God Will Sustain You // Priscilla Shirer

Priscilla Shirer from @Going Beyond Ministries brings an encouraging word on how God will sustain you in the midst of uncertainty.

#priscillashirer #church #bible

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hey there it’s a privilege to have an

opportunity to be with you

again today thank you so much for

including me in your

service i hope you’re encouraged uh the

last time we were together it was

mother’s day and i felt especially

grateful to be able to share that

holiday with you and now to be invited

to to do it again

is something i’m very grateful for thank

you to your pastors leaders

um and to you for allowing me to sort of

come into your

spiritual life in this way i’m praying

that the word of god is rich for you

today that god speaks to you he always

does right he speaks to us through the

scriptures

so i’ve already been praying that and

now i want to open us up in a word of

prayer together and let’s see what god

has to say to us

lord jesus i thank you so much for lake

point i thank you for the work that you

are not only doing through their church

but the work you’re doing in them

in us lord thank you that as the family

of god we can know that you are not

bound by space

you’re not bound by time you don’t have

to be in one building father you can be

with each of us equally

right now in this moment wherever we are

so would you take this one message

would you divide it up multiply it

several thousand different ways

so that every single one of us right now

will hear the voice of god

in jesus name amen

so here in dallas where i am there is a

little half marathon that takes place

once a year

it takes place around the holiday time

frame so it’s in december

and it’s called appropriately so the hot

chocolate run

the hot chocolate run is just fun you

know folks come with christmas lights

around their hair

and or on their heads and they’ve got

light up shoes you know it’s fun it’s in

the dark

and the run whether you do a mile or

three miles or i think there’s a five

mile track as well

the run goes through an area of town

known as the design district when you

get to the end of your run you get a

bunch of sweets

hot chocolate being one of those so i

enjoyed doing this for several years

along with my sister

and her children we’d bring out all our

kids and we’d do the run together

we’d walk it or run it either way we

just have a good time

one of the things that most that i most

remember about this run

is that it took place in an area of

dallas called the design

district now i have known about the

design district my entire life i’ve

borne and raised here in the city and so

i have seen a huge billboard off of one

of the major freeways in dallas

highway 35 and that freeway says or that

billboard says

divine design district so i’ve known

that that is where the designers are

it’s for people who are artists or

craftsmen interior designers and

decorators

people who are artisans they’ve got cute

little shops down there

and i’ve seen it and known about it from

afar have you been known people

that have worked there and people who

the regular rhythms of their life are in

the design district

but i’m always just on highway 35 headed

from one side of town racing past

to the other side of town so the run the

hot chocolate run

was the very first time that i ever went

through it

and when i went through it by foot

walking through jogging through

interacting with others and enjoying

myself through it i saw some details

about dallas i’d never seen before

there were some cute little shops and

restaurants that i took note of

places that i made note of their address

so that i could come back later and

really engage and see what they had

inside their stores

man i really grew a greater appreciation

for the design district

not when i saw it from afar but when i

had to go

through it right now

god is allowing many of us to go through

it didn’t he

we’ve been through some stuff not only

individually we’re going through some

stuff

in whole communities whole churches are

going through some stuff

whole nations the globe is going through

some stuff but i found that it is not

until i go through something

that i actually see nuances about god

about his character

about my relationship with him it’s

actually not until i go through

something

that i discover more completely his

promises and not only

seeing them outworked in other people’s

life where i come to actually expect his

truths to be

applicable in my own life it’s when i go

through something that i actually

develop character and have some frame of

reference for what it means to have

endurance and a life of faith it’s when

i go through something that i become

better acquainted with the holy spirit

now he’s not just a theoretical being

but now

