One Man

So I haven’t really written much lately. It’s been weird, I’ve been getting revelation and good thoughts but I just haven’t gotten that urge or need to write things down lately like I have in the past. Or when I have sat down to write I’ve drawn blanks and haven’t been able to get started. I mean when I’m lying in bed, for some reason I’m able to preach a whole sermon to myself in my head before I fall asleep, yet I’ve had trouble articulating things to other people. So yea, anyway I’m going to try to get some things out.

One of the things that has really been on my heart lately is the idea of how one person can make a difference. God has been teaching me this a lot the last few weeks, and He’s been teaching it to me a lot for the last 2 years at YWAM and now here at RIT. However it got kind of got brought up a few weeks ago when I was talking to my friend Jake Engen. We were talking about college life and he mentioned how so many times in the Old Testament it only took one man to change things. There have been many times in my life the last two years where I have felt like the only one pressing in for the Kingdom of God to advance. (I'll talk about this later but a lot of times this was a feeling brought upon by circumstances as I saw them and not an actually true reality. In fact I'll just quickly say that I am spoiled in terms of the amount of amazing on fire Christians I have met the last two years of my life all of which are doing great and amazing things to advance the Kingdom of God all over the world and here in the US. That being said please continue.) There have been times when I’ve had to have a lot of one-man prayer meetings because either there were no others with the desire to press in or those who had the desire were busy with other things and responsibilities. And while this has been hard I’ve learned a lot of things through it. For one, my intimacy with the LORD has grown to new heights over the past couple years. It used to be that I would go to church or some form of prayer meeting or worship service probably around 4-5 times a week. Since not living in Minnesota, in order to maintain the level and amount of prayer and worship that I am accustomed to, I’ve had to go to the secret place. Many times it’s worship alone or not at all. Intercede alone or not at all. What I really want to get at is not my testimony specifically but I want to speak a word of encouragement that emphasizes the importance and significance of pressing in alone. If you dedicate yourself wholly to Christ and to His purposes there are probably going to be times in your life when you feel like you are the only one or one of the few who is going after the purposes of God.

Luckily there is a wonderful example of someone in the Old Testament who felt the same way. If you get a chance and want more context go ahead and read 1 Kings 18-19. I’ll be taking excerpts from there from the story of Elijah. I’m going to pick up in a place where we have Elijah, he just dominated these prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, and then he outruns a chariot (And you thought Usain Bolt had the world record for fastest man). Anyway after all this, he is being sought after to be killed and he runs in the desert discouraged. He says this to God, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” (1 Kings 19:10) Here we see Elijah feeling like He is the only one. He feels like the only zealous man of God left. Before I get to God’s answer I want us to realize that part of what Elijah says is true and I also want us to realize what he did pretty much on his own (with God of course). He was the only man of God on Mt. Carmel. In 1 Kings 18:22 Elijah states, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” And yet, Elijah stood up to all the prophets of Baal and the LORD moved through and sent down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. Not only that but then Elijah prays (he prays 7 times, remember that next time you want to give up after praying for something only once) for the rain to come and end the 3 ½ year drought and it does. This is a huge testimony of what one man can do when he stands up for the things of God through actions and through prayer.

In Ezekiel this concept is shown again through Ezekiel 22:30, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” This scripture points out that God is looking for a man. ONE MAN. To stand in the gap, to pray, to intercede on behalf of the land (or the whole nation) in order that it might be saved. Let this grip you with the POWER that prayer can have to shift a nation. O that we would be people who would say I want to be that ONE MAN. That one man who will make a difference, that one man who will stand up to the powers of darkness and say enough is enough. That one man who will finally get sick of seeing a generation killing itself through drugs, alcohol, pre-marital sex, pornography, eating disorders, cutting, suicide, and the false hope of the American dream. That one man who will raise his voice in prayer and bring a shift in the heavenly places and lay a foundation for God to move in their generation. Beloved it is time that we let God grip us with something higher. It is time that we get an understanding that me, one man, one woman, can make a difference in the kingdom of God and in the lives of the people around me. Unless we get this revelation, unless we get an understanding that what we do not only matters but has eternal implications, we will not act or step out to the level that God calls us to and we will not pray. Because if you believe that what you do does not make a difference you will not step out, you will not be willing to have one-man prayer meetings, you will not be willing to take those steps of faith to pray for that man in the wheelchair, or to be friends with the quiet girl in your class who always sits by herself and is probably struggling with depression. But if we do get this revelation, that’s when God can use us. When our hearts are completely after His and like Isaiah we say, “HERE I AM GOD SEND ME.” (Isaiah 6) USE ME! That’s all it takes, a heart that is lovesick for Jesus and a spirit that is willing. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is completely His." God is on the move. He wants to move. He wants to do miracles. He’s just waiting and constantly looking for that one man or woman that is after His heart and when He finds that man or woman He WILL show Himself strong on their behalf and will move through their life in POWER and in signs and wonders as is promised in Mark 16. Will you be that one man?

Just to shy away any doubts that you’re not “spiritual” enough to be a prayer warrior, and just to tear down that lie that says God doesn’t answer your prayers. James 5:16-18 says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” Two things I want to pull from this. One is that if you have accepted Jesus you are a righteous man. You have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus and therefore your prayers availeth much. I don’t care if you feel righteous, if you love Jesus, and He is your LORD and savior you are righteous and your prayers have POWER to shift the spiritual atmosphere around you. Second, Elijah was just like us. Elijah called down fire from heaven, Elijah outran a chariot, Elijah prayed for it not to rain and it didn’t for 3 ½ years. Elijah prayed for it to rain and it did. Everything Elijah did you can do. The things Jesus did, you can do. (Jesus said we would actually do greater things than he did – John 14:12) Why? Because the same spirit that lived in Elijah, the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives inside of you (Romans 8:11). Cool right?

Ok last thing I want to hit goes back to the story of Elijah I was talking about at the beginning. So yes, we can change things, one person can change things. We need to be willing to step out on our own to do things and to bring God’s Kingdom to earth. However I also want to highlight God’s response to Elijah in the passage. In the passage the LORD speaks to Elijah in the still small voice. “Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19: 15-18)

In other words, God is saying “Elijah this whole time you have felt like you were alone, you have felt like you were pressing in by yourself, but there are SEVEN-THOUSAND others whose hearts are still after me.” I bring this up because just as there have been times in the last couple years where I have felt like I was pressing in alone, and times where I’ve had to press in alone, God has always shown me those 7,000 who have not bowed their knees to Baal. Yes they aren’t always right next to me in the physical, they are not always praying with me in the same room, but they are there. I just got to look for them.

I hope that makes sense, I ended up writing a lot more than I intended haha. Pretty much to sum up, sometimes in our lives there can be seasons where we feel like we are the only one really going after God. When this happens we need to remember two things. One, that us by ourselves can make a difference. Everything we do matters, and God only needs one willing person to move through to do amazing and miraculous things. Second we need to remember that even when we feel alone we never are. There are always other believers pressing in whether we see them or not. God always preserves a remnant. Lastly, remember God is faithful and if you commit your way to the LORD and trust in Him, HE WILL DO IT (Psalm 37:5).