The Thin Place

1 Kings 17:24 – And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

James 5:17 [NLT] – “Elijah was as human as we are, and…he prayed earnestly…”

As I was preparing recently to preach on the life of Elijah, one of the greatest prophets in history, James 5:17 came to mind that says Elijah was human, just like us, and “he prayed earnestly”. 

The secret to Elijah’s ministry wasn’t that he was perfect. Only Jesus can say He was human and was also perfect. The most important thing Elijah did to prepare Himself for ministry was pray to the God who gave Him the power. The same power that empowered Jesus during His earthly ministry. This same power is accessible to us through the Holy Spirit by asking for it in prayer.

As I prayed to prepare the messenger to preach the message, the Lord brought the words “The Thin Place” to mind. As I thought about the term, I looked it up and it was a term primarily used by Celtic Christianity, from which I am a descendant (our family was the O’Driscolls from County Cork, Southern Ireland). 

What does this mean? Spending time in a thin place is to spend time in places and doing activities on this earth that connect us to God. It makes the gap between the seen and the unseen realm a little smaller. Prayer is a thin place. Worship is a thin place. Christian community is a thin place. Living in the Spirit is a thin place.  

The government, the culture, and even in many places, the Church is cowardly and compromising but we can be like Elijah, a true believer who spends more time in the thin places. Look for ministry opportunities in front of you, follow God’s leading, and seek to hear the Word of the Lord.

How can you spend time in “The Thin Places” this week?

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