As for you also.... (from prayer this morning)

Zech. 9:11 “As for you also,Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.Zech. 9:12 Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you.Many Christians have simply grown weary! A number of are just going through the motions; still others have stopped altogether. Daniel warned of a time when the enemy would “wear down the saints of the Highest One” (Daniel 7:25).If we are to emerge victorious from this time in which we are living, we must discover and return to the “stronghold of God” that He has prepared for us.Elijah was a man just like you! (or woman). He fought in a spiritual war that was not unlike ours. He stood up for the very soul of Israel, he stood up against the evil of Jezebel and Ahab. But his greatest, most intense battle was not against a visible foe, but against personal discouragement! Elijah stood against Jezebel, destroyed the priests of Baal, called down fire from heaven, and prayed for rain.... and yet after all of this, “discouragement overwhelmed him.”Perhaps you were or are frustrated by your own inability to effect positive change in your family, work place, personal life, or society. Maybe like Elijah you gave your all, your best but have found little success. Disheartened and weary, like Elijah you wish it would just end. “It is enough, now O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4).We all been right there! “It’s enough....” Having come to the end of his natural resources, Elijah lay down and slept. But an angel touched him and said, “Arise, eat.”  He went back to sleep. And a second time the angel touched him.“Arise, eat, because the journey is to great for you” (1 Kings 19:7).The journey that lies before each of us is also “too great.” We too, need the strength that comes only from the touch of the Almighty God.“So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God” (19:8). The Lord did not send Elijah back to the battle but forward to Himself. The Lord is about to remind Elijah that his/our first and highest purpose is not to save our nation but to give HIM pleasure.We cannot afford to lose touch with the PRESENCE OF GOD;  we must return to the stronghold, (THE PRESENCE OF GOD).The barren environment of Horeb mirrored Elijah’s soul. Five centuries earlier the Lord appeared to Moses on this same mountain. Moses too had tried and failed to liberate Israel from the grip Egyptian oppression. Moses too fled as a fugitive and lived for forty years on this mountain of barren desolation.The Lord did two things for Moses here on this mountain; He revealed Himself to His servant; and He initiated a new beginning based solely upon His sustaining power. Horeb looked and had been a time of desolation to Moses, but to God Horeb was a place where He prepared His servants for “new beginnings.” And now He would meet Elijah here.Elijah stayed in a cave and the word of the Lord spoke to him; “What are you doig here, Elijah?”(19:9). Or in other words, “How did your service to Me become dry and desolate?” Is not intimacy with God the very thing we have neglected? And is not the Lord alone the very source of our strength? If the enemy can distract us from our time alone with God, he will be able to discourage and isolate us from the power that we need to truly live as overcomers.The Lord is working to bring us back to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (2 Cor. 11:3). Surrounded by this bleak and barren environment, the Lord reduced His servants to one focus, God Alone!It is from here that the Lord promised Moses, “My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest” (Ex. 33:14). When God’s presence accompanies our actions, all the energy we once spent worrying is reclaimed and offered back to God in praise and effective service.“...and I will give you rest.” To enter into God’s rest does not imply inactivity, but that god has become active on our behalf. Thus, Jesus calls, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavey-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).Today, we the church, weary, discouraged, and desperate, need to return to Jesus and re-enter God’s rest. Yoked to Christ, our burdens are transferred to the vastness of His strength and abilities. He becomes the very untiring resource for our weakness! At or in this place of rest, Christ becomes the continual life-spring of grace and virtue, the living water that quenches our thirst.As I was praying this morning for the multitude of prayer requests the Holy Spirit spoke these words to me.... I saw it really! I saw Moses, I saw Elijah and I felt the shout of Zechariah:Zech. 9:11 “As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.Zech. 9:12 Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you. “AS FOR YOU ALSO..... “Freedom from a waterless life! Return now to the stronghold of God’s Presence! “EVEN TODAY I DELCARE THAT I WILL RESTORE DOUBLE TO YOU” Elijah went on to anoint Elisha with a “double portion!” Out of his discouragement, out of his emptiness ... Elijah would touch another, one who would walk in twice, double the very grace and anointing that he had known.Hear me my friends, when we think we have nothing ... we have been placed in His Presence so that we can give more than we have to others.....A revival of great proportions is coming to our land! To you, to yours, to ours!The Lord is about to bring to your life a new beginning! You are going to live from the very “stronghold of the Lord.” His Presence is with you!Lord Jesus, apart from You my life is dry and desolate. Forgive me for trying to do your will with out abiding in your Presence. I desparately need You. Lord. This day, I commit my heart to return to my First Love. Teach me, Lord, to consider intimacy with You the greatest and highest calling on my life. Let me see your glory; let me see your goodness; Let me hear your voice; lead me forward back into your stronghold. Guide me, Holy Spirit, into the very Presence of Jesus Christ. Amen. As I finish this time in prayer and in sharing Rita Springer is singing, “My heart is dry but I’m still singing.... my heart is dry but I’m still singing.....”Rain Down oh Lord on every request!!!!!!Living in the Rain....