One At a Time

This is a devotional series called "Fear No Fear" that rejects fear and promotes faith in God. It discusses the story of Elijah and the widow from 1 Kings 17. Elijah was sent by God to a widow in Zarephath to be sustained by her, but she initially resisted because she only had enough food for herself and her son. However, Elijah assured her that if she obeyed and fed him first, her jar of meal and jar of oil would not run out until it rained again. The widow chose to believe and obey, and miraculously, her supplies never ran out. This story highlights the importance of faith and obedience, and how God can provide in supernatural ways. The narrator also shares a personal experience of food miraculously stretching to feed more people than expected. The message encourages listeners to trust in God's provision and to have faith that anything is possible with Him. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of His Word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to His perfect love through the Word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4 18. All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org. 1 Kings 17 13. Elijah said to her, Don't be afraid. Go and do as you have said. But make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me. And afterward, make some for you and for your son. There had been a drought in the land for some time. Now, both Luke 4 25 and James 5 17 says it lasted three years and six months. But we're not sure at what point this verse occurs within that timeline. It wasn't at the beginning. During this time, Elijah had been getting supernatural help. This woman had not. He met her when she was out gathering sticks to get fire for cooking. Her plan, cook a small cake of oil and flour, drink the last of the water, and then she and her son were going to starve. She didn't mind sharing some of the water, but she balked at making Elijah the cake. She had just enough to feed herself and her son one last time. And I imagine the son was going to get the larger share. And here was a prophet, another mouth, asking for what little she had. She balked. But wait, there's more. What the Lord told Elijah about this situation. We have to back up to verses eight and nine. Elijah had been by a brook, but the brook had dried up. After it was dried up. Elijah was still there. He was waiting. The Lord had told him to stay. He was staying. Then the Lord spoke and said, Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon and stay there. Behold, I've commanded a widow there to sustain you. Now first of all, Zarephath was about 160 kilometers away from Elijah. Second, what did the Lord say? I have commanded a widow there to sustain you. When we meet her, she does not give this impression. Now Sidon was where Jezebel came from. It was technically within the boundaries of the tribe of Asher. But it was never fully conquered. But the widow had to have been aware of Yahweh. She may not have been a follower, she might have been one of the idol worshipers, but she was aware of him. She uses his name. Verse 12. She said, as Yahweh, your God lives, I don't have anything baked, but only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. So she knew who Yahweh was. She knew Elijah was a Jew. She may have assumed he was a prophet. And how many Jewish travelers asking her for food was she going to come across? She is in total denial of what God had commanded her to do. She was focused on herself and her woes. She was denying God and the words he used to her, whatever they were. She was throwing everything on Elijah and God, and rejecting the truth of things. She wasn't running from God. She was running from that, which God had called her to do. Her denial was of assignment, not divinity. Now from Elijah's point of view, he has no idea which woman in the town he's looking for. He doesn't know who are widows and who aren't. He has no idea which widow the Lord is speaking about. He's completely in the dark. Any woman he sees could be the one. So he's testing the water and asking questions. Totally valid. But she isn't in the dark. She knew she had an assignment. She wasn't walking in it. Now perhaps at the leading of the spirit, Elijah makes it easy for her. He encourages her not to be fearful. We know that Elijah was anointed of God and currently he is walking in 100% obedience to the Lord. So there is authority in his words. Elijah said to her, don't be afraid. Go and do as you have said. But make me a little cake from it first and bring it out to me. And afterward, make some for you and for your son. For Yahweh, the God of Israel says, the jar of meal will not run out and the jar of oil will not fail until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth. That's verses 13 and 14. She has been commanded by God to feed a prophet. She recognizes him as a prophet, your God, remember, or at least a Jew. And she has been given a promise now with a condition. If you'll feed me first, Elijah says. Now why is that? Is it because he's greedy? No, to give her a chance to show obedience, to show she has been persuaded to demonstrate faith. We have dominion on earth. Remember, the Lord has restricted his involvement to interactions with us, not dictatorial acts. When we act out his word, his instructions, promises or commands, he then can move to fulfill. We trigger his responses with our faith. Now, if you don't believe me, read through the gospels and look at the ministry of Genesis, especially the healing miracles that he does. How many times does he give them something to do? Rise up, take up your mat, go wash off this spit, go cross town and do this, go here, do this. And then he says, your faith has healed you, your faith has healed you, your faith has healed you. We trigger the Lord's