From the Palace to the Widow's House

The spirit of Elijah is resting on our generation as we prepare the way for the return of the Lord. Malachi declares that Elijah is going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons and the sons to the fathers (Mal 4:6). We have countless teachers today in the Church, but not many fathers (1 Cor 4:15). This Elijah ministry is raising up true fathers in the Church again. As a result sons and daughters will walk in their identity and inheritance in Christ. The sun of righteousness is rising with healing in its wings. Healing is coming to the body of Christ! In the natural and in the spiritual fathers are coming home. The Church is not going to be fatherless any longer.

The Lord is sending His messenger to clear the way because the Lord whom we seek is coming suddenly to His temple (Mal 3:1). His temple is us! As He is, so are we in the world (1 John 4:17). God is looking for an exact representation of Himself in the earth, a body in equal proportion to the Head. When God was looking for Adam in the garden after the fall it wasn't that He didn't know where Adam was. He was looking for that which was of Himself in Adam. When we received Christ we were given the right to become sons of God (John 1:12). Our relationship with the Father has been restored and we've been given full access to Him.

This Elijah ministry is a forerunner ministry. Like a pioneer it blazes a trail so that others can follow behind. This trail may be unlike one we've ever seen before. Brush and other obstacles are going to be in the way. It's time we lay aside every weight that slows us down and the sin that so easily entangles us and run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Heb 12:1). There's a race marked out for you. Like Paul, the forerunner declares, "Follow me as I follow Christ (1 Cor 11:1)." Sons follow their Fathers to the finish line.

We get our first look at Elijah in 1 Kings 17. Here he comes on the scene to Ahab during a time of spiritual drought. He declares that the Lord God lives, that he stands before Him, and that no rain will come except according to his word. Elijah comes out of nowhere with a powerful word that will affect the nations during their time of drought. A nameless, faceless generation is getting a word in the secret place for kings and governments. Elijah learned to stand before God before he stood before Ahab. A man that can stand before God can stand before kings.

When we are in the palace we think we've arrived. Sometimes God will give us a taste of something before we are mature enough to operate in the gift or call that He has for us. He needs to get us out of the palace (the spotlight, tv, etc) so that He can prepare us to minister at the widow's house (the Church and the world).

When we read stories like Elijah's we have a tendency to check out. We think that great men like Elijah, Isaiah, the Apostles, and more had a special set apart relationship with God unlike something we could ever have. James 5:17 says that Elijah was a man JUST LIKE US! God is not looking for those who have it all together to do great things for Him. He's looking for those willing to respond; a people that will cry out like Isaiah, "Here am I, send me." James goes on to say that Elijah was a man who with prayer prayed (prayed earnestly). Prayer coupled with a willingness to go where the Spirit sends you is the key. Be available and God will send you places and do things through you that you would have never imagined.

The Christian life is one of growth. Though many try to do so this is a process that you cannot bypass. We grow from faith to faith, strength to strength, and glory to glory. God's ultimate desire is for Christ to be fully formed in us (Gal 4:19). After this powerful word to Ahab Elijah is told to hide by the brook Cherith before the Jordan. The word Cherith means a cutting away. Many times in the midst of what we think are our greatest exploits the Lord needs to hide us in a place where he can cut us deep. As AW Tozer said, "Before God uses a man, God will break a man." We need to be cut away from certain relationships, teachings, our pride and more so that we can know the Lord more intimately. God values our relationship with Him more than our ability to do things for Him. When we value doing things for God more than relationship with Him we are building our own kingdom and not His. Don't be discouraged when the Lord hides you. God is preparing a generation by a brook called Cherith for great exploits in the kingdom. The Lord will reveal you in His time. Stay by the brook until He says to move.

