The climax of the triumph at Carmel was without doubt the coming of the rains. Elijah was so filled with the joy of the Lord and so thrilled with the way everything had worked out that he outran Ahab's chariot to Jezreel, a town about 30 miles away! Talk about spiritual highs and power! But it was a short-lived mountain top experience. And I want the reader let that sink in because MOST mountain experiences ARE just that - short lived and while they are great to experience as this writer and I’m sure many of you have experienced such over the course of our Christian experiences - they do NOT make nor develop the character within us that is so needed for this marathon journey of Christianity that MUST be run with patience and an eye on Christ. Elijah thought that on the basis of what Ahab had seen at Carmel, the king would turn back to the Lord and send wicked Queen Jezebel packing. But instead, Ahab merely reported the day's happenings to Jezebel, who in turn sent a messenger to Elijah and basically unleashed a wave of fear and intimidation that caused Elijah to run for his life and wind up in a cave.
 

By Chris McDonald

TEXT: 1 Kings 19:7-8 - And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. [8] And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

James 5:17-18
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. [18] And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

As we continue our journal series on Elijah, Jezebel and Ahab, we want to continue to look at Elijah’s cave experience; part one of this journal looked a great deal at Jezebel and her influence on the great prophet; this journal wants to look deeply at the effects this spirit of Jezebel had on the prophet himself.

As stated, Elijah wound up in a cave somewhere on Mount Horeb; to state this was a spiritual low in the life of this great prophet of God is a powerful understatement. However, God used this valley experience of the prophet, as He does OUR cave experiences, to show Elijah His Glory and set the stage for Elijah’s future ministry in Jerusalem in the last days as this same prophet will stand toe to toe against the forces of Antichrist and literally call fire down from heaven one more time before being killed himself and raptured to heaven before the eyes of those beholding these events.

Our text declares that Elijah was "a man with a nature like ours." That seems hard for most to realize this since most view Elijah in such grand terms, which they should; however, all Christians no matter how much they are used or not used by God experience spiritual highs and lows. There are the Mount Carmels and there are the caves! Let's trace the path of Elijah from the triumph of Carmel to the trauma of the cave, and learn a few of the lessons that God has for us in 1 Kings 17-19.

Without rehashing the entire story of Mount Carmel which we laid out in great detail in part one of this journal, let me summarize quickly a few of the events that shaped the cave experience of one of the greatest prophets in the world. Elijah came on the scene at a time when Israel had not only turned away from the Lord but had apostasies to the point they had begun to follow pagan practices and religions of the surrounding nations. God had expressly forbid His chosen people to embrace the foreign gods of their neighbors, something Israel has always seemed to have trouble with. By the time of Elijah, long gone were the "good old days" of the united kingdom under David and Solomon as the kingdom was now split into the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam I, the very first king of northern Israel, put his kingdom on the downhill road of idolatry by setting up two golden calf idols for the people to worship. All ties with the true worship of the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem (capital of the southern kingdom) were severed. No wonder the biblical record of the kings of Israel repeats over and over that "Jeroboam made Israel sin." This sin included the practice of Jeroboam installing the basest and most degenerate of individuals as priests, many of which were outside the tribe of Levi in direct disobedience and rebellion against God.

Elijah was raised up as a prophet of God to the northern kingdom about 40 years after Jeroboam--during the reign of another wicked King, Ahab, who continued to lead Israel into idolatry thanks in no small part to the influence of his wicked queen, Jezebel. As king and queen, they both built a temple for the degrading Baal worship in Samaria, his capital city (1 Kings 16:28-34), while Jezebel encouraged the prophets of Baal and the Ashteroth, a pagan female deity, to prosper in Israel and actually live at government expense (18:19). The evil Jezebel systematically killed off many prophets of the Lord (18:4, 13). Thus Ahab "did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel that were before him" (16:33). Friend, it takes a LOT for the Holy Spirit to utter such words about anyone in Scripture, even the most degenerate or wicked. That frames the evil landscape that was in place when these events took place in the life of both the nation and a man named ELIJAH.

Suddenly Elijah stepped into this picture of religious apostasy. Such idolatry called for confrontation and judgment. However, before the confrontation at Carmel could take place, the nation had to be forced to realize that God's blessing had been withdrawn from the land. The people had to realize that the gods which they were now worshipping were not helping them one bit. For 3 1/2 years there would be no rain--not even dew (17:1)! Israel knew that rain was a sign of God's blessing, according to His covenant promises (Deuteronomy 28:12) as well as knowing that a prolonged drought meant that God was punishing them (Deuteronomy 28:24). And the rain that the God of heaven would not provide was certainly rain the pagan gods of Ahab and Jezebel could not provide!

