Elijah was as human as we are...

Believers, pray for grace and peace to be multiplied in the lives of your local pastors and leaders through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord (see 2 Peter 1:2.) Without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, they are just as likely to stumble and mess things up as the worst criminal on the street. They're human.

James 5 tells us 17 "Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!"

Elijah felt the same gamut of emotions that you, I and your pastor feel today. That's Elijah who called down fire from heaven and had the prophets of Baal slaughtered afterwards in 1 Kings 18! He was bold and did mighty things by the power of God. Next thing you know, he was running away scared because common Jezebel threatened to kill him and next thing you know was telling the Lord in 1 Kings 19:14-

“I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

He was so sure that he was the only good person left in Israel and everyone else was bad! This seems like the opposite of humble😊 The Lord told him in verse 18-

"Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elijah wasn't the only one left afterall and even his remaining steadfast and not bowing to Baal was because the Lord reserved him!

In Galatians 2:11-14, Paul accused Peter of being a hypocrite when he (Peter) did "eye-service" by not eating with Gentiles because James' Jewish friends from Judea were in town!

The point being even the holiest daddies/mummies in the Lord also have their moments of weakness. They also have moments when they sit in church and pretend (for us) that everything is peachy with their spouses when what they really want to do is prove to each other that they were right in that heated argument that they had during the entire drive to church😊 But praise the Lord that His strength is made perfect in weakness. With the Lord as our righteousness, our path is like the morning sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. (Proverbs 4:18)

Like Elijah, Peter and Paul, we are nothing without Christ working in us. And His power in us is all through Grace - undeserved, unmerited favour. We can't earn it because we fasted or disciplined ourselves to be good by our own power.

Bear in mind that this grace does not apply to ministers who preach that keeping the Ten Commandments, your ability to do righteous things of the law, your lack of facial make-up and jewellery and men's rejection of slim-fitting suits for oversized baggy ones are what give you right-standing with God and make Him bless you. These ones are liars. See how to get cut off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4-

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

See what Paul says of these Satan's ministers righteousness in 2 Corinthians 11:15-

"And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

These ministers of Satan don't show up looking ugly in red underwear and wielding black pitchforks. They are pastoring churches and preaching their brand of righteousness straight from the pulpit. They sound and act extemely moral and righteous and preach strongly against sin. They preach a lot about righteousness and living a godly life but herein lies what exposes them as agents of Satan: their own method of attaining righteousness in the sight of God is never through what Christ has done to make us righteous and enjoy God's blessings but on what we must do by ourselves; we who can do nothing without Christ.

Following their cosmetic recommendations to get right with God when Christ died for this same purpose (to give us right-standing with God) is akin to a person with HIV rejecting a freely given cure for the virus and thinking that he can be made whole by treating the symptoms of the virus. Unless the virus itself (sin nature) is removed, the diseases will recur and eventually kill the carrier. As long as a person or pastor thinks that it is by his own effort and self-discipline that he is righteous... the arm of flesh will fail.

Only by grace through faith are we saved (from hell, sins, addiction, pride oppression, whatever) and not by works. It is the gift of God lest any man should boast. See Ephesians 2:8-9-

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."

It is Christ who redeems from every lawless deed (whatever sins and addiction are in a person's life;) we can't redeem ourselves (Titus 2.) Those who are truly humble have Christ to thank for their humility. Nothing to boast about here but Christ alone. The right believing pastor is saved by Grace, just like you. Like you, he is also benefiting from the Message as he preaches it from the pulpit. Our boast is in Christ Jesus, not our own righteous works and self-discipline. Pray for him as he prays for you.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Rightand you will Live Right.