Jr. Tree of Life
Fear and the Faith-Rest-Drill – Part 2
2/23/2020 Elijah Runs Away – I Kings 17:1-19:15
Promise from God “Casting all your anxieties on Him for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Before you begin this Bible study, If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:16 tells us: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ Simply have faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and you will have eternal life and be saved. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior; then 1 John 1:9 tells us; “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Simply privately tell God the Father your sins to be filled with God the Holy Spirit and He will teach you Bible truth. (Rebound)
During the Age of Israel, a long time ago, a man named Ahab was made king of Israel. Ahab married an evil queen named Jezebel. Both of them loved and worshipped a false god name Baal who was made of stone; we call this an idol. They thought that Baal was in charge of the weather, instead of our One True God. Of course, we all know that God created us, the earth and everything in it. God is the one who is in charge of the rain, snow, wind, thunder and lightning.
Today, many kids love their I-phones or tablets more than God. Now it is always ok to like your phone or to watch a video on your tablet but; if it weren’t for God’s power, they wouldn’t even work. God wants us to learn about Him and to trust Him and obey Him everyday, because He cares about each one of us.
Elijah, Old Testement Prophet, was sent as a messanger from God. Elijah hated Baal and He warned king Ahab that God would punish him for treating a fake god like he was real. God would not have any other gods before Him. There wasn’t any rain for a long time in Israel, and God planned it that way, so that God could prove that He was the only one who could cause the rain to fall.
Can you imagine what would happen if it didn’t rain for several years? This is what is called a drought, or dry period of time. Without rain, cows and chickens couldn’t eat and nothing would grow … so there wouldn’t be any cheeseburgers or chicken nuggets, french fries or, corn on the cob. The rivers would dry up, and we would’t smell the greatest without a bath. Eveyone would have to work very hard to find water to drink, and haul it home with a bucket.
King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were very angry with Elijah and wanted to kill him; However, it wasn’t Elijah’s fault that there wasn’t any rain, God is always in control. It was their own fault for worshipping Baal. God hid Elijah and kept him safe for over 3 years and made sure that he had plenty of food and water.
Finally God told Elijah to go talk with King Ahab . Elijah was brave and trusted God, so he wasn’t afraid of the false teachers of Baal or even the king. Baal and God were supposed have a contest to make fire without a lighter or any wood. Telling and idol to start a fire would be like telling your kitchen table to cook a hot dog. That just isn’t going to happen!
Elijah and the fake teachers of Baal perpared to cut up an ox and placed it on altars. Those fake teachers begged the idol all day long to send fire, but he didn’t answer. How could Baal do this since was just a piece of stone. Next Elijah poured gallons of water over the altar that he made to worship God. Now, everything was even wet, which is hard to start a fire with wet stuff. Elijah then prayed and God immediatley sent a roaring fire that burned up the ox, the altar and even the water! The one true God is all powerful.
Next Elijah was commanded by God to kill hundreds of the false teachers, so that they would quit telling everyone to believe the lies about Baal. After this, Elijah prayed for rain and God sent the rain. When King Ahab heard, he told Jezebel what had happened. She was very angry and sent a servant to Elijah with a message that he would be killed within 24 hours. Elijah became so afraid that he ran for his life. Elijah forgot everything that God had done for him. Eventually Elijah trusted God again and God rescued him from the evil queen.
Everyone will be afraid sometimes. When we are afraid, we need to confess the fear to God the Father privately inside of our minds. This is called rebound. We then need to recover by using the Faith-Rest-Drill. Remember a promise from God, trust God, and Relax because God will take care of everything because He is all powerful.
“Casting all your anxieties on Him for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
The Bible verse above tells us to cast our anxieties (things we are afraid of) to God. How do we do that? Think of fishing, when you’re out fishing; you grab your fishing pole and throw the line out into the water. This is called casting. When a big dog next door starts barking in the fenced yard, we may be afraid. If we have to take a spelling test, we may be afraid. We need to cast it to God and trust Him.
Faith-Rest-Drill
1. Remember a promise from God: In today’s lesson, the promise is:
“Casting all your anxieties on Him for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
2. Think of a reason to trust God with your problem: God is all powerful.
God will take care of you when you are afraid because He is so powerful that He makes the rain, wind, thunder, and lightning. Elijah prayed and God immediatley sent a roaring fire that burned up the ox and the altar.
3. Relax: God is powerful enough to help you with whatever you are afraid of, just like He helped Elijah when he was afraid of evil queen Jezebel, so relax and have fun because God will take care of whatever you are afraid of.