TAKING THAT LEAP OF FAITH
I Kings 17:24 Then the woman said o Elisha, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord is from your mouth is the truth.”
Elijah wasn’t always a mighty man of God,because no one is ever born that way. We become mighty in God when we start allowing God to do mighty things through us. Elijah had to be just like every other person growing up as a child into adulthood. Somewhere in his life he began to seek the Lord wholeheartedly, and God responded to him just as he will all of us according to the promises in his word. (Jeremiah 29:13)
In today’s verse we see the results of many baby steps of faith in Elijah’s life and the woman’s as well. At the beginning of this chapter we see where in faith Elijah goes to King Ahab to declare there will be no rain in the Northern Kingdom until he says so. Because King Ahab and northern Israel worship idols, Elijah ran for his life. The Lord told him to go to a ravine east of the Jordan River and there ravens would feed him bread and meat every day and he could drink water from the creek. In faith he went, and God was faithful to do just as he told Elijah he would. When the water dried out God told him to go to a certain town, and there he would find a widow that would feed him. By faith he went and found her just as God had said.
Next is where we see God helping the woman to take baby steps of faith, so she would become mighty in faith towards the Lord. It began for her as Elijah asked her for something to eat, and all she had was a handful of flour. She told him that she planned to make a cake for her son, herself and then die. Instead of accepting this Elijah told her to make him a cake first and then for herself and her son. He finished this by saying that her jar of flour and jar of oil would not run out until it rained again. What happened next was the harvest for both of their baby steps of faith in the Lord. The widow’s son died, but because of what God had done through Elijah the widow wouldn’t settle for his death. She brought the boy to Elijah. He then took the boy to his room, and after crying out to the Lord the boy came back to life.
Baby steps are not always fun, because sometimes God lets us fall down just like our parents do when we first begin to walk. But the getting back up and continuing to walk enables us to be able to someday be able to climb mountains. Chances are the woman would never had faith to bring her dead son to Elijah before she had to learn to trust for her next meal, and the same could be said of Elijah. When I first became a Christian I often thought of how exciting it would have been to see Jesus do a miracle. It wouldn’t be long and my wife Beckie would go to a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting and see a few feet infront of her a man visibly healed. Even to this day he travels to churches to give his wonderful testimony of how Jesus healed him. Beckie and I began to put into action what Jesus said. Our baby steps of trusting in our belief in Jesus to help us began to reveal wonderful results. Like with Elijah and the woman we began praying for the possible. We could see the Lord answering our prayers for a good day, finding that parking space and so on. As our trust began to grow so did our level of faith. Our expectation began to rise to the greatness of our God. Now the only limit on our prayer life is not asking, and why would we want to do that?
James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” The days of wishing I could have seen Jesus do a miracle are long gone. Jesus is still in the miracle working business so to speak. There is not a day that goes by that I do not ask him for a lot of things, and he is always faithful to help me. I am so glad I became a Christian and learned to trust in Jesus. I would hate to think of my life without him. He is the greatest blessing and joy in my life.
Have you ever asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to come into your heart? If not you really need to do it right now. It is a simple prayer, but it has a sure and eternal result. Jesus wants to forgive you of your sins and reconcile you to himself, the Holy Spirit and the Heavenly Father. The thing is you must ask for it, just like you must ask for any need in your life. God will respect your free will. It is up to you. If you are a Christian already are you a person that is quick to trust Jesus to help you however big or small your need may be? If not why not? You will not offend him, and he is more than able to help you. Well, what if he doesn't’ help? Well, if guess you will never know unless you ask. If you can’t trust him for the giant steps, how about starting with baby steps. There is no shame in taking baby steps. The only shame is not trusting Jesus to help you.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, please help us to trust you to take baby steps, so that when the time comes like the widow we can take that giant leap of faith right into your arms. We ask this in your holy name.
