters, it read, “God is NOW – HERE!”

This is the motto all of God’s children need to live their lives by. This is what we all need to hear. This is what Elijah needed to hear. God is now here. When our world is coming in around us and we are frightened, we need to know that God is now here.

God will come to you wherever you are. He will find you whenever you are frightened by your enemies.

When God finds us He will ask us as He asked Elijah, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

I think you should know that there was a time I ran from God. I have had God come to find me in a dark cave. Yes, I have had defeat come to my life to destroy me.

The details of any of our cave experiences are not important, this morning. What is important is this:

My particular defeat came to me right after a series of great victories. Just as it was for Elijah.

My greatest defeat came to me when I had just accomplished several things for the Lord.

The question I had for the Lord was, “How can I have defeat take place right after a great victory?”