Fight the Good Fight

Background:After a long list of kings who did evil in the eyes of the Lord. God directs Elisha to send his servant to anoint Jehu, king of Israel. He would be the one to purge Israel of all the remnants of Jezebel's followers, baal worshippers and to avenge the blood of all Lord's servants (2Kings 9). While reading of the accounts of kings from 2Kings 9 onwards until 2Kings 13, I find that, there were people who longed to be kings and queens of Israel and Judah and were willing to do anything for it. However when they went into power, they didn't care about following the Living God, they did what they desired, they sinned against God, they worshipped idols, turning their face from God. One of the kings mentioned in 2Kings 11 is Joash. Joash organised the task of repairing the temple of the LORD, but when the Aramean king came to attack Jerusalem he gave away all the gold from the temple, that had been dedicated to the Lord, to the enemy???

There are quite a few lessons I have learnt from reading about these kings, and find some bit of myself in their behaviour.

1. Is it easy to follow God in hardships, or during prosperity ?-I've noticed in my life, that my spiritual life has grown more during troubled times, than during times when I was well-fed. The learnings I got through the valley, were the ones, that changed my life. It brought meaning to my relationship with the Lord. Those times are the times, when I no longer learnt by listening or observing, but by experiencing God's amazing Love. His power to forgive, His power to provide, His power to heal, His power to help me live righteously before God. In order for us to be in our best behaviour during prosperity, we would need to be trained in difficult times, else we would never appreciate what we got, if we had it all easy.
2. Never give away, what has been dedicated to God, Fight- We are more than conquerors, we are a royal nation, a holy priesthood. For Joash, when the Aramean king came to attack Jerusalem, instead of fighting against him, he paid him with dedicated items from the temple of God!!! How often, we do that. Of course our battle is no longer against flesh and blood, but you know our battle is more subtle and spiritual and moral. The Bible says, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are not ours but were bought with a price and Jesus our Lord dedicated us ,so to speak, to the Father in heaven. When satan throws in a scene, or a picture, or some people in an attempt to attack our spirit, how many times have we given away our eyes, our ears, our mouth,the instruments of God from the temple of the Holy Spirit, to the enemy!!!
3. God still has room for forgiveness-In 2 Kings13 I read about a king, who wasn't actually living the kind of godly life, but "4 Then Jehoahaz sought the LORD's favor, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. 5 The LORD provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before." God never leaves us alone to face the difficulties or the attacks that satan makes on our lives. He is well aware of the oppressions we face and is more than willing to forgive and provide deliverance.

Conclusion: No matter what satan throws at you, to attack your spirit, run to God, cry out to Him for He is able. The biggest lie that he tries to blind you with is that "you can't do anything about this ". I don't believe that, I am more than a conqueror in my Lord Jesus Christ. I am a royal nation, a holy priesthood, a people separated for my God and I am not going to give from the temple of the Living God, what belongs to God, even His people. God has given me the armour for spiritual battle, not to stand around doing nothing and compromising, but to fight the good fight. The fight of faith.(1 Timothy 6:12) And as I know how God rescued Lot, " 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.(2 Peter 2:6-8 )

The Essence of Giving Thanks

26While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
27Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
Matthew 26:25-27

Jesus our Lord never asked us to ever do something He didn't show us to do, while He was on earth.

Jesus had been talking to His disciples, sort of giving His final words to them,"1When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2"As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified." . Jesus knew what was to happen to Him later. (Mt 26:1,2)
He knew He was going to be betrayed-20When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me." (Mt 26:20-21)
Jesus knew, this upcoming event of His life was going to be the most painful, so much so He even asked Heavenly Father if this cup could be passed(Mt 26:39). It meant being refused by the Father in Heaven even to the point that, Jesus cried out to His Father "Why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46

I asked myself, how could Jesus give thanks for His body which was to be broken and His blood which was to be shed, in the most gruesome event in history. This revelation from the life of our Lord Jesus, opened my eyes to see my folly, my narrow mindedness and helped me to see how much Jesus went through with thanksgiving, knowing that was God's will for His life.

