Faith Walk / William Carroll
We will be talking about the word of God and how he moved in my life as I stood on his word. His signs and wonders that I have seen during the last forty years praying for my needs and the needs of others. I hope to encourage a new generation of believers to pray the word of God and to believe that He will move on their behalf. God answers prayers!
Faith Walk / William Carroll
Ep 57 Elijah's Battle with Fear and Failure
Fear after faith, failure after victory—the paradox sits at the heart of Elijah's story and our own spiritual journeys. When Elijah challenged and defeated 850 false prophets on Mount Carmel through God's spectacular display of fire from heaven, it marked his greatest triumph. Yet moments later, a single threat from Queen Jezebel sent this mighty prophet fleeing into the wilderness, begging for death.
Why do our greatest victories often precede our deepest vulnerabilities? The pattern reveals a spiritual principle we frequently overlook. The enemy targets us not primarily in our weakness but after our breakthroughs, when we might lower our guard or become susceptible to pride. As host William Carroll explains, "Every time you're gonna do something big for God, something comes up to try to steal that." This explains the curious timing of our spiritual struggles—they often intensify precisely when we've just experienced God's power.
Elijah's retreat teaches us something else profound: "Where fear is, faith can't work." Even after witnessing divine intervention firsthand, Elijah allowed fear to override his faith when confronted with Jezebel's threat. The same happens in our lives when we permit circumstances or others' words to create fear that displaces our trust in God. Yet the solution isn't hiding or running away. When we fail or sin, our natural instinct is often to withdraw from spiritual community—exactly when we need it most. Instead, we need accountability partners who can speak truth into our lives without condemnation, helping us return to God rather than fleeing from Him.
Whether you're experiencing triumph or failure right now, remember that your direction matters more than your condition. Are you running to God or away from Him? Fall to your knees wherever you are, acknowledge your need, and discover the God who restores rather than rejects. Subscribe to Faith Walk Podcast for more insights on navigating life's spiritual challenges with authentic faith.
Well, good afternoon and welcome to Faith Walk Podcast with William Carroll. I'm your host, and on the last podcast we talked about Elijah and we talked about how Elijah had called the King Ahab of Israel and told him to bring all the prophets it was 850 prophets from Baal and Azra and he had challenged them to prove who was the real God. And so we saw that God answered with fire. It ate up the rocks, it ate up the water, it ate up the stones that he had set for an altar, it ate up the sacrifice. And all Israel knew that the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob was the real God. And they had killed the 850 prophets. And King Ahab, I said, was a weak king. He was a very weak king. He yielded unto his wife on everything. You know, if he wanted something I want this vineyard He'd cry to his wife. Well, his wife would go and even kill for it, and she was an evil queen. And so Ahab went and told her what Elijah did. He went home and he told her that Elijah had had the sacrifice, the evening sacrifice, and God had answered by fire and her prophets of Azra and her prophets of Baal were all dead. They had been killed and the children of Israel had started believing in the Lord, their God again. So she got really mad and in 1 Kings 19, after she had told him that they were all executed with the sword, she sent a messenger to Elijah saying so let the gods do to me, and more so if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow.
Speaker 1:About this time, and when he saw that, he rose and he ran for his life and he went to Bathsheba that belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. But he himself went another day journey into the wilderness and came down and sat under a broom tree and prayed that he might die and said it's enough. Now, lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father's. And then he lay there and he slept on the broom and suddenly an angel touched him and said arise and eat. All right, let's just stop there.
Speaker 1:Now listen, every time you're gonna do something big for God or something good for God that God lays on your heart to do and you know it's God that laid it on your heart to do it and you're fixing to do it for him and you want to do it for him. Then something comes up to try to steal that. There's going to be attack against you to try to cause you to stumble and try to cause you to fall. And you may stumble and you may fall, you know. And then you may think, well, I'm not good enough to do what God called me. No, you need to repent and you need to go on and do what God called you to do.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, elijah, I mean, the spirit of God was on Elijah. He was bold man. I mean, he was out there mocking 850 prophets and he's saying on them a little louder, cut yourself a little deeper, you know. And and then, once they were killed, jezebel, the wicked queen of israel, sent one messenger to elijah. Now listen, elijah knew he was doing the work of God, sent one message to him and said Listen, you know, the same thing should happen to me that happened to the prophets. If I don't have your head by tomorrow, in other words, I'm going to kill you. And he took off and he ran and he left his servant and he ran on into the wilderness and he got up and he said, lord, that I should die right here. You know, he was having a pity party Because of the words of an evil and wicked queen, fear entered into his life.
