Hearing God's Voice and obeys Leads To Blessings

1 Kings 17:1-24

HEARING GODS VOICE LEADS TO BLESSINGS.

“And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the
land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which
[belongeth] to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain
thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, 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. And as she was going to fetch [it], he called to her, and said,
Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

And she said, [As] the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and
a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and
my son, that we may eat it, and die.”(1Kings.17:7).Today from this passage we are going to talk about
hearing Gds voice. Although this is in the Old testament there are some principles that are similar
that are applicable today for us. We will not only take this scripture as our base but we will bring
certain incidents even from the New test. together with this old test.passage. So that we can get a
better understanding of the voice of God. God loved communication. Many think that God does not
talk much. he is a silent God, who loves meditation. No. God always speaks, he loves to speak. God
speak to us even now through his eternal/living word. that is the bible. But there was also a time
before the bible was written down and God still spoke to his people differently. He loved the people
so much, and he wanted to protect/provide/lead them so he told the people how they should live
and what they should do. People actually got to hear Gds voice. Right in the garden of Eden, God
walked and talked with Adam and Eve. Later on. God spoke to Cain, and God spoke to Abram, and
Isaac, and Jacob, even before the bible was written. Moses wrote the five books,but yet,God was
speaking to the people even before the bible was written. Look how God comes to the rescue of
Jacob. He speaks to him, and leads him, and shows him how to profit. He showed him thru visions,
how to multiply his cattle.” I am the lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit,which leadeth thee by
the way that thou shouldest go.”(Isa.48;17).Bible says God spoke to Abram in a vision to Joseph in a
dream. He spoke to Israel in visions of the night. God spoke to Samuel in a vision. For Ezekiel the
heavens were opened and he saw the visions of God. God even took him by the lock of his head and
lifted him up between heaven and earth and brought him to the visions of God to Jerusalem. Daniel
saw the visions of God,God spoke to Solomon in a dream by night in Gibeon. Job said “in a dream in
a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men,in slumbering upon the
bed.”(Job.33:15).Even in the New test. we find God speaking to Joseph in a dream, and warning him
too. Pilate's wife too received a dream concerning Jesus. Beloved God is out to reach you,but are you
hearing.” and it shall come to pass in the last days,saith Gd,I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams.’(Acts.2:17).O what revelations come forth thru dreams and visions.
How were the disciples convinced to a level of who Christ was?” and as they came down from the
mountain, Jesus charged them sayinhg,tell the vision to no man, until thee Son of man be risen
again from the dead.’(Mt.17:9).O Elizabeth’s husband saw a vision. The holy women who came to the
sepulcher on the Easter Sunday saw visions of angels. God spoke to Ananias in a vision, concerning
Paul. Cornelius saw a vision.Peter saw a vision. Paul saw visions, at times in the night. Now don’t
misunderstand me, these never occurred daily. but as and when God wanted. but God always
speaks to us thru his word, he speaks to us thru his inward witness, and then the inward voice, and
then by the authoritative voice of the Holy Spiirit,and then maybe at times he may come before you
and speak to you, but that would be very rare, and with a purpose. But then he can speak to you
through the visions, and dreams as well. But the primary way God speaks to us in the N.T.in the
N.C.is by his Spirit in the inner man.

1).GOD DOES GUIDE HIS CHILDREN.

Beloved God does guide his children, and he delights in guiding us. but it all depends on how much
tuned we are to God. The problem with us we are more natural conscious, and mental conscious
than we are spiritual conscious.That is why we either live in the mental realm or the natural realm.
So there is no possibility that God can guide us effectively. Jesus said

“God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.’(Jn.4:24).God is a
spirit and we can be directed by God in our spirits.”Worship”means crouch/lick like a dog that does
to its Master/the dog is always ready to hear, his ears will prop up. Many times we get in to trouble
because we seek guidance by means other than the way God has said. God wants to lead you, and
guide you, if we only give top importance to our spirits. For there he speaks to us.” The Spirit
itself( himself) beareth witness with our spirit,that we are the children of God.”(Rom.8:16).Paul says “I
pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless…” (1Thes.5:23).Did you see
that? Paul here begins with the inside first, the innermost part the most important part of man, the
heart of his whole being/which is his spirit, then he comes to the lesser important one. We need to
get the sequence/the priority. God has established a principle in the order of importance/urgency. It
is spirit, then soul, then body. How often people misquote this verse. they say,body,soul,and spirit.