I encourage you this day, my readers, this thanksgiving and always to "18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" Like our Lord Jesus did, knowing it was God's will for His life.
1 Thessalonians 5:17-19

God Listens to us Seriously

Background: A lot of kings have changed since the time David was king, Israel and Judah have separated themselves after David passed away (they just wanted different kings). The Israelites have changed a lot. The recent kings, during the time Elisha has been the prophet, haven't shown any signs of devotion to the Living God like David did. During such a time the Bible records in 2 Kings 8:16-19 "16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 18 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. 19 Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever. " What caught my eyes is this "19 Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever. " Just that verse alone says so many things about our Lord God Almighty the Maker of heaven and earth.

Lessons I learnt

1. Our Lord's faithfulness surpasses our lifetime- Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. As we sow our lives in God and make every effort to love Him as He loved us, we can be rest assured our God will take care of our following generations. Isn't that (as we all have experienced Jesus as Lord of our lives know) the most beautiful and precious gift we could leave for our children, and their children's children. David has long gone, but God remembered His promise to David much much after he was gone.
2. Our God's Love endures forever- People may love you today, for whatever reason they have, even our loved ones may love us for whatever reason they have, but when the reason is gone, the love goes with it, but not with our Living Lord, our God's Love endures forever. When I gave a search in the Bible online for the phrase "love endures forever" I found sooooooooooo many references and most of them are from David. This man knew that he knew that He had found a love that never fades, a love that never gives up on him, a love that is forgiving, a love that restores, a love that heals, a love that comforts and a love that endures(meaning:To carry on through, despite hardships; undergo OR also To bear with tolerance) Isn't that so wonderful.
3. What God has promised He is able to do-God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:18-20 Many a promise we would have received from people and they haven't made it. Many a times we've trusted a promise of a man or a company or a friend and it has failed us, but not with our Lord. When God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations, little did he know how many nations God had on mind and aren't we all living witnesses of the effect of this promise to Abraham. No matter what country or language we are from, Abraham's blessing touched us wayyyyyyyyy out there. And lets not forget about the vast difference in centuries and continents and languages and climates and distances and yet, God's promise to Abraham didn't fail. Abraham is my father of faith, in a way his story of obedience taught me faith.

Conclusion: In this world of selfishness and hypocrisy, even among believers, there is a God whom you can trust your life with. A God who cares for you and thinks about you daily.Did you know that? God cares for you daily. The psalmist writes "Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah" and what were we thinking. David responded beautifully when he came to know the promise of God's faithfulness to his family and to his children and their children and the whole generation after him.(2 Samuel 7) Little did David know, how seriously God had considered the words he spoke before God that day (mentioned in 2 Samuel 7) when he went into a room and prayed 27 "O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, 'I will build a house for you.' So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer. 28 O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever." 2 Samuel 7:27-29.

We have talked about God watching over us, but the verse that David wrote reads like this "Psalm 34:15

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;"

People Can See when God's at Work in your life

Background: The knowledge of the works of God and His power amongst the Israelites spread out to the Arameans as well, while Elisha was the prophet in Israel. In 2 Kings 8:7 the Bible records "7 Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, "The man of God has come all the way up here," 8 he said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the LORD through him; ask him, 'Will I recover from this illness?' " Can you see, the Aramean king also called on Elisha to consult regarding his sickness!!! Well the king didn't recover, just as Elisha had said. Hazael his attendant killed him.

Lesson: When we are knitted together with God, people near and far will see it. When our lives are dedicated and we are determined to walk with God daily, our life will shine and people will see it.

• Joseph worked dedicatedly keeping the honour of the Living Lord not giving up no matter what the situation he went through. He kept his integrity and Genesis 39:5 says "From the time he(Egyptian) put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field." God worked so wonderfully in Joseph's life that even the pharoah put him incharge of everything, in Egypt Genesis 41:41 [ Joseph in Charge of Egypt ] So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." and then in Genesis 41:44 "Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt."
• Abraham 5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 "Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead."
• For Moses his face shone because of his constant face to face conversations with the Living God and the Bible says Exodus 34:35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD."
• Peter remained faithful to the commission that Jesus had given him. Acts 5:15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. More than that there were more and more people coming to the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: If you read all the miracles that Jesus did and how people thronged to meet Him. They came to hear Him, they were all around Him all the time. Sick people were brought to Him, children were brought to Him. His life was something in which people could see God's work. When we've been with the Lord and been obeying and walking with Him, people will see. Romans 8:11 "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you"

Blessed Over and Beyond

2 Kings 8 :1-6
Background: It has been some time since the siege, Israel has been through another bout with drought. During this period of drought, Elish told the Shunnamite woman, who's son God had restored , to sojourn somewhere else, until the drought passes. She obeyed and left for 7 years as asked by Elisha. When she returns, she goes straight to the king to ask for her possessions she had left behind. At this time the king asked Gehazi to tell him of the wondrous things the Lord had done through Elisha, "5And as Gehazi was telling the king how [Elisha] had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and land. And Gehazi said, My lord O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life."6When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land even until now.

