"Living Single" Memphis

Join us next Tuesday November 15, 2016 for our "Living Single" Memphis. This is an event you won't want to miss !

Surviving "The Great Drought" in your life

This Sunday Pastor Henry Lavender spoke from 1 Kings 17. If you are unfamiliar with the passage, it is quite intriguing. The chapter opens with the prophet Elijah proclaiming a drought to the wicked King Ahab as penance for his evil doing.  It is said that the drought would go on for many years until the Lord declared it to be over. During this time God instructs Elijah to travel east where there is a brook of water that will sustain him during the drought. Elijah is also instructed that ravens will bring him meat and bread which will also sustain him during the drought.

Circumstances associated with the drought caused the brook to dry up sometime later, leaving Elijah temporarily without resources to survive. The key word here is temporary as we know that by Elijah serving the true and living God, that he will not allow Elijah to die before his appointed time.

Elijah is then instructed to head towards Sidon where he will be met by a widow that will help to sustain him with food, water and shelter. Upon arrival Elijah is greeted by the widow, who eagerly brings him water to drink but quickly explains that she has no bread, only a "tiny" morsel of flour.

Instead of seeing this issue as a problem, Elijah takes the time to pray and also instructs the widow to "not fear" and to trust in the Lord. Elijah prays and then declares that their source of food will not run out until the Lord restores rain to the lands.

Sometime later the widow's son becomes very ill, never recovers and later dies. The grief stricken widow accuses Elijah of intentionally doing her harm and begins to question in her heart if Elijah really is a man of God. A heartbroken Elijah goes and prays for the deceased boy "three times" before the boy is then resurrected and re-joined with his mother.

The sermon taken from this passage of the bible is quite poignant to what many of us face today. The biggest takeaway that the reader of this can get is that "Wherever God guides, he ultimately provides." This example is seen when God provides Elijah with food and water despite Elijah essentially being "homeless".  Another takeaway from the passage is that there is true growth through earnest prayer. Elijah had several instances where he could have quickly panicked or gotten angry with God but instead he prays making his situation turn from dire to more than okay.

The last takeaway from the passage deals with "Operating in Love". Elijah never once chastised or rebuked the widow for her accusatory manner or lack of faith but he instead tells her what the Lord says in love and later effectively turns her into a "believer" through his faith and obedience in God.

The True Meaning of Prayer

Today's word of the day is, TEFILLAH. This is the Hebrew word for PRAYER

How often do we use prayer as nothing more than an emergency call or a cold call to God?

Too often we only pray when we need or want something from God - which is understandable considering the English word "pray" means to "ask or beg". But the Hebrew word for prayer - tefillah - means to "self evaluate”. So to the Jews of the Bible, prayer was not a time when they asked God for things … it was a time when they examined themselves. They would use prayer as a way to compare their actions, behavior and attitude against God’s holiness.

Could this idea change your prayers today?

This Too Shall Pass.....

"When things get difficult, it’s easy to want to give up. It’s easy to get down and discouraged. But, that’s not God’s plan for us. God wants us to be so full of hope, so full of expectancy that we just can’t help believing for the best. He wants us to be prisoners of hope!"

"When you’re a prisoner of something, it’s like you’re chained to it. In other words, you can’t get away from it. I know people that are prisoners of fear, prisoners of worry, prisoners of doubt. You’ve heard them. “Nothing good ever happens to me.” “It’s never going to change. It’s just been too long.” No, you’re chained to the wrong thing. You need to break those chains and become a prisoner of hope. That means that no matter how long it’s taking, no matter how impossible it looks, our attitude should be, “I just can’t help it. I know it’s going to work out. I know I’m going to overcome. It may be taking a long time, but I know this too shall pass. It may be difficult, but I know that means I’m closer to my victory because I am a prisoner of hope!”

Here's what King Solomon said about the meaning of life.....

"So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can."

     

 

Ecclesiastes 3:12 NLT

Trusting In God In Times of Trouble or Adversity

In this life we all have dreams that we are  believing God for and situations we want to see turn around. All too often, we put God in a box and tell Him how to do it, when to do it, and who to use to do it. We’ve got it all figured out: how God is going to bring us out of debt, how He is going to change our loved one, how we’re going to meet the right person. We pray that things will unfold according to our plan. But we have to realize that God’s ways are not our ways. He is supernatural. His ways are higher than our ways. When God does something, it may not always make sense to our minds. If you have preconceived ideas of how you’re going to be promoted and how you’re going to get well, it can limit what God can do. You have to stay open. You may only see one way that it could happen, but God always has an option you can’t see. Why don’t you surrender your plans to Him today? Put your trust in Him because He is faithful. Let Him direct your steps because His ways are higher, and He knows how to lead you into the life of blessing He has for you.

Only Just Believe