(Elijah Legacy) 3. Drinking From the Brook

The Prophet Elijah received the word of the Lord in prayer and went and confronted the backslidden compromised King Ahab and said, the Lord God of Israel before whom I stand says this King, there'll be no rain, no dew. He prophesied drought, the terrible word we don't like to hear here in the Middle East. And then the second word of the Lord came to the Prophet Elijah and it was unexpected.

Here he was the public prophet, prominent people knew about him. He had prophesied this terrible judgment of God, the lack of rain because of disobedience to the law. And then the Lord said to him, get away from here and turn eastward and hide by the brook Kharit, it is in Hebrew, which flows into the Jordan.

And it will be that you shall drink from that brook and I have commanded ravens, birds, to feed you there. And he went and did according to the word of the Lord. This, these words are filled with, with significance of this Elijah legacy for us today.

Here he was prominent public and the Lord didn't say prophesy again. He didn't give him some global ministry right away or some television ministry. He said, hide yourself, hide yourself at the brook.

We need to have a hidden life with God that is pleasing to him. It's much more important to the Lord about our private life than our public life. Elijah sensed this.

So he went to this brook Kharit that flows into the Jordan. And the word for brook is a powerful word in Hebrew. The word is Nachal.

It means it for us, it would in English, it would mean a little ravine or a dry stream bed that dries up in the times where there's no rain. But the root of the word means a place of inheritance or to occupy. And the Lord says to us, occupy that hidden place with me.

It's your inheritance to spend time in intimacy with me. This communion that Elijah was entering into. A Nachal also, in fact, I live next to one here on Mount Carmel.

A Nachal is a place where it's dry when the rains don't come. Maybe there's a trickle of water, but then when the rains come, the abundance of rain, a Nachal can explode. And you will hear on the news that there are torrents of rivers going across the highways down in the desert.

At one time, my wife and I were leaving early in the morning. It was still dark and we were going to Europe somewhere to minister. And the Nachal that we live in where we park our cars actually is a kind of a ravine that comes down, even though there's a parking lot there now.

But the rains had come that night and exploded. And we literally couldn't get up the steps into the parking lot. We had to walk around another way.

And so when you get into that secret place of repair and refreshing with the Lord, there will come a time when the spirit of God will explode in you. You will have a word from the Lord. You will have vision for the next step in your life and your ministry, your marriage, whatever it happens to be.

So the Lord said to Elijah, get to the Nachal, Herit. The name Herit, it means something that's been cut off. It's a covenant word.

Get to that place of covenant. Get to that place where everything is cut off except your relationship with me, your communion with me. It's the place of communion.

It's the place of consecration to the Lord. So we went to this place, Herit, and it flows out of the Jordan. Jordan means to go down.

Jordan, it means to go down into humility. It means to go down into death to life. It's the place of immersion or baptism.

It's the place of where we're baptized into the Lord Yeshua, Jesus, and we come up in newness of life. Even Jesus himself was baptized at the Jordan. So the Lord said to his prophet, if you want me to use you more, if you want to get the word of the Lord for your nation, for your people, get to that secret place of repair and refreshing.

And restoration, the Nachal Herit, and there by the Jordan, I will speak to you. Now, when you think about it, here was Elijah just prophesied publicly. The whole nation started to know about him.

He was called the troubler of Israel when Ahab was the real troubler of Israel. So Elijah was famed, had fame or infamy or was notorious if you want to put it that way. But everybody knew about him.

And the Lord says, go hide yourself. You know, the Lord says to us as New Covenant believers, you died and your life is hidden with Christ and God. And the Lord wants us to get alone with him.

And when we look at the prophet, what he did when he heard this word from the Lord, go and hide yourself. It says he went and he did according to all the Lord said. The spirit and power of Elijah, the legacy of Elijah is immediate, immediate obedience to the word of the Lord.

But if we're not in communion with him, if we're not spending sweet time with him, we won't even hear the word of the Lord to go and obey. So Elijah obeyed. He went and he obeyed and he went to the brook and waited on the Lord.

Elijah spent almost a year at that brook, at that place of inheritance. Oh, I've thought about it over and over. Would I like to have a sabbatical sometime and just go and sit at the brook and commune with my Lord and Savior Jesus? Now, the brook had a little water in it, even though drought had been prophesied.

And the brook was moving. So when we come to that secret place and we wait on the Lord and we speak to him and we wait for him to speak to us, it's always different. It's always clear and shining and pure.

It's always nourishing. It's always sustaining. It's always convicting.

He was at the place of repentance. If he needed to repent about now that he was famous or whatever he may have been dealing with, or I mean, Ahab's armies were looking for him. Jezebel was trying to kill him.

He could have sat there and been the complaining prophet. Well, I prophesied the drought. Now look what you did.

I have to go hide here and everybody's trying to kill me. But he didn't. He waited on the Lord and the Lord was building faith.

Building, building, building faith, building faith. It's a character comes before commission. He was building faith in this place of communion and consecration.

Because think about it. He would wake up in the morning. He was hungry.

The Lord told him ravens would bring him food. And there came a raven early in the morning. I mean, did he sit there in the afternoon as it was getting dark? He was hungry again and believed by faith that a bird was going to bring him some meat and bread.

But the Lord did it. The Lord provided. When God initiate something, he always provides.

There's always enough bread. There's always provision. So there was Elijah sitting there, spending time with the Lord, receiving from the Lord.

It was so wonderful. When you think about it, he was being prepared for the next thing that the Lord would have him to do. You see, separation to the Lord is preparation for the ministry that the Lord has for us.

You know, God is really interested in our secret life, in our private life. He knows all about it. And if we would spend more time with him and ask him to sanctify us daily at the brook, drinking from the brook, drinking from his word, getting more of the Holy Spirit, being filled over and over again, getting sanctified and cleansed and prepared.

All we would have, our ministries would take off, our lives, our personal relationships with people. There would be more love, more power. And as he did this, as he sat there, the Lord was dealing with him and getting him ready for his next assignment, which was going to be something extraordinary.

And as Elijah was obedient with the little, don't despise the day of small beginnings. When we first came to Mount Carmel, 1991, and started a rehabilitation center for Jews and Arabs coming off drugs and alcohol, I mean, it began with one guy. Yeah, his name was Abraham.

He was a 50-year-old heroin addict, an Arab. And it was not easy spending all night with him in a bomb shelter and praying with him and going through withdrawal. But three days later, he jumped up, got out of bed, jogged up Mount Carmel.

He's an elder in a congregation in Israel now. But it begins, if you're faithful with a little, God will give you more. The Lord was testing his prophet and the faith of him was rising up at that brook.

You know, there's a nation in Europe that has a ministry for pastors, for leaders who are caught in what they call the double life syndrome. Meaning that these pastors or these leaders lead a double life, that who you see in the pulpit is not who they really privately are. Some of them are trapped in pornography and the Lord doesn't want us to be double minded.

He wants us to cleanse ourselves. He gives grace to the humble. He'll set you free.

And as he sat there, the Lord was sanctifying him. The brook dried up and then the Lord spoke to him again. And he said to him, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more, I'm going to give you more