Lessons I learnt

1. God Himself is with us, wherever we go when we obey Him-This Shunnamite woman was blessed, in her obedience to Elisha's word regarding the drought in Israel and had gone out of the country as told. Its not an easy decision to leave your home, your people and your country on a word for something that has not yet happened. But the Word of God has more examples than one, of people who did seemingly unintelligent things in obedience to His Word and were blessed. Noah(boat on land), Abraham(leaving house to have his own son at 75yrs) , Joseph(obeying God without cribbing following a dream), David(what was he going to slay with a stone), Jesus(leaving his heavenly abode to be born in a manger and being killed brutally). All these didn't make sense, but in the end they were blessed beyond measure. The promise for us is God Himself being with us, no matter where He takes us as we obey Him. John 14:23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. We may not be in a familiar locality, but our heavenly family is with us.
2. When you've obeyed, blessings pour in-The woman, (unlike what we've read from Ruth) sojourns for a while and does return. The instruction to sojourn, is to go away from the country for a while and return. She obeys it completely and in this she is blessed. Not only does she get back what she had left behind, but also all the fruits of the field since the time she had left until now. Isn't that amazing.

Conclusion:The Word of God says "Matthew 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." God is not talking about abandoning everything and running away from your responsibilities. He is talking about people who will reject you for your believing Jesus, it happens a lot in India. Many people are thrown out of their houses, left out, beaten or not given food. All this by their own family members and sadly some turn back too. Jesus promises to more than make up for our sacrifices; do we believe him enough to sacrifice whatever our calling demands? Let us be encouraged through the life of this Shunnamite woman, God's word is true and when He says He will bless us for our obedience, He truly will, more than we can imagine. Also, let us pray for those who have been shaken by emotions of family and given up or turned away, that God will strengthen His Words in their heart once again and give them courage.

All About God's Love- All For Us

The more I thought about my previous post, the more I knew I didn't do justice to the lesson it was teaching.

"Siege" means: "the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible. "

When one is under siege, the sooner they learn, they need help from outside, the better. Sometimes God allows us, His children, to be sieged by the enemy, and I found that there were atleast, 2 reasons that struck me, and they both mean or lead to the same thing, knowing the One Who Loves us.

1. To grow in the knowledge of His sufficiency in our insufficiency-When we haven't experienced God as our Financer, we will never know He can finance us. When we haven't experienced God as our Healer, we will never know He can heal. When we haven't experienced God as our Deliverer we will never know He is able to Save us completely from all disasters. God is not and never limited in the way we think about Him. He is able, whether we know it or not. And if there be a lesson we really need to learn for our moving onto the next grade of our spiritual life, God would help us learn it.Would we as parents, ask our kids to drop out of school, just because our child is not able to add numbers or not able to read, not able to understand algebra, when everything else about them is fine. I think, we would never, we would try and find out what is wrong, what can be done about it and do it so that our child is helped. For a time when we're not around, we will make sure that our child will be well equipped to face his/her future, even without us. The king didn't know what would happen next and couldn't even provide answers to women who were eating their own children, but by the knowledge of God's amazing power and love, Elisha could perceive God's sufficiency.
2. To help us to see beyond ourselves -We like to be in control of what concerns our life. Where we live, where we work, where our children go to school, which church to go to, who to make friends with and so on...we don't like situations where we don't know what to do. These control mechanisms we have, tend to take away our trust in God, in His ability, we forget, we're just humans. On the downside of this, if we don't realise who's to be in control of EVERY situation soon, and that we can't do everything, the moment something goes wrong we'll blame someone, even ourselves and never forgive. That could lead to further sieges in our life. The king did not know God, like the way Elisha did. The king was sulking in bitterness and helplessness in the siege, Elisha on the other hand responds to the siege in declaration of God's power to overturn the economy and the siege all in one night.

