Why God Sends Some in The Spirit and Power of Elijah
There are several prophets recorded in the bible, some are prominent while some are not. We shall discover that out of all the documentations of those prophets, the account given about Prophet Elijah was different. He emerges in a unique way that is different from all others. It is true that each one of the prophets has his or her unique features, but in the case of Prophet Elijah there are outstanding things about him which prior his emergence have not featured in the lives of previous prophets.
I believe it is those unique features which are peculiar to him that makes God to be sending some people in his spirit and power to minister to his people and presently we discover that some people also come in like manner to minister unto the brethren.
I will want us sot see some of those unique features which makes God to send people in his spirit and power to his people in this article.
Features of Spirit and Power of Elijah
Let us the book of Luke 1:17 for a reference to the spirit and power of Elijah.
“And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luk 1:17)
1. Turning of People’s Hearts
Turn in the verse is written in Greek as “ἐπιστρέφω”, Romanized form is epistrephō (phonetic spelling is ep-ee-stref'-o) which means to revert, convert. One of the distinguishing features of the spirit and power of Elijah is converting people’s hearts from wickedness to righteousness, from darkness to light, from bad to good, from idolatry to God.
“And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.” (1 Ki. 18:39)
People prior what prophet Elijah did here (on mount Carmel have been overtaken by the lies of the prophets of Baal and Asherah prophets. But when he proved that Yahweh is more powerful than those gods, people’s hearts were melted, and they bow to worship God openly what they have not been able to do for years were done that day.
(a) Hearts of Fathers would be Turned
Greek word for father is “πατήρ”, Romanized form is patēr (pronounced as pat-ayr') while the Hebrew form of father is “אב” Romanized form is 'âb (phonetic spelling is awb) these words mean patrimony, parents, father.
“And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luk 1:17)
This means the hearts of parents would be touched, the hearts of parents would not remain as they were before. Their hearts may have been following a path before, but when they are touched by the person who carries the power of Elijah with his spirit in him, their hearts wouldn’t remain the same again.
- Against Whom Will the Hearts of the Father be Turned?
The speaker, angel Gabriel added to whom the hearts of the parents would be turned, and he said that their hearts would be turned against their children.
It is a clear message so that there won’t be a misconception that maybe the hearts of those parents would be turned against their colleagues, their peers who have grown together. No, they are not the ones who their hearts would be turned to, but to the hearts of their children.
We may here in also pause to think that why their children? Why not their colleagues?
This I presume is the reason why the angel and the prophet said the hearts of the fathers would be turned to their children.
Think about the incident that happened in the book of Judges chapters 13-16 as an example, the hearts of Samson’s parents were turned against their son, Samson. Yes, they knew he has been endued with the Power of God and great power at that, but when he was not following the will and the Mosaic law as he should, their hearts turned against him.
“And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
“Then his father and his mother said unto him, is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.” (Jdg 14:2-3)
When he knew that his parents’ hearts were not following what he was doing, doing as he likes, toying with the Mosaic laws, he started hiding things he wanted to do from them.
“And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.” (Jdg 14:9)
And I believe that his parents were not surprised by what happened to him afterwards.
When we also turned the word of God upside down as youths, our parents’ hearts would be turned against us because they want good for us, they will call us to order the onus is now on us to listen or to continue in what we are doing to our own detriment.
A similar thing like this was what happened between Jacob and his two sons: Judah and Levi. It wasn’t that Jacob likes what the prince, Shechem, did unto his daughter, Leah, but he detests what his sons did, and his hearts turned against them. (Gen 34) Jacob refers to this when he was blessing them before his demise.
When children are taken laws into their own hands, which is contrary to the will of God because they want to take vengeance and because of other reasons the hearts of their Godly parents would be turned against such children.
(b) Hearts of Children Would be Turned to Their Fathers
The book of prophet Malachi also tells us that the hearts of the children would be turned to the hearts of their parents.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Mal 4:5-6)
The hearts of the children would be changed towards the hearts of their parents when their parents are worshiping idols.
A ready example of this that comes to mind was the princess called Jehosheba, her hearts was turned against her parents when she married the high priest of the land. this is because her parents were Baal worshippers and they would have before them prophets of Asherah too. But she does not toe their path, she decides to follow Yahweh that her husband was following and worshipping it was because she was doing this that was why she could save Joash and preserve the lineage of David from being wiped off by Athaliah. (2 Ki 11)
(c) Hearts of Disobedient Would be Changed
Another character that is peculiar with those who come in the spirit and power of Elijah is that they will change the hearts of the disobedient.
“And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luk 1:17)
Disobedient in Greek is “ἀπειθής”, Romanized form is apeithēs (pronounced as ap-i-thace') which means contumacious, unpersuadable. People who cannot be changed, those whose hearts have been hardened by the deceptions of the devil, those who come in the power of Elijah would penetrate those people’s hearts by their power and touch them.