For 3 1/2 years Israel was conditioned by God for the show-down at Carmel. We logically ask at this point, how stupid could the people be to go on following the helpless and lifeless Baals? Could we not just as logically ask the same question about our own nation today? Our country appears bent on self-destruction as it increasingly forsakes the God of the Bible and His blessings to serve other gods. Perhaps the "droughts" of recent days (oil, for example) are conditions that God has permitted to bring the nation to its knees--or to a Mount Carmel type revival and judgment upon the false gods of America! Let me tell you this friend.

Every single outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the history of Israel was either followed by or preceded by great judgment. The Great Tribulation and the latter days outpouring spoken of by Joel the prophet are interlinked together as being one and the same events almost. Joel speaks of a tremendous move of God’s Spirit in the last days, but he also speaks of great judgment and upheaval in the heavens AND in the earth.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: [29] And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. [30] And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

The term “pillars of smoke” in the original Hebrew means “mushroom clouds of smoke” possibly tying nuclear war into the greatest time of revival the world is about to see. GLORY and TRAVAIL and ANGUISH are all three coming! Can man repent you ask and avoid this? Certainly! But we know from the Scriptures that man will not repent and that judgment is coming no matter what false promises of peace and prosperity preachers proclaim is coming.

Even with judgments falling from heaven and men dying by the BILLIONS, mankind in general will NOT repent during the greatest time of revival and God’s dealing with humanity on a world wide basis as He will do in not too distant future. It amazes me today how very little we hear of this. We hear of the revival part which is wonderful and we need to have our hearts encouraged; but we must also be preaching the fact that because of false gods and idolatry, men’s hearts will be so deceived they will continue to worship devils, and “idols of god, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood,” which neither can “see, hear or walk” in the last days. While the nation of Israel was "reaping what it had sown", Elijah was being prepared for Mount Carmel during the days of Ahab as he is being prepped at this very moment for a similar ministry during the days of the Antichrist; more on that in a moment. I also believe the Lord is raising up prophets TODAY prior to the rapture of the church who are going to minister “in the spirit and power of Elijah” to call the nation of America back to God one more time. I’m not a pessimist; I’m a realist and extreme optimist when it comes to what God can do in this nation if we will but repent! Repentance and revival go hand in hand; you can’t have revival without repentance and repentance rarely comes except men’s hearts are dealt with by the Holy Spirit of God! America needs both or she will perish shortly!! Hear what this writer says and pleads with you today.

Elijah, having learned confidence in the Lord, boldly challenged the prophets of Baal to get their god to answer by fire (18:24) while also challenging the crowd from Israel who had gathered for the excitement. "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal, follow him" (18:21). Is it possible that the same question is being asked of the modern church today? Is it possible God is asking that question of the entire nation of America today? Is it possible we in the church are the ONLY force that is standing between America’s utter destruction through our intercession and prayers!? Yet the church continues to steep itself in humanistic psychology and every man-made scheme under heaven to try and get men to find deliverance and salvation.

There is only ONE source of salvation and deliverance and that is through the power of the CROSS of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Ghost. God did not give us some 12-step program to set men free; He gave us a ONE STEP program and that is an encounter with the HOLY GHOST! Glory to God. He gave us the POWER of the BLOOD of the Lord Jesus Christ which is against EVERY demonic sprit, every demonic power, every demonic influence, EVERY spirit of witchcraft, EVERY spirit of suicide, every spirit of lust, every spirit of whoredom, every spirit of dishonesty, every spirit of adultery, fornication, every spirit of homosexuality, every spirit of drug abuse and addiction, every spirit of alcohol and addiction, every spirit of bondage known to man - JESUS CHRIST CAN SET THE CAPTIVE FREE!

Baal, of course, was no match for the Lord! How could the demonic powers behind the Baals even begin to compare with the omnipotence of God? Elijah mocked the pagan prophets as they carried on their silly flesh cutting rituals on top of Mount Carmel. We may laugh at their pathetic ravings now, but these pagan prophets were as serious then as many of our friends and loved ones are today who sell their souls to the gods of this world in exhausting but futile activity. The altar was repaired on Mount Carmel, the fire FELL and the rains came. Israel experienced a move of God unlike any she had seen in decades under Jeroboam and Ahab, yet the prophet’s obvious joy and exhilaration would be short lived as we shall see.

