SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:9-16

When we pray a judgment like Elijah prayed, how do we survive? The same God who gave Elijah what to pray judicially also led him in survival. At first God fed him by the Brook Cherith and then when the water dried up in the brook, He sent him not to an Israelite but to a widow in Zarephath. And in a time of famine, Elijah had to ask her to bring him a little water in a cup so he might drink and a morsel of bread to share. She said she had no bread, just a handful of flour and a little oil in a jar which she and her son needed to eat before they perished. She had no food or water and was on death’s door and Elijah was asking her to give her last nutrition to him. In verse 13 Elijah declared, “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. 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. So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.” Elijah first had to use his faith to restrain evil. But in the process of restraining evil, he unlocked the door of provision until the assignment was complete. Some of us are wondering where our provision is today. Is it possible that we are in Elijah’s position? Is God waiting for us to use our faith to restrain evil before He shows us where the provision is? Is it possible that we are trying to put the cart before the horse? It is time we use our faith to give God what He wants – a harvest! And it seems a significant way we can gain a harvest today is by using our God-given Rod of Iron to restrain evil. In prayer we are to dash and break – strike them with a spiritual blow from which there is no recovery. The breath of our lips will slay the wicked. Are we using our breath to give God the harvest He wants? If we are, we should expect Him to give us the provision we need.