I want to congratulate you for your perseverance and completing four weeks already! I hope you are discovering increased spiritual stamina in many areas of your faith walk!

So far, we have developed the following building blocks of spiritual endurance from Elijah’s life:

1. Prayer – asking in faith and believing victory is possible,
2. Choices – recognizing that small and big choices greatly affect outcomes, and
3. Soul care – realizing that seasons of rest and personal care are necessary to go the distance.

This week, we will focus on the principle of surrender and its role in developing spiritual stamina in our lives. As we encounter circumstances in our lives that don’t make sense to us or leave us confused, we can surrender these things to the Most High God. We can trust in our God who’s thoughts and ways are much higher than ours (Isaiah 5:8-9).

In order to develop and maintain spiritual stamina, we must learn to respond to God’s grace in the moment even when the harsh realities of life do not make sense to us. This is the surrendered life.

Let us explore the main points in each day’s study:

Day One: Clarity

Last week, we left off as Elijah was discouraged and felt all alone. As God revealed a host of additional servants who had never bowed to Baal, God also renewed Elijah’s sense of purpose and reinforced his calling. He was told to go back the way he came, to anoint rulers in Israel, and to appoint his future successor, Elisha. He had the important task of mentoring Elisha and preparing him for his role as a prophet of the Lord.

Interestingly, we read how Elijah had thrown his mantle around Elisha’s shoulders as he was plowing his fields. Elisha’s response was to ask if he could first kiss his parents good-bye, and when Elijah allowed him to go, Elisha proceeded to demonstrate profound commitment to his new role. He made sure to “burn all his bridges” in order to ensure that there was no turning back once he committed to following God’s calling. He slaughtered his oxen and used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast the meat. He then fed the meat to all the town people.

He then became Elijah’s assistant and began an intense season of mentorship. We learned several principles today about mentorship in our time as well.

God uses mentoring relationships to provide clarity and guidance regarding our purpose. God has a wonderful plan of allowing us to learn from our spiritual leaders and those who are more mature in the faith than we are, but also for us to mentor the younger generation and impart wisdom and Godly influence into their lives.

I am so thankful for the Godly women the Lord has put in my path as an example to follow and as a source of wisdom and spiritual encouragement. Conversely, this also helps me realize my responsibility to invest in the lives of others. As a matter of fact, Jesus commanded us just before He ascended to heaven that we are to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach them (Matthew 28:19-20).

Sometimes we must say a clear no to past things in order to say yes to God’s call for the future. Elisha left no possible way to go back to his old life when he committed to following Elijah. When God leads us to a new area of service, we must be willing to say no to the things that distract us or prevent us from following Him wholeheartedly.

This particular point brought me to my knees this week. I have a difficult time saying no to some good things in order to say yes to the best things God has for me to do. When I feel led to minister in one area, I try to add it to my list of all other ministries instead of seeking God for focus and to know what to let go of. When I try to do too many things, I don’t do any one thing well. I become overwhelmed and scatterbrained. One of my dearest friends often reminds me when I am trying to “spin too many plates.”

God speaks in so many ways, but we need to take time to seek His will and be certain before quitting something or adding something. It is up to Him, not up to our whims.

When we add new callings but still cling to the old, we can lose focus. Sometimes in order to surrender to God’s way, we must be willing to let go. Elisha had to let go of his farmer’s life. So, he made some bold moves to keep him from being tempted to go back.

Clutter keeps us from clarity, so, we must learn the power of no.

We all need accountability. Telling each other about a decision, a commitment, or a struggle helps us keep each other accountable. This makes us more likely to be faithful to our commitments and to help each other be strong.

This past year, I have lost about 112 pounds. One of the most powerful ways I have done this is by having accountability partners. Knowing I must answer to my two good friends often keeps me from falling off the wagon. Or, if I do fall off, they are they to help me back on.

New callings are not always glamorous. When we think of Elisha as Elijah’s protégée, we may imagine him performing some powerful miracles or living an alluring lifestyle. But, that was not the case. Actually, we see that Elisha washed Elijah’s hands. His was a humble position of servanthood.

When we long to be used mightily by God, it may not look anything like what we expect. When my husband and I pastored a church, I found that a minister’s life was quite humbling. Part of it was loving on people from diverse walks of life, even if they don’t appreciate it or deserve it. However, much of my role involved things like stacking chairs, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming and mopping, weeding, providing rides to shut ins, visiting the sick, and lots and lots of cooking and serving meals. God’s call is steeped in humble obedience!

Once we have determined what God is calling us to do, we must follow Elisha’s example and put one foot in front of the other in humble obedience… God’s call must determine everything we do, and this requires the heart of a servant.

New callings are not always glamorous. They often require us to roll up our sleeves and serve.

We must accept that God’s plan is good even when we do not understand the big picture.

Day Two: Knowing God

We must be careful not to know a lot of stuff about God, the church, and the Bible without engaging in a close relationship with the living Christ.

