Who comes to mind first as you read the title?? It's a great man in the Bible that I'd love to have to conversation with when I get to Heaven. At the slightest provocation, baba has invited fire into the conversation. Small thing o, that require just a few words, the next thing you'll see is a flame of smoke.
My first shock was that at the first mention of the fire bender in the Bible, baba had caused a ruckus. We didn't hear anything about Him before then. Suddenly, a man came up from Tishbite, locked up the Heavens and threw the key into the ocean. You know what I just realized now, baba is also an air bender. He ran faster than horses (or what bender do we call that?). Who invented the fastest car in the world abeg?? Maybe the person is from the lineage of Elijah. Yes, in case you weren't able to guess, I'm speaking of Elijah, I'd like to call him, “The Fire Bender."
No vex baba o, if not, you'll just be perceiving barbecue thinking there's a restaurant nearby. Issalie o (it's a lie), check yourself first. The aroma might be coming from you. Start from your hair; e fit don dey burn laidat (it might have started burning).
Elijah!!! Prophet Elijah!!! This man, Kai! He so touched God's heart that God was like, “nah... I can't let this man know what death tastes like. You know what?? I'm going to book a flight ticket for Him that'll bring him straight to me!" Elijah ascended up to Heaven ni sha😭. Eei God🔥. The fire with which he toiled with on earth was what was used to transport him to Heaven!
“[11] And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
[12] And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces." (KJV)
I'm guessing he must have received a standing ovation from the angels and the 24 elders when he arrived paradise. This man troubled the camp of the enemy. Like, the enemies were literally on their own, he would be the one to go ahead and look for trouble, and still win! (Please, pay attention, I've started listing the lessons. I might not necessarily number them). I believe Jesus must have hugged him when he arrived in the fireful chariot, and they must have slapped a handshake and Jesus will be smiling broadly or even laughing, and be like, “My guy!!!" And Uncle Elijah will prostrate and be like, “Baba mi, nah you be this?? I hail o!" (My Father, is this you? I honour you). I want to believe the conversation must have gone down like this.
Elijah wasn't a New Testament believer, yet he understood what authority meant when you're associated with God🔥. He had no idea of Jesus, but he had some of the power Jesus gave to us today! He never had the opportunity of having the Holy Spirit live inside of Him, but he did terrible things for the Lord, and turned a whole nation to the Lord in 24 hours🔥.
“[36] And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
[37] Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
[38] Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
[39] And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
[40] And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there." (KJV)
We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we have the power that raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us. Maybe we don't understand, let me try to break it down. It took ALL of God's power to raise Jesus from the dead, and that power dwells in you. Kai!!! All of God's power dwells in you dear believer!!! (Read Romans 8:11). Do you know what that means?? The grave could not hold Jesus, yeah? The devil could not prevail over Him in death, is it not?? Ditto!!! Same with you! The devil cannot hold you bound except you have no understanding of your authority as a believer.
I said this in a few post back and I'm going to say it again, “the devil is a very stupid boy!" See ehn, I can only make this statement now. I couldn't utter it some 6 months ago, because my understanding of my authority in Christ was still dwindling. Ko ti yemi (I've not fully come to the understanding). The moment I came to a full understanding that “I am seated with Christ far above principalities and powers!!!" Ahhh!
“[6] And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" [KJV] (As we all know, Christ is now seated at the right hand of God i. e. “the place of authority," and is now far above principalities and powers! Ephesians 1:20-24).
That was all I needed. Gone are those days I wake up bad dreams and start fidgeting. Gone are those days things don't go well and I start weeping. Gone are those days attacks come from here and there and I'm scurrying somewhere to hide! No! I take the battle to the gate of the enemy. Let me see what he wants to do! I speak with authority as a believer that has the Holy Spirit inside of her!!! (Can you spare a few minutes to pray in tongues here🔥??)
