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REAL POWER COMES
FROM WITHIN
9-14-08
Elijah was one of the great characters of the Bible but he had one
weakness that almost destroyed him. That weakness was thinking that
power would sustain him.
He had the power all right. He and the prophets of Baal had a contest to
see whose God was the greatest. The prophets of Baal pierced themselves
with sharp stones and called on Baal but Baal was on vacation that day.
They were unable to make a big demonstration.
When Elijah's turn came, he called down fire from heaven and it consumed
a sacrifice placed on an altar and it also gobbled up the prophets of
Baal!
Jezebel was a Baal worshipper and when she heard that Elijah had made a
monkey of her boys, she sent him a message that she was going to have
his head.
What did this man do who had so much power he called down fire from
heaven? How did he react to this threat from one puny woman? It scared
him so bad that he ran to the hills and hid under a cedar tree. Then he
ran to a cave. He prayed to God to let him die. He basically said, "I am
the only true prophet and nobody appreciates me."
The Lord constantly reminds us that power is not as important as peace,
presence and being centered. As Elijah stood in the mouth of the cave
looking for God to show up, he experienced an earthquake, a mighty wind
and a pillar of fire but he saw God was not in these things. Then he
heard the still small voice of God.
A friend of mine was overwhelmed when he was a boy to see a man pick up
hot coals of fire and walk around the church with them in his hand. I
guess that would impress any of us but I am forced to ask, "Why? What
good does such a senseless display of power do?" It is a much greater
thing to just be peaceful and centered as you face one of life's
challenges. Real power comes from peace. From being still and small.
When I was a teenager visiting a home in north Georgia, the mother of
the girl I was dating was said to be terminally ill. We were playing
volleyball in the yard and she sent for me. She said, "God has told me
if you will pray for me, I will be healed." Frankly, it scared me to
death. I don't think I had ever prayed out loud. But I took her hand,
knelt by the bed and said a prayer for her. She must not have weighed
over 70 pounds but she bounded from the bed and started running around
the house praising God. The next Sunday she was back at church and lived
for many more years.
Word went around that I had the gift of healing. Parents of a small
child sent for me. Their baby had leukemia. I walked the floor holding
that precious baby and praying my heart out. But the baby died.
All the good that seemed to come from the display of spiritual power in
the healing of the lady was blown to smithereens in the death of the
child. It literally took me years to make peace with it.
Right or wrong - and who could ever explain why these things happen - I
decided my priority was not to exhibit power but to cultivate the still
small voice within. If good things are going to happen in our lives,
they will come from being centered and not from displays of power.
Elijah got his priorities right there on the mountain with God. He went
on to do even greater miracles, like helping a widow feed her child.
We are not here to call down fire. We are here to experience the still,
small voice of our Inner Being.
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