Here are the words for the fill-in-the-blanks in our “Elijah” women’s Bible study with Priscilla Shirer (via DVDs).
THE START OF A PROCESS
Everybody wants the Mount Carmel. We want the flashy display of God’s glory in our lives.
And yet in the shadow of these magnificent events is a process. There’s always a process.
We’ve got to be willing to go through the process.
Are you willing to do what Elijah did to get what Elijah got?
First and Second Kings shows a time when idolatry was not just tolerated, and not just celebrated, but was actually legislated.
Elijah means: Yahweh is God.
Homework: p. 8-26
He didn’t just say Yahweh is God; he said Yahweh is my God.
Then he said to King Ahab, Yahweh lives.
Here’s how God was going to remind Ahab that He alone is alive: “There shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
Not only was the drought a judgment against the people’s rebellion, but it was also a specific indictment against the power of Baal.
We can have the courage to rise up in the spirit of Elijah, and to make sure we are God’s mouthpiece in this generation.
Homework: p. 27-45
PREPARATION BY SEPARATION
THE PREPARATION PROCESS
- God wants to separate you.
Here’s how you know when God is beginning to prepare you for the next season in your journey with Him. He calls you to release your grasp on something, someone, or someplace.
Ask the Holy Spirit to spotlight any specific ways where God is asking you to go away from here, to get up and get out, to relocate and reposition your life in some way.
Homework: p. 48-62
2. God wants to sustain you.
Give God the opportunity to show you what it’s like to be nourished by God and God alone.
Open your eyes to see the water He has given you in that place where it’s uncomfortable or might feel unfamiliar to you.
3. God wants to surprise you.
According to Ephesians 3:20-21, God does exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond anything that you can ask or think.
4. God wants to shield you.
Elijah had no idea that while he was being obedient in separation, he was actually being shielded from something he didn’t even know he was in danger of.
Homework: p. 63-77
DEALING WITH DEFICIENCY
Here in Zarephath, Elijah is going to be refined. He’s going to be purified. He’s going to be prepared for Mount Carmel.
Faith is trusting God enough to go to an uncomfortable, unfamiliar place, and interact with people that it’s unusual for us to interact with, so that God can use us to help inaugurate His move, both in our lives and their lives.
Elijah could never have known that by yielding to the unfamiliar, uncharted territory where Yahweh sent him that he was
actually helping to tell the entire redemption story.
HOW TO DEAL WITH DEFICIENCY
The widow was hard-working. She was resourceful. She was willing.
Homework: p. 80-96
- Take authentic inventory.
Sometimes authenticity is the hinge upon which a miracle rests.
2. Do not fear.
More than three hundred times in Scripture we are told, “Do not fear” or “fear not.”
3. Go.
Maybe you’re at the stage where your faith needs to get a job—it needs to go to work.
4. Do what you you would said you would.
Those sticks you’re gathering are not useless. They’re the foundation for the fire that God fully intends to set in your life.
Homework: p. 97-113
DON’T DROP THE BALL
There’s a bridge that sits right between Elijah’s time in Zarephath and his coming experience on Mount Carmel, and this link, this bridge, is Obadiah.
Homework: p. 116-131
Stop downplaying the significance of your position. Stop undervaluing how critical and purposeful your current posture is. You are necessary, right where you are.
God’s hand is on you wherever He has placed you, to be used for His purposes and His glory. Keep your spiritual eyes open, and don’t drop the ball.
There’s something to be said, not only about being in a strategic position, but also about making an unwavering pledge, having a fierce protection of the things of God.
What are you actively doing to make sure you are preserving the truths of God in this generation?
Just in doing your job, that mundane assignment leads to a moment of divine destiny.
Homework: p. 132-147
INVITING THE FIRE
Homework: p. 150-166
HOW TO INVITE THE FIRE OF GOD
- Be intentional.
Elijah repaired the altar.
He recalled the promises of God’s covenant.
He renounced the idolatry of Baal.
He reinforced his trust in God.
2. Step forward.
Don’t only be intentional, but be bold. Live the kind of life that steps forward, out and away from the crowd.
3. Never underestimate the power of a simple prayer.
Prayer doesn’t manipulate God. Prayer just unlocks all the things He planned to do for us anyway.
After Elijah prayed that prayer, the sky opened up, and God rained down fire.
Homework: p. 167-183
DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?
- God said it; let’s proclaim it (1 Kings 18:41).
You don’t adapt to your surroundings. As you live in light of God’s promises, your surroundings need to begin to adapt to you, as you communicate God’s Word and His promises clearly.
It requires spiritual discernment. It requires spiritual insight, to be able to see the things that cannot be seen in the physical realm, to be able to hear the things you cannot hear unless the Holy Spirit heightened your spiritual ears.
Homework: p. 186-200
2. God said it; let’s pray in alignment with it (1 Kings 18:42).
His promises are what ignite our prayer lives with an extra measure of confidence and assurance as we pray.
Base your prayers directly on the promises of God.
3. God said it; let’s look for it (1 Kings 18:43).
Be always aware of how what’s happening could be connected to what you’ve prayed.
4. God said it; let’s actively prepare for it (1 Kings 18:44).
Faith is acting like it is so, even when it’s not so, so that it might be so, simply because God said so.
Homework: p. 201-215
FAITH, FAILURE, AND A FUTURE
God knew all these things, factored them all in, and still allows us to be utilized for His purposes.
Every time we see their failures, it should underscore the fact that we are looking for a Messiah, that we need somebody else to be our Savior.
He has always been and will always be the way, the truth, and the life.
No more homework – go out with God’s blessing, boldness, and peace!