If we are not all in, we will not stay the course when the going gets tough and hard times come. Anyone can fake it in the good times, but who we really are is exposed when the trials and troubles of life come at us in wave after wave of adversity. When those times come (and they always do), Apostle Peter said an uncommitted person will be like a dog returning to his own vomit and a pig going back to wallowing in the mire (1Pt 2:22).
Sometimes, when we are discouraged and depressed, we begin to feel like the whole world is against us. If we let him, the devil will whisper in our ear telling us that no one likes us, no one cares about us, and that God Himself has abandoned us. That is the downward spiral of fear, futility, doubt, and discouragement. If you surrender to those emotions, they will suck you down into a bottomless debilitating pit of despair and self-pity.
Any of us can reach the point of exhaustion. We push ourselves to do all that we can do for as long as we can do it, but like a marathon runner, even great men and women of faith can hit the wall. “The wall,” is a term used in distance running. It is a place in the race where a runner feels completely emotionally and physically spent. Some runners quit right there. They say, “That’s it. I’ve got nothing left in the tank.” But other runners, experienced runners, know that it is possible to press on, to get through the wall to find what’s called their “second wind.”
He didn’t see black clouds on the horizon. He didn’t see a storm brewing over the sea. He didn’t see rain or clouds forming on the mountain. He saw one small cloud, and back to Elijah singing, “I see a small cloud rising,” and that’s all Elijah needed to hear. He said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’”
Elijah, however, placed blame where blame belonged, saying, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals” (v. 18). The world is trying to blame the church for the world’s problems, but the world has allowed corrupt leaders to propagate corrupt policies that are inviting God’s judgment upon our nation and our world.
Satan is like a magician, using misdirection to distract us from what is really going on. He creates false narratives to get our attention over here when the real problem is right in front of our faces. There is a crisis in the world right now, and the entire drama of the campaign insanity between a president and a former president is just a sideshow. The real problem is the spiritual and demonic battle that is going on in high places. The clarion call to you today is not to be distracted by things on the periphery. As Elijah so powerfully put it, the real trouble in the kingdom was not him or even the lack of rain, the real problem was a corrupt king, and God was about to deal with that problem.
Doctor Luke did his homework, and the Holy Spirit ensured the validity of what he wrote.
We can have complete confidence in the texts of the Christian Bible. The events recorded in both Luke and Matthew’s Gospels, regarding the conception, birth, and nativity of Jesus Christ are absolutely true. God really did become one of us, putting on the robes of human flesh, yet without sin. God’s only begotten Son was Mary’s firstborn Son, and He was born in the little town of Bethlehem, just as the Prophet Micah said He would.
As the Christmas season begins, let’s look at eight prophecies concerning the birth and early years of the Messiah. We’ll look first at the prophecies in the Old Testament and then the New Testament fulfillment, remembering the astronomical improbability that these could have been fulfilled by chance alone. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of more than 300 prophecies.
In our text, we see a couple – Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth – who came from the priestly lineage of their forefather Aaron. They were righteous, they walked in God’s commands and ordinances, and they were blameless ... but they were barren. They had no children, but even with the prospect of children quickly fading, they never stopped serving the Lord, and they had never stopped praying for their miracle.
