Overcoming The Elijah Complex

 

Elijah had just won a showdown with the prophets of Baal. 450 prophets of Baal gathered on top of mount Carmel to challenge Elijah’s God to a public display of power. Whoever won the contest was the true God. The prophets cried from morning till evening cutting themselves with knives, spilling their blood on the altar, invoking baal to show up with fire to consume the sacrifice. But Baal did not show up. The sacrificed bull remained bleeding on the altar, covered with flies and the blood of the false prophets of baal.
Elijah built an altar with twelve stones, placed the wood upon it in order, cut the sacrifice on it, dug a hole around the altar and filled it with water, then he prayed and asked God to consume the sacrifice with fire from heaven, and God did.
Elijah ordered all the prophets of baal to be slain. Not one of them escaped.

Jezebel heard about the slaughter of the prophets of baal and she went completely crazy. She threatened Elijah and the prophet ran for his life. Interesting how he just finished confronting and destroying 450 false prophets of baal but couldn’t stand against one woman. Jezebel’s reputation for extraordinary wickedness preceded her. Elijah knew that if he didn’t heed her threat he was as good as dead. So he fled.

1 Kings 19:1-3
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 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. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

Elijah ran to Beersheba where he had an angelic encounter. He ate supernatural food provided by the angel and he went on the strength of that food for forty days until he arrived at Horeb, the mount of God. Then things began to unravel for him.

1 Kings 19:10
And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts:for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

Elijah told God that the children of Israel had forsaken His covenant, destroyed sacred altars, murdered all the prophets and he was the only one left and they also wanted to murder him. He repeated this twice to God in the same chapter.
But it wasn’t true. He was living inside a bubble of self deception and pride.
That was the Elijah complex.

The Fall Of A Prophet, Part 2

 

With the prophetic calling and its many sided giftings comes a great responsibility on the prophet not to pursue his personal interests and agenda but to pursue, protect and effect the cause of Christ and His Will in the Church. The only agenda a prophet is permitted to have is the agenda of Christ. His only pursuits should be only the Will of God and nothing else. All his personal likes, dreams, desires and interests should be nailed to the cross of Christ and left there as an act of worship. When a prophet begins to pursue his own agenda, using his abilities to pursue his selfish desires, he will fall into error.

Humility is the mark of a true prophet. Being gifted with the ability to see, hear and experience the supernatural may open the door for pride to enter into the life of a prophet and he must guard fiercely against this or it may lead to his fall. His prophetic abilities which were freely given to him by The Lord may cause him to think that he is better, more privileged or has a better standing with The Lord than everybody else and he should therefore be given preferential treatment and worshipped like a demi-god. Unfortunately some prophets think and live like this, contrary to the teachings of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus said that the greatest should be the chief servant and should not desire to be served by others. The higher we rise spiritually the lower we should go in service. The Lord does not need superstars who have turned themselves into idols, he wants men and women who will humble themselves to serve the body of Christ with a heart of compassion.

They Are All Men, Just Like You.

They Are All Men, Just Like You.

A spiritual gift or ability is a call to serve in the Body of Christ. It should be accompanied with a great sense of responsibility and humility. Having a gift does not make you special or different from any other believer. It doesn’t give you special rights or special privileges to act and live the way you like. Your gift does not give you the audacity to enslave the people you were called to serve. It is an error to think that your calling gives you special rights, advantages and privileges over other believers. It doesn’t. Such erroneous thinking is alien and abhorrent to the saints.

When Jesus Causes You Pain

When Jesus Causes you Pain.

Matthew 19:16.
A rich man came to Jesus and asked how he could ‘enter the kingdom of God.’ If the man didn’t have any problems he wouldn’t have needed Jesus. If his money was enough to solve his problems he wouldn’t have needed Jesus. In spite of the money he possessed, the man had big problems and he knew that only Jesus could solve them, so he came to Jesus.

A passage of scripture says, ‘money answers all things.’ “All Things” refer to money related things. Apparently it cannot give solution to all human problems, if it could then rich people will be the happiest on the planet. But sadly they are not. Money cannot solve issues relating to your emotions, mind and soul. Money cannot solve issues that have nothing to do with money. This man’s needs were beyond what money could provide.

The rich man asked Jesus, ‘how can I enter the kingdom of God?’ Jesus looked at him and saw what no other man could see. He saw what covetous and greedy pastors would never see. He saw what wolves cleverly disguised as pastors would never see. He SAW that the rich man was a SLAVE to money. Mammon, the god of money had imprisoned him in its dungeon. Jesus wanted to set him free from bondage to mammon. Jesus said you cannot serve God and mammon. You must choose who you will serve. You can’t serve them both.

‘Sell everything you have. Give the proceeds to charities. Follow me.’

These were not the words the man expected to hear from Jesus. These words cut deep into his soul and exposed the secrets of his heart. These words caused him pain.