Why do they put the body first? because they are more body conscious, than spirit conscious.
Natural things mean more to them than spiritual things. David was established/and he flourished
many times,because he was more conscious of God. He himself says “For thou wilt light my candle,
the lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”(Ps.18;28).

O Many live in restlessness because they don’t want to hear God; they will not rely on God. God does
speak in various ways. Yes God does speak audibly too, though God does not speak audibly many
times. Even when God does speak audibly it is more or less a spiritual voice that has a side effect on
the natural sound waves or that which produces certain sound waves in the natural. Sometimes the
voice is discernable and at other times it is not. But yet God does speak in an audible voice. You see
this kind of spectacular way of speaking is more prominent in the Old.testament. But still we are
touching on the 5% area of the normal way the Spirit operates.95% of the time the Holy Spirit
speaks thru the inward witness and the inward voice of the Holy Spirit, and most of the time he
speaks thru his word. Now whether God speaks to us through his word or thru the inward witness
or the inner voice or by the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit they are all supernatural. It is the
way God guides us for our benefit. though they may not all look to be
spectacular/prominent/striking. People today are more prone to sensationalism than have anything
supernatural. Just because sensationalism has a thrilling effect, it is like the lightening in the sky,
which is more dramatic or one which draws attention, people are neglecting the supernatural.
Because people are running after the spectacular they are missing on the supernatural which is as
effective. Beloved God wants to reach to us, and we are to be helped, and if we want help whether
one comes in a chariot or a horse or a boat, the help is important. Now in our story we find that
because Elijah had heard Gd,that he could avoid a woman from committing suicide. I don’t know
whether it was suicidal spirit or whether she meant that because of starvation she would die, or
then she would kill her son and herself. For the way it is put “behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that
I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.(1kings.17:12).Now it also
seems that she may add some poison to her and her sons food and die consequently. But whatever
it is, Elijah just reached there in time before her funeral. See the goodness of the lord for that gentile
lady that God interrupted a funeral that was going to take place. But what if Elijah didn’t hear the
word of God? She would have died with her son, and even Elijah would have starved, maybe not to
death, but starved till some kind believer found him at the brook Cherith in Jordan.O how many are
found at Cherith deprived of the blessings of God, just because they wouldn’t hear the word of God?
So God does guide his children. He does speak to us.” for as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God.”(Rom.8:14).With your body you can contact only the physical realm. with
your mind you can contact only the mental realm/solical/intellectual realm,but with the spirit you
can contact the spiritual realm,from where God speaks.That is why I encourage you to speak in
tongues that is way you can build yourself up.” for if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit
prayeth,but my understanding is unfruitful.”(1Cor.14:14).Our understanding /our natural human
mentality is a part of our soul. My spirit really prays, when you pray in tongues. Paul doesn’t say
when I pray in tongues my intellect prays/soul prays. No when I pray in tongues my spirit prays.That
is a great benefit to hear the word of God.” for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not
unto men, but unto God.”(1Cor.14:2). God had promised thru the mouth of Isaiah.”With men of
other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people.”(1Cor.14:21).That is the way God will
speak to us.”but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all
things,yea,the deep things of God.”(1Cor.2:10).

David says “I will hear what God the lord will speak, for he will speak peace unto his people, and to
his saints.”(Ps.85:8).God not only spoke to David, but even to his saints. Yes he can speak to all of us,
if we just allow the spirit to tell us. The primary way is through inward witness. There is always a
check in you when you are thinking upon something. Either you get an eerie feeling, or like a red
light of the signal you get a warning/or a sign to stop. It was not the voice, but an inward intuition.
