We are Isaac, We are Elijah, We are Goshen

Due to the war in Ukraine, Ugandans were affected in a big way just like some other parts in the world. Part of the effects were prices of commodities going up and the apex or crest of this was with the fuel prices.

A litre of fuel originally ranged from about 3,200 – 3,500 shillings. Due to the scarcity of it from its exporter Ukraine, the digits went up, and no day did the sun set without a traveller thinking about this pinch indirectly.

Slowly, our minds were molded to think a certain direction. We began thinking famine, lack, inadequacy, uncertainty … and soon, we forgot to cast our cares upon Him who cares for us.

We forgot the lineage of faith into which we were grafted. Our ancestor, Isaac sowed in the land during FAMINE, and he reaped 100 times what he had sown. (Gen 26) Why? He was blessed! And for that matter, he began to prosper, continued prospering until he became very prosperous!

Meanwhile this is all happening during the famine! … This is happening to you too while fuel prices are hiking. This is happening to you while countries are experiencing total lock downs. All because you too are blessed! As they experience downward spirals, yours is an upward and an upward only projection.

Genesis 26:12-13 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;

Abimelech, the king of the Philistines begged Isaac to leave them because he was prospering beyond the people of Philistia. He was causing inflation in other words. (That happens to you too! O the blessing!) …

Genesis 26:16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

Isaac agreed to leave. He had possessions of flocks and herds and we all know they needed water, but it was drought! Was Isaac’s prosperity going to endure? Well, it did. And this is an interesting aspect we are about to discover.

When Isaac left, he settled somewhere where he discovered stopped wells that his father had built. He reinstated them to a well’s standard, by re-digging them, but the Philistines quarreled over them. Twice! Isaac strove for peace, and so he left each well that was claimed! For the third, Isaac dug, but it wasn’t claimed!

That spoke to me, that in the scarcity of commodities, God has provisional wells for us. He isn’t panicking. He saw the famine coming and warned Pharaoh in a dream, which Joseph interpreted, giving Joseph too a form of provisional well of saving 20%. When Hagar was about to die of thirst in the wilderness, God opened her eyes when Ishmael had cried, and lo — a well to quench the thirst she saw. She didn’t need to make one. It was already there. Whoever built it didn’t know God was having Hagar in mind!

Though the wells are present, there’s a tiny requirement — us choosing to drink or re-dig them. For Hagar, she needed to scoop from it and drink. Otherwise even if she was next to one, she’d have died if she hadn’t chosen to drink! For Isaac he was just renovating them and not constructing new ones. He was uncovering the works of an ancestor who was sent before him. He was acknowledging an inheritance left behind by his father.

In all this, we see the power of blessing. Isaac discovered wells which even if were taken from him, turned out to save those that took them. If Isaac hadn’t discovered them or re-dug them, those herdsmen of Gerar would have lost their livestock. Perhaps they too had tried digging wells but failed! The blessing on you is to help feed a million others first … and you as well, but not you alone.

I think this is what made Abimelech come make a covenant with Isaac. Perhaps the herdsmen ran and told him that Isaac found wells which they’d failed to dig. He even forgot that he had cast the man out of their land! He went and made an oath, so that the blessing upon Isaac would associate with him and the Philistines as well.

As that happened, Isaac’s servants had gone to dig another well. They came running to report the finding of water! But I believe the water found them! Remember the Philistines had tried digging wells but they found no water. How sure were Isaac’s servants that where they were digging there would be water!? I believe the blessing of Isaac’s father being heir of the entire earth and his seed, made this same earth to respond to them, by sending water to the spot where they were drilling. That’s called the earth yielding its fruit & increase unto you. (Psa 67:6)

In conclusion, we are Isaac too. We are blessed. We not only carry the favor to make old wells resurface, but also dig new ones for the benefit of others and us. These are wells not only of water, but of salvation, of provision, and of revelation!

