Friday, July 22, 2011

Provision & the flow of God

Hi all,

I was recently in Tongaat, Natal, South Africa where I was ministering to a church there for a week. During that week, God enabled me to release His message to them over all the nights that I preached.

During one of the nights, I was busy preaching about Eliajah and how the Lord spoke to him about going to the brook Cheirth.

Today, I want to share some thoughts with you along the same lines of what I spoke to the church in Tongaat about.

Read on for more....

1 Kings 17:2-6

Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.

Today I want to share something very important with you about the Provision of God which is linked with the flow of God.

From the scripture above where God spoke to Elijah, His prophet, we see that the Lord told Elijah to go to a specific place. God is very specific when it comes to His will for our lives. If Elijah had gone anywhere else, he would not have had the flow of God or His provision. Notice that God said that He had commanded the ravens to feed Elijah at the Brook Cherith, not at any other brook.....

The place of God's perfect will for us is where His provision and flow will be. Some christians think that they can simply "do their own thing" or if it is a good idea it will work. A good idea is not a God idea.

Wherever God places us, is the realm where He has given us the following....
  1. Provision
  2. The flow of the Spirit
  3. Authority to overcome
  4. His grace
  5. Victory over the enemy
  6. Vision & Revelation
  7. Purpose and fulfillment
In the scripture above, you will notice that God told Elijah that he would "drink from the brook". This speaks of being sustained by the flow of the Spirit of God wherever you are. The flow of God is how He works in us and through us. This flow is firstly there to sustain us and then to flow through us to others. If the flow is not flowing through us, then there is a problem. Usually, the problem is that we are not drinking in enough. Notice that God told Elijah that he would drink from the brook. If there is not enough of God's flow coming through us, it just means that we are not filled ourselves and that we need to change our focus. We can easily drink in other things that are not really the flow of God to us.

The provision of God at Cherith was quite unusual. God said that the ravens would feed Elijah. The ravens where just the vehicle that God used to get His provision to His prophet. If we obey the Lord to go where He sends us and to do the task that He has assigned to us, then His provision will be brought there. The ravens where not the source, but the vehicle, God was the source. Never forget that God is the source.

Let's read on in 1 Kings 17....

And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."

In the next verse it says that after a while, the brook dried up. I have learned over the years that there always comes a time when the brook or the flow will dry up. Remember that the flow comes from God Himself and nowhere else. God is in control of the flow. At this time, it says that the reason for the brook drying up was that there had been no rain in the land. God has a lot to do with the rain which falls in the natural and also in the spiritual. Wherever you read in the bible about rain, it usually refers to the blessing of God or to His presence. Where He is honoured and trusted in, that will be where it will rain. God was in control of where the rain fell in the days of Elijah and He was working together with His prophet on that. Elijah was to pray that it wouldn't rain and God would stop it from His side.

Now, this rain was needed to supply the brook Cherith so that Elijah would be able to drink. The rain had stopped falling over Israel at that time and many of the rivers and brooks dried up.

The drying up of the brook was the first sign that the time had come for Elijah to move to the next place of God's choosing for him. The next place of God's choosing was Zeraphath. This was the place where God would command His provision for Elijah. It was to be at the widow's house.

God always has a time and a place for where He wants us to be. If we try and stay at our brook Cherith after it has dried up, then we will find ourselves going in a downward direction... this means... things will die. What this means is that God's flow brings inspiration and revelation... these are the two things we need from God. If the brook dries up it means that there is another place where the flow will be and the time has come to move there.

The provision and the flow are always linked up together. If the one dries up, so will the other. When the brook dried up, the time had come for Elijah to move.

Maybe your brook has dried up or is in the process of drying up. Make sure you hear the word of the Lord to direct you to the place where He wants you to be.

I hope todays entry has helped you...

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