of the most important things the Lord has
ever spoken to me is taken from a passage of
Scripture involving Elijah the prophet. Once I saw
what it was really saying, it linked many other
truths together and made a big impact on my life.
This is so simple that once you see it, you’re
going to wonder how you never saw it before.
Here’s what it says in 1 Kings 17:2-4:
And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
[3] Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and
hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before
Jordan. [4] And it shall be, that thou shalt drink
of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens
to feed thee there.
Elijah’s provision wasn’t where he was; it was
where God told him to go! This is profound!
Some of you have an impression from God to do
something. Maybe you’re supposed to start a
new business, make a job change, move to
another town, go to Bible college, speak to a
person, etc. You want to do it, but you’re holding
back because the provision isn’t there yet. You’re
saying, “God, I can’t do what You’re asking
without first seeing the provision. How do I know
all these things are going work out” This principle
in 1 Kings applies directly to your situation. God
is sending the provision for your needs not to
where you are but to where He told you to go!
The question is, “Are you all ‘there’” Some of you
aren’t experiencing supernatural provision
because you aren’t “there.” There is a place
called “there” for you.
In verse 4, God said, “I have commanded the
ravens,” (emphasis mine), meaning He had
already spoken to these ravens and they were on
their way to where Elijah was supposed to go.
First Kings 17:5 says,
So [Elijah] went and did according unto the word
of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook
Cherith, that is before Jordan.
(Brackets mine)
In other words, if Elijah had stayed where he was,
he could have prayed and fasted, saying, “God,
why haven’t You supplied my needs” But he
wouldn’t have seen God’s provision if he hadn’t
gone where God instructed.
One of the reasons we aren’t seeing a greater
provision from God financially, emotionally, or in
our circumstances is because we aren’t doing
what God told us to do. We’ve got a word from
God that we haven’t acted on. We’re somewhere
other than where He told us to be.
Now, this is an important point because I preach
on the grace of God a lot. I talk about how God’s
grace is how He provides things and that it’s not
based on our obedience or holiness. God loves us
independent of our performance—that’s absolutely
true! But does this mean obeying Him is
unimportant Just the opposite. I believe God has
a plan for my life and that He chose me from my
mother’s womb and ordained me to be a prophet
and to minister. I believe He has great things
planned for me, things earmarked for me that
have my name on them. But if I hadn’t obeyed,
stepped out, and done what He told me to do,
God still would have provided, but I would have
missed out on it. I had to go “there.” I don’t
believe God just makes things come to pass; it
takes cooperation on our part.
This isn’t intended to hurt or condemn anyone,
because I know that some of you are thinking,
Maybe that’s why things aren’t working in my life
—I haven’t been obedient to what God told me to
do! Well…that’s absolutely correct! It’s not that
God won’t bless you because you haven’t obeyed
Him; it’s that His blessing is over “there”! If the
reason you won’t step out is because you’ve got
some form of “security” but you’re miserable and
things are just going wrong, I encourage you to
do what God told you to do.
I played football in high school, and what I’m
talking about is similar to how a quarterback
throws a football to a wide receiver. A
quarterback doesn’t throw the ball to where the
receiver is; he throws it to where the receiver
should be. If he doesn’t do that, he’ll miss the
receiver. Likewise, God is meeting all of your
needs—He’s sending His supply to where He told
you to be.
Another great example of this is with our
prospective Bible college students. The Lord gives
them a word and tells them to come to Bible
college, but they struggle with it because they’ve
got good paying jobs, nice houses, families, and
friends they don’t want to leave. The security of
those things keeps them from taking a step of
faith because they don’t see how God is going to
provide. But I’ve seen what I’m sharing inspire
hundreds of people. And when they get to their
place called “there,” they find themselves with
better jobs and better houses, and things work
out. Their entire lives change. And there would
have been no way to anticipate this before they
took that step of faith. I’m telling you, when you
get out of doubt and into your place called
“there,” when you start doing what God called you
to do, there is supernatural provision. This is one
of the great lessons from the life of Elijah.
Let’s look at 1 Kings 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.