The climax of the triumph at Carmel was without doubt the coming of the rains. Elijah was so filled with the joy of the Lord and so thrilled with the way everything had worked out that he outran Ahab's chariot to Jezreel, a town about 30 miles away! Talk about spiritual highs and power! But it was a short-lived mountain top experience. And I want the reader let that sink in because MOST mountain experiences ARE just that - short lived and while they are great to experience as this writer and I’m sure many of you have experienced such over the course of our Christian experiences - they do NOT make nor develop the character within us that is so needed for this marathon journey of Christianity that MUST be run with patience and an eye on Christ.

Elijah thought that on the basis of what Ahab had seen at Carmel, the king would turn back to the Lord and send wicked Queen Jezebel packing. But instead, Ahab merely reported the day's happenings to Jezebel, who in turn sent a messenger to Elijah and basically unleashed a wave of fear and intimidation that caused Elijah to run for his life and wind up in a cave.

Invoking the names of her heathen gods, Jezebel gave Elijah 24 hours claiming he would die for this “stunt” as she saw it on Mount Carmel and as result one of the mightiest prophets of God who had just witnessed the very fire of God fall from heaven now ran for his life gripped with a spiritual influence that is still affecting millions today!

Because of this influence, Elijah didn't stop running until he had put about 300 miles and a lot of wilderness between himself and Jezebel. He told the Lord along the way that he wanted to die because he was a failure (19:4).

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.

I used to be very hard on Elijah and his response to Jezebel in the past but I urge the reader to not pass judgment on Elijah for the influence that made him wind up in this state is out to destroy YOU and I still today! I have brushed up against this same spirit as some of you have and I can assure you I have come to have a lot of empathy for Elijah and realize just how easy this could happen when we come against the powers of darkness, especially the spirit of Jezebel.

I have read behind Bible commentators who have been very hard on Elijah for allowing himself to wind up in this cave saying Elijah had the “power” to destroy Jezebel which is partly true; God for that matter could have struck both Ahab and Jezebel dead at that very moment and solved Elijah’s problems real quickly, but He didn’t! Think about that.

Before we beat our chest as if we have never faced similar battles, do we easily forget how we today cycle pretty rapidly from mountain-top to valley? Yes, and like Elijah, we are always more vulnerable right after a spiritual triumph. The spirit of Jezebel caused Elijah to lose focus on what had just taken place at Mount Carmel and God’s bigger picture of what He planned to do in all of Israel on a corporate scale by sending Holy Ghost revival. I’d also caution the reader to not point fingers too quickly at Elijah and say, “well he should have just claimed and named his way out of this cave.” Neighbor, when you arrive at the depths of despair the prophet arrived at you can’t just “name it and claim it” and expect to come out! Furthermore, you’re not coming out of the cave on the sofa of humanistic psychology or even “counseling” by an individual who calls themselves Christian. It’s by God’s grace and God’s grace ALONE that we come out of our cave experiences!

Let me say it again and let the reader be abundantly clear. It was the grace of God and God‘s grace alone to Elijah that kept the prophet from not losing his life, especially at the cave. YES, we have the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Ghost to combat the powers of Satan. YES, we have been given ALL things that pertain to godliness and Godly living in order to walk in Christian living; YES, we have a SURE word of prophecy to guide our footsteps and help us in this battle. Yet with all of these things, many Christians are hiding in caves at this very moment, depressed, despairing, hurt, wounded, fearful and in desperate need of a touch from God. When you get in this state neighbor, I can tell you there are days when you don’t even have the strength to pray. You don’t have the strength inside to even CRY tears or call out to God for help. The Bible is not totally clear on this but I feel in my heart that there were days in this cave that Elijah probably sat silent hurting so bad he cried inside without knowing what even to say. He had come up against the most powerful spiritual influence in all of Israel and had wound up close to suicide despite being the tool God had just used to bring Holy Ghost revival!

Not only did God care for His fatigued servant on the way to the cave, but through the ordeal at the cave, Elijah learned probably the most important lesson any child of God can learn and that is this: God speaks not only by hurricanes and earthquakes and fire from heaven, but He speaks many times by the still small, gentle voice (19:11-14) of His Spirit that many times ministers more power to us than the earthquake, fire and wind.

