The Call: Elijah the Great Prophet

By Patricia Grant

Twenty years ago, Patricia Grant was called to the prophetic ministry and instructed by the Lord to become familiar with the lives and functions of the prophets in the Bible. Now after being called once again to teach others about the five people in the Bible who were named for specific missions and trained by the Lord, Grant brings to light the story of Elijah, one of the five, and compares his trials with her own.

Grant relies on her personal spiritual experiences to share how, through Gods wisdom, she discovered commonalities with ancient people who also faced hardships on the way to becoming prophets of nations. While highlighting Elijahs challenges and revealing her own struggles throughout childhood and her lifetime, Grant not only demonstrates how faith and Gods love have the power to bring one through darkness and into a healing light, but also provides spiritual guidance for anyone seeking to overcome hardships and accomplish great things for the Lord.

The Call: Elijah the Great Prophet shares a true story of Gods love and power as a woman is called to study ancient people and discovers they have more in common than she ever realized.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: May 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781480844902

Patricia Grant

PATRICIA GRANT has been an avid reader since childhood and enjoys writing stories, nature walks, and traveling. She currently resides in North Carolina. The Call: Moses the Great Negotiator is her second book in an intended Christian series.

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Copyright © 2017 Patricia Grant.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV). Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4489-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4488-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4490-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017905480

Archway Publishing rev. date: 4/28/2017

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I commend him.

—Deuteronomy 18:18 NIV

See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.

—Malachi 4:5–6 NIV

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

—Revelation 1:3 NIV

Why send a prophet?

Arthur Pink beautifully answered that question this way.

Prophecy always presupposes failure and sin. God only sent forth one of His prophets in a time of marked declension and departure of the people from Himself. First, the appearance on the scene of a prophet of God is indicative of a season of declension and departure from God, his message being necessitated by the gross failure of those who have preceded him. Second, the chief work of the prophet is to arouse the slumbering public conscience, to rebuke evil-doers, to denounce iniquity, to call upon men to forsake their wickedness and return unto the Lord. Third, the prophet’s message is one which is unpalatable to the ungodly and empty professors of religion, for it deals with sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. Fourth, the prophet is no purveyor of pleasantries or tickler of ears. His mission is despised and his message rejected by the masses, and only an insignificant remnant responds to his call.¹

Contents

Introduction

Part I: The Call

Chapter 1 Growing Up

Chapter 2 The Call and the Cost of Deception

Chapter 3 The Call, the Walking

Chapter 4 The Call and the Office of the Prophet

Chapter 5 The Call—The Beginning of the Storm

Part II: The School of God

Chapter 6 Isolation and Loneliness

Chapter 7 Isolation—The Fiery Furnace

Chapter 8 Making Changes and Restructuring My Life

Chapter 9 Isolation and Training Begin

Chapter 10 Being Aware of Your Identity

Chapter 11 Consecration, Dependence and Gaining Strength—The Training Continued

Chapter 12 Forming a Special Team

Chapter 13 Being Fed Physically and Spiritually

Chapter 14 Learn to Know Your Adversaries: Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath

Chapter 15 The Testing of Your Heart—The Last Test

Part III: The Servant of the Lord and the Service

Chapter 16 The Ministry

References

Introduction

A period of silence precedes God’s reappearance on the scene. During that period of silence, the fear of the Lord departs from the people and they sink deeper into sin. Looking for answers, they appoint for themselves worldly leadership and, human representatives with the hope of finding answers to their problems; they hope these leaders will bring justice, peace, security, and love to their world. Or they turn to idols for answers, comfort, guidance, and fulfilment, and today, idols include science and technology.

A feeling of dread, fear, and restlessness sets in before God moves back in the middle of His people for judgment. What appears to be God’s judgment always takes people by surprise. Prior to the flood,

The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So God said to Noah, I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. (Genesis 6:5–6, 13 NIV)

It wasn’t a surprise. The people just didn’t see it coming; they were too distracted chasing after worthless things.

Jehovah always sends people to warn others before a judgment, but people just ignore or silence them. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word was written so we could become wise and fear God and His judgment to come. Jehovah sent His prophets to warn the children of Israel of the coming judgment if they did not return to worship the one and true God, YHWH.

We face the same problems today; the children of God accept prostitution and idolatry but reject God and His Word. The idols that take the place of the Lord Jesus feature lie in ideological systems, metaphysics, technology, scientific discoveries, and the occult. All lead us to deny the existence of God; meanwhile, we plunge into evil powers that lead us to perdition.

Maybe we are becoming even worse with all of today’s scientific and technological discoveries. It may be that the times we live in are more difficult than those thousands of years ago, but will we ever wake up and face the consequences of our actions and choices? Did He not send His prophet and write Revelation to warn us of what the world would come to? Didn’t God warn us by revealing to us the fates of the seven churches? Did we listen to His warnings, and are we getting the bride of Christ ready?

There are still children of the Living God who have not bent their knees to the idols of this world, those who have not followed the prophets of Baal. They honor God and Jesus just as Daniel and his three friends did.

Elijah came to the scene at a time where the children of Israel had not heard from God for quite a while; they were lost worshipping other gods. The same happened with John the Baptist; he came on the scene at a time when the children of Israel had not heard from God for a very long time. In John’s case, instead of humbling themselves and searching for the face of God, they appointed religious leaders. The prophets were replaced by the scribes, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the doctors of the law.

Because of the actions of these leaders, the Messiah was crucified, the disciples and apostles suffered great persecution, and Israel was scattered to the four corners of the world. Just as in the times of old, we are warned that we are headed to the end. In fact, the mighty men and women of God all over the world have been sounding trumpets of warning. There is a feeling of dread and unrest, but it is not the end yet.

We are entering a new phase when Judah needs to position himself in Jerusalem and lead again. As Jacob prophesized,

You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. (Genesis 49:9–10, NIV)

The Levites will get back to faithfully ministering in the temple of God in preparation for the coming of the Christ, Emmanuel, the anointed one. The temple of God will be rebuilt, and the bride of Christ will be made ready. Jerusalem will be cleansed of all idols and corruption and rebuilt in preparation for the Messiah. Israel will go back home for sure; no one can stop the migration. The land was blessed; Israel is to take charge, and the Messiah will rule from the throne of David forever.

Twenty years ago, I was called to the prophetic ministry and instructed by the Lord to become