In the Spirit and Power of Elijah
Martin Cecil February 15, 1981 p.m.
The spirit and power of Elijah, the spirit and power of our living—it may be well to examine the quality of our living in the light of this spirit and power. I am sure that when the spirit and power of Elijah are considered we would rather naturally be reminded of what has come to be called the contest of long ago between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. It could be said that Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal: Put up or shut up. His approach was forthright, positive in nature, designed to produce a reaction of some kind. In our living do we dare to offer a strong, right spirit which will produce a reaction of some kind? We will produce a reaction of some kind anyway, so how about allowing a true cause to be present. People and events are continually reacting to what we express in our daily living. This of course is not always recognized as being so, but surely we realize that we have responsibility in this matter. What we give forth will produce a reaction, the reaction that is produced by what we give forth. If this is seen to be so, then obviously we have responsibility immediately, and we could hardly complain about the reaction. Of course there may be those reactions we are pleased with and we don’t complain. But standing where we belong, in the spirit and power of Elijah, in a sense we challenge satan.
Elijah did not hesitate to set
the stage for what was to occur, and he gave the prophets of Baal first crack
at it. He knew that they were quite powerless anyway, just as we know that human
nature, the devil’s dupe, is also quite powerless in the presence of the Lord.
If we are there the presence of the Lord is there. We rightly do issue a
challenge in our living, with the assurance that whatever it is we give forth
in this challenge will come back to us in a reaction of some sort. There are
those who tend to be somewhat timid and who are very, very careful about what
they say and what they do, so as to make sure, as far as possible at least,
that only rather gentle and innocuous things will come back to them. We are
aware that a line is being drawn in the earth, issues are coming to point, and
we have something to do in this matter. Let’s get on with the job. We know
where the power is; we know where the power isn’t; so where is the hesitancy?
Of course most tend to feel that the devil still has some holds in the
individual sense, and therefore if too strong a challenge is issued one might
succumb to the devil and fail. Anyone who succumbs to the devil fails.
The spirit and power of Elijah
extended a challenge in a rather specific way to the prophets of Baal. This
same challenge is rightly issued by those who assume responsibility for the
spirit and power of Elijah in their own living. Perhaps the scene may not be
quite so dramatic as it was in the story on Mt. Carmel; nevertheless,
fundamentally it is exactly the same action which must be undertaken.
Presumably we’ve all had opportunity to strengthen our spiritual muscles over
the months and the years. There comes a point somewhere along the line where
what has been done in this regard needs to be used—right use. From Elijah’s
standpoint in that particular setting of old he knew very well what the outcome
would be. Do we not also know, or do we have our doubts? Let the prophets of
Baal do what they will. They usually do it with a good deal of zeal and seeming
forcefulness at times. But it all turned out to be so utterly futile, and this
is the same today in our own worlds. Self-centeredness of any kind is always
utterly futile. We know that, or at least we claim to know it.
When this began to prove
itself out before Elijah he took the opportunity to do a little mocking. He
used a little sarcasm to drive home the point. That wasn’t designed,
presumably, to make him popular with the prophets of Baal, but they were forced
into the position of having to acknowledge their failure. Of course all this
was done not so much for the sake of the prophets of Baal as for the sake of
the people who were present. When Elijah reached the point where he assumed the
responsibility for doing what was required he spoke first to the people: “Come
near unto me.” And they did. I think here is a rather obvious example of human
beings halting between two opinions, sitting on the sidelines, wondering after
the beast. Given the opportunity, after the evidence of the futility of what
the prophets of Baal were suggesting, there was a turning toward Elijah. There
was some hesitancy there presumably, but nevertheless they did edge closer.
Recognizing that most people are unwilling to assume much responsibility for
themselves he more or less forced the issue by undertaking to rebuild the altar
of the Lord that was broken down, and it required at least some of the people
to take their coats off, roll up their sleeves, and start manhandling rocks. In
other words it required them to do something, get off their butts.
Of course this approach, as
the story has come down to us, related to the First Sacred School, where the
external factors were primary; and so they acted in a physical sense. Seeing it
today we recognize that it is a spiritual matter, not merely a physical one.
The building of the altar of the Lord is not just piling stones up into a
cairn. It is true that human beings have tended to persist in this view of
things. We remember how even Peter after the transfiguration thought it would
be a good idea to build three temples, and that approach has been present with
human beings presumably to this very hour. Certainly there are some magnificent
structures that have been created in Europe particularly, of stone, cathedrals
and what not, altars unto the Lord presumably. Those concerned apparently never
graduated out of the First Sacred School. They thought they would improve on
whatever the altar of the Lord was at the time of Elijah, and it took a great
deal of effort, thought, to create these structures, but it was still building
an altar to the Lord of stone rather than of human flesh.
