March 26 – Renewed from the Caves
1 Kings 19:9 – “Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”zz
Elijah was terrified of Jezebel who issued death threats and he fled to Horeb and lodged there in a cave. In the silence of waiting upon the Lord, His Word of the Lord came to him and asked him “What are you doing here Elijah?” God did not chide Elijah for running away, but He allowed a deeper work to birth in Elijah during that season. God wanted Elijah to define to himself why he ran away and what he needed to do different.
Elijah probably had a sudden spiritual attack, which was why he had a sudden fear of Jezebel. In fact, it was ironical that his sudden “panic attack” occurred after his greatest miracle when he called down fire from Heaven and challenged Jezebel, who witnessed the power of God. Such power was available to him, but he must have gone through a spiritual attack, so fear darts hit after that miracle. If a man like Elijah could come under a spiritual attack, surely, we too can. No human is too powerful or strong and even spiritual giants get weak. Elijah probably got puffed up after his great victory (I can only assume this, God forgive me if I am wrong!), but the higher we climb spiritually, for some strange reason we think we infallible, and suddenly a new surge of arrogance floods us and we stop praying or reduce it, stop communing with the Holy Spirit, After all, we are only human, we are prone to puffed pride!
Sometimes, we feel the need to run away. Perhaps our lives are in danger and we need to lie low and go somewhere to a secret hideout. We are not running away, maybe we need to be renewed and God knows it and allows it.
One important thing to remember is in our place of departure or hiding, there are some things we need to leave behind. When we return back, God may take us to a new place or back to the same place, but we cannot carry the old baggage, old fears, old habits, etc. In this new road of return, God will give us new strength to run the race ahead.
As we emerge from our caves, we have to wash ourselves anew, renew our thinking, and remove all our masks, pretenses, fake fronts and walk in Spirit and Truth in our identity, renewed by Him. In this purity, the Holy Spirit’s Light will shine in a dark world, and the powers and principalities strongholds over us will be broken in the Light of His glory. Angels will assist us as we walk along.
Pablo Neruda, a Nobel Prize winning Chilean poet-diplomat and politician said, “Perhaps the earth can teach us, as when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive.”
We cannot walk subject to the world system, but be as watchmen and watch women, we cannot be thoughtless. Pray changes all things. If we live without prayer, things get vague, listless, indifferent because the enemy will come like a thief in the night and try to take things away from us. Ephesians 5:15-17: Walk in Wisdom: See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
It is important that we all take a strong stand in these dark days. We cannot afford to stumble along in clouds of confusion any more under the whistle of the demonic winds. Rise up, and shine and the glory of God will shine and heal your nations.
Rita
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