Survival Gear 1

1 Kings 19: 4-7 “Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you” (NLT).

Elijah had just experienced the greatest miracle and victory of his life.

In front of the entire nation of Israel he had called fire down from heaven to consume the offering on the altar in a contest between the believers in Baal and the true God of the Bible.

He should have been floating on a cloud, but he wasn’t.

Upon hearing of wicked Jezebel’s threat to take his life, this great prophet experienced an inner collapse.

The man that had brought a nation to its knees turned and ran for his life from one solitary woman.

He ran deep into the Judean wilderness, sat under a Broom tree, and prayed for God to take his life.

This is the lowest of the low points for this great man...

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Elijah is like many people today, including many Christians.

You may look good on the outside, but there is a great struggle within—the knees of your soul are knocking...

Many believers feel tired, beat up, hung up, stood up, washed up, defeated, and even hopeless that things will ever change.

Elijah was ready to quit in the midst of his finest hour!

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This inward fainting experience is not uncommon for God’s saints.

The Bible says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind” (1 Cor. 10:13 NIV).

In the Bible we find Paul confessing to the church his own struggles:

“I think you ought to know, dear brothers, about the hard time we went through in Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through it” (2 Cor. 1:8 TLB).

The Patriarch Jacob was so overwhelmed with the difficulties of life that he cried out, “Everything has been against me” (TLB).

The Book of Ruth records that Naomi, upon returning to her homeland, was so crushed by the events of life she said, “Do not call me Naomi (sweetness); call me Mara (bitter)” (Ruth 1:21 AMP).

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You see, life is often hard.

It’s hard to be a Christian...We’re in a great spiritual battle with the forces of hell.

The world doesn’t receive our Lord.

We’re in an uphill battle, swimming upstream against the constant tug of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

And that is why it’s so important that we maintain our inner strength in God!

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Now, the story of Elijah provides a great picture of where I want to go today...let’s look at what happens next.

In the midst of his inner fainting spell, God sends an angel to him.

The angel wakes him up and has but one thing to say: “Get up and eat!” (19:5 NLT).

It says in verse 6, “He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water!” (NLT)

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Now, this was not normal bread!

There is a name-brand bread you can still get today that is called “Wonder Bread” put out by Mrs. Baird’s.

But no doubt this bread the angel brought was the original Wonder Bread!

I say that because we’re told in the same chapter that Elijah traveled 40 days and 40 nights—all the way to Mt. Sinai—on the strength of this one Wonder Meal!

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Now notice with me how, after eating the first time, Elijah went back to sleep and the angel woke him up again, and again commanded him to eat the Wonder Bread and drink the Wonder Water.

After his 2nd command to Elijah to eat, the angel says something that jumps out at me every time I read it:

“Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you” (19:7 NKJV).

Even at this low point in his life, Elijah still had a long journey in front of him!

So it was imperative that he eat this supernatural food from heaven.

Only THAT food would carry him across the finish line!

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Likewise folks, in a world of warfare, trials, and tribulations, the journey ahead is too great for us without the supernatural food God has provided!

There are too many miles to go, too many mountains to climb, too many devils to slay without feeding daily on supernatural food!

So let me make this very practical and simple for us today.

As Elijah was given bread from heaven...

I. Our bread from heaven is the Word of God you hold in your hand!

Jesus Himself said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4 NKJV).

Jesus is telling us here that God’s Word is spiritual, supernatural bread...

The supernatural bread Elijah was given by the angel is a type of the spiritual bread of the Word of God.

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We often see in the Bible that God’s saints compare the Word of God to food:

David said, “How sweet is the taste of your instructions – sweeter even than honey!” (Psalm 119:103 GNT)

In another Psalm he again says that God’s word is, “Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Ps. 19:10 NKJV).

Jeremiah wrote, “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight...” (Jer. 15:16 NIV).

Jesus told His disciples, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about,” speaking of spiritual food. (John 4:32 NIV).

Our spiritual food is God’s Word!

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Secondly, Jesus talked about “daily bread” which also suggests we need:

II. Spiritual bread every day...

We Christians can’t survive on weekly bread, or monthly bread, or moldy bread, or stale bread, or “grab it late in the day on the run” bread...

We need daily bread, fresh bread, straight out of heaven’s oven for us that day!

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As the Children of Israel journeyed though the wilderness, God tried for 40 years to teach them one simple thing...

Trust in His PROVISION:

The Bible says, “He fed you with manna in the wilderness so that you would become humble and so that your trust in him would grow...” (Deut. 8:16 TLB).

To teach them trust in His provision, God taught them to rely on Him for DAILY MANNA:

The Bible says, “Each morning everyone gathered...” (Ex. 16:21 NIV)

Every day they relied on God to provide the supernatural manna, and every day they gathered it.

Likewise, to stay strong in our inner man we should gather our own supernatural bread—the Word of God—every day!

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Not only were they to gather it daily, but also...

III. They gathered it first thing in the morning.

It says that if they didn’t gather it first thing, “when the sun grew hot, it melted away.”

I believe there is a principle here that is no mistake.

Remember, the Bible says that “All these things happened to show us something. They were written to teach us...” (1 Cor. 10:11 NLV)

It teaches us the advantage of getting with God before our day begins.

Throughout the day we’re in enemy territory...

You’re going to fight devils, experience trials, frustrations, temptations, and difficulties, so your inner man needs to be fed and strong before you go out the door!

Andrew Murray wrote: “He who does not in the morning first lay up the Word in his heart is not to be surprised if the world assumes the first and the chief place in his heart, for he has neglected the only means of being ahead of the world.”

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In closing, We’re told in the book of Judges that in the days of Gideon, Israel was under attack by the Midianites and Amalekites.

And the WAY they attacked them was, “They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza...” (Judges 6:4 NIV).

They attacked their source of food so that they had nothing to harvest...

As a result Israel grew weak, and unable to stand against them.

The Midianites and Amalekites are pictures of how our enemy attacks us—he goes after our source of food, our time with God, our all-important time of feeding on God’s Word.

There are the Midianites of busy-ness, the Amalekites of distractions...

Enemies that seek to sabotage our time with God so that we will grow weak and vulnerable to his attack!

So the first tool in your survival pack is “A Daily Devotional.”

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The Word is our bread

Feed on it daily

Gather it early

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