Reawakened by the Love of God
Key verses: 1 Kings 19:1-18. James 5:17-18
Key thought:
God is always pursuing us even when we are drained, frustrated and burnt out. We have to anticipate for his help even when we don’t feel he is present.
Depression and suicide cases are on the rise in our nation. Frustrations are evident and it seems it now normal to hear of such negativity in the media.
The devil wants to believe that there are certain things that we should not involve God. One of his great strategies to separate us from God, is to make us feel like we can make on our own.
The agenda of the devil has not changed, he comes to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life and life in abundance (John 10:10).
We are only as powerful as long we continue to abide in the Lord. But the good news is that even when we stumble and all hope seems lost, God still pursues us and we be on the lookout for him.
So Christians get discouraged, children of God too can get depressed, but the grace of God abounds, his love and care reawakens us from slumber!
Preliminary thoughts
a. The devil is in fear mongering business
- Christ already conquered the devil on the cross, we are secure in Christ and on the winning side.
- Our challenges in life are magnified by our inability to fully trust God at all times.
- We want to take matters in our hands- without God, when the behind the enemy we face are demonic powers.
- So our natural instinct takes charge at the expense of the grace of God at work in us.
- Panic is one favored tool the enemy likes to take our focus from God.
- Elijah and ran all day to the extent that all his energy was drained and felt like dying, he asked God if he could die. Yet even here God pursues and reawakens the zeal and ministry in him.
b. Feeding on our fears distorts the perception of who we are
- Negativity slowly takes our self-worth even before God. Frustrations, burn out all fall in the same category.
- Whenever we are in the pit we must be careful on how we spend our energy and resources. In whatever negative situation we might find ourselves in we must never make choices that can worsen the situation.
- If we take out God, it indeed becomes too much to bear. The situation might be bad but that does not take way your relevance, as long as God is with us there is hope.
God reawakens us by preparing us for the phase of our assignment
- When drained, burnt out or depressed, complaining may be soothing to the self not of help to our recovery.
- When God reawakens us, he gives super natural strength, the food Elijah ate lasted him forty days and forty nights.
- Even when running from your own shadows, outside His will, He is ready to come to our rescue. When fight alone we operate on limited energy and that’s exactly what the devil wants. There is so much ahead of us, but we are blinded by current events and so fail to get ready for the next phase.
- God reawakens us by bringing us into his presence
- It is in encountering God that our spiritual vitality comes, it where our confidence is rebuilt.
- Spectacular things happen in the praise of the Lord but it is important to hear him speak to us. A great and powerful wind blew up the mountains, there was an earthquake and then there was fire but God was not in all these.
- It is important to segregate the voice of the Lord form the many ways He can speak to us; discernment is therefore important. Be ready to obey when He speaks.
- God reawakens us by giving us fresh assignments
- There are fresh assignments for us when we get over the self that says we can handle this alone.
- The weight of your assignment may appear may be burdensome because you think you are alone; God has reserved others that are working to advance his agenda too.
- As we allow God to reawaken us and respond rightly, we get into our new season ushered by the Lord.
Conclusion
Bumps, frustrations and fear are a common occurrence in life. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking we can handle these alone.
By clinging to Jesus, we are guaranteed to be reawakened when overwhelmed.