Sunday, May 5, 2024 – Apostle BILLEY
The mind and the Word of God (3)
Israel is God’s people -All those who came out of Abraham became God’s people by covenant.
When they were enslaved in Egypt, they cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God saved them through Moses. And this people finally arrived in Canaan – the promised land – and kings succeeded one another at the head of the people.
So there have been good kings at the head of the people, but also kings who have been wicked in that they have not followed God’s way.
King Ahab was unfortunately a bad king for Israel.
His heart was led astray by his wife, a foreigner, a daughter of the king of the Sidonians. She was an agent of Baal, so Ahab went to serve Baal and bow down to him.
And this couple perverted the people and trained them to worship Baal and Baal rites and consecrated 450 prophets of Baal and others to Astarte.
This strongly displeased God. The first commandment says: You shall love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. And what’s more, God told them, you shall have no other gods before my face. Thou shalt not bow down to them… lest thou die. (Exodus 20.)
The Lord does not like the man he has created to bow down before idols. It’s like an insult to him, because God created us in his image and likeness.
He never stopped telling his people: (Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy…)
Do not call upon the dead, do not worship the moon or the sun, do not bow down before statues or waters, do not call upon the dead… Because I am the Lord your God who created everything.
So everything prostrates itself before God, who created the heavens, the earth and everything in it.
There is only one God – and we must bow down to God alone.
We shouldn’t even bow down to men – you can respect a man or pay him honor, but not bow down to him.
We mustn’t love money, because we often bow down to men because of the money or position they possess. It’s being a Mamon worshiper. And the same person when he runs out of money – he’s no longer considered.
Beloved, it is God who must take up all the space in your heart.
Ahab and Jezebel multiplied altars to Baal throughout the country. And this to prevent the people from going to worship God in Siloam. And they exterminated God’s prophets and erected multiple altars to Baal.
The prophet Elijah had the word in him and declared to Ahab – because he had led the people into idolatry, that there would be no rain in Israel.
So it didn’t rain for years in accordance with what the man of God had declared.
Beloved, what makes you a Christian – is having God in you, that is, the Word in you.
Then Elijah challenged Ahab and his 450 prophets of Baal. He won the victory over these false prophets. And exterminated them. (1 Kings 18)
Idolatry is death; there is no life in it. Satan is behind every kind of idolatry.
That’s why we have to love God very much, and put Him first in our hearts – ahead of our spouses, children, parents, jobs, cars, possessions…
This is how He will help us in all these areas – let’s give Him first place.
After Elijah had executed the prophets, Ahab reported it to Jezebel.
1 Kings 19
1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.
2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
Jezebel’s word entered Elijah – he began to think about it and it became imaginations to his enemy’s advantage. (he saw … so imagined)
He had been victorious just a few hours earlier, but he listened to Jezebel’s words and fled.
Beloved, never accept the enemy’s thoughts.
Our thoughts are part of our spirit, part of our lives, because God thinks too. The ability to think comes from God and is a blessing that connects us to God.
But the devil can also connect to our thoughts, and those who don’t know how it works can lose their victory.
When the devil connects with the Christian’s thoughts, he will go round and round in circles. Nothing goes right, it’s always in the same place from January 1 to December 31.
He becomes an unconvinced, insecure Christian, because his mind is under the control of his enemy. It’s a choice as well, he’ll have chosen the devil by his thoughts.
Elijah was a giant, a true man of God, but he made one small mistake and that was the end. Through his thoughts, he connected with the enemy. Then depression invaded his heart.
Jesus said the devil prowls around the Christian. (1Peter 5.8 8 Be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour).
The devil’s ministry is to devour, destroy and slit throats. (John 10.10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.…)
So Elijah ran for his life. Where was he going? Yet what is Jezebel’s strength in the face of God?
When the devil is in control, the person thinks there’s a solution somewhere else.
1 Kings 19.4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” Now, LORD, take my soul, for I am no better than my fathers.
Elijah came to the point of asking for death, of wanting to commit suicide. And yet, some time before – he had already prayed and raised a dead man from the dead. He had God in him, but he couldn’t control his thoughts.
He didn’t resist the voice of the witch Jezebel; he let himself be polluted. And instead of going to the mountain, he went to the desert, which is the symbol of dryness and death.
He considered Jezebel’s word that threatened him with death. So, in the desert, he asks for death, because he is connected to the spirit of Jezebel – so much so that he speaks the language of his enemies. And seeks to die.
Every time you feel like killing yourself, the devil does it.
What causes this?
It’s not a lack of work, money, a house…
But it’s the absence of God, of the word of God, of communion. It’s ignoring who we are, our identity, ignoring God’s presence.
And when the Christian doesn’t know that God is there – he sees himself as alone.
And this solitude is like a chick that’s far from its mother – so the sparrowhawk will approach to try to take the chick.
You must NEVER accept that you are alone – the Holy Spirit lives in us.
Never forget God’s promises, and wherever you go, God is with you.
Beloved, you are not alone, NEVER-God is with you.
Because of this story, Elijah was replaced by Elisha. His ministry ended there.
If someone speaks badly to you, it’s a temptation, it’s an attack. You must reject this.
Our lives no longer belong to us, you must see yourself redeemed. Everything that is yours and in you belongs to Jesus.
Elijah had forgotten that the Word was in him – he forgot that everything about him belonged to God, so it was impossible for Jezebel’s word to have any effect on his life.
It’s impossible for Jezebel to take her life even in a dream.
He forgot the feat he had just accomplished with God by killing all the prophets of Baal. And yet, it’s the same God who gave you the strength to execute his 450 false prophets. And Jezebel is one of them, so you must seek to apply the same treatment to her. Jezebel has no claim on Elijah’s life.
What’s more, by threatening Elijah, Jezebel threatened God himself, so it’s God’s fight.
So Elijah had nothing to worry about.
Beloved, what we let into us is what possesses us. That’s why you have to let God’s Word enter you in order to possess you-to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. So when you speak, it’s no longer you, but God through you.
You need to know who you are.
LET US PRAY →
In the name of Jesus,
May every evil spirit that wants to disconnect me from God’s way be destroyed.
I refuse to harbor demonic thoughts and imaginations in my mind.
Any evil power designed to control my thoughts be broken.
I close the doors of evil thoughts with the blood of Jesus.
May every demonic thought and imagination contrary to my prayer life be demolished.
Any demon working to drive me to sin be eliminated.
All that my enemies have made me see or hear physically or spiritually in the daytime or at night to connect me to sin be destroyed.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.