Elijah acted in a positive
manner; he was quite forceful. When the people drew close to
him he said, “You, you and you get busy with those stones,” and they went to
work doing what was required at that point.
I am considering this this evening
in order to emphasize the quality of Elijah’s spirit, the spirit and power that
was evident in that situation. It’s the same spirit and power that needs to be
evident in this situation.
Back along the way it was
suggested that it might be wise if those who were just beginning to move in the
way of the Lord were to be careful what they said and the extent of the
positive stands they took, because, clearly, whatever positive expression
appears it will produce a reaction, and presumably there was a need to be
rather careful that one didn’t produce a reaction which would be beyond one’s
strength to handle. That may have been wise back along the way, but surely it
should come to the point where we accept the responsibility of the spirit and
power of Elijah because we have proven out our own ability to handle what comes
back. Most of us have had plenty of time to prove this out. If we haven’t taken
advantage of the time I suppose there might be a little trepidation still. I
have been under the necessity myself in a personal sense of taking a chance in
this field for many, many years. Every time I stand up in the Chapel to give a
service I usually say some things that are quite forthright and positive, and I
am very aware of the fact that I thereby am challenging satan. And he is not
likely to take it lying down, so something will come back. My concern of course
was with the response that comes back. That is the right kind of reaction, but
there are other kinds also, and what comes back will relate surely to something
in oneself, in me in this instance, which would have to be dealt with.
When we think of a reaction
coming back we have to see it as coming back to the point from which the
challenge was issued. We can’t neatly step out of the way. There is what comes
back, and we have then the responsibility of taking care of that. Perhaps we
can see clearly enough that if satan is to be challenged we are the ones to do
it. Who else is going to do it? And we do it in the spirit and in the power of
Elijah. Another word for this matter
of challenge would be rebuke. We’ve used this word before. I am not sure that
it was really understood. This word rebuke occurs in the passage in the Book of
Jude where the archangel was contending with the devil over the body of Moses.
We have seen this as relating to the body of mankind or the bodies of
individual human beings—not dead bodies, living bodies. The archangel
challenged the devil with the words: “The Lord rebuke thee.” Rebuke. In the
spirit and power of Elijah a rebuke may be offered. Here is something that
relates first to oneself. Usually when the thought of rebuking the devil arises
we think of the devil out there somewhere relatively far distant, but he’s not
very far away, you know—no distance at all.
“The Lord rebuke thee.” There
is a moment when this challenge is offered and the reaction occurs, when it seems
as though there is a choice to be made: “How long halt ye between two
opinions?” The choice relates to what has been referred to before as one’s own
first flush of feeling. What is the nature of that? If it relates to the spirit
and power of Elijah in the creative expression of love then the evidence of the
right choice having already been made is clear. But if there arises a wrong
feeling. I’m not speaking about some isolated situation; this is with respect
to what is immediately present in one’s own experience. Something happens and
there is a flush of feeling in relationship to it. If it is a right feeling, as
I have indicated, then everything is clear and one may proceed easily and
effectively in the spirit and power of Elijah. If, however, there puts in an
appearance in that moment a wrong first flush of feeling, something needs to be
done immediately. If you don’t do something immediately, that feeling will take
hold of you and will carry you away. When this occurs, of course, a person may
be inclined suddenly to realize that there is something wrong here and say,
"Well now I had better get this thing under control so that I may have a
victory in this situation.” So then there is struggle to get this wrong state
of affairs under control, and sometimes that is successful. The individual is
able to control it; he counts to ten or whatever it is and it’s held firmly.
But how is it done? How did that occur? Well simply by the exercise of will
power. Here was something that was repressed: “I have this feeling but I’m not
going to let it control me.” So the individual still has the feeling, it’s
still there; but he’s got it pushed down sufficiently so that it doesn’t cause
trouble, in that moment at least. But it’s still there. Nothing has been
cleared at all.
Sometimes people feel rather
self-satisfied and self-righteous about the victories they have on this basis.
But then usually they are very surprised when the same thing comes up again. Of
course! because it was never cleared in the first place; it was just repressed.
But if that was the case, I suppose it may be the best thing to do if the
opportunity had been missed with respect to that first flush of feeling;
because if that opportunity is not taken, if it isn’t taken hold of somehow,
then the person is going to be carried away into an infernal mess which may
take weeks, months, years sometimes, to clear. So the rebuke relates to this
first flush of feeling, the first evidence of the devil with whom the contest
is: The Lord rebuke thee. There is an immediate turning of attention away from
that first flush of feeling, which is wrong and seen to be wrong, toward the
Lord, so that one’s love for the Lord may be supreme. Then where did that first
flush of wrong feeling go? It simply doesn’t exist anymore. Of course the devil
has become very adept in luring people away from that point of decision by
instantly bringing up all kinds of arguments, justifications as to why it’s
only natural that one should be carried away with this feeling. Never give the
devil a chance to put in his two bits’ worth, because you’ll find that with
inflation or deflation, or whatever, it turns out to be a thousand dollars
before you’re done.