Conclusion-The lessons that God gives us from the Word of God is not About us, it is FOR US. Its all ABOUT GOD and His love, FOR US. God didn't need to make the sacrifice. God didn't need to die that painful death...but it was done all FOR US. Rejoice as you read ABOUT GOD"S LOVE, and finding that it was ALL FOR US. Through God's Loving Sacrifice, we are given forgiveness, we are partakers of God's kingdom and sonship. Through God's sacrifice we are being made His Very Own.

11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Titus 2:13-15

For those in the siege of financial difficulty-2 Corinthians 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" It is for us to realise that we are being made His children to have the same inheritance as His Son Jesus, because of our Lord Jesus. All provision for life has been made.

For those in the siege of sickness-Isaiah 53:5 "5But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

For those in the siege of sin-Trying to come out of sin without knowing God, in our own efforts and failing and then going round and round in this siege, 2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Ask God for help, ask God for strength Ask Lord Jesus to come into our lives and sin will be no more the controller. We cannot even in our best efforts live right in the sinful body, because like Paul says , the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, but even in this, it is not an excuse to sin wilfully.

Unwanted People Wanted by God for Missions Impossible

Have you ever thought or wondered, when you're in a tough situation and hoping that one day things will get better but that day seems it will never come??? Samaria faced one such situation. The Aramean king decided to lay a siege on Samaria and the siege lasted many days. Here are some lessons from this episode.

Lessons

1. Only someone outside the siege can help-"25 There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels [a] of silver, and a quarter of a cab [b] of seed pods [c] for five shekels. [d] "
   Siege (meaning : the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible) doesn't kill people immediately like in a battle, but forces them to surrender slowly by cutting off their supplies, cutting them off from what could sustain their physical life. Siege, as I think more of it, seems to be a state wherein, you cannot help yourself from inside your fort or your area. A country in siege can only be helped if they've got someone outside of the siege who can probably attack the enemy surrounding their city and thereby freeing them. In case they even think of fighting the battle from the inside, all they are going to do is exhaust their resources. In essence their own strength cannot help, they WILL NEED external help. Sometimes, situations in life are like a siege, you feel locked up in full pressure, probably in your emotions, in your health, in your finances and the list could be endless. However no matter how worse the situation gets, there is a way out, as the people in Samaria find later in this episode.
2. Things we counted worthless becomes valuable-"a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels [a] of silver, and a quarter of a cab [b] of seed pods [c] for five shekels. [d] " When in a life's storm, we'll find that the people you were counting of much worth and working to please them are nowhere to be seen to help, but in that mess there still stand a few people who we didn't care much about when things were going good, and they're worth so much now, just because they are there for you and with you. It changes our perspective for value drastically.
3. If we don't have an answer to our problem, we cannot blame the cause on someone else-The king of Samaria, couldnt provide a solution to 2 women's dilemma in this episode and instead goes ahead and blames Elisha and resorts to taking his life!!! That doesn't make sense, Elisha had nothing to do with the siege.Blaming Elisha and trying to kill him would have sought nothing for victory or freedom for the king. Sometimes we do this and still find no answer, only make oursleves more bitter, more trapped, and giving in to the enemy's game plan of making us helpless.
4. What economy is all about?-When the king reached Elisha to kill him "1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah [a] of flour will sell for a shekel [b] and two seahs [c] of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." Seems impossible right, but it is possible, when you're NOT thinking the way the enemy wants you to think(trapped), when you don't depend on the limited resources within the boundaries which the enemy is trying to bind you in, when your strength in the situation comes from outside, from someone who has authority over all authorities, anything becomes POSSIBLE. No difficult situation can stand before that realisation of having a Wonderful, Powerful, Living, Loving, Allknowing, Omnipresent Almighty GOD.
5. Unwanted people, wanted by God -In olden days, leprosy was treated as a curse and the lepers were sent out of the city gates forever, there they lived and died, no one cared for them, no houses, no provisions except if someone be kind so as to throw something down from the city wall. These were the people who would accomplish God's miracle of overturning Samaria's economy. Read about their endeavour and you will find, the worthless unwanted people of Samaria were the ones whom God used to bring forth His word to pass.

