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
- Fatigue.
- Between traveling from Mount Carmel to running from Jezebel, Elijah was spent physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
- Forsaking community.
- Scripture notes that he “left his servant behind.” Isolation makes you vulnerable.
- Fixating on the negative.
- Negative thoughts will put your future on hold.
- Forgetting God.
- He completely disconnected what God had been doing by getting so tunnel-visioned on the present.
How does God respond? By…
- God gives the gift of sabbath.
- Sabbath was meant to develop trust and margin (rest, relationship, and recreation) in our lives.
- God replaces lies with His truth.
- He helps confront the lies we believe with His truth.
- God speaks in the still, small voice.
- If we’ll quiet ourselves, we’ll realize He is always speaking.
- 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: