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Today I want to give you a place to start your week. It’s Monday and in the wake of a great weekend and a workweek ahead, sometimes you just need a “kickstart” to get focused.  So grab some coffee let’s start a great week together.

Yesterday we continued our series on Elijah entitled, “Whirlwind.” Week 1, we set the stage for the world of which Elijah lived. The nation of Israel has split into two (Northern Kingdom “Israel” and the Southern Kingdom “Judah”). And the heart of the nation turned to idolatry.

1 Kings 17:1-7 Elijah steps out in obedience to speak a word about the drought caused by their idolatry. And just as fast as he gets on the stage, God calls him away into a ravine. Obedience isn’t always easy and it isn’t always understandable. But when we lower our pride and say “yes” to God, it causes our lives to shine brighter than what we could do on our own.

God sent Elijah away to this ravine, not as punishment, but as preparation. Three things we said yesterday,

1. Embrace the place God gives you.
   • V. 2 “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook…”
   • V. 5 “So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook…”
   • I believe that, if we desire God to do deeper works THROUGH us, we need to position ourselves for God to do a deeper work IN us. This ravine wasn’t a place Elijah would visit; he made his home (“camped”) there. Elijah invested his life in his place of preparation.
2. Open your eyes to what God has provided.
   • V. 4 “Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”
   • God will provide in your place of preparation, but you need to own your faith. When you own your faith, you no longer try living off of other people and you start depending upon God. You enter that personal relationship with him.
3. Be patient with what God is preparing.
   • The entirety of 1 Kings 17 takes place over 3 years. God didn’t need the time necessarily, but Elijah did. What did he learn? Everything that God has done FOR you is preparation for what He is getting ready to do THROUGH you. And we discover that in the following chapters how Elijah lived out of what he learned.

What you  may see as a season/age/time of transition, God is going to use as preparation. And this time is the time where God will deepen you as you walk in obedience to Him.

This week, ask the Holy Spirit to deepen a work in you. So often, we want to know the “what” and not the “who.” We are called to pursue the “who” and He will define the “what.”  If we’d seek the face of God, we’ll not just understand the “what” of life better but we’ll handle it in a more Christ-like way.

Love you all. Excited to see what God prepares in you.

See you this Sunday!!

BTW: This is the song we taught you yesterday