No verse in the Bible promises the absence of struggle. Quite the contrary. Scripture is stained with tears, problems, injustices, immorality, and wars. Tough times come with life. But troubling times don’t have to take the life out of your life.

God gives us this invitation: “Pray it through.” It is what troubles you, fatigues you, shames you. It won’t have the last word. God will. Prayer slaps handcuffs on the culprit. Prayer marches the problem into the presence of God, the One who can solve it.

The prophet Elijah is remembered as an example of radical prayer. He is living proof that “when a believing person prays, great things happen” (James 5:16 NCV).

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We’d prefer to fill a storehouse with a lifetime’s worth of courage, cash, and convictions. Yet God wants us to trust him day by day. Elijah’s word to the widow is God’s word to us: “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry” (1 Kings 17:14 NIV). Elijah spoke to her with faith; she responded in faith. She turned and obeyed.

In order to swim upstream in a downstream culture, we, like the widow, have to make a choice. Will we obey God? When you are weary, God is your strength. Lonely, God is your friend. Weak, God is your provider. Fortitude follows faithful obedience. Do what the widow did. Go to the kitchen, empty the jar of oil and flour, trust. The God who filled it today will fill it again tomorrow.

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Soon after I began following Jesus, I sensed a desire to write Christian books. I cobbled together a manuscript and mailed it to fifteen publishers. Fourteen rejected it. I was beginning to think I should take the hint when one said, “Yes.” Before I knew it, my writing ministry was airborne.

It’s been over forty years and nearly fifty books. I seem to have more book ideas than I have time to write them. I am a testimony to God’s provision. Trust him. If he calls you, he will equip you. He will give you what you need when you need it.

“God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV).

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“There was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:15-16 NIV). Each day Elijah, the widow, and her son gathered around a table and had a miracle for a meal. Heaven’s delivery system continued as long as the trio needed it.

Jesus spoke of God’s faithful generosity. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you…?” (Matthew 6:30 ESV). You aren’t one scoop away from empty. It’s not just you and your depleted energy. It’s not just you and your concerns. You don’t face the assignment alone. If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill.

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Zarephath was a Gentile city occupied by Baal worshippers. The chief of the city had a daughter named Jezebel, Elijah’s archenemy. Elijah arrives with nothing. His purse and tummy are empty. Elijah spots a woman. Emaciated. Destitute. I envision Elijah stepping in her direction, and beneath his beard a smile is taking shape as he reviews God’s blessings. Protection in the court of Ahab, provision in the paucity of Kerith, and a shield of safety during the trek to Zarephath.

In your case would the God who gave you grace last week not give you grace again? Unbreakable courage requires good recall. Spiritual amnesia makes spiritual wimps. Spiritual remembrance makes spiritual giants.

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God sees the needs of tomorrow and, accordingly, creates the training of today.

He did so with Agnes. As a young girl she was on fire for her faith.  She left her home, her family, and country and became a missionary. She gave God everything, and God gave her a test: loneliness. She felt as if God had left her. On and off for fifty years, she battled a secret pain. Only late in life did she come to see her suffering as a way to understand the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all the people who feel unwanted. It was only then that Agnes—Mother Teresa—saw her test as part of her call.

Your test is a part of your call as well.

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The prophet Elijah was headline news in the nation. He was also a sitting duck for a big head. So, in a preemptive measure, God led him to a creek where Elijah would be utterly dependent upon a brook for water and some birds for food.

The enemy of the saint is pride. We must fight it like the foe it is. Take note of your “hat size.” Are you getting a big head? Then volunteer for menial tasks—wash dishes, sweep floors.

You are loved but not indispensable. You are God’s child but not God’s golden child. You have a place in God’s plan, but you are not essential to God’s plan. The smaller we are, the more room there is for God.

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A person with no input from God has the vibrancy of Shafter Lake. It languishes a few miles west of my West Texas hometown. Envision a brackish mud puddle the size of a football field. Unlike true lakes, Shafter has no pure source. No river fills to flows through it. Gas, oil, and saltwater puddle and fume. Not a pleasant sight. The lake without an entrance or exit stinks.

So does the life with no divine source. Hence the invitation of Jesus. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way” (John 7:37-38 MSG).

Like a plant absorbs light from the sun, the believer absorbs spiritual power from the divine.

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Do you feel isolated from family and friends? Perhaps your isolation is less geographical and more ideological. Do you feel alone in your opinions and concerns? When we follow the crowd, we feel safe.  When we swim against the tide, we need strength.

Turn to God as your best friend. Find what it means to walk in the Spirit, to lean on and lean into him as your comforter. Meditate on Scripture. Read inspirational books. Enjoy times of worship. Lay claim to a quiet spot where you can hear God’s voice. Speak less when you are in his presence.

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 NKJV). Learn to savor the stillness. Trust God’s stops as well as God’s steps.

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God sent Elijah into the rocky, raw, and lonely land of the Kerith Ravine. He had no temple for worship, no faith fraternity for strength. It would be years before he enjoyed fellowship with faithful Jews. Preparation by separation. Purposeful silence and solitude are basic courses in Unbreakable Courage 101.

Jesus found his Kerith in the obscure days of Nazareth and the quiet days in the wilderness. In order to gather strength for the cross, he sought time alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. If Jesus needed Kerith-like solitude, how much more do we? God’s invitation is compelling. From Psalm 46:10 (MSG): “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me…” When did you last “step out of the traffic” to be alone with your Father?

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