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HOPE FROM DESPAIR

StevenJBarker

HOPE FROM DESPAIR

Stranger Things - Part 5 of 6 | May 15, 2022

Stephen Radie

1 Kings 17:7-16 (NIV)

7Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9“Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

13Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

15She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

1. Reduce fear with fellowship.

“Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” - Galatians 6:2 (NIV)

2. Remember God’s resources.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,”  - Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)

3. Obey God one step at a time.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”  - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)

The Strange Reality: 

Maybe setbacks are setups.

My Next Step Today Is:

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