How Do You Come Back When You Are Down?

1 Kings 19
1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel[a] touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel[b] of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

All of us go through times of discouragement. How do we come back from it?

According to this passage of Scripture, there are three causes of discouragement.
1. Physical strength is overtaxed.
2. Focused on self- "I only, am left."
3. Focused on circumstances and not God.

We all seem to have a certainway of handling these times of discouragement.
1. To run from the problem.
2. To hide ourselves.
3. To go into self pity.

There are three key truths we should believe:
1. God's love is consistent - unconditional!
-sing this out as you drive, in the shower.
-personalize music
2. God's love is revealed in special ways because of sin.
3. God's love anticipates coming need.

How does God deal with us in our down times?
1. He gives us rest
2. He speak to us
3. He reveals Himself to us
4. He reminds us of past victories
5. He links us into someone else