responses with our faith. Now, the widow chose to believe she chose to pick up her assignment. She demonstrated faith as she went and did what Elijah told her to do. And for as long as he was with her, they had meal and oil, they did not starve. But there is again, more. The promise of the Lord was not dependent on Elijah's presence. Eventually, Elijah leaves. He walks away to continue the confrontation with the priests of Baal, and the drama with Ahab and Jezebel. But the widow and her son still ate. Because until the conflict with the idol worshipers was over, until Elijah had gone back, and then walked out the victory that God gave him, there was no rain. But the promise the Lord said to her was, the jar of meal would not run out, nor the jar of oil until rain fell again. He provided for her, just as he said he would, no matter where Elijah was, until rain fell, she and her family were fed. One of the names of the Lord means that he provides, and he does provide for us, sometimes by guiding, sometimes by blessing, and sometimes by supernatural means, sometimes by natural means. But the supernatural does still happen today. And it's not just stories from the Bible. I've heard of it from trusted people. I have witnessed it firsthand myself. I have had food stretch in impossible ways. Now for the Christmas of 2021, we were blessing the baristas of local coffee shops that were working on Christmas Day by bringing them food and treats. Two or three coffee shops, I think. I had enough food for what I thought I would need. But at kind of the last minute, two more stores and 10 or 15 people were added. Okay, we'd made the commitment to bless them. We felt the Lord was leading us to that. And whatever you want, Lord, help it work out how you want, was the attitude. I then made what I could, planning to give maybe less food to each and varying the menu. Maybe I'll give two of them a green bean dish and another one a carrot dish. But once the food was actually made, and I had put it into the containers, there was a different story. What was going to barely stretch to cover the stores was now enough to give everyone some of everything. Plus, there was enough remaining for our large family, there's seven of us, to eat with leftovers that covered a meal with extended family a day later, or two days later, the total of 10 people at that one. Now you can think that maybe I just miscalculated, that I didn't realize how much I had to work with. But let me tell you something. Those stores fed themselves for three days on the food they received that day. It should have been enough for one big meal and maybe some take home depending on how much days I didn't have enough for a feast, but they got a feast. It was impossible. You don't have to believe me. But I am telling you that that food got stretched in an impossible way and God did it. Now maybe this wasn't a keeping you from starving during a drought level of miracle. But anything beyond the possible counts in my book as God being faithful, and we give him the glory. Why did it happen? Because the Lord told us to bless those stores. We were committed. We walked in the idea of blessing them to the best of our ability. We weren't going to limit God, but do our best for him and for them. When it looked like they might get an okay blessing, he stepped in and gave them a full blessing. The Lord wants us blessed, beyond resources, beyond reason, but not beyond him. No one can out bless Jesus. Will it happen every time or even another time? I don't know. But it could. Nothing is beyond God. The real question is, what are you persuaded of? What level of persuasion of faith? Are you lifting up to God? What are you looking for him to open for you a window or the barn doors of the storehouses of heaven? We live in a chaotic time. Food security is a worry for many people. But if you reject that worry, if you choose to say you don't care about gas prices, transportation strikes, supply chain disruptions, failed crops, lack of food in stores, or anything else that comes up, if you choose to be totally absolutely 100% persuaded that the Lord God who sustains can and will sustain you and provide for all of your needs, then anything is possible. With God, anything is possible. That's Matthew 19.26, Mark 10.27, and Luke 18.27, without even looking at him feeding 5,000 and 10,000 people plus family. Rely on God. Listen to his voice. Be obedient, even and especially when it looks impossible. Be persuaded that what he says he can or will do, he is capable of doing. Romans 4, 20-22. He who sustains will never let you down. If you believe nothing else today, believe that. Jesus does not lie. God does not let you down, ever. So don't fear. Instead, believe. Have faith, not fear. Let the word persuade you. Let him bless you. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Ephesians 1. Before the world was founded, we were chosen. Jesus redeemed us. He lavished grace on us. He blesses us with wisdom and insight and reveals mysteries. He helps us accomplish all things. He speaks truth, all full and only truth. He can reveal to us the riches of the glorious inheritance he has planned for us. Now, if all of that isn't showing you the love that God has for us, I don't know what does. As we close, remember that you have worth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this today. God loves that I, that you fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? No wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you, just because you're you. First John four, nine to 10 tells us by this. God's love was revealed in us that God has sent his only born son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear to see verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And amen to that. See you next time.