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.” In week 5, we looked at the next part of Elijah’s story as we see him finding himself fighting massive discouragement. It’s something we are all susceptible to.

The we cannot help what comes our way, we can make sure that we are not positioning ourselves for discouragement. Elijah made himself vulnerable by

1. Fatigue.
   • Between traveling from Mount Carmel to running from Jezebel, Elijah was spent physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
2. Forsaking community.
   • Scripture notes that he “left his servant behind.” Isolation makes you vulnerable.
3. Fixating on the negative.
   • Negative thoughts will put your future on hold.
4. Forgetting God. 
   • He completely disconnected what God had been doing by getting so tunnel-visioned on the present.

How does God respond? By…

1. God gives the gift of sabbath.
   • Sabbath was meant to develop trust and margin (rest, relationship, and recreation) in our lives.
2. God replaces lies with His truth.
   • He helps confront the lies we believe with His truth.
3. God speaks in the still, small voice.
   • If we’ll quiet ourselves, we’ll realize He is always speaking.
4. God gives us something to do.
   • Go back and do what God called you to do, and watch as He brings life back out of you.

This week, not only monitor the things that make you vulnerable to discouragement, but look at those around you. Perhaps, not only can you find a time of “refreshing,” but perhaps God will use you to bring it to someone else.

Here’s the words from my journal reading yesterday with the link at the end for the song we did:

It’s the prayer of everyone who’s been hurt by disappointment
When life hits and gave us way more than expected
It’s the cry of the overwhelmed heart; the scream of a tired soul
The aching of desperation; fallen deeper into a bottomless hole
But you understand our darkness, you get the struggle of our inside
So we lift up our eyes asking you to hear our cry
You hover over our chaos ready to create with just one word
Speak Holy Spirit; I need hope in my hurt

It’s the prayer of everyone who feels forgotten
When the devil has convinced them that they’re no longer wanted
When he’s blinded their eyes from seeing the hope of light
When their strength is drained and unable to get in the fight
We‘ve had victory on the mountain, but the valley is nothing but distress.
Lord it’s you we need. We need some hope in our darkness
I call out the only One who can reach into an unreachable place
I know I can find peace if I could just find your face

To every person who thought that nobody cares
To every tired soul, bearing weights to heavy to bear
To those longing to knock but cannot find the door
To those who seek a way out and cannot take any more
Lift up your face, look beyond the valley
The sun may have set behind you but it’s not your finale
There’s a God who creates out of the depths of your chaos
Lift up your head, the Son rises to call us