Perceive the future with faith
See the future with eyes of faith - Believing in the answered prayer
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We can learn a lot from Elijah and the cloud the size of a fist in regards to how to see the vision before us with a sense of faith.
In this mini study/devotional/teaching? (I’m not quite sure what to call it, it’s my first time in creating one!) we will look at a few Bible passages and see what we can learn about faith and perceiving things spiritually not just physically.
I’ve called it ‘seeing the future’ with eyes of faith but it’s not about forecasting but perceiving what God is doing and showing us.
I say perceive because hearing God and seeing what he’s doing can entail all our senses like touch, sight, smell, sound and even taste!
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Do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43:18-19 New International Version (NIV)
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
To often we get hung up on the past and what’s been. “The good old days’. OR we may get stuck looking back because of a bad situation that caused us hurt and pain.
But does that serve us?
Where are you going?
You’ve probably heard this analogy a 1000 times about trying to drive forward while constantly looking at the backseat of the rear view mirror. Picture it!
Seriously, how will you move forward safely and easily to your destination when you’re doing that?
So the question is where are you going? What is it that you want that God is calling you forward with?
The wrong focus
In Isaiah it says “Do you not perceive it?” I saw it as an invitation to look harder, to lean in, to be present to all the things that are already happening.
But when we are focused on looking back at the ‘former things’ it’s hard to see what’s in front of us.
We then find ourselves moaning to God, “God you aren’t doing anything” “Why can’t it be like the past again?”.
Meanwhile God is saying look forward, look at what’s around you, can’t you see it? Look what I’m already doing. Focus on that!
Grateful for where we are
This is a lesson god has beens showing em these last few months. It’s gratitude. I have been challenged to be present and grateful for what I already have and what God is already doing no matter how small.
This leads to our first prompt “Where am I missing the ‘new’ thing because I am stuck looking to my past?”
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Part of that is also taking a minute to be grateful for what you have and acknowledge God for what he’s currently doing. We may need to repent (change our minds and turn to a new direction) and say “God I’m sorry I didn’t see or I wasn’t thankful for what you’re doing now.
what's your mini cloud?
In 1 Kings 18: 41-45 we read about Elijah and a miracle he needs for the people of Israel. They have been in a time of famine and Jezebel is killing the prophets of God.
Elijah is told to present himself to the King so that there may be rain on the land.
We pick up after he has defeated the prophets of baal.
This is what I want to focus on in this section. Elijah is on Mount Carmel, face down, believing for rain. He sends his servant to look towards the sea to check. Seven times he sends him and he sees nothing until the 7th time. 7 in the Bible is also a number connected with ‘completion’ .
On his seventh visit he see’s ‘a cloud the size of a mans fist.”
If we look at our lives I believe God has given us a small cloud. A small sign, a seed of an idea or miracle.
Throughout the Bible we are find many stories were the start of a miracle was something small and sometimes seemed insignificant.
Our second prompt is “Where have I been given a ‘cloud the size of a fist’?”
What is God already doing that may seem small but is the start of something so much bigger? Like in Isaiah what have we seen a little of and not perceived it to be part of God’s new big thing?
The miracle of wine started with water while the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 started with a little boys lunch. So look at your life and note the small cloud God has already placed.
How do we respond to the cloud?
I think this is where one of the main lesson comes in. Elijah took that small sign as the evidence that god has made it rain. He perceived the miracle as being done and acted accordingly.
If I’m honest and it had been me, I’d probably be moaning that God isn’t doing anything or why he’s only done a little of what I need. It’s such a human reaction.
But Elijah did something different.
Faith from the start
Elijah had faith from the beginning. If we head back to verse 41 We read “And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”
Before he saw the cloud he ‘heard the sound of heavy rain”. I may be wrong but I believe he heard this rain by faith, supernaturally. As it was not actually raining and the cloud was clear, it seems unlikely he heard physical rain.
From the start he perceived an answered prayer by seeing/hearing with faith eyes and ears.
Acting as if the prayer has been answered
And what he did next was act on that faith. He believed he perceived and he acted.
He sends Ahab to rest. Then later on after he sees the cloud he instructs his servant “So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’
Again he’s acting when the prayer is incomplete. A small cloud the size of a fist isn’t rain. But as he sends the servant it does start to rain!
Oftentimes we only see the answer or miracle when we start to walk out in faith! The bread had to be broken and shared first with the 5000 who needed feeding, the water jars had to be poured out to guests at the wedding where Jesus turned the water to wine.
What step do you need to take in faith?
We believe, we perceive, we act
Elijahs faith really spurred me. I wasn’t so familiar with this passage. Looking at it more closely I was awed by his faith, how he perceived the future receiving the outcome to their need and acted as if it was already done.
Again I imagine myself seeing a small cloud, I wouldn’t have been confident to tell Ahab “it’s raining so you better leave before you get swamped”. It would have seemed silly to say it at all with no sign of rain. But he acted on faith.
He also spoke as if it were true. We see this happen in the Bible and in the New Testament Jesus Mark 11:22-25 “22 it say’s “So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
All I can say is WOW. Imagine if we truly believed and grasped this principle!
Our final prompt is “What actions do I take next if I act in belief that the ‘cloud’ will become ‘rain’?
If the small signs you’ve seen will become a full blown answered to prayer how would you act? What would you start or stop doing? What moves would you make? How would it affect how you think or feel?
Journal on these 3 prompts by clicking on the image of the printable above!
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