i recognize the fruit of god’s spirit

effervescent

in my life i see the patience outwork

the self-discipline the kindness

i learned what it’s like to walk in the

rhythms of grace i don’t know all that

from a billboard

just experiencing god far away

seeing his name and and maybe

experiencing religious activity far away

i don’t get to know god intimately i

don’t get to have a friendship with him

like that

but man when we go through stuff all of

a sudden

there is a friendship that developed

with that develops with god

that carries us over the long haul so if

today meets you at a time where you’re

going through some stuff would you know

that this is an opportunity

for you to have your eyes your spiritual

eyes

wide open to learn and to see

and to engage in every opportunity to

get to know god in a way you otherwise

would not have

opportunity this is one of the main

things

that drew me to a study of elijah

elijah is really the premier prophet of

the old testament

his story sort of begins in the book of

first kings if you have your bible and

you want to

turn there with me you can you know if

you actually still use a bible with

paper pages like i do

or your iphone your ipad any manner of

eyeness will get you to first kings

because in this particular book of the

bible we get to see

elijah emerge onto the scene now this is

a guy

who really has some highlights in his

life that we all recognize

just like the heroes of scripture that

we really admire you know like moses and

the whole red sea business or like

joshua

and the walls of jericho coming tumbling

down the highlights that we remember

in regards to gideon or jonah all of

these heroes of the scripture esther

and ruth we remember the highlights for

elijah

the mount carmels of their experience

and what i’ve discovered is that when

i’m reading in the pages of scripture

and admiring folks whose faith is worthy

to be

admired and to be gleaned from what i’ve

noticed is that

oftentimes it’s the mount carmels that

dazzle us

it’s the flashy display of god’s glory

the

unforgettable big stage experience of

god’s presence and power

that really does draw us to people and

oftentimes it will blind us

to what they went through to get there

it will blind us to the things that they

had to navigate the roads they had to

walk down

the journey that they went on with god

to get them to the place where in

elijah’s example

he will stand flat-footed on mount

carmel just a couple of chapters after

he is first introduced

and he will say to his own countrymen

and to those that were supposed to be in

covenant relationship with yahweh

he will look at them squarely in their

eyes and unapologetically challenge them

he’s going to say make a decision choose

who you’re going to follow

stop having one foot over here in the

world of idolatry

and another foot over here in the

worship of yahweh

if you’re going to be loyal to him then

be loyal to him and him alone

and he will stand flat-footed in the

face of those who were worshiping idols

those who were antagonistic to the one

true god

and he will challenge them and he says

build your sacrifice and i’m going to

build mine

and then we’re both going to pray and

the god who answers by fire

he’s the one who is god what kind of

courage

and boldness do you have to have to be

the only one willing to stand up

in the midst of hundreds and even

thousands of people surrounding you

and be unapologetic and unashamed about

what you believe

i don’t know if you notice or not but

we’re living in a day and a time

now more than ever then it’s going to

take a lot of courage

and boldness to be unapologetic and

unshifting and

unwavering in what we believe as

followers of jesus christ

and when elijah was committed to yahweh

even

in the face of so much adversity fire

fell from heaven

god’s presence and power was seen in an

unforgettable way

so when we think about elijah most of

the time that’s what we think about

but i don’t want to talk to you about

mount carmel i want to talk to you about

what elijah went through before he

ever got there because that’s how his

character was built

that’s how he garnered the kind of faith

that could allow him to stand

on mount carmel that’s how he developed

the kind of prayer life

that garnered the attention and the

favor of god that the sheer

discipline and consistency of praying of

believing god

of trusting he went through some stuff

to develop that kind of relationship

with the lord

and it all begins in first kings chapter

17

after he has shown up on the scene and

appeared to the king of the land

to declare the judgment the drought that

was coming to the nation of israel

first kings chapter 17 verse 2 says

the word of the lord came to elijah

saying go away from here now

turn eastward hide yourself by the brook

cherith