There are many times I get this kind of indication, wherein I think I should not do a certain thing.” He
will speak peace unto his people.” It will always be peace. Certain things, you may continue to avoid,
but it will come back to you in your thoughts, and it will make you a little bit uneasy. It has happened
to me, and then I would say. Lord do you want me to do it this way, and then I will do it. and when I
thought it that way, I would feel better in me. that was the go ahead signal. that is the witness I talk
about. If you only learn to follow that inward witness, you will be successful/rich/he will guide you in
all affairs of your life, whether it is financial/spiritual/relational. At other times he will lead you by the
inner voice/inner conscience. Paul says “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing
witness in the holy Ghost.”(Rom.9:1).your spirit has a voice and he will speak to you to lead you and
guide yu.There are times when I have decided to do a certain thing, and then gone off to sleep, and
as I told you, I have no trouble in sleeping the bible says “He giveth his beloved sleep.”(Ps.127:2).I am
his beloved, so are you.” he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”(Eph.1:6).so every time we go to
sleep. we have a family prayer, and we sleep. but then there are times I don’t get sleep. My
conscience hurts me. My conscience is the voice of my spirit. My spirit knows that I am listening to
the natural, but not the spirit. that is the time I say Lord. do you want me that I should not take that
step? Okay then I will not, and instantly I would fall asleep, and In the morning I know what I have to
do. There are times when I have taken a particular decision, that I would wake up early, and that
thought would be coming in me. then I would say. Lord is it that I am acting naturally? Please let me
know. For in the natural I want to do it this way, but I don’t want to stand in your way. Then I hear
him speak to me, and it at times is beyond my thinking. and I say. Lord Is it possible? but then it
happens when I do it Gds way.Ex:I was buying this house, and I said. Lord I liked this house, but I
wont be able to pay that amount? So I just put it off. but I was restless. at night. I said. do you want
to buy it? I will, if you can help. He just led me to phone the owner up, and I did. he was ready to sell
it to us, and I got the finance too for it, which was not possible. Praise Gd.Our spirit picks up things
from the Holy Spirit.” I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower,and will watch to see
what he will say unto me,and what I shall answer when I am reproved.And the lord answered
me.”(Hab.2:1,2). “I will hear what God the lord will speak.” In other words. I have spoken enough/or
too much now I will hear what God will speak, and welcome his holy will. Speak for thy servant
heareth.He will speak peace, the peace of God that surpasseth all understanding.O within may be
fears/but soon it will be replaced with peace.God will do it. let us have an hearing ear.

2).WHAT ARE THE BLESSINGS AND LOSES OF HEARING AND NOT HEARING GOD?

We have this problem of either we don’t want the leading of the spirit or then we do take the help of
the leading of the Spirit, because we are so established and so familiar with certain things that God
had done before, that we think God will move the same way, or say to do the same things/or the
same way even this time, and so when God moves differently this time, we go the way of the old
time. and we fall flat on our faces.You know of Moses.You know how the children of Israel craved for
water, and Moses cried to the lord.and the lord said.” Behold I will stand before thee there upon the
rock in Horeb,and thou shall smite the rock and there shall come forth water out of it, that the
people may drink, and Moses did that.(Ex.17:6).Then later on, after a long time. again they needed
water. and God said.” speak ye unto the rock before their eyes,and it shall give forth his
water.”(Num.20:8).Bible says. Moses “smote the rock, twice and water came out of it.(v.11).He
thought why need I to ask God for the same thing. I am so familiar with God and certain things of
God are same.But how foolish we are. God was angry with Moses.”Because you believed me not to
sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into
the land which I have given tem.”(v.12).You sees God keeps changing and moving in creative ways
continually. There are some things that are the same yesterday, today and forever. But there are
some things that will keep changing so that you don’t get too comfortable and trust in your own
strength and don’t lean on God. It is what God demands that we be willing to change when he
moves in a new way. Anything that is repeated in the same way, becomes monotonous, and loses its
charm/sanctity/holiness/.it becomes mundane. Aren’t some of the songs that we sing carry an
anointing? O like we sing that song of Yeshu ke haath.everyone is singing. You get in your house you
are singing and you love the lord. You are caught up in that song. But after a month or so you realize
that you are still singing but something has changed. Because you are so used to that song that you
are signing it now for the sake of singing it. It is become by heart.and it is not like when you first
started it. So though you know that song you lost the anointing. The songs are the same, but it
seems to get dull, the song never changed, the tune was the same, but we have changed. Do you
see that? Now know this that God never wants us to be comfortable in an area where we are not
willing to change and where we are depending on our own strength. Whenever we reach a point
where we become comfortable God starts rocking our boat. Like when God saw that Abraham was
becoming comfortable he asked him to sacrifice his son whom he loved. God always demands our
surrender. So when we sing the same old songs, we tend to lose the grip, and that is why the
Psalmist says sing a new song unto the lord. Light is the same but we need to enter into different
dimensions of it, and rays of it. Now look at Elijah he had seen the power of God working in his life. it
was a daily miracle, for the crow to bring him his breakfast and dinner. You know of all the birds it
was crows? they are the most stingy birds in the air. Yet God worked through it. If God can change
the crow, he can change a donkey he can change us too. Now the brook had dried up. At such times
people would give up, because was it not God that sent him there?Yes.But yet the brook dried up.
