Expect Your Blessings From Unlikely Sources
“Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” (1 Kings 17: 9).
When the brook Cherith dried up, God commanded Elijah to go to Zarephath, where a widow would feed him. God didn’t send Elijah to a wealthy man or a place where everyone would expect food to be in abundance; He sent Elijah to a widow who didn’t even have enough for herself; He sent Elijah to a place where feeding and sustenance was most unlikely. God sustained Elijah at an unlikely source.
Friend, hear God’s Word of Grace: God will bless you and grant you miracles from unlikely sources; you will get opportunities from places you least expect; you will receive favors from men you never imagined could favor you; you will be enlarged from ideas that don’t look big and profitable; strangers will show you kindness; haters will bring you good news; enemies will do you uncommon favors; God will amaze you through the same people you have underrated.
Increase your expectations from unlikely sources. Expect open doors in places where everyone expects closed doors; expect opportunities and favors in places where people feel there is nothing to expect; expect unlikely miracles and divine visitations you did not pray for; expect a higher level you didn’t ask for.
Look beyond your ‘Zarephath’ and see God who is able to sustain you. It doesn’t take God anything to make things good in your life; just trust Him and He will do what only He can do. If God is involved, then unlikely sources will give you unlikely miracles.
Isaiah 41 vs. 18 captures it aptly: “I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.”
Pray With Me: Lord, grant me miracles from unlikely sources, in Jesus’ name!
Give!
“…the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” (1 Kings 17: 10).
When Elijah came to the woman of Zarephath, he demanded water and also demanded cake. That widow had just a little meal and a little oil, but Elisha made demands for it. The widow needed someone to help her, but when the Prophet showed up, he began by making demands.
Prophets were God’s representatives in Old Testament times. So, God stepped into the life of a widow who needed help, and He first made demands on her. That widow needed a giver, but God asked her to give. She needed a miracle, but God gave her an assignment.
When the widow later performed the assignment Elisha gave her, she had food to eat until the famine was over. She had a little, but when she bowed to God’s demand, she received the miracle of multiplication. The assignment she got from Elisha was for her increase and multiplication.
There are times when we want to receive but God wants us to give; sometimes, we need God to make things happen for us, but He demands for what we should make happen; sometimes, we have unanswered prayers, but instead of bringing answers, God brings assignments.
Friend, glean some wisdom: God’s demand is the assignment that will give birth to your multiplication. If you fulfill the demands that God has placed on you, you will step into increase and expansion. If you make the sacrifice that God demands from you, He will raise you. If you obey God’s instructions, you shall have an all-round expansion.
Don’t neglect any assignment that God has given you; meet God’s demands and He will meet yours.
Psalm 126 vs. 5 says: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”
Pray With Me: Lord, help me to discover and perform the assignment that will lead to my multiplication..
Re-Affirm God’s Words
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. 14. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.” (1 Kings 17: 9, 14).
When God sent Elijah to Zarephath, He said: “I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee”. When Elijah arrived at Zarephath, that widow told him that she didn’t have enough to feed herself and her son; she spoke like someone who had forgotten God’s command to feed Elijah.
When that widow gave excuses about being unable to feed Elijah, Elijah proclaimed and reaffirmed the Word of the Lord; Elijah reminded the widow of what God already said. She seemed to have forgotten what God said, she even acted like one who didn’t hear the first word God spoke to her, and Elijah spoke God’s word again.
Friend, reaffirm God’s word. When your circumstances are contrary to God’s word over your life, speak God’s word again and again to your circumstances. When your health pretends not to know about God’s promise of divine health, speak that word again and again; when lack comes your way, remind yourself of God’s word on abundance.
Don’t allow circumstances to have the final word in your destiny; insist on God’s Word. Keep believing and affirming God’s word even when you can’t see results; keep declaring God’s word no matter what you see that is contrary to the Word.
Elijah reaffirmed God’s word to that widow, and it prevailed. Keep speaking God’s word, keep believing and declaring God’s word, and in a matter of time, it will prevail.
Acts 19 vs. 20 sums it up aptly: “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”
Pray With Me: Lord, I will keep affirming Your Word; may it prevail in my destiny, in Jesus’ name!.
Negative Cycles Must Be Interrupted!
And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” (1 Kings 18: 1).
In our Focal Scripture, God instructed Elijah to announce that it was about to rain on the earth. The heavens were closed for three years and six months (see Luke 4: 25-26); there was a negative situation for three and half years; a negative cycle persisted for three and half years, and God announced that it was about to end.
Three and a half is exactly half of seven; and according to the Bible History, seven is the number of perfection. So, before the famine could complete a 7-year cycle, God interrupted it; before the famine was perfected, God truncated it. God interrupted the negative cycle in Israel.
Friend, are there negative cycles in your life? Are you stuck in negative experiences? God says, every negative cycle in your destiny shall be interrupted; every problem you are facing right now will be divinely interrupted; no health problem will run its course; the challenges in your family, marriage, career, business, etc will not continue. God will truncate every satanic conspiracy against you.
Some problems and challenges may have come to stay, but God says they won’t continue. The cycle of evil will not complete itself. The wickedness against you won’t be completed; everything working against you shall be divinely interrupted; every satanic plot of the enemy shall receive divine interruption in Jesus’ name!
When God steps in, your challenges will expire by force.
Matthew 15 vs. 13 puts it this way: “…Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”
Pray With Me: Lord, for every negative cycle in my life, let there be a divine interruption, in Jesus’ name!.
