GET UP – AND EAT! (Battles Series)

What’s the best thing to do when you are worn out?
Lie down and sleep, right?
Wrong.

You get up – and eat.
Ask Elijah.

Daniel revealed that, in the last days, a major activity of the enemy would be to wear out the saints of the Most High. (Daniel 7:25) ‘Wear out’ means to tire them, wear them down, or make them weary – and connotes intensity and consistency.
One way he does this is by bombarding them with demonic arrows of fear, depression and discouragement – especially when their spiritual energy is low or depleted.

So, just like Elijah, what many attacked people do is they
(1) Lie down: not in the Psalm 23 position of rest, but in a mental/emotional state of giving up. Then, they
(2) Sleep: they slide into a level of spiritual deadness, blindness and deafness – unconscious and uncaring of their spiritual surroundings.

But I love what God did.
He sent an angel to ‘touch’ Elijah – to prod him awake.
A nudge here. A suggestion there. A thought first thing in the morning. An online post in the afternoon. A message in the evening.
All saying the same thing: Get up and eat.

Simply put: Get Into The Word.

When you are worn out spiritually, you don’t need more sleep.
You need more Word.

Certain things about Elijah’s food struck me as I read the story in 1 Kings 19:1-8:

(1) The Food Was By His Head.
He didn’t have to go searching for it. It was already there. Nearby.
One principle I continually see in the Word is that everything you need for every season is already around you. You just need open eyes. Elijah had to open his eyes from sleep and look (verse 6) before he saw the food.
The Word you need for every season is just there: in your newsfeed, with a friend, in the audio/book files you have downloaded but not listened to, on YouTube, in church that day…
Your food is just nearby.

(2) The Food Was Already Cooked.
Someone would roll their eyes and go, “Duh! Of course it was cooked”, but, you see, God knew Elijah didn’t have the strength, interest or capacity to cook, so He didn’t give him raw ingredients – things that would require a lot of time or energy to process.

When you have been hit by the enemy, it sometimes takes a lot to spend time meditating and digging for revelations in the Word by yourself – like you usually did before the attack. At such times, God sends you Word already prepared by other people that will strengthen you until you can ‘cook’ your own food again.

Now, this – for me – was the very interesting part:
(3) The Food Was ‘Hot.’
In the season of battle or attacks, the last thing you need is cold food.
You need ‘hot’ food:
Food that stirs you up and sets you on fire yourself.
Food that makes you jump up when the ‘heat’ enters you.
Food that cuts through the energy of depression – and shoots you to your feet.

That’s the kind of food you need.

This food was hot because
(a) It had just been baked. In other Words, it was ‘fresh’.
For every season, God sends fresh, relevant food: fresh revelation, fresh insights, fresh anointing through his messengers. When these messages are eaten, especially in the middle of a battle or attack, you know. Your spirit man leaps up in response, “Yes! This is exactly what I need! Now!”

Your spirit man knows because it is quickened – and your heart burns.

The food was also hot because
(b) It remained on a bed of coals.
Even if it had been cooked hours earlier, the ‘atmosphere’ accompanying it caused it to remain hot. That’s why you can listen to a message from thirty years ago and still be imparted, because it was birthed in – and into – an atmosphere of fire.

At the brook of Cherith, the ravens brought ‘cold’ food to the spiritually strong Elijah – and it was fine.
But it is interesting that God was very particular about the ‘heat level’ of Elijah’s food in his attacked state. What do I mean?

The angel could have brought only the bread after it was cooked and cooled – or even while it was still warm.
But he came with the coals as well: ensuring that every morsel Elijah put in his mouth at that season was hot – until he was filled and strengthened to continue.

In battle, you need constantly hot food.

Finally, when you eat, don’t eat just a little – like Elijah initially did. Instead,
Get up – be deliberate about feeding yourself…
And eat a lot because, in these last days, the journey and the battle will be too great for little bites to sustain you.

Eat…and eat…and eat – so that you can go supernatural lengths. Like Elijah.