When You Don't Have Nothing Left

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When you don’t have nothing left

When you’re down to the end of your rope what do you do?

1 Kings 17:13  And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

To begin with brothers and sisters, Christian friends, well wishers and saints of God, There are a plethora of powerful potent principles in this 1 Kings 17 text and the essence that we are placing emphasis on is that “When you have nothing left and no way out, try it God’s way”. This message is for somebody today, because there are folk who are at the end of their rope and they have tied knot on the end of the rope and they don’t feel like they have the strength to keep holding on.

Have you ever been there/ do you know somebody else who’s going through it right now ? Have you thought the fact that it could have been you alone outdoors, not a friend in the world, sleeping in the cold, no food to eat, no shelter, no apartment, no house, and certainly no home to go back to? Man.... it’s an awful feeling, and it’s an awful state of mind and it’s an awful state of conditioning. And the widow from Zaraphath is only a small but integral part of the grand divine plan of God concerning Elijah the Prophet.

Listen listen listen let me tell the story and paint a vivid picture of the events.

Elijah the Prophet went and told king Ahab that he and his queen Jezebel were ruling God’s people in a wicked manner. King Ahab was wicked and his Queen Jezebel was rotten to the core. And Elijah was bold and went a told Ahab about himself and told them that there would be no rain for 3.5 years and that God! decreed it so, according to the word of Elijah on behalf of the Lord. Because the pastor prophet preacher teacher speaks for God. King Ahab got red hot mad a wanted to kill Elijah . So Elijah ran off and hid. Elijah hid by Cherith Brook. Elijah probably stop in a remote place after he got tired of running off. It had to be a place that wasn’t easy to find him.While at the Brook called Cherith better known as Cherith Brook.When Elijah was set in place, then the Lord commanded that Ravens ( black birds)bring Elijah fresh meat and bread in the morning, and fresh meat and bread in the evening. And Elijah had fresh clear spring water from the brook at Cherith, Cherith Brook. Elijah ate many days from the Ravens ( black birds). Black Birds are scavengers And I’m sure Elijah didn’t like the methodology that God used but “When you don’t have nothing left, Try God.” How many times in your life that you didn’t personally nor particularly cared for the way the Lord worked certain situations out in your life. And,deep down within you now say thank you Lord for working things out!!! “When you don’t have any other way Try God and He’ll work it all out.” Won’t he do it? The scripture says that after a while the brook dried up. 1 Kings 17:7  And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Listen to me seasons change, Covid-19 forced the world to make changes, and now we are facing new normals. we still mask up, we still use sanitizer , we’re still keep church down to a reasonable time to stop the spread and transmission of the deadly virus. we still keep our social distance. So seasons change with you of without you. And so the brook dried up and verse 8 says that God spoke to Elijah and said get up and go to Zarephath over in Zidon and dwell there. In other words when you get to Zarephath stay there. Look at verse 8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 9 Arise, get thee to ||Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

In life we all have choices. Many of our choices shape our future.And Elijah could have said no Lord that’s it! I ain’t going no further with this blind faith stuff. And sometimes in our lives we say “Lord I figured it out !!! it can’t be done, Lord It’s impossible”. But how many people in here know that with God All things are possible. Listen to my title again “When you don’t have anything else, try God” Because the word say God said for behold I have commanded a widow to sustain you there in Zarephath.

Zarephath is a city-state located near the tip of a promontory, which is a high point of land projecting into a body of water a good example of that would be the Bluff at Southern University right before the Mississippi but in this case the promontory is along the Mediterranean seacoast. And since Zarephath was on the coastal road in Phoenicia lots of people and armies pass that way and most importantly Zarephath is mentioned because God has the Prophet Elijah on assignment. Elijah’s there to get help from the widow and at the same time Elijah is there to help the widow woman. Widow in the Hebrew vernacular is the word Al Ma Na (h). It’s woman whose had a husband that has died.