On Day 2, we read of Ahab confronting a big ol’ bully, King Ben-hadad of Aram. Throughout this account, we read several times that God says, “Then you will know that I am the Lord.” God desires to be known by us, and He longs for an intimate relationship with His people. Knowing about Him and knowing Him personally are two very different things. May it be our deepest heart’s desire to know and love God fully and intimately with all that is in us.

Here are some things to remember:

To know God, we must respond to His grace. God reveals much of His character through Scripture, but it is entirely possible to plow through the Bible without taking time to study or contemplate who God is or what He is saying to us. We can absorb all kinds of facts but completely miss Him. We must be intentional about drawing close to God, and He will then draw close to us.

There can be no relationship without a response.

To know God, we must remember that He is a powerful God who cares about everything that concerns us. God loves you so much, and you need to understand that He is concerned about all the details of your life. He even has the hairs on your head numbered! Nothing is too big or too small for God, so bring it all to Him.

God wants us to know that He is not limited. Sometimes we put Him in a box, thinking He is able to act only in a certain way.

To know God, we must accept that He is a God of both grace and judgment. While God is a God of mercy and grace, we must also have a balanced understanding of God’s wrath as well. There are times when disobedience must be met with the pain of consequences. God must deal with a rebellious heart in the way that He knows best.

As we read Scripture, we must remember that God is both gracious and holy. We cannot always understand His purposes and ways, but we can fully trust Him, knowing that He is just and good.

Day Three: It’s Not Fair

This right here is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for many who try to reconcile what they believe about God with the reality of the circumstances they see. It just doesn’t add up sometimes. Why does God allow suffering for some but not for others? Why does it seem that some get away with immoral living, but others do not? Why would a just and loving God allow injustice and suffering to exist in this world? Life is just not fair, and it can be difficult to settle that with our faith.

When I am caught in the crossfire between the unfairness of life and the goodness of God, I recall what I absolutely do know about God’s character. I know that God is always good. He is perfect. He will right every wrong one day in His perfect timing. He is faithful. He is always gracious and merciful, but He is also always just. He comforts the hurting. He never abandons us. His ways are much higher than mine. He is sovereign.

Here are some things to remember about justice:

We should ask God rather than manipulate people and situations to get what we want. Quite often in life, we just aren’t going to get our way. That’s just the way it is. An entitled or prideful attitude will compel someone to throw a fit, pout, or fight to get what they want, but God has a better way. James 4: 2 tells us to simply ask God.

You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. James 4:2 NLT

God calls us to stand up against injustice. I watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie earlier today, and it was a story of the town of Walnut Grove having to stand up to some bullies who were ravaging the town. The reverend had been urging them to be kind and gentle, but these scoundrels only took advantage of the people’s kindness. They realized that there comes a time when we have to stand together against evil and not let it prevail.

God’s Word tells us to stand up and defend those who cannot defend themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Although we cannot fight every battle, we are called to speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves and work for justice for those who are oppressed… The heroes of the past are often those who stood up to injustice.

It is difficult to reconcile the injustices we encounter, but we can either choose to despair or trust that one day God will right every wrong… And in the meantime, we can be the hands and feet of God in this world, bringing His kingdom here on earth, as we stand against injustice.

Ultimately, we can entrust justice into God’s hands. When life just doesn’t measure up to what we believe to be the character of God, that is called cognitive dissonance. We can know and trust that God is always good and just, and we can surrender our cognitive dissonance to Him. We don’t see the big picture the way God does, and we don’t usually understand His timetable, but we can surrender our fears and doubts into His loving hands. We can always trust God’s character even when we can’t see the goodness in our situations.

He doesn’t always make sense, but we can find peace when we wait, trust, and rest in God’s grace and judgment.

Day Four: The Power of Humility

We learned today how pride is at the root of all human misery and that it is the most anti-God mindset we can have. Pride leads to disgrace, but humility brings honor. We read of this parallel throughout Scripture.

King Ahab was facing terrible consequences for his disregard for God’s command to destroy the evil King Ben-hadad. However, his response of humility moved the heart of God. He tore his clothes, dressed in burlap, fasted, and mourned deeply for his sin, and God relented from immediate punishment. It was not that God changed his mind, but He softened his response because of Ahab’s humility and repentance.

We contemplated today about the times God responds with grace and mercy and when it is actually more loving to enforce the consequences for one’s actions. Keep in mind that God alone knows the heart and can discern what is best. He knows when someone is truly humble and repentant. He rewards genuine humility, but He despises pride.

Humility goes beyond repentance too. We can choose to act humbly in every area of our lives – in prayer and service to God and others, toward our families, in our marriages, at work, church, in public, on social media, and anywhere else we interact with people. When we are humble, we are representing Christ to those around us.

Humility will give us the spiritual stamina we need to keep on loving God and pursuing Him in every season of our lives.

 Day Five: Careful Surrender

We come to an interesting part of the story in 1 Kings 22. We see that the Northern and Southern Kingdoms are on friendly terms. King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat unite against Aram to retake the city of Ramoth-gilead. However, at least Jehoshaphat realizes the importance of seeking God’s will before proceeding. Unfortunately Ahab calls on 400 prophets who give him some terrible advice. We are unsure who these prophets are, but they are certainly more interested in merely telling Ahab what he wants to hear rather than speaking the words of God. Does that sound familiar in today’s culture?

