- 1974 while pitching a winning game, he felt a strange sensation in his throwing arm
- After 1 month, it was still no better
- His career was fading fast, and he had to do something desperate
- Had FIRST OF IT’S KIND surgery
- Replaced the ligament in the elbow of John’s pitching arm with a tendon from his right forearm
- Now named after him “Tommy John Surgery”
- Kept Pitching until 1989, winning 164 games. Retired at AGE 46
He led the way for a generation of pictures who would also need this surgery
The final week of our series NO LONGER SPECTATORS
- Getting off the sidelines in our Faith
- taking part in God’s mission in the world
Today is about INJURY and RECOVERY
It’s inevitable that you will experience pain or injury at some point in your life; it’s just a matter of when it will happen.
The same goes for Christian believers
- You will get hurt
Satan will use Spiritual injury to derail God’s work and progress in your life
Let’s DEFINE what I mean by SPIRITUAL INJURY
- Disappointment
- Things didn’t work out like you thought
- Betrayal
- Someone hurt you
- Church Hurt
- Sickness
- Depression
- Taken advantage of
Not if, but when
- Sin has broken the world, and we are all injured by it
Like Tommy John, we have someone who has gone before us and leads the way in understanding how to recover from injury…
Elijah and Mt Carmel
- Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament
- Much of Israel had abandoned God and started worshiping a False deity Named Baal
The worst offenders were Israel’s king and queen, Ahab and Jezebel
- Because of the nation’s sin, God spoke to the king through Elijah, saying it WOULD NOT RAIN
- No rain for 3 years
This led to a showdown at a place called Mount Carmel
- Elijah vs. 400 prophets of Baal
- They go first…
God answers Elijah decisively and powerfully
- The false prophets are put to death
There is still a drought…
- Elijah prays for rain
- It rains
- Outrunning Ahab’s horses
Elijah is on TOP OF THE WORLD
- But get back to the city
- Jezebel threatens his life
1 Kings 19
3 Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, 4 but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.
1: Expect OPPOSITION when Following God’s Plan.
Elijah was at war
- Against Evil and darkness
- Against God’s enemies
In three short verses, the writer has totally changed the flow of the story. Victory seems to be transformed into defeat, the brave prophet into a cowering refugee, and the victory over death and Baal into an opportunity for death to reassert itself through Jezebel’s oath to take Elijah’s life. ~ Alan J. Hauser
In a fight, people get hurt
- That doesn’t mean you stop fighting; that means you prepare for injury
Elijah was unprepared for the opposition by Jezebel
- It led him to doubt God DESPITE ALL THAT HE SAW
The enemy wants you to discourage
- Defeated
- Wounded
- Tired
- Depressed
- Distracted
He knows that if he can cause spiritual injury through others, he can:
- slow you down
- Put you out
- Get you out of the fight
But we are not foolish
- We know his schemes
Matthew 10:16
16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.
God wants you to:
- Set your mind and heart to serve Him
- He has important work for you to do.
Things happen:
- sickness
- stresses
- Disappointments
- Frustrations
- good and bad
But these serve a purpose:
- To temper you
- pace you
So you don’t miss what HE has in store for you to do
Don’t let spiritual injury get in the way of that!
- Expect opposition and be wise through God’s Holy Spirit
Let’s keep reading…
1 Kings 19
5b Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2: Recovery is a process
Elijah was in a bad place mentally
- He felt isolated and alone
God sends an angel to minister to him
- Cook him food/water
Elijah didn’t just “GET OVER IT”
- It was a process
It’s okay to slow down when you are feeling down
God will minister to your need if you let him
Many of us try to “PUSH THROUGH”
- Borrowing energy from the future that we can’t repay
Like rehabbing a physical injury, You must rehab a SPIRITUAL INJURY
What does this look like?
1 – To improve, it’s necessary to go through some pain.
- Lean into the pain
- Don’t just “Push it under the rug”
- What caused this injury
- What am I learning through this injury
- No TESTIMONY without a TEST
- God has not left you even though you are struggling
2 – Let others minister to you in your pain
- You cannot heal alone
- Elijah didn’t – You won’t either
The church is where wounded people come to heal
The natural reflex is to ISOLATE because people have hurt you
- This is the wrong reaction
A deer alone can be easily picked off by a woof
- The enemy wants to get you isolated… you become an easy target
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Keep heart and know that God sees your pain…
Elijah travels to a holy mountain and has a powerful experience with God
- This is the conversation at the end of that encounter
1 Kings 19
14 “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies,” he replied, “but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they’re looking for me to take my life.”
15 Then the Lord said to him, “Go and return by the way you came to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16 You are to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17 Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu. 18 But I will leave seven thousand in Israel—every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
3: Always trust that God has a plan.
God reveals to Elijah what his next steps are
- Go anoint two kings and a successor
God reveals that Elijah was not as alone as he thought
- There was a multitude in Israel who had not turned their hearts against God
Elijah lost CONFIDENCE in GOD’S PLAN
- He thought he was all that was left
- That God had failed him and Israel
God is never surprised, outsmarted, or overpowered by our circumstances
- He can overcome any injury
- Overpower any obstacles
We MUST trust:
1 – He has a plan
2- That His plan is better than our plan
When I read this story, I think about the thousands of other faithful followers waiting for God to move.
- What did they have to go through
- Wondering what God was doing
God was taking the time to help his prophet RECOVER FROM INJURY.
If you let God heal your Spiritual Injury, he will use it to heal others.