Elijah | Becoming a Champion

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Our World needs champions. Sadly, popular media generally present champions as demigods of uncommon and exceptional stature. And, we all want a hero who wins, so it sells books and movie tickets. But, it may also rob us of our most important champions, those ordinary people that simply refuse to quit.

1 Kings 17:1 (NLT) Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

One Person Who Believes. Elijah means “My God Is Jehovah”.  How BIG was Elijah’s God? Here Elijah stands. No one knows who he is, except heaven. He is from a town named Tishbe. That’s a bit like Superior, Wy compared to Salt Lake City. BUT, after today, everyone would know his name.

Maybe You are an Elijah. How BIG is your God? Maybe it is you who will take a stand in a world that is slipping into oblivion. Maybe you will stand for God among your peers. What if more people took a stand? 

1 Kings 17:2-3 (NLT) Then the LORD said to Elijah, 3 “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River.

Champions Rise From Isolation And Pain

God Sent Elijah into Hiding. God knows something about us that we don’t… God sent Israel into the wilderness, David into the fields, Jesus into the wilderness, and Paul into Arabia. Israel got a degree in freedom. David in the danger of enemies, Jesus in victory, and Paul in grace.

Everyone Suffers Pain. We’ve all got some stuff to work out. We’ve all been broken, and we’ve all broken others. We all suffer from a deep “aloneness”. We all have a place that only God can save us from.

Kerith means cutting. Like cutting down a tree, cutting down high grass. Valley or brook as the NLT translates it, means torrent or valley. Imagine a valley cut in the floor of the desert by centuries of mild to violent rains and runoff. The valley symbolized the cutting and breaking of Elijah’s life.

We cannot escape this. God is committed to our healing. And, the healing of your wounds as well as the lies that keep infecting them, is part of your salvation. It’s part of being saved.

Think of someone you consider to be a true Christ-follower. What unique attributes of their character would you like to see in your own life? Why?  In 1 Kings 17:2-3, God led Elijah to a period of hiding in the Kerith Ravine. Kerith means “cut off or cut down.” Describe a painful experience that God used to shape you into who you are today.

1 Kings 17:4-6 (NLT) Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.” 5 So Elijah did as the LORD told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.

Champions Learn To Depend Upon God

The gods of this World Promise. Elijah was standing against a wicked king and queen. They were leading people to abandon the true God for lesser ones. These false gods promised the very things they took from people.

God Provides. God can provide by completely illogical means. Ravens don’t bring food, they steal it, unless God tells them otherwise. God can do more with nothing than you can do with everything. If we don’t learn to depend upon God, what will we depend upon? God was taking great care of a poor prophet from nowhere. Meanwhile, Ahab in all of his wealth, power, and authority was losing more every day.

So, are you cut off? Are you in the midst of something deep? Learn dependence here. Learn to ask God and learn to remember His provision. Because all of this is for something larger, something important.

God taught Elijah to depend on Him daily for food and water. What are you daily trusting God for right now?  Describe a time in your life when things felt very desperate but you saw God meet your needs. What did you learn from the experience?

1 Kings 17:7-9 (NLT) But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land. 8 Then the LORD said to Elijah, 9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”

Champions Learn To Obey God

Obedience to God. There is no Christianity without obedience to God. Obedience doesn’t save you. It doesn’t make you worthy. But it does make you a GENIUS! Jesus is the creator and sustainer of it all.  He told us plainly how the world and the kingdom work in Matthew 5-8. We can’t ignore Him!  Who would call themselves a Christian and have ZERO concern about the things that JESUS commanded? How does that make sense?

John 14:21 (NLT) Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

What Love of God Actually Looks Like. There is a misunderstanding in our day. It’s actually a lie that takes God’s marvelous grace and turns it into a license to sin and disobey God. 

A faith that doesn’t care for obedience isn’t faith at all. A faith that desires to obey, that struggles, fails, and gets back up again…now that is faith.

Your Next Breakthrough. Is likely just the other side of your next big step into obedience. Whatever God is bugging you about, simply obey. Take a big step into His will.

1 Kings 17:24 (NLT)  Then the woman told Elijah, “Now I know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the LORD truly speaks through you.”

You Are God’s Champion.

Will You Trust God Today? Will you trust Jesus as your Savior? Will you trust God as your provider? Will you trust God as your Father? Will you take the next step for you?

Describe a time when you decided to step out on faith and obey God even though that decision didn’t seem to make sense to you at the time.  Did that experience strengthen your relationship with God? If so, how?  After the brook dried up, Elijah trusted God and moved on to Zarephath. Is there a “dry brook” in your life God is using to “motivate” you to move on to what He has next for you?