And while we love the earthquake, fire and wind experiences of our Christian walk, we had better learn to spend time listening for that still small voice of God! It’s the still small voice that very few hear today!! In all the clamor and glitz and hype of the modern church it’s getting harder to hear this still small voice but hear this still small voice we must!!

Let me give you a few clues that you’re in this cave and few suggestions on what you need to do to come out of it. Number one, when you’re in this same place as Elijah you always wind up being self-righteous. It’s amazing that Elijah was sitting in a cave complaining to God about an earlier moment when Obadiah, his fellow prophet and ministry partner, hid 100 prophets in a cave! Some of you reading that may not have caught what I just said but let me state it another way. Jesus said, “Judge NOT lest you be judged!“ Furthermore, Jesus warned us that if we do judge others we will not only be judged ourselves, but with the same exact judgment wherewith we have judged our brother!

Secondly, Elijah became self-consumed and arrogant to a point believing he was the only believer who was withstanding the forces of Jezebel. I remember an old song many years back by the Kingsmen Quartet that asked, “If there’s nobody saved but me or Lord, if there’s nobody saved but me; what kind of heaven would God’s heaven be if there’s nobody saved but me!“ Let me answer that question in the most simplest of terms - God’s heaven would not be heaven anymore but it would become the opposite place where people who don’t go to heaven GO!

Another sign one can point to that signals the fact you have wound up in a cave is cynicism and unbelief. The church world today is literally drowning in this terrible spirit that no longer believes God still moves supernaturally in the affairs of men. As we stated in part one of this journal, Jezebel and her forces ALWAYS fight against the TRUE move of the Holy Ghost! She causes men to doubt GOD moves in miracles, signs and wonders! She causes religious leaders to fight against EVERYTHING that resembles the true power of God and causes them to call that which is of God “of Satan,” and then look at what is “of Satan,” as that being from God.

Elijah had just called fire down from heaven yet he could not believe God to deliver him from the wrath of one wicked queen. This sinking spirit of unbelief caused Elijah to just want to throw in the towel and quit and friend like it or not what I am about to say, but millions are in the state today. Neighbor, it’s sad to state this but we have entire segments of the Church world today that don’t even believe God does miracles anymore. Segments don’t believe in the supernatural power of God; some do it through willful unbelief and arrogance but others do it because they have brushed up against the Jezebel spirit and it’s sent them to cave no longer able to believe and trust God! The same God who answered by FIRE on Carmel was the same God now confronting this lonely, hurt and wounded prophet at the door of the cave asking him “what are you doing here?” I can assure you when an omnipotent being asks you and I a question it’s not because He don’t know the answer to that question! God is asking some of you at this very moment, “what are you doing here,” in this state and what has caused you to be here? He KNOWS what has caused you to be here and He wants to bring you out of the cave so you can get back in the ranks of His end time army fighting against this powerful force called the spirit of Jezebel!

Fourthly, when one comes up against a witchcraft spirit such as Jezebel one loses strength and focus simply because Jezebel in general is an intimidator or manipulator depending on whether the individual she works through is strong or weak. The strong intimidate the weak; the weak manipulate the strong - both for the purpose of domination! Let me give you a little insight; Jezebel KNEW the people of Israel were behind Elijah after the Mount Carmel experience and it was SHE, not Elijah, who was in fear of the prophet. She heard from Ahab how this powerful prophet had stood against her false idols and destroyed them while calling the element of FIRE down from the God of heaven. Let me add this; Jezebel KNEW there was a living God! Don’t let the atheist kid you. This writer has always felt that there are no such things as atheists in this world; ALL men know there is a Creator and ALL men know there is a God of heaven who is bigger than they. They may say differently and make you think they don’t believe in God but deep inside they KNOW God exists.

Jezebel’s dignity had been literally slapped in the face by Elijah and God Himself to be frank. Her declaration of death to Elijah was about revenge but it was rooted in FEAR that she knew good and well that Elijah’s God had destroyed her false gods and idols. The sad thing though is that this spirit caused ELIJAH, to fear Jezebel instead of him realizing that it was HER who was afraid of HIM! That is another sign you’re in the cave friend - disillusionment and fear.

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. [2] Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.

After great victories it is a very common practice for Satan to throw fear, discouragement, disillusionment, pride and deception to thwart what God has accomplished. Let the reader be clear - this battle between Jezebel and Elijah is NOT about US! It’s a battle for the eternal souls of MEN between Satan and God and the resulting clashes take down many a good servant of the Lord on the battlefield. When you have been hurt and wounded by this demonic power let me tell you that you will wind up in the cave!