Yes but at such times we learn the importance of clinging to God and to his word. that is the time we
need to hold on to the promises of God. Elijah saw the change, but since he was a God listener, his
trust never changed, it still was unfailing. He listened to Gd. Had it not been the lord that had sent
Elijah to dwell by the brook Cherith,and now its waters were dried up? How do you explain that?
Here is a very vital lesson to learn from the drying of the brook Cherith.Through it God endeavors to
make us see and feel that our dependency should be on him alone, and that it is not that God once
said, and that is all, now we should cling to the brook cherith for our sustenance, I told you, when he
sees us comfortable he starts rocking our little boats of comfort/security. Because when we are too
comfortable we don’t have fellowship with God. He listened to God the first time, and now again he
is listening to God. If you can listen to God all the time you will never panic. You may lose your
job,but if you still listen to God. he will tell you.My son fear not. I have something else for you ,which
is far better. In every situation that you face in life, if you can only hear God you would be in perfect
peace.”Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee,because he trusteth in
thee.”(Isa.26:3).You see God wants to speak to you. You are born again; The Spirit of God is in you.
He will lead you there. If you want to better hear God in this new dispensation, then I will show you
how to contact God effectively. Pray in tongues most of the time. Yes I encourage you to speak in
tongues as much as you can.What did Jesus say?” In the last day that great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me,
as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because
that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”(Jn.7:37-39).When you receive the Holy Spirit, out of your belly shall
flow rivers of living water. What is this belly? It is the innermost being/the spirit being. Didnt David
say the same thing.” The spirit of man is the candle of the lord, searching all the INWARD PARTS OF
THE BELLY.”(Prov.20:27).See that? All the leadings I have ever received have come from out of my
spirit. And most of them have come when I was praying in tongues/or meditating on the word.
When you are praying in tongues your spirit is very active. Many people have not reached to great
success, because they have learnt and done only one kind of praying, and that is praying with the
understanding, or mental praying. How sad to see Christians fighting spiritual battles with mental
and physical abilities. In the crisis that Elijah was in, he needed the help of God.He needed God to
speak to him, and if he had been near and around the vicinity of Ahab, he would have been restless.
How many times God wants us to get into the closet that he can get us to hear him?” Hide by the
brook of Cherith.’That is what God said. In the hidden life he could hear God. Be alone with me.
Elijah had just become famous as an adversary of Ahab, because his prayers stopped the rain.At the
moment of his new-found fame, God wanted Elijah to hide and be alone with God. "We must not be
surprised, then, if sometimes our Father says: 'There, child, thou hast had enough of this hurry, and
publicity, and excitement; get thee hence, and hide thyself by the brook - hide thyself in the Cherith,
and there I will speak to you. That name “Cherith”means “to cut up or off/away.” This shows that God
has some cutting to do in the life of Elijah, cutting of from his people, from your daily mundane
work, cut off from all, get into the closet that God may speak to him. Through it God wants to show
to you, how rickety/wobbly/alterable/changeable is the earth. but how stable/steady/steadfast is our
God. We depend on our wisdom, and he turns it into foolishness, we are in worldly prosperity, and
he strikes us down from the pinnacle of our wealth/our greatness, O hw he teaches us, we love
somebody and he asks us to lay them on the altar, and others he takes them away, and yet how few
of us and how few times we have learned the great lesson .Our hearts are still in the world, and he
sends sorrow upon sorrow. Now listen God said to Elijah.” Go to Zarephath.’but notice God said
something else.” I have commanded a widow to feed you.” Now she was not a rich widow, that who
had a big estate, and what kind of welcome did he receive? When he went to the widow, all was
ready; the banquet prepared for him, and a widow with hand towel standing beside the chair to
serve him.No.there was a widow with suicidal tendencies and with tears running down her cheeks.