Conclusion: During painful times in life, when you're like in a siege trying to find an answer which is almost seeming impossible to you, take heart, look for the answer not in blame, but in Jesus Name. The Name above all names. If you've been treated as useless, untouchable, unworthy, take heart, you're of much worth for God to do the missions that are normally impossible.

Insight

Its amazing what we can do with our sight, not only in the physical, in appreciating the beauty of nature, seeing our kids grow up, having a watchful eye...In a similar way, our spiritual eyes are also of great importance and power. The following episode from Elisha's life helped me to see the special tool, God gives His children in terms of seeing in the natural and seeing in the spiritual.

Background: 2 Kings 6:8-23.
As I read this event, it slowly came upon me that this episode is more about insight, sight, seeing, opening the eyes, blinding the eyes and I found some very good lessons here. I thought to myself, it would be so great to have insight about the enemies doings and be on guard of the enemies ways lest we be tricked, like Jesus always asks us to be. It would be even greater to know what to say or do when we want to share the "right" words with an unbeliever, so as to usher them into the Kingdom of God. Many times we lose a soul, for something vague or unclear that we've said, because we had nothing better to say. Jesus wasn't tricked by the devil when he was tempted, because He had insight through the Word of God. Every Word Jesus said, brought forth its results, nothing went out of His mouth without impact. That, to me, is the demonstration of a life of a believer in his full capacity. Jesus "lived" what He believed and showed His life on earth as a demo for us. A life with insight, knowing what to do and more than that, knowing what God the Father would have us do. Not groping through the task set for us, but marching on in confidence.
Insight-(meaning:an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, esp. through intuitive understanding )

1. God grants insight to those who ask for it- God given insight, Solomon had it, because he asked for it "1 Kings 4:29[ Solomon's Wisdom ] God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore."
2. Encouraged to seek insight, wisdom and discernment-After receiving insight himself, Solomon, begins his book of Proverbs with words to exhort us to seek insight, wisdom and to love wisdom (meaning:the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight. )
3. Insight, comes through meditating upon the Word of God -"I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes" says David in Psalm 119:99

Outcome of Insight

1. Preparedness: God let Elisha know every time, the enemy planned to attack them, and hence the Israelites found protection through this insight. They were able to make their forces stronger and be prepared, exactly where the enemies had planned to attack. There is no point in defending Gate number 1 when the enemy is attacking Gate number 2???? How does this apply to us? God is able to give us the insight, so we can be prepared, when the enemy knocks on our door, they will not find that gate empty or unprotected, but guarded by the child of God. The doors could be our heart, our eyes, our family, feelings...anything, but when our lives are guarded by the Insight from the Word of God we're prepared for anything.
2. Protection: Elisha could see something his servant could not, that made Elisha calm about the situation of being surrounded by the enemy troops. This situation could have caused panic(meaning:a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals), if they didnt know what was going to happen. They would have been overwhelmed by the situation...but as God opened the servant's eyes, he was able to see what Elisha saw. When Jesus was about to be crucified, Peter came up to him and even rebuked Jesus for talking about His crucifixion, he could not "see" the plan. In Jesus crucifixion was the resurrection of the entire human kind.

Conclusion: There is more to this than just Preparedness and Protection, I'd say why don't you, my readers list out a few things that an insght from God can do to our lives. Elisha's insight on what God was doing with them, turned a probable defeat into victory. All the men in the Word of God, knew that they knew inside of them, that what God had planned for their lives is beautiful and powerful and did not weaken to do the tasks they were called to do, be it building a boat on land, sacrificing their only son, being tempted after a fast of 40days and nights, for Jesus, even to the point of death....having the insight, knowing, that He would rise up on the third day.

The "insight" : as Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:21-23 "you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." : is to have in mind the things of God.

Lesson from a floating axehead

2 Kings 6
An Axhead Floats
1 The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." And he said, "Go."
3 Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?" "I will," Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"
6 The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it."

A short episode here from Elisha's life, I learnt some lessons here on how to tackle life's problems.

