Its a trick!

When was the last time you felt like the only honest person left on the planet. Have you every heard something that made your skin crawl and wonder if anyone else on earth still fears God? Here is an interesting true life story of someone with a similar experience.

Interesting Story
1 Kings 19

¹² And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

¹³ And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

¹⁴ And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

¹⁵ And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:

¹⁶ And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.

¹⁷ And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.

¹⁸ Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

¹⁹ So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

Elijah was on the run because of what happened in the previous chapter

1 Kings 18: 34 

³⁴ And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.

³⁵ And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

³⁶ And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.

³⁷ Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹ And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.

After this victory, Elijah got people to kill the 450 prophets of Baal who had unsuccessfully gotten baal to set fire to their burnt offering. Because of this Jezebel sent a message to Elijah swearing that she would kill him within 24 hours and he got up and RAN! 1 Kings 19: 1-7

The question is WHY WAS ELIJAH RUNNING?

He had just called down consuming fire from heaven. How come he was afraid of Jezebel's threat. We can find a clue to this answer in verse 4 where he asked God to kill him

1 Kings 19:4-7

⁴ But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

Elijah had been victorious over evil many times, he still believed in God's authority and ability to save but he was just tired. Tired of fighting along, tired of feeling like he was the only one a few verses later  when God asked him, Elijah, what are you doing here his response said it all

¹⁰ And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

Elijah was tired because he believed he was the only one left. He had tried all he could. There must have been a reason the others had all gone. Maybe its really more difficult than anyone can bear. Why suffer alone when they are all resting in heaven. Let me go to heaven before I join those who went astray. Maybe one day I will buckle under the pressure. Lord please take me while I still can make heaven. I am not better than all the others, the temptation is too much I don't want Jezebel to catch me unawares and kill me or punish me.

¹⁵ And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:

¹⁶ And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.

¹⁷ And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.

¹⁸ Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

It is normal to feel overwhelmed and overworked when you feel like you are the only one resisting temptation, fighting the fight of faith, not stealing, not lying, not cutting corners, not cheating, trying to live right. It feels good sometimes to feel like in a big bad world you are one of the very limited few who are truly serving God. It makes you feel exclusive and righteous. But it is a setup, it is the devil setting us up to give up when the pressure gets really tight.

It is the devil dividing us so he can conquer. Never forget that the devil cannot touch you and it is not because you can save yourself, it is because God saves you. It is not because you can pray one thousand times a day it is because Jesus himself is praying for you.

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25 KJV

Whenever you begin to feel like 'EVERY ONE IS DOING........' Don't Fall For It. It is a trap. It is a trick to make it easier for you to give up when pressure comes. You may cherish it to the high heavens just as Elijah cherished God's work but he ran away not because he stopped loving God. He was just sure that no one else had survived that pressure.

Dear believer, please don't propagate the mindset that everyone is stealing, cheating, lying, fornicating, doing rituals e.t.c It is not true, we are not the ones that know. God is the one who preserves his people and he is the one who knows. Yes, some people are doing it, maybe even the majority but it is certainly not everyone. And if you are on the verge of breaking down because you feel no one has probably overcome what you are facing, or that only a few people do. Please be encouraged. You are not alone and He that is in you is far greater than he that is in the world. It is well with you in Jesus Name. 

 ¹⁸ Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. 

The third group of believers are those who represent the other 7000 prophets in Israel  Elijah was in a place where 7000 believed what he believed and yet he felt alone. Maybe because they were in hiding in order to avoid persecution. Dear, child of God. If you stand for the truth...STAND UP and SAY SO. Do it so that someone around you who is probably 'in hiding' will know that he is not the only one living for God, faithful to his wife, ignoring evil, avoiding bribes e.t.c

When intense pressure comes to do something that is wrong, usually the strongest thing that makes people fall is the thought "No wonder no one else can cope, no wonder everyone else gave in." If you didn't give in be as vocal as those who did and want everyone else to think its impossible not to.

God Bless

PRAYER

Thank you Lord for your grace, mercy and favor. Help me to live right and as your word said to be an example of the believer in thought, word and deed. Help me to remember that you have made me a light so I can shine and encourage people around me to live holy by you grace and mercy. Lord help me to always remember that I am preserved in you not by my power or your ability but by the enable-ment of the Holy spirit inside me. Help me that no matter how many times I fall, I should remember that in you I have victory over sin so that I can rise again and stand strong in you.

I love you Lord in Jesus Name

Are you what you feel you are?

John 3:17 (KJV)

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

James has a bad cold but he doesn't want to go tot he hospital. It has been going on for a week weeks now but he doesn't care. He will take over the counter medicine if he has to but there is no way he will go to the hospital. He doesn't want to go because three of his room mates who had similar cases ended up getting diagnosed with pneumonia and they were all so sacred and stressed out for a while taking all kind of medicines. One of them even died. Now Chike and Thelma are on his case telling him he should go to the hospital quickly. James is not listening because he is not willing for someone to diagnose him of anything big. He is taking flu medicine and that's final. 

What James is not considering is that:

-Even though a diagnosis will change the way he feels (make him scared or stressed), with or without a diagnosis he has, what he has.

Jesus came not to condemn but to save. The Holy Spirit makes us aware of our sinful state (like a diagnosis), sin is what condemns, not HIM. Without him we would live 'blissfully unaware' of the condemned state we live(d) in. Jesus came to save us and then make us blissfully AWARE of our justification and freedom in him. After our awareness of an already sinful/condemned nature, we have a choice to accept the sacrifice of Jesus meant to justify us (i.e cleanse us, make us no more guilty, save us, remove condemnation which is the price for our actions). After that happens, we are no longer condemned neither can we be condemned.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8 :1)

Here is an open secret. People who accept Jesus and his sacrifice are not perfect people, they are just Saved.  Blessed and happy and ^[a]to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him. That's in Romans 4:8. So the first step really is to know what condemnation means: It simply means you are the one responsible for paying for your sins

2nd step: Sin has power over you until you pay

3. Jesus came to pay(that's why he bled and died)

4. If you accept his payment on your behalf you then become ABLE to live above sin.

5. Otherwise you are back to number one (you have to pay by yourself)

Do you see where this is going?

Many of us refuse to come to Jesus because we feel he will condemn us, but in truth the Holyspirit is just giving us the diagnosis of what we are. James in running away from the doctors did not realize that a diagnosis was only necessary in order to administer the right cure which would take the feeling away.  

People may condemn you, even those who know Jesus. You shouldnt care what they think, because they themselves cant justify you. Jesus will never condemn any who comes to him. He came to save and he is so dedicated to saving that when HE ROSE AGAIN he makes it his business to save us daily. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion) through His [resurrection] life. Romans 5:10 AMP

The only difference between someone who has Jesus and someone who does not, is that one is free and the other is not. One is going to pay for his wrong doing and the other is free because he accepted the offer to have his sins paid for. 

Halleluyah! Jesus rose again and is saving us everyday so we cannot be condemnable

Slowly read this: It explains clearly the basis for indictment:

^John3:19 The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil.

Don't for the fear of 'feeling' condemned reject the only person who can save you from 'being' condemned.

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (^[d]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. (John 3:16)

Christ died for you

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Thank you Lord for making me know that I am not condemned. Help me to show your love to others and not be self-righteous. I know that I cannot make myself righteous. Thank you for the Holy spirit, my teacher, helper and comforter. Take all the glory honor and praise Lord. Help me Lord to hold on to Jesus so that he can make me more like you each day. Thank you Jesus for your death and resurrection to give me salvation. May everyone I know come to the knowledge of you so that they can escape judgement. In Jesus Name I pray Amen