Topic: PROPHETIC INTERVENTION FOR RADICAL CHANGE

Text: 1 kings 17:9–16; 18:41–46

There would be no need to talk about radical change if not that a person’s life is in a distress situation. Distress situation means a predicament that requires urgent attention. In the scriptures, God told Elijah to go to Zarephath because he had commanded a widow to sustain him there [1 Kgs 17:9]. This directive seems suspicious because there was famine in the land and so the widow obviously needed help, yet Elijah was sent to her for his sustenance. Herein is the mystery that most times the man God will use to help you may not look like a helper. The one God has appointed to bless you may not come in a package of someone who has capacity to bless. That is why some people found it difficult to believe in Jesus, because Jesus was born in a manger and did not look like the saviour of the world. Many imagined that he would be as a king born with a crown on his head, but he was born in a place where animals lived. Jesus also came out of Nazareth, one of the poorest places in Israel whereas the people thought he would come from the direct lineage of the king.

Moving on, the Bible tells us that Elijah arose, went to Zarephath and found the widow gathering sticks. Remember that this widow was to sustain him but he found her gathering sticks. This is to further buttress my previous point that the person sent by God to help you may not look like a helper and that is why some persons have slapped their angels/helpers unawares. In other words, they saw their helpers “gathering sticks” and so they looked down on him/her. But Elijah looked at the widow and requested her to get him water to drink. Mind you, this was a time of famine and so one must have enough to eat before he can sustain another person. Yet, Elijah called her again and told her to bring him a morsel of bread in her hands and she explained that she was about to dress the last meal to eat with her son before they died. Brethren, it may be that the widow’s husband also died sacrificing for her and her son. In life, there are situations that kill a man and leaves the wife and children to suffer; or takes the wife and leaves the man and children to suffer. Most times, when the devil attacks a home, he goes for the brightest star in the home and takes it away because he knows that removing the most important person in the family will leave the rest of them in suffering. The devil took the woman’s husband hoping that the woman and her son will later die after eating their last meal. However, the woman’s situation changed by the word of Elijah and her household did eat many days. Immediately Elijah saw the willingness in the woman’s heart, the prophetic in him came alive.

The prophetic was at work for that widow who was thinking she would eat her last and die. On the contrary, she sustained her house for many days. Her “house” signifies that she called all her relatives, cousins, etc. and fed them but her resources were not exhausted. Note that there was no supply of fresh resources to the widow, but she fed her house for 3 years and her flour and oil did not run out. Beloved, there is no end to what God can do. Someone has said that “what God cannot do does not exist.” God can turn a man’s situation around such that his

account will never run dry. As simple as it may seem, there are some accounts that do not receive any money in a full month, whereas some people’s accounts are being credited every 3 minutes. I am sure that some of you are asking in your hearts right now that: “is it possible?” Nevertheless, I realize that even though the government was hard at that time, the economy of the nation did not affect that widow.

As a believer, the economy of Nigeria will no longer affect you when there is prophetic intervention in your finances. During the cash-crunch when there was no money in circulation, there were ordinary bankers that became multimillionaires. A friend of mine told me of how some politicians reached out to him to inform him that they had N200million in cash, so he should keep N20million for himself and lodge the rest into the Bank, and it continued that way. No matter how bad the economy of a nation may be, some people’s heavens will remain open. Most times, every bad situation will always shift blessings to some people and shift negative consequences to others. While others are lamenting about bad governance, some persons will not feel the negative impact.

During the famine in Israel, there may have been some persons who would have expected the woman to come to them for help because she was a widow. Some of her family members may have avoided her because what they had was not sufficient for them. But when the radical change came, the same set of people that were avoiding the widow and her son started queuing at her door because she was the richest widow in town. Note that this widow was not named; she was simply described by her situation. Who knows if she may have cried to God for help because she had no husband and God heard her. There are some days you cry to God using your circumstances and God arises to change your situation.

Recall that the story of this widow was mentioned at the time when Elijah locked the heavens. So, at the end of the drought, Elijah told Ahab to arise and eat and drink for he could heard a sound of abundance of rain [1kgs 18:41]. We observe from that verse that when Elijah was speaking, there was no rain yet. Nonetheless, there are steps we take by faith. Elijah had not seen the rain but he could hear it in the spirit realm. For some persons, their breakthrough rain is about to fall, but they must first hear it because if they don’t hear it, they cannot receive it. This is why some people hear the sound of rain in Lagos, but they are already preparing themselves to travel to Maiduguri, which is like running away from your rain into another desert. Being in the right place, location or land for you matters, if you are going to receive your blessings; because you will find your divine allocation in the location that God has placed you. You can never be blessed in a place where God did not place you, unless mercy finds you.

There is an abundance of rain when your house is converted to a house of blessings. It is such that when that abundance of God’s blessings begin to flow, you start asking “Lord, isn’t this too much?” I have shared this story before that a group of people gathered together to accuse one of the Fathers in the faith of looting money. The EFCC officials came to question the man and he said to them: these are

my 3 phones that I turned off, but the moment I put them on you will know why I turned them off in the first place. The man put the phones on, and the officials discovered that credit alerts were coming into the phones every 3 seconds. Funds were coming in from everywhere. The man explained that he never asked for such monies, but they kept on coming such that he was even telling God that it was already too much. The officials stayed for about 1 hour before they departed, and yet the credit alerts kept coming in.

Looking at verse 42, Ahab went to eat and Elijah went to the top of Carmel to pray and told his servant to continue checking the weather, up to seven times. Seven times as used in that verse means seven hours. Elijah’s servant checked the seventh time and he reported that he saw the cloud like the hand of a man. Elijah then commanded his servant to tell Ahab to depart in his chariot and make his way to Jezreel so that he would not be stopped by the rain. Afterwards, the hand of God was upon Elijah and he ran before Ahab into the entrance of Jezreel. This is where the songwriter got this song “owo Oluwa mbe lori aye mi o….” which is interpreted as “the hand of God is upon me, and it has given me speed.” It means that you will outrun those that have gone ahead of you, catch up with them and overtake them, when the hand of the Lord comes upon you.

Brethren, a man’s life can experience famine and difficulty. The enemy can kill the loved ones of an individual to traumatize him/her. Sometimes, life happens and life is not always fair. Therefore, you need a prophet to turn your story around for good. Also, you must kill all strange prophecies by the ministry of prayer. You can bring down rain through prophetic prayers and faith-filled expectation. There are two categories of people who should pray here today, these are:

• Those who are on their last trial and have decided to stop if they fail again in a specific area.
• Those whose heavens are shut and they have not seen any good or outpour of abundance for years. The lives of this set people seem to go only in one direction.

What to do to have prophetic intervention?

1. Determine to get results in one week
2. Obedience to the prophetic call to prayer and change
3. Sacrifice of time and prayer
4. Readiness to receive prophecies and wait on God
5. The faith of expectancy and expansion of coast
6. Offer thanksgiving to God through faith

Prayer during Ministration

My Father, [x2] helper of the helpless, my life needs you; help me now in the name Jesus

Prayer after Ministration

My Father, [x2] change my story now in the name of Jesus