Friday, 13 October 2023
“Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.” – 1 Kings 18:41 NASB1977
We can’t speak about prophecy and the influence and power that it has over our walk with the LORD, without also noting thee greatest movie ever made, The Matrix. The Oracle (prophetess) had prophesied that Morpheus would find and disciple “The One”. Morpheus took this prophecy and ran with it despite the burden that it came with. This burden was that, when he eventually found “The One”, “The One” didn’t believe that he was “The One”. Even the people who were walking this journey with Morpheus didn’t believe as he did. Eventually, something happens and everyone, including “The One”, finally accepts the prophecy. Morpheus then told them that, “There’s a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path”. At that exact moment Neo not only knew the path, but he was now walking it.
Israel was going through a severe drought and was also under the control of Baal and his minions. Yet during this hostile and unbearable time, there was light at the end of the tunnel, and this light came through a man of GOD who carried a word of breakthrough. After years of torment and suffering, their breakthrough came suddenly. Elijah carried this Word with him and he believed it wholeheartedly even though the evidence around him was contrary to his conviction. Yet, he told Ahab that he must go and eat, as there was a sound of a roaring rainstorm. He told Ahab to celebrate and prepare for what was coming, to go and prepare for the breakthrough that was coming as a result of the Word. Six times he asked his servant to confirm what he was hearing and seeing in the spirit. Six times the servant came back with a contrary report /assessment. Yet, the man of GOD was steadfast in his confession as he could hear the roaring thunder and he could “see” a rainstorm. On the seventh attempt, the servant came and told the man of GOD that, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea”(1 Kings 18:44a). What Elijah first saw and heard in the spirit had now manifested in the physical before everyone’s eyes. The word of the LORD had come to pass.
Sometimes when we are right in the middle of a storm we can easily be tempted to give up and take the easy way out. The desert and the scorching heat may seem unbearable and never-ending, yet GOD, in his faithfulness, will bring a word of prophecy to edify, encourage, and equip us to endure and ultimately overcome. This Word comes just before we come to a point of despair, and it catapults us higher and rejuvenates our spirit man. It comes to remind us who we are, and whose we are. It comes to reassure and to promise us that the Egyptians we see now we will see no more (Exodus 14:13). Like in the movie The Matrix, sometimes we might not run with this Word immediately because we may have been under this rubble for so long. This is where the vessel (Morpheus /MOG) tells us to go back and check for the cloud. He may sometimes send us back six times to confirm the Word, and six times we may come back with an unfavorable report. Yet suddenly, on the seventh attempt there will be the sound of a rainstorm (that we can also see and hear, this is when the Egyptians we saw before, we see them no more. This is the power of prophecy. A Word that comes to illuminate where there was once darkness, replenish where there was once a drought.
“But prove yourselves doers of the Word [actively and continually obeying GOD’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the Word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth]”. James 1:22 AMP. Like Neo in The Matrix, we also need to come to the realization that there’s a difference between knowing the part, and actually working in it. This is why Paul encouraged Timothy to fan into flame the Word /prophecy he had received, so that by recalling and actually confessing it he may fight the storms and Egyptians that were before him.
This is the power of prophecy. A Word that comes to illuminate where there was once darkness, replenish where there was once a drought
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