SHOW NOTES
Embracing the Supernatural, pt1
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 168
1 Kings 17:1
Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
Here we have the beginning of four miracles that are connected:
Elijah calls for a drought, and the drought begins to happen.
The Lord directs him to go into the wilderness, and the ravens take care of him.
Elijah encounters a widow when the brook dries up. He tells her that if she feeds him, her flour and oil will never run out, and that comes to pass.
The widow’s son dies, and Elijah raises him from the dead.
When you see miracles in the Scripture, historic miracles, or legitimate miracles in your own life, they are almost always connected to another event that will happen. Very seldom are miracles stand-alone events. God has a divine agenda in His miraculous manifestations.
When we give God praise and honor for things He is doing in our life--blessings (God’s favor) or miracles (the supernatural)--there is still something greater He wants to do.
Elijah confronts the wicked king Ahab. The Lord told him to go into hiding and not to worry about anything. Elijah obeyed the voice of God. He obeyed the voice of God in public (confronting Ahab), and he obeyed the voice of God in private (going into the wilderness).
1 Kings 17:6
The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.
The ravens showed up at exactly the right time and brought him bread and meat to eat. He was by a brook, so he had water.
There’s a supernatural miracle when God tells Elijah to speak to the king that there will be no rain for three years and that began. Then God told him to go and hide in the wilderness, and the Lord provided food and water. With the flow of miracles, you would think the provision wouldn’t dry up--but the brook dried up.
In the midst of miracles happening, there are still natural things that happen.
1 Kings 17:8-9
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
1 Kings 17:14
“For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’”
By feeding Elijah, the widow uses all that she has. Elijah tells her that the Lord will continue to provide for her.
1 Kings 17:16
The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.
God is looking for faith, not resources. When Elijah went out to the middle of nowhere, it wasn’t dependent on him finding a store, a safehouse, or a friend. God told him to go, and Elijah obeyed in full faith. Faith is always engaged in the working of miracles. God picks people who have faith, not people who necessarily have resources.
Vision produces provision. God is always trying to stir the “what” in our heart. As we walk in faith to that “what,” then the “how” comes. The “how” will trip us up every time. Instead, it’s the “what”—God, WHAT do you want to do?—that we should be focused on.
Elijah knew what God wanted to do. Elijah knew his mission was to show that God was alive. God moves in the supernatural, but we still have to obey Him--even when things in the natural (like the brook drying up) happen.
There is an intermingling of the natural and the supernatural. There is a connection between the engagement of faith and the engagement of God. Vision produces provision. Faith is greater than resources or circumstances all the time.
What makes you a candidate for a miracle is that you want to show that God is alive, that you are not dependent on the circumstances or resources around you, and you believe that God can speak to you and through you.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
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