Life Application / Accountability
How did you do last week submitting each day to the Holy Spirit’s rule and reign in your life?
Did you inquire of the Holy Spirit for any and all decisions you had to make?
Did you follow the Holy Spirit’s direction and leading in those decisions?
Sermon Recap
This week we dove into one of the many stories involving Elijah. Elijah had just seen the power of God on his behalf as he defeated the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel in miraculous fashion. He then outran King Ahab’s chariot down the mountain which was another act of God. But now Ahab has told his evil wife Jezebel about all that had happened, and Jezebel sends word to Elijah that she is coming for him and is going to kill him. Even in the midst of God’s faithfulness to Elijah, all of a sudden Elijah becomes scared, frazzled and runs deep into the desert out of fear. What he really needed was just some rest, some food, and some solitude with the Lord!
Solitude is very interesting! Solitude without God is destructive. That is why our prison systems use solitary confinement as a form of punishment. Solitude is used to break people down because we were created to be relational and we need relational interaction to bring healing to our minds and emotions. If you take the relational away, it's like taking away the only scaffolding of support we have. Solitude apart from God breaks us down.
Conversely, solitude with God builds us up. It doesn’t weaken us – it actually does the exact opposite giving us strength and peace and helps us find our bearings. When we spend time alone with God we begin to see things from his perspective - giving us a new perspective.
Again Jesus taught us this. Following his baptism by John the Baptist at the very beginning of his public ministry the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness for 40 days and nights. Scripture says there he was tempted by the devil. But this wasn’t a good time to tempt Jesus. Jesus was strong! He had spent 40 days with his father in solitude being strengthened and prepared for public ministry. Luke tells us in 4:13 (NIV) When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Jesus was strong because he had spent so much alone time (solitude) with his father.
Key Scripture
Read through these passages together:
I Kings chapter 18 & 19:1-18
Discussion Questions
Discuss together, pushing yourself toward transparency. The more we are authentic and humble with one another, the more we can grow in Christ.
Why did Elijah all of a sudden become scared and lose his faith and run deep into the wilderness?
How easy is it for us to lose sight of God’s promises and perspective when our world seems to come crashing down around us?
What should we do when the situations that we find ourselves in shake us? How do we stay calm and at peace trusting God?
Prayer
Dear heavenly Father, I submit to you, yield to you, and surrender my life to you. Help me this week to keep my eyes focused on you, your Word, and have your perspective. I need help with this Lord. Too often I am quick to get frazzled and frustrated when I should simply be spending more time with you in prayer and solitude asking you for your perspective and gaining strength from you. Help me this week live from a kingdom mindset, not a mindset shaped by the current events of my day!
Life Application / Accountability For The Upcoming Week
This week, no matter what curveballs life throws at you, bring it to the Lord in prayer and solitude asking God for his perspective so that you can live with the strength and peace that only comes from God.
Commit to listening and praying for 1 hour a day for 7 days.
Don’t Forget!
Register for the Immerse Women's Conference- Early Bird ends August 31st.
Evening prayer is Sept. 11th
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