which is east of the jordan

stop right there sometimes

the journey that god takes us through it

begins in the place of separation

not in public but in private

here is elijah who is arguably the

the most important figure in history at

this moment

without him the worship of yahweh is

going to fizzle and it’s going to die

underneath the legislation of an evil

king

and his wife jezebel who have now

legislated the worship of idolatry

without this lone voice calling people

back to the worship of god

that it could completely be lost he is

arguably

the most important person in regards to

the agenda

of yahweh in this moment and god speaks

to him and said where i need you

is not in public where i need you is not

in what you would consider to be the

place of most

significance and notoriety i need to

relocate you and re-situate you

to a private place to an unexpected

place

where i can develop you i need to

separate you elijah

from the place of power and so he says

i’m going to prepare you

by separating you i’m going to prepare

you by taking you to a little lone brook

where you won’t be found and for about

18 months

scholars say he is separated to this

lone little

brook of water where he sits alone with

god

and the development that we often need

for god to do

things in us requires a separation it

requires a severing

a walking away from certain things here

we find elijah

sheltered in place for 18 months

quarantined for 18 months just

him alone with god some of us lost our

cool after about 18 days of this

shelter-in-place business right

well here we find him for a year and a

half

separated away from the habits the

patterns

the experiences that would have been the

normal of his life

he is separated and shut aside

at at cherith and there he has an

opportunity to experience god in a way

he would otherwise not have

now here’s what’s interesting the root

word that is used in scripture

to derive the name of this brook which

is cherith or

it is often pronounced kirith depending

upon how you’re pronouncing it

the original word is a verb that verb i

want to tell you what it means

it actually means to sever it means

to eliminate listen it means

to cut off a part of the body

think about how violent that sounds even

gruesome

at least painful

he’s calling elijah to walk away knowing

that the severing is actually going to

be

painful and sometimes when god calls us

away

to himself it feels painful for many of

us

this separation from the normal rhythm

of our life that we’ve been required to

all of us undergo in some form or

fashion the pulling away from

the daily routine the pulling away from

relationships and not being able to see

people

face to face as we once did the pulling

away from the normal rhythm of our

everyday life

it has felt like severing for many of us

it’s felt

painful because we were used to gaining

our sense of significance or

acceptance or approval in that

particular way

and now because of realities that many

times are outside of our control

god has caused us to have to sever our

relationship

to certain things sometimes going to the

brook that god is calling you to

requires a separation that feels like

cutting off a part of the body

where a relationship we are severed from

feels so difficult to pull ourselves

away

but if you will yield to the separation

if you will honors honor god’s

conviction in your life

because see sometimes it’s not that god

mandates it it’s just a

whisper of the holy spirit that says

separate yourself

come away from here for just a little

while

those habits those patterns those

relationships

those places where you have rooted your

significance

those ambitions those goals come

away from here and in separating

yourself you will find

that there are some things that are

going to happen at this brook cherith

that you would miss out on if you didn’t

come away

and obey and surrender to this

particular season that i have called you

to

elijah’s journey to mount carmel begins

in private it begins separated from all

of the things that he has once known

how is god calling you to separate

yourself

clearly there are some things that all

of us have been mandated to shake

some habits and patterns and routines

and busyness

some relationships that have had to go

as the world starts to open up again the

question is

are you going to just go right back to

normal

or will we take the opportunity to seek

god and ask him

how is he calling us to maintain some of

these distances

some of these separations so that we can

remain consecrated

and set apart unto him god says to

elijah and he says to many of us

separate yourself it’s here at this

brook

that i’m going to prepare you for the

mount carmels that are coming that

original

word that i told you about um that verb

is also found in genesis 15.

