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A. Receiving the Word of God. 1 Kings 19:9
Receiving the word of the Lord:- The Lord ministered to him before he spoke to him.
1. Elijah: -mentally confused ( v3 )
- emotionally drained
- physically exhausted
1. A principle of God speaking to us:-
THE PLACE OF REVELATION IS A PLACE OF RELAXATION.
Matt 11: 28 Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
- Find out what prepares you before you seek the word of God.
- Practical simple ways:- Music, Jogging, Cup of tea, Read the bible to calm
you before you read it for seeking God
- Jot things down that you need to remember that would cause your mind to
wander and lose concentration.
TELL GOD HOW YOU FEEL ? - BE HONEST, HAVE A MOAN!
2. 1 Kings 19: 11:-
PRESENCE OF THE LORD BEFORE WORD OF THE LORD.
Come to the Lord of the word before you come to the word ofthe Lord.
Worship - Acknowledge his presence.
WHY? - Worship lowers prejudice levels.
It is too easy to pick (look and read) out the verses we want to see.
Our blinkered prejudiced eyes: We are all prejudiced because of background, tradition, etc.
We also approach the bible with our pride or pity because we want to minister and feed it.
Face (read) the word of the Lord bearing in mind ( in the light of ) the greatness of the Lord:- Turns command into promise.
3. Face Gods questions.
God asks: - Where are you? - Spiritually.
God asks questions not because god needs to know but - Elijah (YOU) need to know.
Can have a devastating effect on you but can have a life - transforming effect on you.
4. What if I miss what the Lord says to me?
The Lord will persist with you until he gets through to you, He spoke to Samuel 4 times, “and the Lord came yet again".
Two Problems:-
a ) Discernment :- ( who is it - Me ?, God ?, Preacher ?, - Devil ? )
b ) Doubt
God answers problems by speaking persistently and personally (Sam 1) Intensification of the
personal (so you cannot miss what - God wants to say) e. g. During message:-
You think at the beginning - Is it me.
Halfway through - sure it is me.
by end of - think everyone knows it is me.
B. Recognizing the word of the Lord. 1Kings 19: 11 - 14
At what point would you go out of the cave? ( after Wind, Earthquake, Fire, Whisper. )
1. Most of us miss Gods speaking because of the naturalness on which he speaks, e.g. ( SAM )
- Gets up and goes to Eli - sounded like a familiar (natural) voice.
- through life committed to Jesus
- We need to recognize: - we ask God- thoughts come - we reject them as not Gods voice.
2. Best preparation to receive revelation is submission.
- before asking for more light, make sure you are obeying the light you've got.
- God wants us to LIVE truth, not merely understand it.
- Take Gods word and make it flesh in us. (Jn 1: 14 the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.)
WHY DO YOU WANT MORE REVELATION?
FOR THE PURPOSE OF INFORMATION ORTHE PURPOSE OF SUBMISSION ?
( do you want to know or obey )
3. The best way to develop an increased sensitivity to the voice of God is
Through worship and particularly exercising the gift of tongues.
The reason worship is important is because :-
The more you love someone - the more sensitive you are to them.
C. Responding.
1 Lings 19 : 15 Go back the way you come
1 Kings 19 : 19 He went
Respond - Obey with a sense of immediacy ( meaning : at once, without delay )
Devil tries to get us to be happy with the willingness rather than the performance of it.
(Saying yes, but thinking of other things that will distract us from doing what God says.)
- This weakens spiritual life and growth more than anything,
- Don't argue with Gods words: - the longer you delay in what God says the harder it is to respond (obey).
DEVELOP A CONSCIOUSNESS AND CONVICTION TO A SENSE OF IMMEDIACY.
 © Bobbysoft 1998 | 
