God whispers - can you hear him?

We see Elijah here. God sighs the name, he does not say that he sighs the name of Elijah, but he calls Elijah as a sigh. Let's read this. First Kings, Chapter 19, beginning with verse 4, to read a bit of the story so you can see where we're going.

Verse 4, says: “... And he, Elijah, went through the desert one day on his way and came and sat under a juniper tree, and wishing to die he said –and we understand why he wanted to die. Elijah's life had been put in danger, because Queen Jezebel after he cut off the heads of all her prophets of Baal had a most wanted, Elijah's face was like this on all the posts in the city 'Wanted', a wanted person, there was a tip, a reward of I don't know how many denarii most likely. And they were looking everywhere for Elijah's head. Elijah, scared of fear, ran away, left, then says:

".... wanting to die, he said, 'enough already, oh Jehovah, take my life, for I am no better than my parents.' – referring to Abraham, Moses, referring to all those great in faith- And throwing himself under the juniper tree he fell asleep. And behold, then an angel touched him and said, 'Get up and eat' and he looked, and behold at his head a cake baked on the coals and a pot of water, and he ate and drank and fell asleep again. And when the angel of Jehovah returned for the second time, he touched him saying, "Get up and eat because you have a long way to go." So he got up and ate and drank and strengthened with that food, he walked 40 days and 40 nights to Oreb, the mountain of God.”

Look, pay attention to all these places that he's saying.

".... And there he went into a cave where he spent the night and the word of Jehovah came to him, which said to him, 'what are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied 'I have felt a lively zeal for Jehovah, the God of Hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, have torn down your altars, and have killed your prophets with the sword, and only I am left and they seek me to take me away. life'. And God said to him, 'Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord.' And behold – which is where the interesting part comes in – and behold, the Lord passed by and a great and powerful wind broke the mountains and broke the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind and behind the wind, an earthquake , but Jehovah was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire, a small and delicate whistle...”

Leave it there. I don't know if at some point you have asked God to reveal himself to you in a different, new way. Show of hands, how many of you have asked God to show himself to your life in a new way? Yes, Ok. Look at this, I'm going to tell you what happened to me. When did the season start where butterflies start to come out of their cocoons? More or less that is for the end of May, beginning of June, around there more or less, right? more or less there? Look at this, the thing is that more or less around that time I was in my house and I was meditating like this on the word, I was praying, and suddenly, well, I saw one of those orange and black butterflies. You know what I'm talking about, the most common butterflies here. That butterfly goes like this, floating through the garden of my house, and one sees it like this with all its grace, and one says to oneself, wow, they were so ugly before when they were like this in that caterpillar, and now look at the beauty that came out of it's.

And I had to say, Lord, if you want to laugh I give you permission because I can't laugh right now. I go out and say, 'Lord, if you want to do something with me, I want that butterfly to come and sit on the table here where I am. Let it stand there on the table. And I saw the butterfly, you can laugh in confidence, Omar, what a request that is, please, a butterfly that sits at a table with you, Ah.

Anyway, the thing is that for thirty minutes I saw the butterfly that was flying, it was approaching my table and I think that when it saw me, it looked so ugly that it left again and kept flying like that for the garden and came back and approached the table, and as if she were making a water that was going to stop but went away again, until I saw her and she left. And I said to myself, well, Lord, you don't have anything with me, then.

The thing is, brothers, that from June until now, September, I can say that at least 3 or 4 times a week I have seen those butterflies flying around my house, or I have found them in traffic when I'm driving, I see the butterflies flying like this above the car. There was a day that the butterfly almost ended up being squashed on my glass but thank God, it flew like that and left. But the thing is, brothers, without lying to you, about 3 or 4 times I have seen those butterflies flying near me. And you can say, ah, Omar, there are so many butterflies here, please.

But, brothers, it is a very small detail where I see that God is with me. It is a very small and very peculiar detail in which I see that God responded to a request that I made at the end of May, beginning of June.

If you have a purpose with me, if you want to do something with me, I want that butterfly to be close to me. And during these last months I have seen, on several occasions, those butterflies flying near me. They have not stopped, perhaps on the table, but I have seen them flying near me. And it is a way in which I see that God has told me, look, my presence is with you, even if you think that I am not with you, but I am with you.

And look how interesting, brothers, because in this passage that we read, when it says that first there was a wind, and then an earthquake, and then a fire, but then the Bible itself emphasizes that Jehovah it wasn't there. And it's very interesting because I threw myself into exploring this passage even more; that particular phrase that Jehovah was not there.

If you look at what Elijah had done in the previous Chapter, Elijah had confronted four hundred odd prophets of Baal, and they were having this unique competition at their altars to see what God would answer first. And there the prophets of Baal cutting their bodies and making their screams and their pods and everything they did and nothing happened, but nevertheless Elijah prepared his altar and did it in a very peculiar way also that no one thought that fire was going to consume that, but nevertheless when he invoked God, puoh!!, everything was consumed, even the stones were adjusted. The water, everything that had been placed on the altar, everything evaporated, everything turned to ashes before God.