the reason why i want you to know this

is because it’s one of the most vibrant

um and beautiful times that it’s used in

the old testament

and it was used in regards to abraham

ancient abraham and his relationship to

yahweh

that verb that means to cut or sever

hang with me here because i want you to

see how it’s used here

it shows us how god shows up in our

lives when we are willing to yield to

the separation

in genesis chapter 15 abraham is saying

to god listen you’ve promised me so many

things

you have said that my descendants are

going to be as numerous as the the stars

that are in the sky

and he says how will i know that what

you’ve promised me will come to pass how

am i gonna know

and god speaks to abraham in a language

he’ll understand he says i’m gonna cut a

covenant with you

back in the ancient world when two

people or two nations would make an

agreement with each other

they would cut a covenant that’s what

they would call it

not just making a covenant or making an

agreement they would call it the cutting

of an incu

of a covenant the reason why is because

they would sacrifice an

animal to seal the covenant and what

they would do kind of gruesome

really gruesome really is take this

animal they would dismember they would

sever the parts of the animal and they

would lay the pieces out strategically

on the floor

and then one of the parties that was

making the promise that was

going to have to follow through on the

agreement that party

would then walk between the pieces of

the severed animal

and as they walked through they were

basically saying may my life be is the

life of this animal if i don’t make good

on this covenant that we are cutting one

with the other

well in genesis 15 god says abraham i’ll

make a covenant with you

so you’ll know i am who i say i am and

that i’ll do everything that i say that

i will do

he says to abraham get the animal

prepare the animal

and abraham does that he lays the animal

out and then in one of the most

beautiful theophanies

that is a god sighting in all of the old

testament

he says that a deep sleep falls over

abraham

god causes this human to fall asleep so

that it will be not

by works but only by grace and while

abraham is asleep

the scripture says that god himself

shows up

and he moves between the pieces sealing

the covenant with abraham

do you see that abraham is the one that

did the separating

the severing the violent gruesome

cutting

but in doing it god showed up

and he moved in the pieces

if you and i will yield to the

separation

if we’ll sever the things god’s asking

us to sever walk away from the things

god’s asking us to walk away from

if we will trust him with the separation

he will come

down and move within the pieces we’ll

experience him in a way we’ve never

experienced him before

we’ll see him in a way we’ll never ex

see we’ve never seen him before

if we like elijah will come away to the

brook cherith

we will discover new aspects of

god that we’ve never experienced before

elijah’s about to see that happen and so

are you

and so am i because it says that when

elijah goes to the brook cherith

god says to him verse 4 it shall be

that you shall drink from this brook now

let me tell you why this is important

because you remember there’s a famine in

the land

the drought is going to cause a famine

and for three years people are going to

be doing everything that they can

to find water to be able to sustain them

and in this aggregate

society agrarian society rather they

were going to need to be able to sustain

their

their livestock it was their livelihood

without rain the harvest would not grow

and in amidst all of this judgment and

amidst all of this drought and famine

god says to his servant if you separate

yourself you need to know that in the

place of separation i have already made

plans to sustain

you do you know why you want to yield to

the separation

do you know why even though it feels

hard to sever that relationship you

ain’t got no business being in

or severing that um that interest in

that ambition or that endeavor that you

know is the wrong road that you’ve been

walking down

the reason why you do it is because in

the place of separation god has already

made plans to sustain you

he has already made plans to make sure

that even if everybody else is thirsty

in that place you will know what it’s

like to be sustained by the hands of

your great god

and you’re gonna need that because

listen mount carmel

is coming it’s coming for you and it’s

coming for me

where we’re going to be called to a

position where we’re surrounded by

people but actually

we’re all alone because we’re the only

ones that are willing to stand for

righteousness

in the midst of the darkness you’re

going to have a need to have a track

record of what it’s like

to be sustained by the hands of god so

that you can have

confidence when you’re on the mount

carmel of your experience

god says to elijah i got your back i’ve

already made plans to sustain you

so yeah you might be a little bit lonely

in the place of separation

but it’s when you’re lonely you see what

it’s like to have god as your friend

it’s when you are tired that he becomes

your strength

it’s when you are hungry that you

experience the bread of life

it’s when you are insecure you discover

what it’s like

for him to sustain you as your security

when you are empty you realize what it’s

like for him to

fill you up you learn what it’s like to

trust

in the sustaining power of your great

god

he becomes your provision and your

provision alone

and in this increasingly post-christian

culture

you’re gonna have to have some backbone

that draws on the power

and the strength and the sustaining

power of your god

he teaches you that in the place of

separation

he assures you of that in the place of

separation

not only do you want to go ahead and go

to the brook where he will sustain you

but even more than that god says to him

in verse 4 i have

commanded the ravens to provide for you

there

in the place of separation he says now

everybody else is going to be scavenging

for food

but not you elijah if you will in if you

will trust me

and entrust yourself to the place that i

have called you to

severed away from things and it makes

you particularly

uncomfortable because you’re away from

habits and patterns and peoples

and perceptions of what you thought your

ministry and

life would look like elijah if you will

separate yourself

not only will i sustain you there but

