KEY SCRIPTURE: 1Ki 19:4 KJV ” But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”

In our key scripture, the prophet Elijah, who had achieved so much for the Lord, got so discouraged with himself that he said, I am not better than my fathers and so, he asked the Lord to take his life. What was the challenge? He had defeated the prophets of Baal in a supernatural contest and, as a result, slew all the prophets of Baal. Ahab, who was present, took the unfolding events to his wife Jazebel. She quickly sent a death threat to Elijah, the prophet of God. This situation seems like a paradox. This man, Elijah, prayed for the rains to cease for a period of three and a half years, and it was so. He prayed again, and the rain came. When the king Ahab sent two groups of fifty men to go for him, he called for fire from heaven, which consumed the two groups. There was a third group of fifty, which he spared because they pleaded with him to save their lives.
In light of all these feats, why would he succumb to the threats of a woman?

Elijah responded from his natural senses as a man, losing the fact that he had such a big God who is too powerful and cannot fail him. This condition can affect any man if we fail to respond to the word of God but pay attention to the devil’s lies. Dear reader, was it indeed possible for Jazebel to have easily taken Elijah and slaughtered him? I believe the answer is a big no. Sadly, he accepted that lie and saw himself as one of the prophets who had been slain by the earlier kings. He felt so bad with himself and concluded he is no better than them, and that he must be taken away by the Lord instead of Jazebel taking off his head. This is a very sad state for such a great and fearful man of God. Jesus said the flesh profits nothing. The Holy Spirit speaking through Paul said that to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Dear one, are you discouraged in yourself? The simple explanation is that you have yielded to the voice of the enemy. You are seeing the weakness and inability of your flesh. In some cases, you might have experienced a multiplication of failures in various endeavours, and so your conclusion is that no good thing can come out of you. Dear one, so long as you keep looking at your ability and the human provisions that surround you, you will feel discouraged. Every Christian has ceased to live by his own abilities. The life we now have is the very life of God that cannot be defeated.
Remember, you proceed from God and the greater one lives inside of you. Never count your personal efforts to face any condition, realise that it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Phil 2:14.If you find yourself in a health condition that looks like death or failure, please do not consider your natural body facing that ailment. Consider the resurrection life present in you right now. Start jubilation about your victory because there is no power greater than death, yet the resurrection power has conquered death. Respond to the devil from the position of the new man that you are in Christ.

CONFESSION

I died with Jesus, and it is Christ alive in me. Nothing can put me down, nothing can defeat Jesus, who is my life. I can’t be discouraged in myself, no, it is never possible for the greater one who lives inside of me. I refuse to see myself as an ordinary man. I cannot fail; it cannot be taken down with disease, sin does not have dominion over me, for I live by a supernatural life. GLORY BE TO GOD.

FURTHER STUDIES

2Co 4:1 KJV” Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;”

Heb 12:2 KJV” Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”