And the power of God encompassed Elijah in such a way that Elijah then had the courage to eliminate all those false prophets. He completely removed them. But, look what, after a moment of such glory that he himself had experienced, where the power of God was there, no one could deny that the power of God was moving through Elijah, all of a sudden, because there is this threat against his life, the man was filled with fear, he was filled with fear. He started running. Let's go, little legs so that I love you, you will have to run an entire continent. They want to kill me, so I'm leaving.

And he did that, but it's like one thing doesn't calculate with the other. First this man full of the power of God, that there was no one to stand next to him, and now because a queen is offering a bounty on his head, the man started to run.

And that is very interesting to me, brothers, because many times at God's revelation one has those moments of glory, but then moments come, like there is a downturn in one's life.

It's like, I got an email of a video that said the comparison between Friday and a Monday. So in this video when they define what a Friday is, they show a penguin with music that's really rowdy, jumping, so na na nan, like it's Friday, let's celebrate. And then, later they show a polar bear, on Monday, as if to say dragging its whole body in the snow, like oh it's Monday, I have to go back again, until it stays lying on the ground. And you know what? Many times on Sundays we leave here and we are like that penguin, jumping and jumping, wow, wow, well, God is great. And Monday arrives, many times, and we look like a polar bear crawling like that on the floor. It was like everything we had received on Sunday was blown away.

And I recognize, brothers, that in those moments there is something that God wants to let us know. I believe that in those moments where we think, where there is nothing, where we are not listening to anything from God, where we are not receiving anything from God, I believe that it is in those same moments that God more... gives us something.

Look, how interesting, brothers, because these three things: the wind, the earthquake and the fire. This was something that was very interesting to me. Where was Elijah? What was the mountain called? Oreb. Do you know which is the other mountain that is also known like this, as Oreb? sinai. To whom was it that God also revealed himself on Mount Sinai? To Moses. And Moses, part of his revelation as well, when God revealed himself that he came down in the cloud, that he began to give him the 10 commandments and spoke to him and showed him how to lead the people of Egypt, God used that type of revelation as well. There was a demonstration of strong, strong wind, there were earthquakes that shook the earth where he was and there was also the demonstration of fire, when the fire accompanied the people and directed them at all times.

And so here we see Elijah who is on Mount Oreb, on the mountain of God and is a great prophet of God and God is using him to move the people of Israel as well, to lead the people of Israel in one direction. More, however, there it is and it lets your parents know, look, I also revealed myself in this way. To Moses, I revealed myself in this way in this very place. There was wind, there was an earthquake, there was fire, there were big demonstrations on my part because I wanted them to see that side of my power.

But suddenly, there came a small and delicate whistle. It is very interesting because a translation in Hebrew says that there was a moment of silence, there was a moment of silence. Imagine in that moment of silence, a whisper. You see this man who is in that cave and hear a whisper. Elias thinks, what? And that whisper comes back and is felt once more, and it caught Elijah's attention in such a way that Elijah had to leave the cave and pay attention to what was happening. Because he was seeing a new revelation from God for his life. There was a new revelation from God to him, letting him know, look, all these great things that I have shown you in the past, yes I have been in those things present. And I believe that at the time they were happening, I believe that God was there too. When the word says that Jehovah was not there, I can understand that it was God's revelation for Elijah's life at that moment that he was not there present at that moment until that quiet whisper came and then God manifests himself in a totally tells Elijah and then lets him know what is going to happen.

You see the verses then he says, 'go and anoint the king of Syria, go and anoint the king of Judah, and then go and choose someone to replace you, Elisha. '

In other words, God was letting Elijah know, 'Elijah, I've got everything under control. You do not worry, you go back on your way that I have everything under control. I have Judah under control, Syria I have under control, and the one who is going to replace you, I also have that under control. I am God, you are not. I am god. You trust me.’

And guess what? My brothers, I believe that we need that type of affirmation. Many times in our lives, many times when we choke on the things that surround us day by day, we cannot see and we cannot understand the manifestation of God in our midst.

Who of you is going to see a butterfly on the road when you are driving? Who of you is going to see a butterfly through your kitchen window, when you are washing the dishes and a butterfly passing through the window? Who among you is going to pay attention to that? It may be that some do, it may be that some do not, but even if you see the butterfly, you will say, 'oh, look how beautiful, a butterfly flying over there'. Who would then think that this is a way that God can let us know, I am in control, I am in control of your life?

If you just learn to trust me, I'm in control. And brothers, if we need to establish ourselves in that truth, day after day, night after night, brothers. You know what? I often ask myself and I ask this question to each one of you today: if we only knew, if we only knew who we have trusted? If we could only see a glimpse of the power of God in the midst of our lives, I am sure that none of us would be the same. None of us would be the same.

