Wednesday Devotion 9-16-20 6 Minutes

Good evening everyone watching by video this evening,,, it's time for our weekly devotion.

And the devotion reading will be from my Streams in the Desert Devotion reading this morning.

Our reading will come from 1 Kings 17:1-5

I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

1 Kings 17:1–5

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers, said to Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, I stand before Him, and there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command!”

2 Then a revelation from the LORD came to him: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan. 4 You are to drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 5 So he did what the LORD commanded. Elijah left and lived by the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this evening.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this evening,,, with all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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As you know,,, Elijah had just told Ahab that there wouldn't be any dew or rain until he gave the command.

After saying this,,, God sent him to the "Wadi" Cherith.

"Wadi",,, according to Wikipedia,,, can be a dry riverbed that has water after a large amount of rain and eventually dries up.

So Elijah was sent where not only would the water source that he had dry up,,, but God would have to send the ravens to bring him food.

So he was totally dependent on the Lord.

Of course we know how God took care of him after the stream bed dried up and sent him to the widow in Zarephath where he stayed until God sent him back to confront Ahab.

What the Streams in the Desert Devotion brought out was the fact that Elijah was sent away from everyone during this time and spent time alone with God.

Elijah didn't worry about anything since the stream was flowing and the ravens supplied him with food.

He was able to spend time alone with the Lord.

That's what we need to be sure that we are doing,,, spending time alone with God every day.

Being sure that we are developing a true relationship with Him that will sustain us through anything that happens.

We do this by our early morning devotion time,,, or whatever time you set up as your special time with the Lord,,, and spend this time in prayer,,, reading God's word and a time of letting God speak to you during your quiet time with Him.

For me,,, it's early in the morning,,, it just doesn't make me feel good if I don't start out this way.

But it can be at anytime that you set up.

It needs to become a habit that you always do because without it,,, you will never develop that special relationship that we all need.

That's what Elijah had,,, and it's available to all of us today if we just take advantage of it!

If you don't remember all of this story,,, read it in 1 Kings chapter 17.

There you will see how God takes care of Elijah,,, then after the stream bed dries up,,, He takes care of Elijah,,, the widow,,, and her son,,, during the drought.

And God will take care of you too.

Our time spent in prayer and quiet time with Him will prepare us for anything that happens.

This isn't a guarantee to keep bad things from happening to us because we live in a messed up world because of sin.

But if we have that type of commitment to God,,, it will keep us going through anything that this messed up world throws at us!

So if you don't have a dedicated time set and you don't do this daily,,, please change the way that you spend your day so that you can make this a habit and see how this will change your outlook on everything.

We must make this a commitment because God is what helps us no matter what we are going through and it's much easier to do,,, if He is a main part of our everyday life.