Breaking The Spirit of Heaviness Part II
BREAKING THE SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS - PART II
I Kings 19:9-16 NASB 2020
Spiritual leaders can struggle with a spirit of heaviness
Elijah has just come off his Mount Carmel experience
He has seen fire fall from Heaven and consume a wet-soaked sacrifice
He has killed 450 prophets of Baal
Jezebel threatens his life and he flees in fear and succumbs to a spirit
of heaviness
In prophetic circles this is called “spiritual backlash”
After mountain top experiences with God we have a tendency to drop
our guard and become vulnerable to enemy attacks
What we won’t confront we flee from in fear
When we run from our callings, graces and assignments we end up in
a cave where God never called us
Fear has a way of making you feel all alone like Elijah did
Even though there were 7000 others Elijah felt alone (I Kings 19:18)
Twice God asks Elijah what he’s doing in a cave (I Kings 19:9,13)
Both times Elijah tells God he is all alone
When we run from the call and commission God raises others up
Notice how it took three individuals to replace Elijah
God told Elijah to anoint two kings and a prophet to succeed him
When we prematurely leave it takes three times as many to fill the
void
We are not called to flee, we are called to fight
Paul didn’t tell Timothy to flee the fight of faith, but to fight the good
fight of faith (I Timothy 6:12)
Proverbs 28:1 says the wicked flee, but the righteous are as bold as a
lion
Lets look at Acts 18:9-10 and what God told the Apostle Paul
What can we learn from God’s instructions to Paul:
That we are not to be afraid any longer
That we are not to remain silent
That God is with us
That He has many people
We are never alone in the fight
If we feel alone its because we have left the fight and taken to flight
Fears must be faced to continue doing what God has asked
The God who calls and leads us will not leave or abandon us
We do not run from the responsibilities God has given
Personally I do not believe in retirement for the Christian
I believe in refirement for the Christian
Lets finish with Romans 11:29
If God’s gifts and callings are irrevocable where’s the retirement
If he has given us responsibilities how can we quit
You could be here and have decided to pull back
I am asking you to sign back up and get back in the game