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Breaking the drought
14 Dec 2006
BREAKING THE DROUGHT IN YOUR LIFE!
Perhaps your health, your family, your job, your finances have been attacked
and under confusion lately. If it seems like your prayers are not being
answered, and something seems to have shut off the blessings. It may be that a
drought has come into your life. Paul says in Ephesians 6.
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having
on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God:
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Note v 16 again
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Sometimes it seems in our life we
experience seasons of drought, it is usually due to the fact that we have
lowered our shield of faith!
HOW DO WE DO THAT YOU MAY ASK?
Well Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
If it cometh by hearing the word, then we must put ourselves in a position to be able to
hear God’s Word, because it also goeth by not hearing God’s Words.
You may well be a good giver, but have struggled with your receiving, then this
message is for you today. Sometimes you mouth is your own worst enemy.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned. When I pray I like to pray out loud so my spirit man, God
in heaven and also the devil can hear what I believe when I pray.
Listen: If your mouth is not speaking FAITH it will be speaking FEAR!
There is no middle road, it’s either one or the other, Jesus said to the disciples in the boat,
Mat 8:26 KJV And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he
arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
WHY ARE YOU SO FULL OF FEAR?
F FALSE
E EVIDENCE
A APPEARING
R REAL
Fear is speaking what you have instead of what God says you have in His Word.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected
knowledge.........
Isa 5:13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.......
YOU CAN BREAK THE DROUGHT BY BEING A FAITH BUILDER IN GOD’S WORD.
Rom 14:23 .... for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
What is a drought?
It is a lack of water! In our lives, water come by God’s Word.
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
You do realise that if a drought lasts long enough it becomes a famine!
1 Kings 17:1 KJV And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of
Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
That is a powerful statement for a man to make!
James 5:17 NIV Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land
for three and a half years.
James 5:18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Elijah was a prophet send by God to King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
1 Kings 16:30 KJV And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.
1 Ki 16:31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped
him.
1 Ki 16:32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
1 Ki 16:33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings
of Israel that were before him.
A grove is a wooden image on a pole to Asherah a Cannanite goddess.
Lets look back to chapter 17 again!
1 Kings 17:1 KJV And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of
Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
1 Ki 17:2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
1 Ki 17:3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
Get out of town Elijah, Ahab is after your head!
God warned the prophet that the King and Jezabel wanted to kill him because light always exposes darkness!
Listen to v4, here come Jehovah Jireh my provider!
1 Ki 17:4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
LISTEN TO ME NOW!
If you follow God’s instructions and obey His directions they will always take you to the place of His provision even in times of
drought!
King Ahab’s disobedience was the reason for the drought!
Elijah a man just like you and me, he prayed about the kings wickedness and there was no rain for three and a half years. He
knew his God, according to my word he said!
Elijah knew what God’s Word had to say he had hidden it in his heart.
Deu 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and
worship them;
Deu 11:17 And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and
that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
Deu 11:18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your
hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
1 Ki 8:35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this
place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
1 Ki 8:36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them
the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an
inheritance.
1 Ki 8:37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their
enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
1 Ki 8:38 What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every
man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
1 Ki 8:39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his
ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)
1 Ki 8:40 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
IF YOU WANT TO MOVE IN PRAYER AND POWER LIKE ELIJAH THEN YOU TOO NEED TO HID GOD’S WORD IN YOUR HEART, SO YOU CAN DRAW ON IT IN THE DAY OF YOUR NEED!
1 Ki 17:5 So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is
before Jordan.
1 Ki 17:6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank
of the brook.
1 Ki 17:7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
Because there was no rain the natural supply dried up!
Paul says in 1 Cor 15:46 NIV The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
1 Ki 17:8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
1 Ki 17:9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow
woman there to sustain thee.
1 Ki 17:10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman
was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may
drink.
1 Ki 17:11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine
hand.
1 Ki 17:12 And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little
oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat
it, and die.
She had no vision to live!
1 Ki 17:13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and
bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
FEAR NOT
False Evidence Appearing Real!
Don’t believe the false evidence even though it appears real!
FEAR NOT! GO DO AS YOU HAVE SAID, BUT FIRST MAKE ME A CAKE AND BRING IT TO ME!
Here is Elijah’s prescription for the widow’s future!
1. Don’t fear!
2. Go a head and take care of your family!
3. But give God his portion first!
1 Ki 17:14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail,
until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
1 Ki 17:15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
1 Ki 17:16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD,
which he spake by Elijah.
In this story, Elijah OBEYED,
The ravens OBEYED,
The widow OBEYED The Word of The Lord.
Obedience is the key to breaking the drought.
Fear not!
Take care of your family as you planned!
But give God His the first fruits first!
Dr. Norman Campbell
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