The Lord rebuke thee; not the
Lord rebuke that person over there or that circumstance which arose, but the
Lord rebuke one’s own first flush of feeling if it isn’t right. That is the
point of decision. If you halt between two opinions you’ll go the wrong way,
and anything that arises to trigger a feeling reaction in yourself will carry
you away if it’s allowed to do so. It always can be justified, always, if you
allow your mind to tell you what you should do, to support what you feel. You
don’t turn to your mind, in other words, to tell you whether your feeling is
justified or not, because every time it will tell you it is. You turn to the
Lord. We don’t worship Baal but the Lord. We’re not designed to be prophets of
Baal. The prophets of Baal go down into the pit and they take all their
adherents with them. The prophet of the Lord, in the spirit and power of
Elijah, meets the issue, because he loves the Lord and cannot be deceived by
his own mind.
When this rebuke is issued in
one’s own experience it is issued in that moment in the positive expression of
the spirit and power of Elijah to all people. If, on the other hand, there is a
point of failure, that is what is offered to all people. So remember this
matter of the first flush of feeling. When you become accustomed, it becomes
your habit to have a first flush of feeling which reveals the presence of the
spirit and the power of Elijah. Then the coast is clear, and we
share consequently in that responsibility of ministry which is ours on earth.
We can handle it. If we can’t handle it here we can’t really handle it anywhere
else, can we? It’s always to be anticipated that something will arise which, if
it can, will trigger a first flush of wrong feeling.
When we begin to have
confidence in our ability to handle what comes back to us in whatever way,
capable heretofore of triggering a first flush of wrong feeling in us, then we
may deliberately undertake to let the spirit and power of Elijah intensify,
welcoming what comes back to us. If what comes back to us causes a wrong flush
of feeling, well we may be afraid of it and so, being afraid of what comes back
and our wrong feelings with respect to it, we will be hesitant about allowing
this spirit and power of Elijah to produce any fallout, so to speak. But we’re
here to produce it, not to hope that somehow it’s not going to be necessary,
because it might make us uncomfortable. We know very well if what proceeds from
us is right then whatever comes back to us is also right, regardless of the
judgments of the human mind. It’s what should come back, exactly what should
come back. In the initial stages it usually is what will challenge us to find
out what we’re made of, whether we are going to be true to God or whether we
are going to be followers of Baal. One of the reasons why people are very often
somewhat reluctant to assume definite responsibility in particular ways is the
fear of what may come back if they did that. As I said, I personally have been
putting myself on the spot repeatedly, in public one might say, over the years.
To do that I had to act deliberately. There wasn’t a fairy godmother around,
that I was aware of at least, to tap me on the head and say, “Now go ahead.
You’re all prepared to give services in the power of the spirit of Elijah and
you’ll be able to handle everything that comes back.” No, I had to do it to
find out. And the same is exactly true for each person: you have to do it to
find out.
We are certainly here to
let the spirit and the power of Elijah be expressed on earth collectively. On
that basis we can handle what comes back to us collectively. We delight to do
it, because we know it’s exactly what should come back. It always is. I suppose
on occasion it might be deemed to be unexpected, but as there is increased
experience in right spiritual expression nothing anymore is unexpected. There
is a sense of adventure too: “What’s coming back this time? What is
to be handled this time?” There is a welcome, because we know it’s exactly
right. It came to us to be handled and we’re going to do it. And we do it in
the spirit and the power of Elijah. There is always this outpouring of spirit. Sometimes
that has been deemed to be protective, and in a sense it is; but the intent is
not to protect oneself. The intent is to offer the rebuke, to extend the
challenge. Do you think human nature is going to dissolve without that? Let us
not trust very much in such hopes but trust rather in the Lord’s way by which
these things are dealt with creatively, so that all things indeed do work
together to perfection, because we ourselves cause them to do so. We don’t sit
around hoping that things are going to work to perfection without doing
anything. We have something to do in the Spirit and the power of Elijah, in the
positive expression of that spirit. And when we assume that responsibility what
needs to be done is done, but it isn’t done except as there are those who
assume the responsibility of it. What
rejoicing there is in heaven as there are increasing numbers of those who cease
to hide from the Lord, cease to halt between two opinions and accept the
responsibility of rebuke.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
