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wellness .distinctioni.tech
Opening Discussion
1 Kings 18 & 19
Emotional Wellness & Spiritual Warfare
in Ministry
by Pastor Dexter B. Upshaw Jr.
1 Kings 18:20–46
The Contest at Mt. Carmel
Ahab
The seventh king of Israel. A wicked king who institutionalized the worship of false idols.
Jezebel
The wife of Ahab, known for her dominating and controlling personality. Led a staff of 450 false prophets of Baal and 400 of Asherah.
What Israel was worshiping
Baal worship
Fertility god: crops & children
Rooted in sensuality & temple prostitution
Human sacrifice & self-inflicted injury
Asherah worship
Goddess of love & war: ritual prostitution
Included divination & fortune-telling
Associated with wooden, shaved poles in the ground
Elijah at Carmel
The Contest at Mt. Carmel
Challenged the prophets of Baal (vv. 21–24)
Fire fell from heaven (v. 38)
Punished the false prophets (v. 40)
Prophesied for rain to return (vv. 41–45)
Supernaturally outran Ahab (v. 46)
James 5:17–18 (NASB)
17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.
1 Kings 19:1–3 (NASB)
Elijah has an emotional crisis
1Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
The tale of two ministers
The mighty man of God is now running for his life.
Chapter 18
Fire falls. Rain returns. He outruns the king.
Chapter 19
Afraid. Running. Alone in the wilderness.
Sometimes your most difficult moments come after your greatest victories.
1 Kings 19:4 (NASB)
4But 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 my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”
Elijah was depressed & suicidal
After one threat from Jezebel, Elijah questioned his worth and identity.
Have you ever felt like Elijah?
Running away from a threat?
Isolated in the wilderness?
Questioning your worth?
Wishing to no longer live?
It could be depression.
Persistent sadness & fatigue
Loss of interest or motivation
Difficulty making decisions
Feelings of worthlessness
It could also be demonic.
Demons are real… but so are angels!
1 Kings 19:5–6 (NASB)
The angel’s first ministry
5He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.” 6Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.
1 Kings 19:7–8 (NASB)
“The journey is too great for you”
7The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Sometimes God simply puts the super on the natural.
Rest19:5
Eat19:6
Hydrate19:6
Move19:8
Strength
1 Kings 19:8–9 (NASB)
8So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God (Mt. Sinai). 9Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him,
“What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah, what are you doing here?
1 Kings 19:9–18 (NASB) · What Elijah said
“I have been zealous” (v. 10)
“People are trippin’” (v. 10)
“I am alone” (v. 10)
“I am being persecuted” (v. 10)
Elijah, what are you doing here?
1 Kings 19:9–18 (NASB) · What God said
Find Me in a new place (vv. 11–12)
Anoint new kings (vv. 15–16)
I still have 7,000 (v. 18)
Focus on the next generation (vv. 16, 19)
Sometimes God simply puts the super on the natural.
Rest19:5
Eat19:6
Hydrate19:6
Move19:8
Listen19:15
Obey19:19
Reflection
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