And God tells Elijah to go to her and “That’s it and that’s all” That’s the truth I live by.

The bible says that Elijah leave the dried up brook and goes to Zarephath and when he gets to the edge of the city. He sees the widow from Zarephath. I imagine that the conversation went like this Hello good evening sister will you Fetch me some water please. And she said very well man of God.

Ain’t nothing wrong with what Elijah has asked thus far. But then the conversation shifts when Pastor Elijah says and bring me something to eat too. Lord Jesus this is where the faith without works is dead!!! Yeah yeah yeah because look at the middle of verse 10, Elijah says “Would you bring me a little water in a cup so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get his water, Elijah said, “Please bring me a piece of bread, too. Verse 12 says The Almanah , The widow woman answered, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread. I have only a handful of flour in a jar and only a little olive oil in a jug. I came here to gather some wood so I could go home and cook our last meal. My son and I will eat it and then die from hunger.”

Somebody say Lord Jesus because This is where Perfect Plan Theodicy comes in. Let me teach you this. In Perfect Plan Theodicy, the concept is that there is a divine plan, a universal scope that’s perfect in every detail, which ultimately brings great comfort to people in times of trouble.

Because in perfect plan theodicy it gives the believer strength to cope even in the midst of enormous losses and pain and assures them that Nothing happens outside of God’s will.

Because the Almanah, the widow woman doesn’t have any friends, because real friends wouldn’t let you starve to death. The widow doesn’t have any family because most family members will at least give you a plate of food, and somehow the widow’s husband is dead. So here her dilemma, I don’t have enough for me my boy and this preacher. I only have enough for me and mine. And here’s where the faith of the believer comes in because the man of God says something after that that is seemingly outrageous .

Pastor Elijah say go on and do what you’re doing but Feed me First. What 3x

I imagine the widow saying didn’t you just hear what I said man of God. I’ve got nothing left!!!.

Listen to my title saints of God When you have nothing to give nothing left to offer nothing but a handful of meal and a small pot of olive oil left try God. Try God!!! because if what you have (listen good now) isn’t enough to pay the house note, then what you have is seed money. If what you have isn’t enough to pay the car note, then it’s seed money. If you don’t have enough to pay those other bills and responsibilities, then take that seed money. And your first move in that situation ought to be to bless your pastor and bless your church and watch!! how God open doors and bless your situation.

But don’t take my word for it let’s see what God says about it.Look at 1 Kings 17:13  And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. Saints of God “That’s it and that’s all” and God’s word is the same way today. If you do right by the gift from the Giver, knowing that every good and perfect gift comes from above then God has to honor His Own Word!!! God can’t Lie.. Three things God can’t do. God can’t lie God can’t die and God can’t fail.

Listen to me God didn’t bring you this far to leave you now. This message is for somebody. God will see you through but you have to sow those seeds of faith.. Show God that you’ll be willing to give your all to Him first. Show God that you’re willing to take care of his Pastor first. Show God that you’ere willing to take care of His church and Show God that come hell or high water , that “Dear God !!!you’re first. The word of God says seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. What things? Your food your fitness your fashion your finances your faith and your future They are all in God’s hands.

So as I close I want to point out that the Almanah the widow woman She obeyed the words of Elijah and God sent a manifold blessing to Zarephath straight into that widow’s home. And as I’ve taught you many times that if the bible doesn’t name the person in the text you can insert your name there because it just might be what you’re going through. And the bible says that every time it was time to eat um um the meal would fill up in the canister and the cruse of oil would fill up in the oil jug. um um and every time she went out to get fire wood the Lord Jehovah Jireh provided the wood for the fire. The Lord will provide. The widow and her little son and Pastor Elijah ate many days. When you don’t have nothing left try my God and He will see you through Won’t He do it Won’t He make a way 3x Won’t He open up doors that been closed in your face. Won’t He fix it Won’t He do it Oh yes He will

Yes He will 3x

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