Sign up for The Good Stuff

Our weekly newsletter filled with news, updates, and inspiring stories of how God is working in the Bay Area.

"*" indicates required fields

Sign up for The Good Stuff

Our weekly newsletter filled with news, updates, and inspiring stories of how God is working in the Bay Area.

"*" indicates required fields

God has a specific destiny for each of us. It is a great destiny that involves helping people, loving people, and giving hope to people. The families, skills, talents, experiences and relationships we have are tools for God to use to accomplish his purposes.

We cannot reach our destinies alone. Our destinies are intertwined with the lives of the people that are around us and are especially helpful to develop the faith necessary to become the people that God are calling us to become.

Too often, we try to travel the road to our destiny by ourselves and it leaves us burnt out, disillusioned, and doubtful to whether we can still be used by God to accomplish his dreams and visions for our lives.

What do you do when you run out of gas on the road to your destiny?

Elijah was a man who is like many of us. God has used his life in some amazing ways but he ran out of gas. He was depressed, emotionally unstable, anxious, and even suicidal. But God didn’t allow those emotions to stop him from reaching his destiny. God had gave him a new start, something we all need from time to time.

 I Have Had Enough, Lord!

 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.   So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”  Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,  while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”   Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

 1 Kings 19:1-5 (NIV)

Who hasn’t ever felt like this before?! Elijah had just pulled off an amazing victory but because he ran our of gas,  his emotions got the best of him. He allowed fear to take control of his life.

Fear is a common human condition because we are frail. We can develop fears about our personal and our families physical health, emotional health, the condition of our relationships, our financial stability etc., and all these fears can create a strong desire to isolate.

The desire to isolate can be strong because we fear people won’t understand or we can feel embarrassed, ashamed and sometimes we can be competitive with people. Isolation does not help us overcome our emotions, but rather reinforces them. We need to fight the temptation to isolate so we don’t get burnt out. We need to fight the temptation to isolate so we can continue along the path God has for us.

 The Journey Is Too Much For You

 All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”  He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.   The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”   So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.   There he went into a cave and spent the night.

 1 Kings 19:5b-9 (NIV)

Sometimes, God’s path for our life can be too much for our current spiritual and physical condition.  After the angel of the Lord talked to Elijah, he had to take care of his physical needs to get the strength to continue.

Part of doing well spiritually is taking care of ourselves physically. If we don’t have the physical strength to continue along our path, how can God finish leading us toward our destiny?

Do you take care of yourself physically? Do you get enough sleep? Eat healthy and eat nutrient dense foods? Do you get some level of physical exercise daily?

Do you take care of yourself spiritually? Do you read your bible and pray everyday? Do you have friends you let down with and confess your sins to, so you can get help?

These areas of our lives should be addressed daily if we want to have the strength to fulfill Gods destinies for our lives.

 What Are You Doing Here?

 And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”  The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

1 Kings 19:9b-11 (NIV)

God wants to have daily conversations with us. Conversations that are not formulaic but ones where we express our hearts and emotions to him. There are no feeling and sins that God cant handle. We feel burdened when we store those inside of us.  Learning to develop genuine conversations with God will help relieve those burdens.

What things do you need to be honest with God about? Is it bitterness, loneliness, discouragement, or anger?

What can you do to spend more time talking to God? God is the source of faith, love, and hope. The more time we spend talking with God, the more faith, love and hope we will experience.

 A Gentle Whisper

 Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

 1 Kings 19:11-13 (NIV)

God is always aware of our needs and is communicating with us. He also communicates in many different ways. We may think that God only communicates in grand ways or through disruptive events that happen in our lives.  However,  God is also subtle and we have to be more thoughtful and sometimes listen when he is communicating through a whisper.

Are you hearing God? What is he trying to communicate to you?

 A New Start

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”  The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.   Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.  Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.   Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

 1 Kings 19:14-18 (NIV)

So in the end of Elijah’s spiritual reboot, God gives him three simple instruction that we can all implement into our lives to get the fresh start we need to continue walking down the road to destiny.

  •  Go Back The Way You Came – 
    • 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NIV) – How am I responding to the Bible?
  • Put Sins To Death – Only sin can derail our destiny
    • Mark 9:42-50 (NIV) – What is my attitude toward repentance?

Written by

Scott Colvin

Scott Colvin is an evangelist at the Bay Area Christian Church. Scott ran cross country for the University of North Carolina. Some say he's still running to this day.