If you become intimidated, if you let fear get a hold of your life, the gift in your life will begin to shut down. The anointing will stop flowing. You’ll be concerned about how to protect yourself and save yourself rather than advancing the kingdom of God.
Paul wrote 2 letters to Timothy and in both of them he addressed this gift. In 1 Timothy – he said “Don’t neglect the gift.” Now, God has given to each one of us, a powerful gift. He’s given you the gift of the Holy Spirit – same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. That same spirit comes to live in you to empower you, to strengthen you. We all get the same Holy Ghost. We all get that same anointing comes into us.
But we have to choose whether we’ll stir up the gift of God, cause that anointing to flow, or whether we’ll become intimidated and withdraw, and hide in a cave. I wonder how many are hiding in a cave. There’s lots of Christians hiding in a cave, right down in the back of the cave – “I’m not coming out.”
What had happened to Elijah? I want to show you very quickly what happened to him, and I want to show you the mistake he made and how it outworked in his life. I’ll show it to you very simply. It may well be that some of you here tonight recognise you’re also under spiritual pressure and that in the heat of the battle, you’ve made the same mistake Elijah made, and ended up in pretty well the same place he ended up.
I had a pastor ring me up one day. I said: “How are you?” He said: “Can you help me? I am so depressed. I’m almost suicidal, and I don’t really know what to do. I have never been like that in my life before, but since I’ve come to this city, I’ve had these problems come.” I said: “I know exactly what the trouble is, and I know exactly what you need to do. You are under spiritual attack. You are under pressure on your mind and soul. It’s caused you to lose your perspective, to become intimidated, and to draw back inside, just like Elijah did.”
I want you to notice some things Elijah did. What happened was, Jezebel threatened him. In other words, a spiritual attack was launched upon him, threatening to take his life. Now, there is something in all of us that wants to survive, so anything that causes us pain, we draw back from. When you draw back from pain, you are trying to save yourself. If you draw back and try to save yourself, life will get very difficult. There’s no neutral ground when you’re in ministry. You have to stay in a place of strength and fire.
Sometimes it’s very difficult. Sometimes it’s very overwhelming. You see me ministering on the stage, the power of God flowing. There are times I come under immense spiritual pressure. Sometimes it’s like my head is so dark I wonder whether I can see again. I’ve had to learn how to stand up in these things. Every time you stand up, you grow stronger in the Lord.
Look what it says here in verse 3-4: “When Elijah saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which is in Judah, and left his servant there. And he went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life. Please be kind to me. Take me to heaven right now, or kill me.””
So what happened to the mighty man of God, who one day is calling fire from heaven and killing the prophets, the next day is sitting down depressed – “I think I need to die.” How did this great mighty man of God go from there to here? And then end up in a cave? “I’m not coming out. You can’t make me come out. I won’t come out.” He was hiding.