i’m going to do something more than that

i’m going to flat out surprise you with

how i’m going to bring bread and meat to

you in the morning he says

and bread and meat to you in the evening

i’m going to make sure that not only

is your thirst quenched but i’m going to

make sure that you are thoroughly

nourished

with everything that you need to be able

to keep you strong

even while you’re in the place of

separation so he says i’ve commanded

ravens

to bring meat to you bring bread to you

and to take care of you now let me tell

you why this is so

surprising because he said a raven

could have been any old kind of bird you

know a dove would have made more sense

you remember back when noah was

wondering whether or not the floods had

receded

he sent out birds several times the

doves

returned but when he sent out the ravens

the ravens didn’t come back

because ravens don’t come back ravens

are restless they’re

unsettled species of animals and not

only that

they’re ravenous that’s where we get the

term from they’re greedy birds

they will literally take prey out of an

unsuspecting

bird’s mouth another bird they will

literally steal

food from others because they are ravis

and will eat anything at any time

any place anywhere so what makes

yahweh’s sustaining power so surprising

and so miraculous

is that he didn’t use any old kind of

bird where maybe someone could explain

this miracle away

but he used the most unsuspecting

unreasonable

surprising species of bird to make this

point

that when you and i will yield to the

place of separation

not only will he sustain us there but

y’all he’s going to surprise you there

he’s going to bring in resources to take

care of you

from means and from resources that you

never even considered

you never even thought possible when you

were praying that prayer asking god for

that miracle

asking him for a solution for a remedy

for the difficulty that you’re having in

your

parenting or raising your children or in

your marriage or on your job or in that

classroom or that courtroom or that

struggle that you’re having in your own

health you never even prayed a prayer

like that

because you had no way of knowing that

god could do something

so unbelievably miraculous as that

but in the place of separation not only

does he sustain you but he starts

surprising you

he starts showing you ephesians 3 20 and

21 now unto him

who is able to do exceedingly abundantly

above and beyond anything that he can

ask that you can ask

or that i could ask or think to him be

the glory in christ jesus

and in the church he surprises you

you’re going to need to know what it’s

like to be surprised by god

to have some things that were so

unthinkable happen in your life

that now you have a track record with

god you’ve got some history with god

you’ve written down a couple of things

that you saw god do that you can tell

your children about

and your children’s children about about

the time your god

just plain old flat out surprised you

did something for you in a way that you

never even

considered you need some history with

your god

that history comes in the place of

separation where you watch

god sustain you and where you watch god

surprise you but not only that

we find out a couple of chapters later

that for these 18 months that elijah is

tucked away at the brook

we find out that king ahab has sent a

search party

all throughout israel he’s been looking

for him he’s so mad at this prophet

for pronouncing this judgment that he

set out a search party searching the

kingdom every which way that he can

to find elijah and hopefully put him to

death

him thinking that elijah’s life was

specifically connected to the

to the drought and to the famine so he

thinks if i kill him then this judgment

will be over

but what can only be described as a

supernatural hedge of protection

is over elijah so that he is so tucked

away in the place of separation

that he doesn’t even realize that while

he is there

not only is he being sustained and not

only is he being surprised

but he is being shielded from dangers he

does not even know

exists it’s not until three years later

that he’ll meet a guy named obadiah who

will tell him the king has been looking

for you for three

solid years sometimes we don’t even know

until hindsight

when we look back that we recognize god

was protecting us from dangers we didn’t

even know existed

that we realized the prayers that he

didn’t answer and the way we wanted

that we realized that when we didn’t

come out of that place of obscurity as

quickly as we would have preferred

to actually the reason why he left us

there

is because if he let us out too soon

there would have been ahab’s we would

have run

into and so he protects us he shields us

he puts a supernatural covering over us

so that we are protected

and shielded in the place of separation

i want to encourage you that if you feel

like

you are ready to come out

from the brook chair ready to get away

ready to be further exposed rather ready

for this anonymity or excu

obscurity to go away so that you can

come out

into the full expression of what you

feel like your ministry is supposed to

look like or

the the revenue your business is

supposed to yield

or the way that your family dynamic is

supposed to look

if everything in your mind is supposed

to look different than it does right now

but because of this pandemic or because

of the unrest that we’ve seen

or just because of the dynamics you’re

facing in your own life

you can clearly see that the holy spirit

is still calling you to this place

of either mandated separation or just

the clear conviction of the holy spirit

to separate you unto himself for a

specific reason

remain there until he releases you

because it’s in that place he’s gonna

surprise you

in a way you will never forget it’s in

that place that you were gonna be able

to eat from his hand

and drink from the water that he

provides for you there

and it’s in that place that in hindsight

you will look back and realize

your god was protecting you all along

be encouraged let’s pray

lord jesus i thank you for elijah’s

example

i thank you father for the opportunity

that we have to know that you are

preparing us

even right now for the mount carmel’s

yet to come

help us not to devalue the significance

of

this part of our journey but help us to

honor you with every single day

every single peace every single

opportunity that we have

to see you more clearly and to

experience you more fully

in jesus name amen