Her son a skinny fellow standing beside her. She had just a little oil and a little flour, and she was
ready to make bread of it and eat it and die. But had not God said I have commanded her? Yes he
said so. But I thought if God had said, then he would send me to the best house in Zarphath, and I
would get a warm welcome with a hot dinner. Who said that? I thought I would be shouting
hallelujah/praise Gd.Well if you cannot shout glory in little things that God does, how/why should he
give you a banquet? Now listen to this principle of God. He fed Elijah only in the widow’s home. Why
could he not do the miracle in the desert itself.? God has a purpose. Now there are times, when you
may have heard Gds word right, but the other person may have not heard you. See that was the
case here. When God spoke to Elijah,God had also spoken to the widow. Her problem was God had
spoken to her,but she didn’t hear it. Didnt God tell Elijah. I have commanded her.” Now how did God
charge the widow? Here “commanded” also means “charged/commanded/.Now by the way she
speaks to Elijah of dying. it would seem that either she was not commanded, or that she never
heard God. When one is stooped in trouble, he often neglects Gds still voice. That is why when we
are in trouble, instead of getting all worked up about it, try to hear God. Has it not been said. He
spoke and it was done, and he commanded and it stood fast? He shall give his angels charge over
thee? So divinely a message/messenger had been sent to her, in what way/how I don’t know, but
possibly her faith was so low that she did not give into the message, for the message was. I am
sending you a man of Gd,feed him, and he will bless you. Now this seemed so absurd for her, for
she said. here I am dying with just one evening meal for me and my son, and this messenger who
came visiting me says. I should give something, to the man of Gd,and I will be blessed. I don’t believe
it at all. O how we miss God. If you don’t hear God in an evil situation, there are chances of you
dying/losing in your situation without ever coming out of it. To hear God is deliverance. Some people
live and die, and they die early because they don’t hear God. Thank God Elijah heard God. If Elijah
had also not heard God, probably he would have died, and died early. and instead of one funeral
there would have been two. We need to hear God, and God does speak. But firstly and primarily he
speaks to us thru his word. If you don’t read the word,you will not know what God is saying.Secondly
he also speaks thru the inward witness.Though I may not speak in detail, we will deal about it in
detail some other time,exclusively.”The spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit.”(Rom.8:16).Beloved if you will only learn to follow that inward witness, God can make you rich,
he can deliver you, he can give you bread in the midst of famine, he can send you to cherith,he can
make a widow available for your blessing. You will not die but live.” For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.’(Rom.8:14).O this is the most important. thing that can
happen to you.God had said it “a new heart also will I give you,and a new spirit will I put within
you,and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I
will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments,
and do [them]. (Eze.36:26, 27).
Why didn’t the widow hear God?” And she said, [As] the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but
an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that
I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”(v.12). Did you notice how
many “I” and how many “my” and how many “we” was there? I/me/my is the downfall of many good
Christians. Her problem was she was self centered/self conscious, and not God conscious. If you are
self centered you will never hear from God. If we are self-absorbed/it gives place to ego. But when
you are benevolent/giving/unselfish. you will hear God. There is always blessings that come when
you hear to obey. she was so absorbed in her life/her sons life/her own situation/my problem, my
lack of food, my this ,my that. and then in the end our funeral. Self centeredness kills you. but when
you die for others you shall live, but when you live for yourself you will die. We are born again. Now
it is no more I but Christ.In the world we have this saying, that the opposite of love is hate.but in the
bible the opposite of love is self. Paul says it.” seeks not her own.”(1Cor.13:5).Love believes all things.
