Learning to Fly Like the Eagle

From reading about the Shunnamite woman , the Word of God showed me a lot of things as lessons for my life. You can read about her in 2 Kings 4.
This woman opened her house for Elisha so he could come and stay every time he was in town. Later Elisha finds that she doesnt have any children and blesses her." 16Elisha said, At this season when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son. " Now after some time the woman did have a son and now am reading at the place where her son died due to some problem in his head(v19-20). This woman goes all the way to meet Elisha and then Elisha comes into the scene and the boy is restored to life.

Here are the lessons I learnt, even as the woman learnt as she went through the situation of her dead child.

1. Anytime, God's ready-We may not be ready for the situations in our life, but God always is. Because He Knows the end from the beginning. (Isaiah 46:10). This woman had so got caught up with the way God was working in ELisha's life (since she'd been watching him from the time he had started staying with her and family) she knew she could go to Elisha any time. So when her husband doubted whether ELisha would help her "out-of-tern" so to speak, 23And he said, Why go to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath. And she said, It will be all right". She said it is all right.
2. Out of the comfort zone-This woman had a room made for Elisha and she knew that Elisha stays with them every time he came to Shunem(v8-10), but this woman (once well-to-do and content) has now become desperate. She could have waited for Elisha's visit, but she didn't. Now this woman, who would have spent her entire life in the comfort of her home asks her husband "22And she called to her husband and said, Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and come back again." She was leaving her home on a journey to meet Elisha, because she was met with a situation she could not deal with, but she needed a solution. I wonder if she would have dared to go that far out and go see Elisha . If her son wouldn't have died she would have never left her home. There is a stage in every believer's life, like this woman, when God will shove them out of their comfort zone so we will start running after God and go where He is. Not just on Sundays but every day, or any day when God calls.
3. The Lord alone will help and lead-This woman's life was stirred up by the death of her child (the child was a gift from God) and now this makes sense to me, when God says his children will fly with wings like the eagles. Deuteronomy 32:10-12 says "11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. 12 The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him." When God stirs up our nest, He also hovers over us and spreads His wings and catches us in His wings. For this Shunnamite woman, Elisha was the only one who could help, because he was the one who blessed her with the child. So also, when our life is stirred (only because we should learn to fly, move onto the next step of our spiritual life) God is right there, hovering waiting and watching and if we should fall, He will catch us in His arms and ONLY HE CAN HELP and LEAD
4. Faith ALWAYS counts-"25So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite. 26Run to meet her and say, Is it well with you? Well with your husband? Well with the child? And she answered, It is well." Whats wrong with this woman, her son just died and she says It is well!!!. Thats how faith works, "1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" Hebrews 11:1 She went in faith to Elisha, with hope that Elisha will surely know how to fix it.
5. Are you talking to the right man!!-When Gehazi (Elisha's servant) met the woman, she had nothing to say to him but she pours out her heart before Elisha "27When she came to the mountain to the man of God, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to thrust her away, but the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is bitter and vexed within her, and the Lord has hid it from me and has not told me.
   28Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?" She knew the person who could help her, she did not linger around Gehazi but went straight to Elisha. When we're in a situation we don't understand, after all God had blessed that barren woman with the child, she went to the giver of all life. She knew Elisha was the man of God. So also when we're faced with situations we never though should have happened, we must run to the One who already knew. To God. The One who gave us life, ONLY can fix it. Else we'll be wasting our time and money with counsellors, evaluators, dictators, and all kinds of others who think they've got the right to tamper with life itself. Dont, lets run to the One who gave us life.
6. God Himself will intervene- (v29-v35) Initially Elisha sends Gehazi with his staff to go heal the boy but nothing happens. Elisha then himself goes and the boy is brought back to life. God knows what will work for our situation and what will not, and in the case when nothing else works, no doctors are able to find the solution, no marriage bureau is able to find the right man or woman, God Himself will intervene and find the right answer for you. God will not stop at anything in order to bless, the one who has obeyed Him, had faith in Him and followed and run after Him.
7. Stay with the Anointed One, not chase after anointings- Here is something wonderful I noticed, when ELisha sent Gehazi out to put his staff on the woman's boy, "30The mother of the child said, As the Lord lives and as my soul lives, I will not leave you." The Shunammite woman refused to leave Elisha. She was supposed to get excited and run after Gehazi and be there when her son would come to life, but she doesn't go with Gehazi who carried Elisha's staff, but stayed with Elisha. Many times, we get distracted by the wonderous things God does through a man and we start running after the man instead of God. We start looking forward for directions from the man, instead of God. We start trusting upon the man for our life, more than our God, without even knowing we would have run far away from the Anointed One, chasing after the anointing. God doesn't want us to run after the anointing, but to stay with the Anointed One, our Lord Jesus.