Elijah was told that he would be sustained by water from the brook and by food sent from ravens. The raven was considered an unclean animal and yet this was the method God chose to feed Elijah night and day. Sometimes the food the Lord needs to feed us with comes from unexpected sources. The messenger might not be the person we thought the Lord would send. The word in his mouth may not make sense to us at the time. The word of the Lord can be uncomfortable and come across as an offense. It is imperative that we are a people who don't take offense. True fathers don't always tells you what you want to hear. Rebuking, correction, and training are not popular words in the body of Christ but they are very much needed today. (When administered correctly they never lead to condemnation, but rather to freedom.) Jesus was known for his hard sayings. His parables weren't always easy to understand. Apostolic doctrine is offensive. The message of the finished work is offensive. It offends the natural mind. We preach Christ crucified, an offense to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles (1 Cor 1:23). If you can get it with your natural mind, it's not God. This thing must be received by the Spirit. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Elijah was told that God would feed him there (1 Kings 17:4,9). There is a place called there. God knows where to put us, when and why. When God puts you in the right place at the right time with the right attitude you are having a kairos moment. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8)." After some time the brook dried up. When the brook dries up in our lives we need to be flexible and willing to move. The old way of doing things isn't going to work any longer. Some brooks in your life are in the process of drying up as there is an assignment for you in Zarepeth. Kingdom people are always on the move because we are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Rev 14:4).

After the brook dries up the word of the Lord comes to Elijah telling him to arise and go to Zarepeth of Sidon. There he has commanded a widow woman to sustain him. Oh the places the Lord will lead us to when we follow Him. Sidon was Jezebel's territory. She was the daughter of the king of Sidon and wife of king Ahab. The Jezebel spirit wants to silence the prophetic voice. It comes about through political manipulation and control. Here God sends His man. Zarepeth means the smelting place, the place of refinement. "These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world (1 Peter 4:7 NLT)." This is true prosperity Gospel teaching. All the riches in the world cannot compare to that which is eternal and indestructible. In the midst of Jezebel's territory God is raising up a people that are willing to go through the fire. "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold (Job 23:10)."

The widow woman represents the Church that the forerunner ministry is coming to. The fact that she is a widow begs the question, where are the Fathers? The world sees the Church without her husband Jesus as weak and dying. The form without the power is killing the Church. To this Church Elijah is on his way. In Luke 4:25,26 Jesus speaks of Elijah bypassing the widow women in Israel to minister to this widow Gentile woman. This speaks of the Gospel going to all nations.

Elijah meets this woman at the gates of the city gathering sticks. He asks her for a little water and while she's on her way he asks for a morsel of bread. The woman responds by saying that she doesn't have any bread but rather a little flour. Don't despise the little that God has put in your hands. Elijah comes to tell you that what you have is more than enough. When the woman is done explaining her lack and that she and her son plan on eating and dying Elijah responds by saying, "FEAR NOT." Here he operates in the word he ate at the brook Cherith. Elijah tells her to do as she said but first to make him a little cake. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matt 6:33)." By His divine power we've already been given everything we need pertaining to life and godliness through our knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3). New covenant prophetic ministers operating in the spirit of Elijah reveal what you already have in Christ. What is in your hand? The little you have is more than enough. Seek first His kingdom and watch what is in your hand multiply.

For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah. 1 Kings 17:14-16

The jar of flour and the jug of oil will sustain you UNTIL the Lord sends His rain on the earth. The Kingdom has come and the times of refreshing are here. The return of Christ is not any minute, but rather until. Lack of supply, lack of fathers, death, destruction and more are not in the Church's future. Until the Lord sends rain on the earth, until His return this Gospel of the kingdom will go forth and prevail in all the earth!

At a fairly early age I knew that God had put His hand on my life and that He had marked me for the ministry. In my mind I had an idea of what I thought that would look like whether it meant pastoring a Church or serving on the mission field. During Bible College and the few years afterwards I had been in the palace and had seen and been a part of great exploits for the kingdom. In my early twenties I was ready to take the world for Christ and was hoping to plunge headfirst into full-time ministry. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Things didn't turn out the way I had (or others) thought they would. The Lord had instead set me apart to Himself to learn from Him. Looking back I'm so thankful. If I had entered into ministry when I did I believe I would have been stuck in the old way of doing things. There were things that the Lord had to teach me and many things that I had to unlearn. While many of us are meant for the palace, the Lord wants to make sure we can effectively minister to the widow. For each one of us the process comes about in different ways but the principles seen in this passage are the same. Our calling is first to the Lord Himself. Without Him we can do nothing! Kingdom Blessings!