Speaker 1:He had just had a mighty move of God. See, sometimes we do something for God, sometimes we're on fire for God, and then all of a sudden something happens in our life and fear comes upon us and we feel like we missed God. And I don't know if he felt like he missed God or not, but I know that he thought that she was going to kill him and he was God's only prophet and he ran. Well, listen, you know, in Timothy it tells us that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power of love and a sound mind we have. We don't have to fear anything. Listen, the devil is a liar. See, he tried to convince Elijah that he just needed to end his life. Elijah didn't do it, but Elijah had prayed that God would take his life from him. Why? Because of fear. See, where fear is, faith can't work.
Speaker 1:Elijah had just performed a miracle of faith through the power of the Holy Spirit that was upon him, and now he's running in fear at the words of an evil, wicked woman. See, that's the devil. The devil used her. He put that thought in her mind. She spoke it out, he received it in his heart and he ran scared. You know I'm thinking he should have said hey, sent a message back and said hey, I'm coming after you next, 850 of your prophets are gone and you're next big gal. You know, but that's not what happened. But he was running and you know he didn't even seek God for where he should go. He had been walking with God all along. Sometimes we walk with God and we go where God wants us to go. We do what God wants us to do. Then circumstances in our lives come up and then we run from God at the word of somebody or something that comes against us and it creates fear in our life and instead of dispelling that fear with faith, then we turn around and we run from God.
Speaker 1:Listen, so many people that are in the church, that are doing good, that are walking with God, that are loving on God, that are doing His will and doing His business and having a relationship with Him. The first time they sin, instead of running to God and asking for forgiveness of that sin, what do they do? They leave the church. First thing they do is drop out of church. You don't see them anymore. You know, and you call them. And well, I've been busy. And they make excuses up, you know, because they hadn't dealt with the sin in their life. See, jesus gave us a way to deal with the sin in their life.
Speaker 1:If you notice, every time David sinned, every time he sinned, then either a prophet or somebody would come and speak to him or he would realize himself what he had done and he would print and he would cry out to God and, you know, god called him a man after his own heart. Well, I want to be a man after God's own heart myself. You know, if I sin, instead of running from God and running away from the people that love me and the people that can help me get back on the right path, well, I need to repent. I don't want to do that. I don't want to run from those people. I want to run to those people, I want to run to my brothers in faith that can tell me okay, william, I can be honest with them because I know they're not going to spread a bunch of gospel and I can say listen, I blew it, I sinned, this is what happened. And they say, okay, did you repent? Yes, I repented.
Speaker 1:Well, let's pray together. You know it says confess your faults to one another and pray that you might be forgiven. You know so sometimes you need to to have somebody in your life that has accountability over you and that can speak into your life. Elijah didn't think he had anybody. He thought all the prophets of God was dead, which wasn't true, but he thought that and he was running in fear. And he was running actually from God, not to God, he was running away from God. God had just led him through that. God had just told him to pray for rain and he prayed for rain and it didn't rain for three and a half years. And God said, after Israel came back to God, pray for rain. And he prayed for rain and it rained. You see, a prayer of faith.
Speaker 1:You know James talks about him praying for rain and praying for it not to rain, and then praying for rain, and he says he was a man after our own passions. See, we can have that power of prayer if we walk with the Holy Spirit and we walk with the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit and we fall in love with God and we don't run from him when we fail him. When we fail him. We need to run to God first.
Speaker 1:It says we have an advocate with the Father. You know a mediator between God and man. That man, jesus Christ. You know Jesus is our advocator. We don't have to go to a man and confess our sins, but we can go to a friend and confess our sins and have accountability in our life. Sometimes we need that accountability in our life. Where are you? Are you running from God? If you're running for God, then you need to run to him. You need to fall on your knees right where you are and say, lord, I'm running away from you. Or if you don't even know God, you need to just fall on your knees and say, lord, I need a change in my life. If the devil's telling you to take your own life, tell him he's a liar. That's what the Bible says he's a liar and the father of all lies. Live and glorify God In Jesus' name, amen.
