In I Kings 17 Elijah had a gigantic risk ahead of him and needed reassurance that God was still in control. For at least a year, the Lord had commanded ravens to feed him. After the stream dried up, God prepared a Gentile widow to demonstrate His continued presence and power.
The ravens had appeared with food every morning and evening. The jar and the jug held enough flour and oil for another day, and another, and another. The Lord could have provided Elijah and the widow with a barrel of flour and a keg of oil. If he had, there would have been no dramatic need to trust him every day. Elijah, like all of us, needed to learn to trust God constantly.
With church growth and evangelism opportunities we need to make sure we understand that God is concerned about all people regardless of what they look like, how old they are, or what language they speak.
If we remember that God loves everyone then our evangelism is easy to do because there isn’t anyone that we do not need to reach. God will always honor those that put others first and we need to test that principle with evangelism and our church growth. Can you imagine being that widow that was starving to death when she was faced with the test of giving Elijah her last bit of food. Most people would have said, “I hate it for you sir, but I come first!”
God delights in taking our material things, our talents and time and multiplying their effectiveness. God made a supernatural provision for the woman and her son and Elijah and fed them. There are times in our lives when we supernatural intervention for our lives and God can do it if only we believe in the faithfulness of God.
Finally, There are times when God will keep us on the edge or uncertainty until we have proven we have unending and unwavering faithfulness in God!
Tell us a time in your life when God proved that He was faithful but it sure was at the last minute of the situation.
A few years Bach my wife went back to school for a master degree. Budgets were tight, but we new that we would be ok but just barely. When she was graduating this past may, the expectation was that she would go back to work immediately. But in April God made it clear that she was not to go back to work. I have to go back and say that her new degree was for acting. God said to let her try to get work in her new field. He said to give her to the end of 2010. OK. But the bills were going to be a problem starting in June . We trusted God and followed His lead.
About that same time, I had been invited to go to Haiti to help with the reconstruction after the earthquake...FOR A MONTH. We both felt that this was impotent for me to go. Even with vacation time, I need to take 2 weeks UNPAID. OK God, we trust you. About 3 days before I was to leave for Haiti, I got a letter in the mail. It was a contract from the organization that I was going to Haiti with. They are going to pay me $12,000, while I am there. This was enough to keep our bills paid, not just for June, but for the rest of the year, while Wi pursued her acting career. Only God.
Just about that same time