Conclusion: God has been so merciful to me in sharing such wonderful lessons from the life of the Shunammite woman. I am sorry for this being such a long post. I pray that you, my readers, will also be blessed, as I have been blessed learning this lesson. Remember, if you are a child of God and your nest has been stirred up, its only so you can learn to fly. And when you're in the process of learning to fly, remember God is by your side, with open arms so He can catch you if you fall. He's there hovering like the eagle hovers over its kids when they're learning to fly. Soon when we've learnt to trust our God with EVERYTHING about life, we'll be flying too and will become a blessing to people around, miracles from the Anointed One will change our situations. God will not stop at anything less than the best for His children, if only we have faith in Him and obedience to follow His lead.

God Bless

When God anoints His people...

1 Samuel 16-19
Samuel was very sad that Saul has now moved away from God, God encouraged Samuel and sent him to anoint Jesse's son David(1 Samuel 16:1), to be the next king of Israel. Samuel knew that God has chosen someone else, who would obey God fully, 'a man after God's own heart'. After David has been anointed, he carries on doing his normal job of tending his father's sheep. There is nothing special that has happened to him yet. He didn't move to any palace.The one major thing that happened was," 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. ..."(1 Samuel 16:13). In the mean while, an evil spirit is tormenting Saul and one of his servants suggests "18One of the young men said, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who plays skillfully, a valiant man, a man of war, prudent in speech and eloquent, an attractive person; and the Lord is with him."(1 Samuel 16:18). Now David started playing music before Saul so that he would be comforted and Saul (the current king) liked David very much. " 22Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he pleases me."(1 Samuel 16:22) and David got a part time job at the king's palace for the Bible says in 1 Samuel 17:15 " 15But David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem."

Lessons I learnt

1. God's anointing transforms people-( NOTE:Meaning of Anoint-(a) To apply oil, ointment, or a similar substance to. (b)To put oil on during a religious ceremony as a sign of sanctification or consecration. (c)To choose by or as if by divine intervention.) When God anoints He is choosing that person and setting them apart for His work only. What did that do to David? That did not change his job, his looks, his environment. It changed David as a person.(In my next post we'll see how David was changed, an example from his life). So what God chooses His people for His work, it changes them from the inside, their outside world remains the same, but inside them now dwells the Powerful Spirit of the Almighty Living God, Who gives them the power to change the situations they are in, so that God's will, will be done through their lives...from this moment on.
2. Once God has chosen you, He makes sure that for whatever purpose He has called you is arranged.-Now once David was anointed to be king, he has to be trained in every aspect so he becomes a wonderful king. An opening comes up from the king's palace to pla music before the king. Now, I don't think its a mere coincidence that the servant mentioned David as a musician when the king was being vexed by the evil spirit.God prepared an opening so that David would start getting acquainted to being in a palace, so David gets to work at the palace.
3. The transition from the old to the new is made smooth as we obey- For David, just because he was working at the king's palace as a special musician to play whenever the king was troubled by the evil spirit, was not the only thing he did. He was also feeding his father's sheep, running errands for his father, taking lunch boxes to his brothers to the battle field. I think there will be one special task that God will show you to do, apart from whatever you were already working on.

Conclusion: Did you know that you are anointed of God when you became part of the family of God? 1 Peter 2:9 (Whole Chapter) "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

Did you know that we have assignments, like David had, as we move in the direction of our calling? Ephesians 2:10 (Whole Chapter) "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. "

God didn't just leave David at being anointed by Samuel, but God worked out things in His life to direct him towards that kingship that he was to attain. God has charted out the course of our calling...maybe to be a teacher of the Word of God, a prophet, a pastor, a deacon, a leader of a fellowship, a christian doctor, a christian lawyer, a christian engineer, a christian architect....and lots more. Now David knew that He was being anointed for some reason, and if the head priest of a nation comes and anoints you, we better know what that is for. So also, God has put in our hearts and our genetics, something that we have a passion to do, which is going to be a blessing to all others around us, in a way no other person in the world can bless. Something unique in you, which only you can do. If we have been paying attention to the way our lives are changing since the day we accepted Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour, we will know for sure where we're headed. I say the key is to listen to the voice of God's Holy Spirit, which God has put inside of us, to help us become fully what God wants us to become.

"for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. " Philippians 2:13 (Whole Chapter)

"If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work". 2 Timothy 2:21 (Whole Chapter)

"so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:17 (Whole Chapter)

" equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:21 (Whole Chapter)