The scripture never says the famine won’t come. It has come often in history. But the same double edged sword of the word says, when it comes, you won’t see it! You’re a tree that is green throughout the year! You won’t ‘relate’ while others cry of famine. You’ll sow by the word, and dig by prayer, and receive a rich harvest. The blessing on you isn’t subject to weather or season. It’s however tied to your revelation, knowledge and covenant. Now that you know how you ought to experience life even in famine, I’m sure you’ll not be moved by the prices!

Still about this topic, I’m reminded of Elisha! When famine had reached his head, he said enough was enough! So he spoke;

2 Kings 7:1 Thus says the LORD: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour [shall be sold] for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’

Commodities were costing 8 times as much as their original fee. And as for this famine, a lady had just boiled her son and eaten him with another lady. Now it had been the turn of that other lady’s son to be eaten. She didn’t fulfill her end of the bargain. The king heard of it, and sent word to Elisha. That’s what I mean by ‘enough was enough’.

Elisha spoke those words and a miracle happened. Some random ‘unpopular’ lepers went out to the Syrian camp. Due to their condition, they were not allowed into the city of Samaria and yet they too were starving. They had resorted to the harder path. God made their coming sound like thousands of chariots to the ears of the Syrian soldiers, causing them to flee! All their belongings — gold, silver, food, possessions were taken as loot for the Samarians. Because of the abundance that had just turned over, there was no more scarcity among the Samarians and therefore no more famine.

In the title I said ‘we are Elijah,’ because the anointing Elisha was operating in was from the mantle Elijah left him. This mantle fell on John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus; and when he died, it got onto Jesus. And you are in Jesus!

From this I was prompted to exercise my authority in Christ. Speak what you want to see. By faith the worlds were framed by the word … and I have been born again of that same incorruptible word … which God said and there was light … which Elisha spoke and the famine was terminated.

Many Christians, instead of facing such situations and speaking to them — like Jesus spoke to the fig tree — have instead cowered back and let life throw them under the bus. Know today, that God’s spirit is in you. You are Elijah. Prophesy to the drought! Prophesy to the bones, to get flesh and move. Tell Lazarus to come forth. Tell the fuel that it will be 1,000 shillings per liter tomorrow! Dare to get a little crazy!

Lastly, in this regard, God reminded me about the plagues of Egypt: The water turning into blood, the gnats, the hailstorms, the death of animals and the darkness for three days! Goshen, were the Hebrews were staying, was also located around the Nile, but many scholars have asked if they as well experienced their water turning into blood! But if so, then they too will not have survived, as they’d have died of thirst.

Some sources say, where they were, the plagues passed over, and I believe it. What that means is, that as famine was all around the other Egyptians, the Hebrews didn’t taste it. They were trees that didn’t see the heat when it came. In 2 Kings 6, we realize that just because famine is the case happening in Samaria didn’t dictate that the rest of the world was experiencing famine. Be careful. Your kind of famine isn’t being experienced by everyone. You’d be alone in your boat! You’d be an Egyptian, but because frogs are in your house doesn’t mean they are in the Israelites’ households.

But also on the other hand, not everyone’s famine is being suffered by you. You are Goshen! The plagues pass over you, like when the angel of famine — sorry — like how the angel of death passed over every Hebrew home that had the cross of blood on its doorstep.

I know we are at different levels of spiritual attunement or belief or faith, but whichever level you believe you are at, may one of these reinforce your stand this season … or if you ever find yourself surrounded by famine, remember that you are Isaac, you are Elijah, you are Goshen.

You won’t fear famine when it comes!

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Deuteronomy 8:7-9 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones [are] iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper (NKJV)

It’s land where you’ll never go hungry–always food on the table and a roof over your head. It’s a land where you’ll get iron out of rocks and mine copper from the hills. (MSG)

Jeremiah 17:7-8 ” Blessed [is] the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Psalms 33:18-19 Behold, the eye of the LORD [is] on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine.

Job 5:20 In famine He shall redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword.