Live Your Calling

1 Kings 22: 6-8, 13-14

“So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?” “Go,” they answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.” 7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?” 8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.” 14 But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.”

The King of Israel liked to be flattered.  He liked his prophets to be “yes” men.  He liked to think that he was right all of the time.  Those who voiced contrary opinions were exiled or ostracized or killed.

Micaiah was a prophet that spoke the words that God told him to speak.  He knew the risks yet the words of God were infinitely more important to him than the favor of the king.  Micaiah was not a prophet in name only. He was a true prophet that lived his calling.  

In this world of today, people of power and authority still like flatterers and yes men. Christians are called to a different life; to live lives that are examples of Christ.  

No matter the risk.  No matter the price.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Food from Ravens

1 Kings 17: 2-6

“2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” 5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.”

I first saw ravens at Pilot Mountain, NC when I traveled there with my wife and some friends.  At that time, visitors were allowed to walk to the top of the mountain.  It is on the top of Pilot Mountain that I saw them, soaring on the wind, blackish, bluish in the sun. 

I saw them again in Alaska, sitting on top of the lodge where we were staying.  One raven could imitate the sound of a car being locked and he did this every time someone walked by.  If someone had food in their hands, ravens could be seen hopping behind them or flying overhead.  

God used ravens to bring food to Elijah in the morning and in the evening.  I have often wondered why God did not just cause quail or mana to rain from the sky.  After all, ravens were unclean under Jewish law, “These are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls… Every raven after his kind." (Leviticus 11:15)”.

Elijah probably was not thrilled to accept food from a forbidden animal, especially a scavenger such as the raven.  But, Elijah knew God and he knew that God continuously surprised him.  Also, Elijah knew that no matter what new thing God asked him to do, the important thing was to trust and obey God.

God will surprise us.  And when He does, I hope we let the ravens feed us.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Choosing God

1 Kings: 18: 21.

“Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word.”

God gave human beings free will.  Free will means that we are born with the ability to choose or not choose the one true God.  Elijah asked the people to make this decision; telling them that they could not worship two gods.  

Sometimes we are like Elijah’s congregation.  We like the things of this world, but we like the teachings of Christianity, so our feet are in both.  Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 6: 24 that they could not serve two masters and if they tried,  “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

God gave us the power to choose.  Who will we worship?  Who will we serve?

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Retracing Our Steps

1 Kings 19: 13b-15a

13 Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 15a The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. 

Have you ever been in a place and asked yourself, “What am I doing here?”  Maybe you felt like you could be spending your time doing something more interesting or more productive.  Or, maybe you were in a place where you did not feel safe. 

 I have heard of people who become hypnotized as they are driving (highway hypnosis) and when they finally come out of it they are miles away from where they intended to drive.  I am sure they asked themselves this question.

In this scripture, God asks Elijah, “What are you doing here?”.   This is a question that we are required to answer each day.  And, sometimes, on the darkest days when we are lost and weary, we may have to go back to the beginning, retrace our steps, then go into the desert to find the answer.

What are we doing here?  Are we where God wants us to be?

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Knowing Christ

1 Kings 8:12

“12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

Solomon built a house for God to dwell in and he thought that it was a better place for God to dwell than the place in which He currently dwelled.   

We are no different than Solomon.  We think we have God all figured out; God in a box, so to speak.  Our God thinks like we do, agrees with our politics, hates the things and people we hate.  We have created God in our image.

In his letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians, 13: 12).

While we are on this earth, we cannot know God through our imaginations, speculations, our ideas or the experiences of others. We can only truly know God as He has chosen to reveal himself to us.  

And that revelation is the living Christ.  

We must know Christ. 

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Written on Our Hearts

Deuteronomy 6: 4-6

“ 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.”

Did the teacher in school ever make you write on the blackboard a thousand times that you would never chew gum in class again, and the next day in class, you did it again?  As soon as that chalkboard was erased, that sentence was erased from your brain. 

When we write something on our hearts, we write with love, not chalk.  The things that are written on our hearts cannot be easily erased or forgotten.  

We can read the commandments and the Bible all day long, every day with our eyes and our brains, but until we open our hearts to it, the words will be like chalk and easily erased.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Never Alone

Deuteronomy 5: 15 

“15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”

Have you ever heard someone say, “He forgot where he came from.”  Or, “I knew her before….”.  Some of us romanticize our past, seeing it in rose colored glasses, wishing we could return to the “good old days.”

The Jews were warned never to forget where they came from and never forget the role that God played in their deliverance.  Sometimes we forget where we came from, the role God has played in our faith journey, and the people God brought into our lives at just the right time.

Never forget that the wilderness is never empty.  The journey is never alone.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)