That is love. Love is what Jesus did on the cross. there it shows that he never lived for self, but for
others, that is why he got a resurrection. He who saves his life shall lose it,but he who loses his life
for Christ sake, shall gain it. He lived for others, not only the ones that he was acquainted with but
beyond them. In his prayer he said.” father I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will
believe in Me thru their word.”(Jn.17:20).He looked far, beyond. The opposite. of love is self. She lived
for self, and the more she lived for self, the more she was dying. She said. see what I have, I am
gathering a few sticks, I have this little flour, this little oil. she had natural eyes. she was self
centered, and she was dying too. Beloved she was hurt in her life, and that hurt was causing her to
deprive the blessings to others. You know how some people think. If I have been deprived of this
thing, let me not rejoice/or let me not help anybody. Let them also come the hard way, for I have
come the hard way. That is not proper. If you are living in hurt, you are not dead spiritually speaking.
but a person who is in Christ is crucified on the cross. He doesn’t feel a thing. You can curse him/spit
on him/he doesn’t feel. Remember any hurt you have in your life is your pride being pricked. If your
name is spoilt why do you worry? you are dead in Christ. Be concerned abut retaining Christ’s name.
When Peter was called to walk on the water, he did it fine as long as his eyes were fixed on Jesus, but
when his eyes turned to the waves he started sinking. Never let your natural/circumstances/replace
the vision of the spirit, because soon disaster strikes. In some way God had reached to her,but she
missed the voice/the messenger, while Elijah heard/the raven heard. Beloved is there a situation you
are facing right now that seems to press you down? whether healing/finance/or any area of your
life? dont be too filled with the voices of the world. Paul says “there are, it maybe, so many kinds of
voices in the world, and none of them is without significance.”(1Cor.14:10).There are many voices
and each has meaning. Every voice has an expression and meaning. Beloved was not John the.
Baptist a voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord? but how many listened?
Yes was there not a voice of the unclean spirit shouting out and crying with a loud voice, and saying
what have I to do with you? There is also the voice of the father saying. this is my beloved Son.O his
sheep will hear his voice. But for that you need to move closer to God as it is said.” when Moses saw
it, he wondered at the sight, and as he drew near to behold it the voice of the lord came unto
him.”(Acts.7:31).Beloved she must have heard many voices crying for bread/cursing Gd,because she
lived in an idolatrous place of Ahab and Jezebel. Whose voice are you hearing? Does not the bible
say when Herod spoke the people gave a shout saying it is the voice of a god, and not man? How
mistaken they were, for their god immediately was struck down by the angel of the lord. Beloved see
God, in your situation/financial strait/in your family/trouble. Beloved when you are only thinking on
self. you lose track on Gd,and his activity/miracle, and it effects you, did you see how she saw her
circumstances and was ready to die. what she feared most came upon her. Hope is the last thing
that loses ones grip. If you lose hope you are lost forever. hope never rises high when you see your
circumstances and not beyond. Faith is higher, it is the substance of things hoped for. But even if
you have no strong faith to conquer a sitation,at least maintain your hope. When there is God there
is God. where you don’t see God you don’t have hope. for he is the God of hope. Now Elijah said.
first make me a cake, and give me water, and afterward whatever left over is there you can take of it
and feed yourself and your Son.O strange are the ways of God. But then it has to be strange to
them, that are self centered. We feel bad about the way God moves with certain people, but God
knows what he does. he wants us to focus on him, rather than on self. I have seen people when they
are concerned about others, God blesses them. One sister testified. I was suffering from chronic
aliments, and I was crying for myself at the meeting, but then I looked at others who were crying for
their ailments, and I said. Lord not me first but her, because she suffers more than me. and she
began to be concerned about other woman, and she didn’t realize it, she was healed herself too.
