A Dry Place

1 Kings 17:1
Ahab and Jezebel
History of both, and Elijah’s history with the king.
Hiding at the River Cherith-
-The Devil will come after us when we try to do the right thing and stand up for God.
Elijah was fed by ravens until the brook dried up. He probably was thinking, “God I went to the place You told me to go, and now this happens!”
-The first thing we do when something bad happens to us is complain. When we feel like we’re in a dry place, we tend to focus on all of the bad things that are happening, not realizing that God is still feeding us with little miracles just like He did Elijah by the brook.
-God will let things happen to us to show us His power
-Even though Satan meant it for evil, God will turn it into something good for us!
Elijah is in a dry place-
Somebody is there right now- Oppressed, depressed, or maybe you just spent your last dollar and you don’t know where the money is gonna come from.
I can see Elijah as he looks up to the sky hoping to see that raincloud.
-Ahab is still hunting him
What/Who is the Ahab in your life while you’re going through your dry place? It feels as though Ahab himself is knocking on your door. By human nature, we try to figure the problem out on our own, and it still seems to mess things up. Every time you take two steps forward, the Devil knocks you four steps back!
-The result of a dry place
1. It will make you weak because you cant drink from the fountain of living water.
2. It will make you weak because you don’t feel like eating…getting the spiritual help that you need.
It seems like the devil will attack you at your weakest point in a battle. When you think it cant get any worse, the bottom falls out on you again. You really don’t think that God ever hears your prayers, and you wonder if God has actually left you all alone. Has anyone ever been there?
Job said, “I looked for Him on the right and couldn’t find Him. I looked to the left, and He wasn’t there.”
When you feel like you’re at your weakest, God is at His strongest! His strength is made perfect in our weakness! God will not withhold any good thing from any of us!
-The Bully and the Stick story-
Jason thought Billy was down for the count, but he didn’t know that Billy had a secret weapon!
-Get tired of the Devil! Its time to get tired of that thing that’s been bothering you for so long! God is your secret weapon! Don’t give up now, you’re finally at the place where you can trust God the most!
1 Kings 18:7-8
Elijah was still in the middle of his dry place, and he was still looking for that cloud.
The challenge
Baal vs. God
Familiar story but Elijah had about all he could take.
Are you fed up with the devil yet?
“Devil, I’m tired of running, I’m tired of looking over my shoulder all the time”
We are troubled on every side, yet not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed! Its time to go into the enemy’s camp and tell the devil you’re here to claim your victory!
Square your shoulders and look him right in the eyes and tell him, “Listen to me devil, let me tell you what I’M gonna do. You’ve walked on me long enough, now I’m gonna walk on you!” You can hit me, knock me down, and make me bleed, but I’m gonna keep getting up! This time I’m ready for a fight!
-Elijah defeats the false prophets, but he is still looking for that cloud.

Kings 18:41
The drought is still there, the battle is still there, but wait a minute! I hear the sound of an abundance of rain!
Definition of Abundance- In the Old Testament they most frequently stand for "to cast together," "to increase." In Proverbs 8:24 the primary idea is "to be heavy", in Deut. 33:19 and Job 22:11 it is "to overflow", in Job 36:31 it is "to multiply”.
God is not only going to give you the victory over your Ahab, He is also going to wash out your dry place! The rain that had not been seen for such a long time soaks up the wet cracked ground of your depression, it soaks up the dust of your past, and it gives you the strength to go another mile! Don’t give up, your redemption draws nigh!