As I mentioned before, I believe that since God
had already commanded the ravens, if Elijah
hadn’t obeyed, God would still have been faithful
to send the provision where He told him to go. I
believe that these ravens would have brought
bread and meat every morning and evening but
that it all would have piled up beside the brook
and gone to waste. Elijah could have starved to
death even though God had been faithful to
provide for his needs.
Here’s something else to consider: How did Elijah
know which spot along the brook Cherith to go If
the brook was ten miles long, he could have been
five or ten miles away from where the ravens
were bringing him food. The ravens could fly
faster than Elijah could walk or run. I’m convinced
that one of the ways he knew he was at the right
spot was because the ravens were already “there”
with the bread and meat. When Elijah saw the
provision God had promised, that was one of the
signs that he was in the right place.
The same will be true of you when you step out.
You have to take a step of faith with no
guarantees that things are going to work. And
then you will start seeing the provision of the
Lord. It’ll be confirmation that you’re going in the
right direction and doing what He told you to do.
You’ll be able to say, “It was God who told me to
do this.”
This is how it’s worked in my life. I haven’t seen
God’s provision accidentally. I’ve applied what 1
Kings 17 is talking about and taken steps of faith
to get where I am. And I’m going to keep taking
steps of faith. All you have to do to get started is
take a step of faith. There is a place called
“there” for you. It’s not necessarily a location;
you may not have to change where you live. It
could just be an attitude change or decision you
need to make. But when you take a step of faith
and start following what God tells you to do,
there is a supernatural flow of provision—not only
of finances but also of peace, joy, blessing,
anointing, influence, power, and authority—that
you cannot duplicate with all your human effort.
All of these kinds of things follow obeying the
word of the Lord.
You can look at the life of Elijah; he was a
nobody before he had a word from God and acted
on it. But then—boom—after he stepped out in
faith, he became the dominant figure in the
nation. He was blessed, miracles began to
happen, a person was raised from the dead, and a
revival broke out. You’ve got to find your place
called “there” and then get there! It’s imperative.
I tell you, this could change your life if you would
act on it.
ever spoken to me is taken from a passage of
Scripture involving Elijah the prophet. Once I saw
what it was really saying, it linked many other
truths together and made a big impact on my life.
This is so simple that once you see it, you’re
going to wonder how you never saw it before.
Here’s what it says in 1 Kings 17:2-4:
And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
[3] Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and
hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before
Jordan. [4] And it shall be, that thou shalt drink
of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens
to feed thee there.
Elijah’s provision wasn’t where he was; it was
where God told him to go! This is profound!
Some of you have an impression from God to do
something. Maybe you’re supposed to start a
new business, make a job change, move to
another town, go to Bible college, speak to a
person, etc. You want to do it, but you’re holding
back because the provision isn’t there yet. You’re
saying, “God, I can’t do what You’re asking
without first seeing the provision. How do I know
all these things are going work out” This principle
in 1 Kings applies directly to your situation. God
is sending the provision for your needs not to
where you are but to where He told you to go!
The question is, “Are you all ‘there’” Some of you
aren’t experiencing supernatural provision
because you aren’t “there.” There is a place
called “there” for you.
In verse 4, God said, “I have commanded the
ravens,” (emphasis mine), meaning He had
already spoken to these ravens and they were on
their way to where Elijah was supposed to go.
First Kings 17:5 says,
So [Elijah] went and did according unto the word
of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook
Cherith, that is before Jordan.
(Brackets mine)
In other words, if Elijah had stayed where he was,
he could have prayed and fasted, saying, “God,
why haven’t You supplied my needs” But he
wouldn’t have seen God’s provision if he hadn’t
gone where God instructed.
One of the reasons we aren’t seeing a greater
provision from God financially, emotionally, or in
our circumstances is because we aren’t doing
what God told us to do. We’ve got a word from
God that we haven’t acted on. We’re somewhere
other than where He told us to be.