when you stop being concerned about self, and begin to pour your life for others, you put yourself in
the line of healing. Some people say. why doesGod have to work round about.. Why make it hard for
me to receive. God wants your faith to act. He wants you to conquer the natural then you can be a
blessing to others as well. But why can’t the man of God just call me up on the stage from the
congregation and say. thus says the lord you are healed? See God has many ways to deal with each
one of us. God is not just concerned about your immediate needs, but for your whole life and the
span of it. He wants you to know him, and walk with him. He wants you to know that there is
something called keeping the healing also by faith. He wants to change your character. Take for
instance the prophet of God. Kenneth Hagin.He was just 15 yrs old and he was dying. The pastor
came and said the last prayer, and he prayed.O lord let your will be done. Give the mother the
strength to take it/bear the circumstances that will be coming upon her. and that too right on his
face. He cried out. No I want to live. He got hold of the word Mk.11:23,24.and claimed it/and
received it every day. He spoke to God every day. and one day he heard Gd.It is not hearing and
obeying, but hearing to obey. God will enlighten us, God will speak to us, and then best way God can
lead us today in the New dispensation is through our spirits. In the Old he led them by the pillar of
fire, because they were not born again. their spirits were dead, but now he leads us by the renewed
spirit. But sadly many times we seek guidance by means other than the way God said. when we do
that, we get into trouble. We sometimes judge how God is leading by what our physical senses tell
us. But the bible never says, that God will guide us through our physical senses. There are others
who look at things thru their mental standpoint, but there then God does not say that he would
guide us thru our minds, he guides us by our spirits. The spirit of man is the candle of the lord. God
does want to guide even those unbelievers at times, that he does by his mercy, but they don’t listen,
and so there is a little light shone by God.” How often is the candle of the wicked put out and how
often cometh their destruction upon them, God distributeth sorrows in his anger.”(Job.21:17).it is
not the salvation light/or the renewed spirits, but their glory their light/their prosperity/their life.
Now Kenneth Hagin did not just hear, but heard to obey. and the lord said. If you are healed. what
are you doing on the bed? healthy people rise up early and are off the bed. He jumped out, and
struggled a little bit, but he walked for the first time after almost a year. the whole room spun
around him. but he started shouting I am healed. He walked, slowly but surely. He became a mighty
man of God. The day he got healed he was just 15.16.but Jesus was not just interested in his healing.
but was seeing the blessing of holding to God, hearing of God, walking in faith, walking and clinging
to God and his word, and blessing others in the world. Many lose on this area. When they want to be
healed/blessed/immediately, they become self centered, and when things come easy, you don’t
value it. Yes God wants to heal you,but also he wants a change in the whole dimension of your life.
He wants you to have a strong testimony of faith/yeildedness/commitment/and knowledge of God.
that he can use you as a testimony. Now when she saw something in what Elijah said and did. she
had faith rising in her. and surely the flour was not used up nor did the jar of oil run dry. As God
blessed the house of Obed-edom of old, though a gentile, yet because he gave place to the ark of
God, which speaks of Gds word. so also God blessed this widow, not only with physical sustenance,
BT she came to know the living God as well. Beloved she gave out of the meager she had, and what
she discovered was the law of God at work with all effectiveness.’ whosever shall give to drink unto
one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he
shall in no wise lose his reward.’(Mt.10;42).Yu can imagine. Elijah now staying under the roof of the
widow of Zarephath.The famine was still raging among the thousands around. But as each mornings
sun arose on the members of this blessed home,lo,the barrel and the cruse which the evening meal
seemed to have exhausted were again replenished. Gods mercies are new every morning, and his
faithfulness every night. says the preacher. We can only venture to imagine how the prophet must
have spent his hours in this secluded place. He could have walked up the mountain the rocky ridges
and looked down on the snows of Hermon,and Tabor.he would have wandered near the seal of
Galilee, little realizing that the God whom he served will later walk on the very shores of the lake. Yes
and when the barrel had supplied the its evening meal, and the lamp had been lighted from the
unfailing oil cruise, you can imagine him calling the mother and the son and would have preached to
them the divine character of the God of Israel. How the blessings would come upon all of the
earth.O picture how he must have narrated to them about the God of Israel. He must have narrated
to them those eventful scenes of the how Israel were under bondage in Egypt, the exodus, the
wilderness and the conquest of Canaan the wonders of David and Solomon. He would have taught
them the songs of Israel.” Happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the
lord his God.’He must have opened the scriptures tot hem. “Which executeth judgment for the
oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:”(Ps.146:7). ‘The LORD
preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow:”(v.9).I believe that they would have
been tutored by this great man of God. There they might have seen the dumbness of Baal, and the
insensitivity of the idol worship.O How wonderful to hear the word of Gd.how wonderful to see God
working in our stead.I pray that God may open our eyes to this area of truth. Praise God!!!