I’ve told you how you know you’re in the cave, now let me, as I close, to encourage you on what God can do for us should we find ourselves in the cave!

God calls Elijah to the front of the cave and displays His power once again - passing by as a great and strong wind tears away mountains, breaking rocks into pieces before Elijah’s eyes; an earthquake then shakes the mountain and even a fire; yet God was NOT in any of those things. Let me tell you this. The church world today has majored in showing the world the fire, wind and earthquake power of God yet many times God is not even in those things. There is a current healing revival going on in Lakeland, Florida at the present time and the entire church world is up in arms over it. Do I believe God is moving in Lakeland; I’m certainly sure that He is without a doubt; but I also remember it was this same church in 1993 when the holy laughter movement broke out and everyone under the sun was calling it “revival” and while it had tremendous power attached to it - it was NOT revival! No true revival starts without the preaching of the gospel as its main thrust of concern and operation. What good does it do men to receive physical healings in their body if their souls are lost and on their way to hell? Friend, you can have every evangelist under the sun pray for you and think if they just blow on you that you’ll just waltz out of your depression and despair and just prance right out of your cave; it’s not that simple and I can assure it won’t happen that way! You need an encounter with God, not man! And while God does work through men, God’s prescribed order of victory rests by YOUR FAITH in the CROSS of CHRIST where all demon powers of hell were defeated!!

I’ve seen through the years so many claim promises of false healing and false deliverance if one will do this and thus or that and this and a myriad of a million of other things they offer as formulas for getting people out of the cave. There is so much activity in the church world today that the clamor is hiding the MILLIONS of Christians and truly born again believers who are sitting on the brink of suicide, despair, depression, fear and disillusionment. We love the earthquake, the wind and the fire. We love the show and the displays of great power when they truly happen don’t we? And while I pray this move of God in Lakeland is for real and I’m sure touching people’s lives, I can tell you that as I’ve grown older and matured a bit I hope in my walk with God and understanding His ways more and more through the years it is very rarely in the moments of “shock and awe” if you will that God truly changes our nature! Very few people get miracles of tremendous magnitude without ultimately winding up in sin, backsliding or worse. That statement is not to make the reader believe I don’t believe in miracles or I am attacking or speaking evil of what is taking place in Lakeland or any other place where healings supposedly take place.

I think of several of the healing evangelists of the 1950s and 1960s who I truly believe were used by God to bring the power of the Holy Ghost to America through healing, miracles and power. Yet many if not most wound up losing their way with God. I used to be very hard in my view of them until I realized that very few could walk under that type of power without succumbing to the same spirit of deception and pride the enemy always brings against such servants. Jezebel don’t care HOW she destroys the servant of God nor his message just as long as she destroys them. Many of these men and women majored in the fire, earthquake and wind type miracles yet many of them came precariously close to losing their souls. I know of several prophetic people right now who are used mightily in the gifts of the Spirit yet they display one of the most arrogant and self absorbed spirits known to man in their behavior to others. Someone said to me the other day, “well that is just the anointing on their life.” NO, it’s not the anointing, it’s a CHARACTER FLAW known as PRIDE and EGO and they need to repent of it before it destroys not only their soul but the souls of those they minister to!!

No, neighbor, it’s not in the flashy display of miracles that one truly comes to know God. It’s in the moments of life when we sit hurting, wanting to die, fearful, despairing and downtrodden that He speaks to us in the quietness and barrenness of our souls and “BREATHES” on us His very LIFE that can ALONE transforms our character and being. God is not in the “show” business the church has made Him into being. God is ALL about eternity and His concern for Elijah was ETERNAL, not temporal. God had a hurting prophet in a cave that had just been used to destroy false idols that held an entire nation at bay, yet now was on the brink of death himself. That was far more important to God than just solving Elijah’s problems with a quick fix by striking Jezebel down with lightning. He could have done that but He was reserving His judgment on her through Jehu at a later time.

Friend, His concern at this powerful moment in the cave was on ELIJAH, the man. And neighbor this same God cares about us as PEOPLE, not as some objects of some game show where the lucky winner walks away with the cherished prize of healings or a miracle. We need the healings and we need the miracles, but we need MORE to know that we’re born again and eternity with God is our ultimate destiny! He cares more about YOU, the person more than He cares about your title, your church affiliation, your financial state, and your pedigree. To be frank with you, man’s pedigree is the same no matter who that individual is - WE’RE ALL SINNERS!! Those born again are just sinners saved by grace who are now saints; those not born again are SINNERS who need to be saved!