An example of such was King Ahab, his heart has been hardened against the laws of the Lord such that no word spoken by anyone can readily move him, it is what his wife says and the prophets of Asherah that moves him. But when his wife killed Naboth in his name, and prophet Elijah by the spirit gets to him, his heart was moved such that his heart was changed and the evil that the Lord plans to execute on him he changed his mind when he sees that he has humbled himself before him.
“And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
“Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.
“And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.
“And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.
“Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,
“And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.
“And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
“And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
“Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.” (1 Ki 21:17-22 & 27-29)
- Hearts of Disobedient Would be Changed to the Wisdom of the Just
What the hearts of the disobedient would be changed to is clearly spelt out by the angel and it is that it would be changed to the wisdom of the just.
Wisdom in Greek is “φρόνησις”, when Romanized it becomes phronēsis (pronunciation is fron'-ay-sis) which implies moral or intellectual insight, prudence. And just in Greek word is “δίκαιος”, Romanized form is dikaios (pronounced as dik'-ah-yos) which means equitable, innocent, holy.
It would be noticed that King Ahab after hearing what Prophet Elijah said about the killing of Naboth exercises prudence, humbled himself before the Lord and the judgment was averted during his days.
Humility is one of the signs of holiness. No one can be proud and claim he or she is holy.
The wisdom of the just is fleeing from evil, fleeing from the judgement of God, seeing ourselves a sinner, being broken down before the Lord and asking for forgiveness of our sins, that is the wisdom of the just and this was what King Ahab did contrary to the belief and the practice of his wife.
We are equally being called by God to change our dispositions from being disobedient to be an obedient child of his. He wants us to be living in conformity with his will and words.
2. To Make Ready a Heart Prepared for the Lord
It is the desire of those who come in such spirit to prepare people for the Lord. They do not prepare people for their denominations as many ministers are doing today. They do not build a cabal for themselves, but they point people back to God, they point them back to heaven and his Jesus. Their desire is that Jesus must increase while they decrease like John the Baptist.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Joh 3:30)
3. The Spirit is a Praying Spirit
God sends people in this spirit because he wants people who will be praying, those who would shake the heavens and the earth with their prayers.
“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” (Jas 5:17)
Those who are sent in this power exhibit this spirit, the spirit of Prayer.
4. They Promote Monotheism
Those sent in this spirit tell the world that there is one God and that other gods are fake, they are idols that should neither be feared nor worshiped.
“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” (1 Ki 18:21)
5. They Bring Restoration
Before prophet Elijah offered his sacrifice on mount Carmel, he first repairs the altar that has been broken down by the people, the altar that has been pulled down were raised again. The spirit would move the person who possessed him to repair the broken-down altars of the Lord. He would bring the members of the Body of Jesus together.
“And his disciples asked him, saying, why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” (Mat 17:10-11)
This was what John the Baptist came to the world to do, he arrived and brought the people who were mindful of the messiah together.
6. They Perform Miracles
Those who carry such spirit performs outstanding miracles, undeniable miracles because they have been endowed with such grace and power to show the reality of God to all and sundry.
Although we did not read of a miracle that John the Baptist who operated in this spirit and Power performed when on earth. But as people used to say, that the greatest miracle is the miracle of the salvation. It is no gain saying that John the Baptist fits in to this as he led many to Jesus Christ.
7. They Operate in God’s Fire
Prophet Elijah commands fire of God when he was on earth. It is one of the attributes of those who will work in the spirit to be able to operate in the level of God’s fire. Today spiritual part of man is the major focus, unlike the time past, when physical was the focus. Thus, the given of the Mosaic Law to address physical life of man. But this has been found to be grossly inadequate to meet with what God has in plan for man, God has discovered that the spiritual takes a major part in what man becomes and how he behaves thus, he emphasizes the spiritual knowing full well that when that is resolved the physical life of man would fall into place, that is why Jesus said, out of the hearts comes evil thoughts.
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” (Mat 15:19)
And the prophet also said the hearts of man is desperately wicked and full of deceits.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer 17:9)
God therefore endows those people with spiritual power that would penetrate the hearts of man, purging them clean and from there, their lives becomes transformed, their physical actions become changed to the chagrin of those who had known the person before. An example of someone like this was Saul who later became Paul.
8. Prophesy
Prophets have different offices which they can operate from. Though most of them in the bible days do prophesy, but there are few ones who are exceptional. Their formats of prophecies differ from the common ones known by the people. Be that as it may, they can also prophesy, they can look evil in the eye through the power of the prophet and address it, tell those in the acts that God’s judgment will be released on them as John the Baptist done.
