R. T. Kendall - These Are the Days of Elijah: How God Uses Ordinary People to Do Extraordinary Things

A braham Heschel once wrote, To be a prophet is both a distinction and an affliction. Elijah was no exception. Few prophets in Scripture have provoked as many ministers, challenged as many evangelists and inspired as many prophets as Elijah. This man from the desert, who seemed to be on the one hand invincible and on the other hand cowardly, was as much an enigma then as he is today.

He is unique. He could run faster than a horse-driven chariot. He is one of two humans in Scripture taken to heaven before they tasted death. He is the only one, other than Jesus, who, it is prophesied, will return to earth before the Day of the Lord. He is one of two who have seen the backside of God as He passed by. If that is not strange enough, he is the only one with an anointing great enough to call down fire from heaven. He was in the lineage of the ecstatic prophets, whose mere presence seemed to defy human anticipation, and to be determined solely by the Spirit of God rather than themselves.

Yet Elijah was also human, with emotions, fears, doubts and moments of elation, just like you and me. He lived in an era of high occult activity. He was a focal point in the clash between Yahweh and Baal, spurred on by Ahab, who sold himself to do evil, and even more so by Jezebel, who would stop at nothing, including murdering the innocent and worshiping demons, to get her way. Elijah stood up against the odds and proclaimed Mosaic righteousness when decadence was politically correct.

Elijah was a paradox, a walking contradiction of foresight and blindness, faith and fear, power and weakness. He killed 850 false prophets, yet ran from one woman. He demanded that a dying widow feed him before she fed herself and her son, then years later raised that son from the dead. Egocentrically he complained to God that he alone was left, and God had to burst that bubble by telling him there were seven thousand others who had not bowed their knees to Baal. He complained of hunger, ate food brought to him by ravens and walked two hundred miles to Mount Sinai after eating one loaf of bread that an angel baked for him.

Elijah taunted kings, complained to God, healed people and actually changed the course of nature. Elijah was a prophets prophet, a mans man with a nature just like yours and mine.

R. T. Kendall has captured a stable of hidden truths that lie behind the scenes in the life of this unique prophet and man of God. He unfolds how God took a weak man and transformed him into a giant. He discloses the importance of the overlooked, and he rightly positions God as the core of Elijahs life. R. T.s insight and biblical knowledge allow him to clarify the levels in which God speaks to and through prophets. That alone is worth a hundred times the price of this book.

R. T. has also unraveled the mystery of what I feel is the oft-overlooked crux of Elijahs ministry: He was a human being who dared to believe God would use him. That is not as simple as the novice might think. In These Are the Days of Elijah , R. T. Kendall has found a way of making the complex seem simple. He has untangled the knot that others have tried to untie and could not.

Every pastor, evangelist and teacher should read this book; and it is a must-read for all who believe they might have even a small modicum of prophetic gifting.

John Paul Jackson
Founder, Streams Ministries International