The Greek rendering for “still small voice,” literally means God “BLEW” and “BREATHED” deeply on Elijah in a way as to change his life forever and forever. Some Bible commentators believe this cave to be the same in Horeb that Moses asked the Lord to “show me Your Glory,” and the Lord passed by Moses, hiding the mighty patriarch in the “cleft of His hand” so Moses would not die by beholding the GLORY of God. The Lord passed by Moses the Bible says in Exodus showing him His “goodness,” and “mercy,” two things God moves in FIRST always before He ever moves in judgment.

Exodus 34:6-7 - And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, [7] Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Elijah though Jezebel was his problem, but God revealed to Elijah as He is speaking to you at this very moment that the individual you think is causing your cave experience is NOT the problem! The enemy may try and convince you of that but what you need is the same revelation God gave to both Moses and Elijah in the very same cave - HIS MERCY, GOODNESS and HIS GRACE! It’s the GOODNESS of God that frames His GRACE whereby He shows MERCY to all men-especially cave dwellers like Elijah who are in need of encouragement and life-giving change to their ministries and lives. It is this same GOODNESS that God shows even to the sinner man in order that the sinner REPENT before it’s eternally too late and he lose his eternal soul!

God speaks to Elijah through a still small voice and in doing so sets the course of eternal events with what He says:

In the still small voice God tells Elijah to go anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, Jehu to be king over Israel and Elisha to “anoint to be prophet in thy room.” Some claim that Elijah’s ministry ended because of his allowing the Jezebel spirit to cause him to wind up in this cave. It did? That is what the modern church’s attitude is about everyone who has had failure in their life and wound up in a similar state. We just say “Their ministry is over and God can’t use them anymore, ad nausea ad nausea.” Isn’t it just lovely how the church so flippantly decrees such over people as most Bible commentators feel about Elijah and callously claim Elijah’s ministry ended in the cave.

That seems strange to me simply because what God didn’t tell Elijah in His instructions to him was the fact there was a chariot ride of FIRE coming to get the prophet very soon! Elijah didn’t know this even through what God spoke to him but he would later; at this moment however in the cave, I’m sure Elijah wept inside wandering what had become of his life after such a spiritual high days before only to have the God of heaven witnesses sing his worst spiritual low.

Never forget this friend. Elijah would become one of only two men in the entire world of eternity to never die physically and be translated; Enoch being the other. Being raptured up in a chariot of fire with a destiny to return to Earth as one of the many main characters during the greatest end time drama called the Great Tribulation don’t sound like a ministry that has ended! These prophets will literally withstand the forces of the Antichrist and hold the powers of nature at bay for nearly 3 ½ years in a strikingly similar fashion that Elijah held back the rain by the Word of the Lord from Israel during the days of Ahab and Jezebel. In addition they will literally be able to spew fire from their mouths to consume their enemies - again in a similar fashion the fire fell from heaven on Mount Carmel at the prayer of Elijah! THAT neighbor does NOT sound like an ended ministry of failure!

Elijah, along with Enoch, will one day “finish his testimony,” and the Antichrist will overcome them and thus both will die a physical death at some point yet future. At that point both will then be raised from the dead and be raptured to heaven as the sainted dead and righteous living had been earlier prior the start of these events 3 ½ years earlier.

As I close my point is simple. Some of you reading this have been told by Satan your ministry is over because you have succumbed to temptation, failure, fear, doubt, unbelief, pride, disillusionment, despair and may have even thought of killing yourself. You say “do Christians actually think such things?” Yes we do; we shouldn’t but as I said before the battle we are involved in is with a spirit that is one of the most powerful forces of darkness in all eternity that has taken many victims past and still seeking victims yet future. This is a war neighbor. We all are in the middle of this conflict and it’s not a game of spiritual cowboys and Indians or spiritual tidily winks. God knows the fierceness at which the forces of darkness fight and seek to destroy the souls of those who name the name of Jesus. He KNOWS what we are going through and He sees the spiritual forces at work seeking to destroy our souls, ministries, churches and families. He SEES and KNOWS the wounds many have taken in this fight and knows what wounds are ahead and the moments of eternity some if not many will spend inside this cave in a hurting state just as Elijah. Hear the Word of the Lord today man and woman of God: Elijah, you have a chariot ride coming and a future ministry in Jerusalem yet future where you will once again minister in the same power of the Spirit you once did!