1. No matter what the weight of the problem, it will float when surrendered to God-Have you ever caught yourself, worrying about life sometimes, and it weighs us down. As I was reading this passage, God showed me that the weight of the axehead didn't matter. Elisha wasn't wondering what to do when that man cried out. He didn't even try diving into the problem or jumping into the waters. He just threw a stick at it!!! And the axehead floated. What is impossible for man, is possible with God. I don't know how many times I would need to hear that.
2. Know where it went wrong/down and start your work there-It doesn't make sense to search for something in the house when you know it got lost in the streets. Elisha asks this man ""Where did it fall?" It is more than likely that YOU yourself will know what went wrong and where. Thats where we start working from. For e.g. if I have an overweight problem, I don't beat up the person who sold me the burger or fries. I acknowledge where the weakness lies and work at it, right there. Not around the bush.
3. God sends in the solution-Like Elisha, cut the stick and threw it into the water where the axehead had fallen, God also sends in the solution. When Abraham went upto the mountains to sacrifice Isaac, God saw his obedience, and his solution was sent there, the ram. When Moses was telling God how weak he was in speech, Aaron was already on his way to meet him. When the widow and her son had only enough bread and oil left, Elijah was already on his way to meet them. There are more examples like so, if we read through the Word of God. Once we know where we should start work, God already has sent his solution.
4. It is for us to "Lift it out"-It is for us to take action and come out of the problem, the final work is ours. God has already done His work on your situation, now it is upto us to come out. God sent Aaron, it was upto Moses to get to work from then. He had no excuses left to run away from the work God had planned for him. When Abraham saw the ram it was upto him to untangle the ram and make the sacrifice. When Elijah asked the woman to make bread for him first, it was then left to her to take that step and see God's miracle of provision.

Conclusion-No matter how heavy the problem in our lives may seem, God has already sent the provision/solution for it. Its only upto us to identify where the problem is and what we must do in obedience. If Moses hadn't gone to the burning bush, he wouldn't have ever come out of the guilt of murdering an Egyptian. If Abraham had feared sacrificing his son, he would have never seen God's provision of the ram. If the woman had not dared to make bread for Elijah from what was only for she and her son, she would not have seen God's provision.

Dear Lord, open our eyes that we may see where the problem is, to obey you in doing what is asked of us according to Your Living Word, and to be obedient so that we will see Your might and provision and power to save our lives. In Jesus our Saviour's name we ask.

Amen

Whats our motivation?

2 Kings 5
Naaman has got healed after his 7th Dip and then now he's returned to Elisha to give him gifts of clothing and riches, but Elisha refuses. Hence, Naaman, asks for some mud from the land so he can go back and build an altar for the Living God in his place. Later Gehazi chases Naaman and asks for the gifts that Naaman was planning to give Elisha, without Elisha's consent.

17 "If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. 18 But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this." 19 "Go in peace," Elisha said.

After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him."

I couldn't help but notice the stark difference in the way Naaman and Gehazi behaved at this situation. This man Naaman, came to know the Lord for the first time in his life and is awestruck and worshipful towards God, on the other hand Gehazi has gone to make better of this opportunity. Gehazi wants to make some money. I wondered, what just happened here? Wasn't Gehazi right by the side of Elisha himself, every time there was a miracle being performed. Isn't this the 1st time something so miraculous has happened in Naaman's life. Why then did Gehazi run for money, where Naaman was so overwhelmed by God's power and decided to follow him. I think it has something to do with "complacency" or "leaving the first love". Here are a few questions I asked myself, well before I go ahead I wanted to make clear , I judge myself, so that no one will judge me...so these lessons from the lives of people in the Bible, help me keep myself on track.

What am I serving God for?-For a house, for money, for health...or whatever we might need, in exchange of our service??? Well thats a very powerful question. If we are coming to Jesus ONLY for these things, we might as well be behaving like Gehazi. How many times I have said, I know, God if you do this/that for me, I will never leave you.

But the question is, how many times have I said like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did "16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

At the end of our time here on earth, will God say..

3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. (Revelation 2:3-5 )

OR

I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Revelation 2:18-20

The only way we can know for sure is to let the Word of God do what it does best,

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword,

it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;

it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.Hebrews 4:11-13"

prune us and make us all the more powerful in knowing our Lord, in the way that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did, so we'd be sooooooo sure that our God is for us and no one can be against us, and we will follow God not because of that carrot on the stick principle, but because we WANT to follow God because we love Him for His love for us, because He's the One who loved us first.