Step Out Of Your Hiding Place And Be Confident
the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” (1 Kings 18: 1).
Elijah was a prominent and famous Prophet; but for three years and six months, he was hiding. Elijah hid because of the famine. He hid because the situation was not conducive; he hid because Ahab was against him. An international Prophet was reduced to a household Prophet.
In our Focal Scripture, God instructed Elijah to go and show himself to Ahab. God called him out of obscurity. The rain was yet to come, things were yet to change, circumstances were still working against him, and even Ahab saw him as an enemy, but God insisted that Elijah should step out of hiding.
Friend, are there challenges and circumstances that have pushed you into hiding, or made you lose your voice? Are there policies and people against you that have pushed you into obscurity? Are there setbacks, misfortunes, disappointments, betrayals, etc that have made you go into hiding? Are there issues that have stolen your confidence?
Today, step out and show yourself. Stop hiding because of what happened to you; don’t allow challenges, disappointments, and setbacks to push you into hiding; don’t allow your mistakes to steal your confidence; don’t allow unsolved problems to make you hide; don’t hide because all is not well.
Elijah stepped out when it was yet to rain. Ahab was still against him, the famine was still on, and he stepped out. Step out despite the challenges and circumstances that are yet to give way. Pick up your confidence from where you left it.
Come out of hiding; your place is not in obscurity.
Hebrews 10 vs. 35 advises: “Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.”
Pray With Me: Lord, I won’t hide because of my challenges; I step out, in Jesus’ name!.
Start Manifesting Your Dormant Gifts And Abilities
“And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” (1 Kings 18: 1).
While the famine in Israel lasted, Elijah hid himself from the public. He hid in the brook Cherith, and later hid in the home of a widow in Zarephath. He had everything it took to be in the limelight, but he was in obscurity; he had the capacity to shine, but no one knew his whereabouts. He was a star, but he was hiding.
Notice that in our Focal Scripture, God commanded Elijah to go and show himself to Ahab. One of the synonyms of the word ‘show’ is ‘to manifest’. So God commanded Elijah to go and manifest. God called him out of obscurity and called him into a new season of manifestation.
Friend, God says: it’s time for your manifestation. It’s time for you to be shown to your generation; it’s time for your light to shine to your world; it’s time for you to make an impact on your generation; it’s time for your name to ring a bell in the nations; it’s time for you to step out of obscurity and step into the limelight. It’s time for you to show your world what stuff you are made of.
Start manifesting your dormant gifts and abilities; start maximizing your potentials and potentialities; start using your skills and abilities; start making an impact from your little corner; be the transitional man through whom your generation will find solutions. Every challenge in your generation is a platform for your manifestation.
Your time in obscurity is over; step out, it’s time for your manifestation.
Isaiah 60 vs. 1 sum it up amazingly: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.”
Pray With Me: Lord, it’s my time to manifest, in Jesus’ name!
All Hindrances Must Give Way
The word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18: 1).
Before God sent rain in the land of Israel, Elijah killed the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. Some people had to go down before God visited His people with rain; some people died in order for God’s people to receive God’s package. Between God’s promise and the fulfillment of the promise, people went down.
Friend, every satanic priest standi7ng against the fulfillment of God’s purpose and promises in your life will go down; every conspiracy that is hindering your progress and future will go down; God will extinguish every satanic altar that is projecting evil against your destiny.
Those prophets of Baal used satanic powers for their operation; and God says, every satanic and diabolical power against you will perish. Any manipulation working against your interest and the interest of your family members will be cut down by God.
Some people may be deriving pleasure by standing in the way to ensure that you don’t make progress; God will take them out of the way and give you progress. God will push out and push down every force against your destiny. Any man who is working against God’s plan in your life will go down like those prophets of Baal.
Your rain must come; your breakthroughs and miracles must come, and any force that wants to oppose it will go down.
Isaiah 54 vs. 15 put it this way: “Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.”
Pray With Me: Every Manipulation or Projection against my destiny, I command you to be destroyed in Jesus name!
“…the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18: 1).
Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal were slain by Elijah before God fulfilled His promise to bring rain. Those Baal prophets were responsible for propagating Baal worship in Israel; so idol and Baal worship was cut down before God fulfilled His promise. The appearance of sin was cut down before God fulfilled His promise.
Friend, if you desire the fulfillment of God’s words and promises in your life, do yourself a favor: cut down every appearance of sin. Discard every habit and attitude that puts God off; walk away from every relationship hindering God’s intervention in your destiny; discard every practice and lifestyle that is contrary to God’s word and expectations. Discard everything that is taking God’s place in your life.
God has no difficulty in fulfilling His word, but He may take some steps away from you, and your rain may not come if your ‘Baal prophets’ are still alive. Some miracles and breakthroughs may be delayed until you turn a new leaf; some challenges may not attract divine attention and intervention until you tear down the foundations of sin in your life.
If the famine in Israel persisted, God had nothing to lose, but it was His people that would have something to lose. If you don’t discard sin in your life, God has nothing to lose, but it is you who has everything to lose.
Don’t delay your miracles by your own hands; discard everything that is not of God; if God doesn’t like it, discard it before it delays your next level.
Isaiah 59 vs. 20 counsels: “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.”
Pray With Me: Lord, I discard every sin and wrong lifestyle stopping the fulfilment of Your word, in Jesus’ name!.