You’re going to shut heaven once again Elijah; you’re going to cause it not to rain in the days of your prophecy; you’re going to have power Elijah to shoot fire from your mouth and devour the enemies who hurt you and if they hurt you they themselves will be killed in a similar manner; you’re going to have power over waters to turn them blood; you’re going to have power Elijah to smite the earth with ALL plagues as often as you will; you will have power to make war with the Antichrist until your testimony is finished and then and ONLY then Elijah will your ministry be over. My God I feel the anointing of the HOLY GHOST on those words. I’m talking to someone right NOW who feels your testimony is over because of failure. I’m here to tell you your testimony is just beginning and it won’t be finished until the day they put you six feet under unless you’re taken in the rapture of the church!

Friend, this battle is real and it’s one that is taking many victims. You may be reading this today with a call of God on your life as Elijah the prophet and feel all is lost. Hear the words of this writer who himself knows what it feels like to wind up in the cave experience more than once in his lifetime. By the help and grace of God I’m still here and by that same grace I plan to be used once again in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling the destiny that was placed on my life as a child so long ago. Satan has fought hard and at times because of my own flesh and choices Satan has gained an advantage and caused deep failure. I don’t say that in a proud manner nor do I boast in the failure. I’m utterly ashamed of the failure and weep bitter tears to this day over some things that have taken place through the years and history of my life. Some things I know were my fault, others may not have been but irregardles of whose fault they were they happened and I’ve had to realize that God is not looking to place blame - He’s looking to TRANSFORM and BLOW once more on the lives of those servants willing to come forth from their caves, fall on their faces before Him and cry out for His GOODNESS and MERCY to pass by them and to SHOW THEM HIS GLORY!

The enemy has won a few rounds but he’s NEVER and I mean NEVER going to win the BATTLE! The victory is OURS through our Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished at the Cross in destroying the powers of darkness! Glory to God. I don’t lose heart nor faint when the enemy thinks he wins a round! We’re not in a sprint to the finish line; we’re in a marathon! And we must run the race set before us with PATIENCE and if necessary endure a few cave experiences along the way. That is the plight of the prophet and the plight of all those truly called by God.

We are to LOOK TO JESUS the author and finisher of OUR FAITH, which is the key to VICTORY and overcoming the spirit and power of Jezebel who has reeked great distress and great havoc among many lives in these last days before the Coming of the Lord. Neighbor, there are a cloud of witnesses who have gone before us watching us in this race knowing they have faced the same trials, the same temptations and the same fear and deception of Jezebel, yet they have overcome and had made it to the finish line. HEAR THEIR PRAYERS and encouragement from the portals of heaven today saying, “COME OUT OF THE CAVE PROPHET OF GOD and get back in the race!”

The accuser of the brethren is tied directly into the spirit of Jezebel. She will accuse you because she is the daughter of Satan. I’m sure Elijah heard that voice many times in that cave taunting him and declaring her victory over him when in fact it was ELIJAH who had won the victory at Carmel only to find himself hit with the powers of darkness and the onslaught of hell that put his life in jeopardy and his soul in great despair and distress. If Elijah the prophet experienced such warfare, should be expect any less in these last days as the stage is being set for the Second Coming of the Lord, the drama of the Great Tribulation, the rise of the Antichrist and the end time conflict between the powers of light and the powers of darkness?

If you’re discouraged today and sitting in a cave; come to the Lord today and allow Him to BREATHE on you today. Let His life-giving Spirit transform you and in the still small voice of His beauty and character speak LIFE back into your dying heart. God is not mad at you that you have found yourself in this place; People may judge you; laugh at you; mock you; make fun of you; accuse you; lose faith in you; turn their backs on you; betray you; and even walk away and disown you when you are in the cave; But GOD never forsakes you and He will NEVER leave you if you will just BELIEVE and RECEIVE His life-changing grace to those fallen victim to the spirit of Jezebel.

This journal series continues next we will take a deeper look at this spirit and its effects on the Body of Christ as well as individual Christians. The spirit of Jezebel is a spirit laced with GREED as we will see in her attempts to steal a vineyard from an innocent man named Naboth who refused to give up his inheritance and as a result lost his life. Let’s pray right now:

Praise God.