I’ve heard it said many times by many people that only the strong shall survive. From experience over the last 19 years of Pastoring, I have never seen this statement lived out in reality. There is always some set of circumstances and situations that ultimately destroy the strength of the human spirit. Fear seems to be the ultimate culprit of our demise.
In the beginning when Adam and Eve were in the garden yielded to sin, the first response after their disobedience was fear. They hid themselves. In other words their strength was gone. Our struggle with fear is well documented throughout scripture. It must be pointed out that thtis is the goal of enemy that we hide from God. Therefore, we can say that fear is one of the fundamental tools that Satan uses against us.
Time after time there is biblical evidence of occurrences of the strength of man fleeing under the attack of fear. Consider Mathew 11:2-15, two men of prominence are talked about; John the Baptist and Elijah. considering the strengths and the weaknesses that are mentioned in scripture about these men can lead us to answer the question, can the strong survive?
Some of the great things that happened as a result of Elijah walking in the power and strength of the Lord were; He prophesied that it would not rain and the heavens gave no rain for three and a half years. He fled to the brook cherith and was fed by the ravens that flew by. Elijah met a widow at Zarephath that only had enough food for one more meal to sustain her and her son, but fed Elijah first – and the barrel of meal never run out.
Another widow Elijah met whose son had died, but through tht power of God, Elijah raised the widow’s son to life. Then there was the famed contest between Elijah and the prophets of baal, in which, Elijah prayed and fire came down from heaven to consume his altar. Elijah prayed after a three and a half year drought, and the heavens gave rain. Elijah’s life was marked by miracle after miracle.
You would think that a man who had seen all these would know no fear knowing he was resting in the hand of God. But there was a person named Jezebel. A woman of great influence and power swore she would kill Elijah as he had don to her favorite prophets of baal. When Elijah heard this news he went into hiding and slipped into depression.
An extensive study of the Jezebel spirit can bring revelation into how it is even now interwoven into the life of the church of today. However, it s aim is to render the declarations of God ineffective.
We do know that the Elijah of Mt. Carmel is no thte same Elijah that was under the juniper tree. If Satan cannot rob our regenerated spirit, than his attempt will be to bring us under such fear that we are rendered paralyzed in our faith. This fear normally comes through the report of someone under the influence of a Jezebel spirit.
Elijah’s strength was put ot the test and even in his life there was a time of doubt in the power of God that had sustained him through the years.