Now, this is an important point because I preach
on the grace of God a lot. I talk about how God’s
grace is how He provides things and that it’s not
based on our obedience or holiness. God loves us
independent of our performance—that’s absolutely
true! But does this mean obeying Him is
unimportant Just the opposite. I believe God has
a plan for my life and that He chose me from my
mother’s womb and ordained me to be a prophet
and to minister. I believe He has great things
planned for me, things earmarked for me that
have my name on them. But if I hadn’t obeyed,
stepped out, and done what He told me to do,
God still would have provided, but I would have
missed out on it. I had to go “there.” I don’t
believe God just makes things come to pass; it
takes cooperation on our part.
This isn’t intended to hurt or condemn anyone,
because I know that some of you are thinking,
Maybe that’s why things aren’t working in my life
—I haven’t been obedient to what God told me to
do! Well…that’s absolutely correct! It’s not that
God won’t bless you because you haven’t obeyed
Him; it’s that His blessing is over “there”! If the
reason you won’t step out is because you’ve got
some form of “security” but you’re miserable and
things are just going wrong, I encourage you to
do what God told you to do.
I played football in high school, and what I’m
talking about is similar to how a quarterback
throws a football to a wide receiver. A
quarterback doesn’t throw the ball to where the
receiver is; he throws it to where the receiver
should be. If he doesn’t do that, he’ll miss the
receiver. Likewise, God is meeting all of your
needs—He’s sending His supply to where He told
you to be.
Another great example of this is with our
prospective Bible college students. The Lord gives
them a word and tells them to come to Bible
college, but they struggle with it because they’ve
got good paying jobs, nice houses, families, and
friends they don’t want to leave. The security of
those things keeps them from taking a step of
faith because they don’t see how God is going to
provide. But I’ve seen what I’m sharing inspire
hundreds of people. And when they get to their
place called “there,” they find themselves with
better jobs and better houses, and things work
out. Their entire lives change. And there would
have been no way to anticipate this before they
took that step of faith. I’m telling you, when you
get out of doubt and into your place called
“there,” when you start doing what God called you
to do, there is supernatural provision. This is one
of the great lessons from the life of Elijah.
Let’s look at 1 Kings 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.
As I mentioned before, I believe that since God
had already commanded the ravens, if Elijah
hadn’t obeyed, God would still have been faithful
to send the provision where He told him to go. I
believe that these ravens would have brought
bread and meat every morning and evening but
that it all would have piled up beside the brook
and gone to waste. Elijah could have starved to
death even though God had been faithful to
provide for his needs.
Here’s something else to consider: How did Elijah
know which spot along the brook Cherith to go If
the brook was ten miles long, he could have been
five or ten miles away from where the ravens
were bringing him food. The ravens could fly
faster than Elijah could walk or run. I’m convinced
that one of the ways he knew he was at the right
spot was because the ravens were already “there”
with the bread and meat. When Elijah saw the
provision God had promised, that was one of the
signs that he was in the right place.
The same will be true of you when you step out.
You have to take a step of faith with no
guarantees that things are going to work. And
then you will start seeing the provision of the
Lord. It’ll be confirmation that you’re going in the
right direction and doing what He told you to do.
You’ll be able to say, “It was God who told me to
do this.”
This is how it’s worked in my life. I haven’t seen
God’s provision accidentally. I’ve applied what 1
Kings 17 is talking about and taken steps of faith
to get where I am. And I’m going to keep taking
steps of faith. All you have to do to get started is
take a step of faith. There is a place called
“there” for you. It’s not necessarily a location;
you may not have to change where you live. It
could just be an attitude change or decision you
need to make. But when you take a step of faith
and start following what God tells you to do,
there is a supernatural flow of provision—not only
of finances but also of peace, joy, blessing,
anointing, influence, power, and authority—that
you cannot duplicate with all your human effort.
All of these kinds of things follow obeying the
word of the Lord.
You can look at the life of Elijah; he was a
nobody before he had a word from God and acted
on it. But then—boom—after he stepped out in
faith, he became the dominant figure in the
nation. He was blessed, miracles began to
happen, a person was raised from the dead, and a
revival broke out. You’ve got to find your place
called “there” and then get there! It’s imperative.
I tell you, this could change your life if you would
act on it.
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