The lesson I want us to take home is the prayer life of the fire bender, Elijah! Yes, at some point, his humanity came to play; he ran away from the threat of a woman, Jezebel. I heard in the message of Apostle Joshua Selman, that (I'm paraphrasing) “God was looking for Elijah and when He saw him, he was like, ahhh, Elijah, you're here..." But still, in the midst of this, Elijah was as strong and bold as a lion💪🏽. Hey, he believed in God too o. Read through 1st Kings 17 till 2nd Kings 2, you'd get a full grasp of Elijah's story. Out of the 8 chapters, he was mentioned in just 6 chapters, and every encounter with him was always remarkable!
I promise you, I cannot exhaust my list of lessons to be learnt from prophet Elijah. I mean, how can a man put his head between his knees to pray??? Try putting yourself in that position and tell me of the discomfort you felt in the few seconds you did that. Why he prayed in that position, I do not know. But what I do know is that he knew the God he served! He knew the God of Israel! He understood the workings of the Ancient of Days!!! Brethren, this time, the devil is having a field day because believers do not exercise their authority over him. They're giving him more space to operate. If you prioritize other things over God, you think God will force Himself to take first place in your life? No, He won't. And if He doesn't take first place, then another personality has to take it over, and I can guess you can guess the personality I'm talking about.
But see, you cannot exercise this authority if your supposed salvation is like Nigerian light; on and off. The off is more than the on though. Also, if your salvation is mixed with sin, and you're trying to fight the devil, you're adding petrol to the fire because he will flog you! You're doing his will and then you're now praying against him. Who does that? Stay away from sin, and it's cohorts. It's possible. It's not by might, nor by power! Spend time praying! Spend time studying the Word! Spend hours fasting! Tarry in God's presence! Attend services! Don't always be in a hurry to leave God's presence, because before you know it, you've left God behind.
If Elijah who didn't have the Holy Spirit had an understanding of his authority in Christ, my dear believer, you're greater than Elijah! Yes, you are! God's Spirit is living inside of you! You can do what he did and even exceed his exploits. It takes intentionality o. It takes consistency! It takes prayer! Elijah definitely didn't start praying the day the he locked the Heavens. He must have been praying like that a long time before now and when it was time for manifestation, he kept on flying and flying, and couldn't be stopped.
I am very persuaded in my heart that the Holy Spirit is dropping some things in your heart as touching what you're reading. You'd have to take a personal study of Elijah before you can have a proper understanding of what I'm talking about. Take time out to study this great man. Wouldn't it be nice to hear it again, that somewhere in a nation called Nigeria, some sets of people were taken away by God. It's not rapture o. They just so pleased God with their lifestyle that God decided that death do not fit them. They should just take a straight flight to Heaven, instead of stopping over somewhere. We can see Elijah's acts again. We can see the Acts of the Apostles again. We can see Jesus' acts again.
It sounds like fairy tales sometimes. I mean, Apostle James in the 5th chapter of his epistle had to explain to us that Elijah was a man of like passion like us, meaning, Elijah is as man as you are. He is as human as you are. If you can feel weak and hungry, Elijah felt the same (remember when he asked a woman and her son to give him their last meal to eat). If you can use the toilet, Elijah did the same. If you urinate, Elijah definitely did! If you can be scared, Elijah was scared (why do you think he ran away from Jezebels threat? A man who had killed 450 prophets of Baal). C'mon, there's no excuse! Elijah wasn't a spirit. He was a man! And if he did these things the Bible said he did (and the Bible doesn't lie), then, we can do these things and more!
Develop a lifestyle of prayer today. You can start with 30 minutes everyday. When you become accustomed to it, go 1 hour, after you get used to it, go 2 hours... Seek for the supernatural! The men we read about today didn't wake up one day and start praying for 12/24 hours. No. They started little by little; and we saw that their sacrifices yielded result. If the rapture doesn't happen before you die, what supernatural thing would you be remembered for? Would you want your name to be imprinted in the sands of time?
Take this away with you: seek to walk in the supernatural!
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