There are times when we settle for knowing about God the little we have known up to now, but we do not intentionally move to go further, to know more, brothers. God has an afterlife. The same Bible says that the love of God is wonderful, it is so long that I cannot go beyond it, so high that I cannot go above it, so wide that I cannot go outside of it. How great is the love of God.

And many times because we only knew a small square of all that dimension already, ah, this is enough. This makes me happy. But no, brothers. God wants that when the Bible itself says that he wants us to reach the fullness, the fullness of the knowledge of God, it is because God does not want you to keep that little square, nothing more than the knowledge of him. God wants you to have the whole pie. We cannot stay in a single corner, brothers.

And the thing is, I'm sure, if I ask each one of you from the bottom of your heart, you're going to tell me, 'yes, Omar, I want to know the fullness of God. I want to know more about God. Everyone, everyone here, 100% of you are going to tell me, 'Yes, Pastor Omar, I want to know more about God.' So then what is the problem?

If all of us here want to, if that desire is in us, what is the problem then? The problem is, when I see that example of Elijah, that when the burdens of life surround us and flood us, that can be more than that power of God that we want to know. And we get carried away by the situation, we get carried away by the circumstances, and we sink into it and our eyes stay focused on that, as if we are hypnotized by the situation. More yet, God is there flying like a butterfly around us telling us, 'hey, there's more, there's more. Don't stay stuck there. Do not stay there, there is more for you. You just have to learn to trust me, obey my word and follow me. You are going to see, you are going to see how I am going to reveal myself to your life in new dimensions.'

And, brothers, I encourage you, and I still encourage myself, I am preaching myself today, brothers. God, God wants us to come to full knowledge of him. God wants us to come to know the fullness of his power in the midst of our lives, brothers. But in us there has to be that desire, that desire that nothing and no one can extinguish, that no situation, that no circumstance around us can quench that strong desire that there may be in us to be able to know the entire fullness of God's love in middle of our lives.

And I know that it may seem difficult for me to say this, because many times the situations that surround us are situations that are very close to our hearts, very close to our lives. That many times it is difficult to ignore those things and try to move on in search of this. But you know what? brothers, even in the midst of this circumstance we can acquire new knowledge from God in the midst of our lives, even in the midst of these situations, there are experiences that can fill your life and that can lead you in a totally new dimension. Even in the midst of these situations, brothers, the angel of Jehovah appears with a cake of bread, with a glass of water to feed you and tell you 'get up because you have a long way to go'.

Guess what, brothers? That word may seem strong, it may seem difficult. If I tell many of you, 'Get up because you have a long way to go', perhaps you will tell me, 'Pastor Omar, but with all that I have already experienced, and you are going to tell me what a long way I am going to be. subtraction. With all the life experiences that I have had, you are going to tell me that I still need more.' And it is clear that I am not talking about age, it is clear. I'm talking about lived experiences.

Guess what, brothers? That word is an affirmation for your life that you are wanting to let you know, I am with you. I'm not done with you. I am in charge of your life still. I have not released you. I'm not going to let you go. Until my purpose reaches its full fulfillment in your life, I will not let you go. And that for me is a word of affirmation, brothers. Whether I see it in a little butterfly flying in my garden, or whether I see it in a tremendous way of God knocking me to the ground and knocking me out for two hours, I am sure that these are ways in which God shows me that its purpose is there, marking itself, day after day, night after night, in my life and in the life of each one of you.

So, brothers and sisters, I encourage you, this message is more to encourage you. In the midst of the circumstances of life that you are leading now, in the midst of your situation, have confidence that God is with you, that God is in control, that God is going to be revealing himself to your life in new ways, brothers. Receive that. God is going to be revealing himself to your life in new ways.

So be aware, brother, ask him to give you discernment in your spirit so that you can recognize those ways in which God is going to reveal himself to you. And once God reveals himself in your life, that you know how to respond. Don't settle for just knowing, ah, wow, God has revealed himself to me and that's it, I keep that revelation and do nothing with it. No, no, no, God's revelation has a purpose. If God reveals something to your life, it is so that you can do something with that revelation. It's not for him to stay with that knowledge, now and I sit and cross my feet and wait for the next one. No, no, no, God reveals himself to your life is for something, for something that will benefit your personal life but will also benefit the lives of others around you, and it is your responsibility, it is your responsibility, that when you receive that revelation that you can do what that revelation demands of you.

Look at that revelation from Elijah. God affirmed Elijah's life personally. God told him, I am with you. I am there taking control. But that revelation of Elijah had a responsibility towards other people. He had to go and anoint the future king of Syria, he had to go and anoint the future king of Judah and at the same time he had to go and anoint the future person, Elisha, who was going to be in charge of following his ministry.

In other words, God's revelation was not only to affirm him personally but also to be a blessing to others. So, brothers and sisters, I encourage you, I don't know, I see you there with your heads down, I don't know if you are understanding what I'm saying.

Well, if the word is deep, my brothers, I hope that this depth encourages you to move forward, that this depth helps us to know the depth of God's love for us and encourages us that we need to move forward.

Let's stand up, brethren, and let's pray.