17 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

1 Kings 17:1-5

The word “cherith” describing this brook means “a cutting or separating”.  In this verse God was telling Elijah to separate himself out for the call he had on his life – both physically and spiritually.  

He had a call but it wasn’t time to go yet.  Instead the Lord brought him food and water day and night.  The food would come without any effort and he would eat it freely.  But then after a while that free food didn’t come anymore and the free drink stopped flowing and God told him to go.  

Brook like the Church

This is a type of the church that we as Christians go to after we are born again.  We come and are fed the Word without any effort on our part.  The pastor does the studying and we sit and listen.  Yes, we have a responsibility to read our Bibles also, and we have a responsibility to have our own relationship, but we are freely given so much to help us grow.  

We are fed without effort and only obedience at this point.  We sit as the word of the Lord comes to us. 

But there comes a time just as Elijah had where the river Cherith (the river of separation between you and the world) begins to dry up.  It’s the point where you are no longer being fed for free because God is calling you into the work of the ministry.  

Now don’t misunderstand.  Not everyone is called into the 5 fold ministry, but all are called to use their own faith for without faith it’s impossible to please God.  All are called to walk by faith and not by sight.  And all are called to hear God for themselves.  

And this is where many people get it wrong because to whom much is given much is required,  We don’t want to change when God tells us to stop drinking or smoking or cheating.  We just want to keep doing what we’ve always done and expect God to keep putting up with it. 

But the moment that we become aware of what we should do and don’t do it is the moment that that becomes sin.  And sin separates us from the blessing of God.  

Separate

Now in the case of Elijah.  He DID what God told him to do and he left his place of separation.  

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

Acts 13:2

God wants his servants separate from the world.  Not in a commune but separate in the way they think and act.  

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive,because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

4 You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the word means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

James 4:1-4

In James we see that those who choose the world’s ways over God’s are at war with God.  Separation means thoughts renewed to God’s word (Joshua 1:8-9) and bodies presented as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1).  

Fed Morning and Night

When you became a Christian your spirit came to life and was reborn.  That was the easy part.  It’s important to see the frequency that Elijah was fed.  It says morning and night.  Before and after your exposure to the world you need to wash your mind with the word.  

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

This is easier said than done, but the only way we can do it is by filling our minds with the Word of God.

We eat physical food 3x a day with snacks in between (for some of us), but we spend 30 min with God and think we are good for the whole week.  Our spiritual lives are on life support because we don’t take the time to separate ourselves.  

We are drawn to see what others have and ask for those things.  Many times, we let our selfish desires cloud our judgement even as we are still going to church every Sunday.  We fool ourselves into thinking our selfish desires are what God wants and let the world separate us from God.  

God’s always there but we are the ones who move away.  When we do this the blessing stops flowing. Why?  Because instead of separating ourselves from the world we separate ourselves to the world.  

5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

James 4:5 New King James Version (NKJV)

Thank God He wants us all to Himself.  Separate yourself unto Him.  Humble yourself and watch Him shower grace (favor) on your life.  Whether He’s called you into full time ministry or not, everyone has a call from God on his/her life.  He’s looking even now for those who will separate themselves unto Him that He can bless with favor.

And I’m going to be the first one on the list.  What about you?