Jehosphaphat urges Ahab to listen to a true prophet of God first, but Ahab hates the prophet Micaiah because he seemed to speak only trouble for Ahab. However, Micaiah was the only one who was actually declaring the true words of God. Ahab wasn’t interested in hearing what God had to say about the matter; he only wanted a bunch of yes-men who would confirm what he already wanted to do. Sadly, this same mentality exists throughout our culture and our churches even today. How quickly the masses turn to the feel good messages and turn away from the truth.

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4

Earlier this week, we discussed the benefit and importance of mentorship. However, we must also consider the danger of blindly accepting whatever advice is given. We must choose wisely whom we allow to speak into our lives and influence our hearts. With countless choices of televangelists, podcasts, pastors and church leaders, Bible teachers, and even positive thinking motivational speakers, we must yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit to give us discernment to know who to trust. How do we know for sure? Simply, we have to know what Scripture says about it. If what someone says does not line up with the Word of God, don’t listen to it!

A disturbing trend among some pastors and televangelists is to twist the Word of God or cherry pick portions of Scripture that make people feel good and ignoring the inconvenient parts. People often would rather have their ears tickled than to allow some hard truths to sink in. The prosperity gospel is not completely wrong, for example, but it has been so distorted and overemphasized to the point of turning people’s hearts away from the heart of God. I am grieved when I observe some of the ridiculous antics or hear the diluted or false teaching coming from many of America’s pulpits. It seems that these voices are louder and more popular than the ones who are willing to declare the whole truth.

Women’s ministries today often fall into the same dangerous pattern. So much of what I have seen in current books and conferences continuously reinforce a “Me” centered gospel that leans too far into the “I am fabulous” theme rather than pointing to the magnificence and holiness of God. We must be so discerning!

Conversely, there is actually a lot of wonderful teaching out there as well. God has many faithful and truthful ministers who are proclaiming the Good News in accordance with Scripture, but we must filter through the weeds of heresy, self-righteousness, self exaltation, inflated grace, distorted prosperity, or a counterfeit message that has worldly culture and values woven throughout. I am not saying to be harshly judgmental, but allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and choose very carefully who gets to speak into your life.

Additionally, we must also be discerning about the messages being continuously blasted at us through Western culture. We can easily be swayed by the lure of worldly ideals that contradict God’s ideals of holiness. If we consume a steady diet of social media or pop culture influence, or we continually feed the desires of our flesh, the voice of God will become more and more faint to us. Rather, we must feast daily on God’s Word and listen to His still small voice. Focus. Seek God’s Spirit to help us understand and apply God’s Word in every situation.

Rather than impulsively accept the loudest voices, the popular voices, or the most convenient voices, we must study, seek, pray, and wrestle to discern God’s voice in each situation we encounter. Then we act.

Discussion Questions

ICE BREAKER: This week we studied surrender. So let’s start with a lighthearted question about sweet surrender before we move into discussing a heavy lesson. What was the last delicious treat (salty or sweet) that you surrendered to eating and fully enjoying?

QUESTION 1: In Matthew 28:18-20, God has given a common mission to all of us who have chosen to follow Christ. We are to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach others to obey God’s commands. What are some ways God has called or is calling you to make disciples in your current season of life? (page 121) How can you move forward with a yes to God?

QUESTION 2: We must be careful not to know a lot of stuff about God, the church, and the Bible without engaging in a close relationship with the living Christ. What are some ways you have learned more about God? What are some truths or actions that have helped you move beyond knowing about God to knowing Him personally? (page 129)

QUESTION 3: Although we cannot fight every battle, Proverbs 31:8-9 tells us to speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves and work for justice for those who are oppressed. What are some tangible ways you have seen others get personally involved in speaking up or ensuring justice for others? What are some practical things we can do to join the fight? (pages 135-136)

QUESTION 4: In 1 Kings 21, one principle we find in God’s response to Ahab is that humility brings out the gracious nature of our God. It is often the same with us. Have you ever experienced an increase in awareness of God’s grace in response to humility? Explain.

QUESTION 5: Rather than impulsively accept the loudest voices, the popular voices, or the most convenient voices, we must study, seek, pray, and wrestle to discern God’s voice in each situation we encounter. Where is God calling you to listen to His voice even when others around you are accepting counterfeits? (page 149)

Assignments for the Week

1. Click here to register, purchase the book, join our Facebook group, and subscribe to the blog to receive future updates.
2. Read 2 Kings 1-2
3. Read 2 Kings 9-17 (optional, reading through 1 and 2 Kings)
4. Study Week 4, pp. 155 – 183
5. Memorize Proverbs 3:3

Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.

6. Participate in a small group in our Heart to Heart Women’s Bible Study Facebook page. This week we will go over what we learned from Week 4.

I hope to see you in a small group this week. Have a blessed week!