DRAMA MINISTERS YEAR OF GREAT THINGS DRAMA MINISTERS 40 DAYS PRAYERS AND FASTING - DAY 19 IDENTIFYING THE LAST MEAL 1 Kings 17:8-12 8. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9. “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11. And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12. So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” During our recent drama mission trip to Australia, we met a Pastor who shared with us his experience with his congregation. He had a large congregation before, however they trimmed down to a very few number of people. He explained to us that, a lot of his members left when the church was about to buy a larger piece of land and he told the church. A lot of the members were people who were well employed and quite a number of them were in the medical field with very good pay packets. However, when they heard that The Lord needed their money to acquire a larger piece of land for a larger church building, they began to look for excuses to leave the church. So we met with a few number of church members. But the good thing in the whole matter is that, the land was eventually bought still. the Pastor had to rise up on his feet and put all his personal assets on line and still got the land for the church. When The Lord wanted to build the Tabernacle in the wilderness, He told Moses: Exodus 25:2-3,9 2. “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 3. And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 9. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. He commanded Moses to ask from the children of Israel for the materials to build the Tabernacle. He supplied Manna in the wilderness. He brought water out of the rock. He fed the people in the wilderness for forty years. They lacked nothing. He created the heavens and earth. He made all the minerals in the ground and made all the stars in the sky. He made Gold and Silver. Why didnt He just rain all the materials He needed for the Tabernacle in the wilderness? Why didnt He make Israelites pick all the Gold and Silver and all the materials that would build the Tabernacles right on the ground, the way they were picking the Manna on the ground early in the morning. Why didnt the Israelites just wake up early in the morning and found all what they wanted for the building on the ground of the camp. Why must they give to God out of their personal belongings? Why must God depend on the people to build His dwelling place? Haggai 1:2-5 2. “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” ’” 3Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Is it that God could not move people from somewhere to rise up and build His house for Him? He could. Is it that God could not raise great help and a multimillion dollar company would just rise up and take up all the bills of the construction? He could. Why then, did He have to wait for some people who were not ready to build His temple, until the whole place was in ruin? Why must God depend on people to build His place of worship? He could do it without them, but He wanted them to give Him an Offering. He desires an Offering from His people. So, the whole Tabernacle in the wilderness was, therefore, an Offering of the people to God. And He was delighted to receive the offering from them. So the entire construction was to the advantages and favor of the Israelites. It was for their good. When God wanted to bless His servant, the widow of Zarephath, He dried the brook that gave Elijah water and stopped the ravens from bringing bread and meat to Elijah, and sent Elijah to go to the widow for sustainance. God said to Elijah, He had directed the widow to feed him. With what? The widow had nothing but a single portion of food for a last meal. And yet, The Lord told Elijah, He had directed her to fed him. With what? Where was the food with which Elijah would be fed. Why would God direct Elijah to be fed by a widow who had no food but her last meal? It was because, God was about to bless the woman, but her faith must be tested first. She must believe the Word of God first. She must be ready and willing to give her last meal unto The Lord first. 1 Kings 17:13 13. And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’” Many of us who have reached the point of our last meal several times, have missed the opportunity of releasing it to The Lord for a turn-around in their life. The jar of oil would not have ran dry and the barrel of flour would not have ran empty if we had been bold enough to release unto The Lord when The Lord needed our offerings and financial givings most. Are you in the moment of serious financial hardship? So many debts have piled up and you dont know how to settle them? You have very little food and money with you and yet, you are confronted with evangelistic or missions request for support all the time in your church or ministry. You are in serious financial mess, and yet there is a pressing need to support the church building project or give to missionary needs in your church or ministry or elsewhere The Lord is pointing your attention to. If you focus on the little in your hand, you will be tempted to ignore the call to give to The Lord. And if you fall into that temptation of ignoring your Elijahs request, you would be eating your last meal. Then, the blessing and covenant of Verse 14 can not follow up for you: For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’” When you are in serious financial mess and you have prayed for provisions, and it is time for The Lord to answer your prayers for breakthrough and divine provision, He would bring an Elijah on your way to place a demand on the little you have. It is Divine Procedure, that must always be followed. God gave One Son, to have many sons. Abraham placed Isaac on the Altar to secure a renewed covenant of multiple children as the stars of the sky. Hannah gave Samuel to God first, before she was blessed with five more children. The boy with five loaves of bread and two fishes released them to Jesus before it could be multiplied to feed several thousands with twelve basket leftovers. Hear this: Proverbs 3:9-10 9. Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10. So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. If you are in the habit of focusing too much on your financial needs, you can not have the spirit of identifying Gods Elijahs. When it is time to build for God, and you withdraw your hands, the house of The Lord will still be built, but you have missed a great opportunity for continuous refilling of your cruise of oil and bin of flour. You must understand the divine strategies of living successfully in a moment like this. There is serious famine in the world all over, but there is always an Elijahs dimension to the famine situations, that is why, despite all famines and dryness, The Lord would still do great things in the lives of His children. Identify your last meal. Identify your Elijahs dimension. Plant your last meal for a continuous bountiful harvest. That is one of the secrets of living in continuous season of Harvest. This post first came out last year April, when we had never even started of building our office. But the Lord is making us bring this message out again for the blessing of His children, because it is a Biblical Prinicple of conitnuous blessing in the time of famine. It is unbreakable. Amen. Remain blessed. MIKE BAMILOYE.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:44:43 +0000
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