9. Self-Control
They exercise self-control in what they are doing and especially in their feeding pattern. John the Baptist was said to be taken locusts and honey most of the times when he was on earth. they exercise self-control in the worldly things and acquisitions.
“And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.” (Mat. 3:4)
10. Long Suffering
This is one of their outstanding features. This is outstanding in them when they are compared with other humans and people who have other gifts of the spirit because their preparation usually takes longer duration than others. An author says, everyone could withstand a trial or test for 6 or 7 years, but when a trial, tests and spiritual training is going for two or more decades people would not be able to withstand such trainings again, because they have not been given the spirit and power of Elijah to operate in (from Burning Point Ministries).
What this author says should be clear to those who have been passing through some things, hard things in life but who have been saved from their childhood, in other words they have known Jesus and have been associated with him very early in life, as if that wasn’t enough it wasn’t that they have been brought up in moral way such that when they started passing through some things in life, we cannot but imagine that why are they passing through such, sometimes we would say untoward things about God.
But those things being passed through by such have been allowed by God because he is preparing them for something great, training them in the ways of John the Baptist.
As that may partly be true, but it is not wholly true, because greatness in life may not be the reason for such people passing through those paths when all they were doing turn to naught, all their efforts become negative and people have been saying it is because of ancestral curse and all that.
It is not that, but they are experiencing trainings in the order of the Elijah.
May I chip this in, that this kind of training is essentially different from the trial of Job too. Yes, Job was tried, lost all he had within fractions of minutes, but I doubt if he passed through those for decades before God turned things around for him. These kinds of people would experience this phase for decades before they would see green light at all in what they are passing through.
Experience
You also may be experiencing terrible times that cannot be explained as believers in Jesus Christ. You have done all that you know was right still nothing is working, you may be undergoing the training in the order of John the Baptist too.
I said this because Christians and Christianity are not like Mosaic days, I mean the days of Elijah and John when we shall be asked to leave for the wilderness like those people were, for trainings.
For you would recall that from childhood John left for the wilderness and was preparing for the ministry that wouldn’t exceed 2 years at most for about 30 years because he was 6 months older than Jesus Christ. And if the bible says Jesus started his ministry at 30 years, he may have started some months before him, and he wouldn’t stay long in the office immediately Jesus appears, since he has fulfilled his part of revealing the identity of Jesus, his ministry started waning, going down until he was killed.
Since we won’t be instructed like they were, God has designed other means of training for us, and it comes through such trials of faith to weigh us in his balance, to prune us down, to show us his way like he did unto them.
This article does not say those resort to some wilderness for praying and fasting is bad, but I am saying most of believers’ trainings now would happen among the people he or she is living with, what he is passing through.
11. Boldness
They are usually bold like lion and could confront people who are wicked in the society that others are fleeing from for the fear of their lives.
12. They do not Compromise
They do not entertain any form of compromise from anyone be it religious or political leaders. They cannot condone this because their source of spiritual promotion neither that of blessing has anything to do with them. For most of the times, compromises come through such means.
13. Their Message is Jesus
They don’t draw people to themselves neither their ministries, they point people to Jesus alone. Many people talk about the position of the church today, how sorry it is, and some would still glory in the pitiable position of the church that assuming there is nothing like that the world would be more corrupted than this.
Those operating in this spirit would not glory in such, neither tell people about their church and ministry, they do not seek for worldly fame, having the largest followers on the social media, what they seek for is Jesus and that they keep pointing people to all their days as John the Baptist was.
14. Compassionate
They are compassionate. Prophet Elijah had compassion on the widow and brought his son back to life through the power of God. A similar thing happened in the life of his successor too, Prophet Elisha. They are moved by people’s plights and contact the Lord on their behalf.
15. Strong Devotion
They have strong devotion towards God. They do not look on the worldly things, their desires and focus are centered on heaven. They always set their affections on heaven as the apostle said, because they know that setting their affections on things of the world would result in disaster.
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Col 3:1-3)
These are few of the attributes
Of those who work in the spirit and power of Elijah, and God cannot but keep sending such spirit (and the associated Power) to the hearts of his own in the world so that the world would not be doomed, so that erring people of the world would be touched and the people of God would know more of God.
© 2020 OLUSEGUN
Comments
OLUSEGUN (author) from NIGERIA on February 14, 2020:
@ wba108@yahoo.com a bunch. Let's all work to bring people to Christ.
wba108@yahoo.com from upstate, NY on February 13, 2020:
An excellent view of Elijah, the greatest of the prophets! His ministry didn't just impress people, it changed hearts.
His training was longer and harder than other prophets because of the depth of the Spirit and power he was to be entrusted with.
He had the character and faith to stand alone with God in dark times and not be seduced by the world. God is raising up multitudes of Elijah's to bring in the end-time harvest of souls.
