As We Walk

Ezra 8


Decree in hand, Israelites gathered, Ezra heads out to Jerusalem to fulfill God's call upon his life. They carry with them royal treasures that would be needed for their offering at the temple. Ezra 8, lists all the family heads who returned with Ezra to Jerusalem. Ezra led the people so cautiously to the House of God, it encourages me to depend on God like he did. Why here's why

Lessons

• God is able to bring the right people into our lives- (Ezra 8:18-20)Az Ezra left with the Israelites he had no Levites with him, so he sent a few people to get some attendants for the temple. About 258 people joined him from Casiphia. Here's what he testifies " v18 Because the gracious hand of our God was on us, they brought us Sherebiah, a capable man, from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sherebiah's sons and brothers, 18 men;". God is able to send the right people in our way, as we make this journey towards fulfilling His plan in our lives.


• God is willing to guide, if we're willing to ask Him-At no time did Ezra think he could go about the work in his hands, on his own. He sought direction for every single step. "21 There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
  22 I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.
  23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer." I sometimes think, ok God knows, so I need not ask Him. Ezra knew God's hand was at work, he could have thought, God would take care, but he did not leave it at that. He went ahead and prayed with fasting. Later we read "31 On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way". Sometimes we tend to get complacent with God and forget to invite God into any new happenings in our lives, assuming God will do something. Sometimes, in His graciousness God does intervene, but it develops our relationship when we pray when we seek Him and invite Him into our lives, like we would a best friend.

Conclusion:Everything went well, the treasury stuff arrived safely. They arrived in Jerusalem safely. The royal satraps and governors of Trans-Euphrates assisted them as per the decree received from the king. God is able to make all things beautifully in our lives. I like the concept of inviting God to be at every new birth in our family, every new job we take, every new home we build, every new step we take towards fulfilling His call in our lives. Above all, who else would know the end from the beginning better than God Himself. Lets seek God to work in all areas of our life,no matter how trivial or important it may seem.He is able and He loves to be with us. Emmanuel.

No Situation Is Ever too Difficult for my God

Background:God does know to work in ways we'd never know. I am getting dreary just reading about how the Israelites kept turning away from God and how God continues to pursue them and give them that glorious inheritance that He has for them. To the point now in Ezra, a foreign king's heart is moved to lead the Israelites back to their land.The book of Ezra comes at a very important time for Israel. Here is where a priest named Ezra and a governor named Nehemiah, rebuild the temple of the Living God at Jerusalem. After Israel had been exiled from Jerusalem and Samaria by the babylonians(including Daniel the prophet), this was the first time another country, Persia(Iran) comes into power and they capture babylon and release the Israelites back to Jerusalem, under the reign of Cyprus.

Lessons -Ezra chapters 1&2 So how does one return to a God, they had once known, they had backslidden and moved away? Also knowing that this God has been running after them to love them and call them His own. Here it is.

1. Every one returned to their own place-"1 Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town," God had a plan for mankind when he created us, in his own image. To commune with Him, walk with Him in the evenings at the end of the day and enjoy living. When man lost that with sin and obedience, he lost his original place. Let us return to our own place, a place of rest with the Lord, much needed walk with the Lord in the cool breeze of His Word and His presence.


2. Rebuild the altar-Before anything else, the Israelites gathered together in one group as one man, from all their tribes and rebuild the altar first. Altar signifies a place of sacrifice of the burning up of sin bearing animals. In the altar of our heart too, there will be a lot of sins that need to be burned down and as the blood of our Lord Jesus cleanses us from those sins, as our Lord Jesus, our lamb for our sins is sacrificed, the pleasant aroma reaches our Father in heaven. The aroma of a surrendered heart accepting Jesus as their Lord, ready to do His will.


3. Rebuild the temple-10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. The word of God teaches us, we are the temple of the Living God. Unless the inside be cleaned the temple cannot be rebuilt on dirty ground. The Israelites moved on from altar to the rebuilding of the temple. Rebuilding of the temple is not quite as building a fresh one. Yet there is much rejoicing in heaven (I think) even over every sould that returns to the Lord and starts rebuilding the temple of God, themselves, in the knowledge of God's truth.

Conclusion:If we have been looking for an answer for our lives, which has meandered into the world, through worry, through bad decisions and the likes, God has planned a way out, a way back to our inheritance.Do you wanna take it? God can make a way through people you had never imagined could be potential tools in God's hand. I could have never thought of Persia(now Iran) being one of the nations, who's king would make such a decision so as to gather all God's people to do God's work. Well here it is, though highly unlikely in our terms of understanding. But wait a minute, isn't that the way God thinks. He can make possible the impossible. His ways are always higher than our ways and His thoughts are always higher than our thoughts....I'd say yippee to that. I know, I don't know any way out of my situation other than what is obvious before me and not right, but I also know I have a God who is able to make a way for me where there seems to be no way. He can make the Persian king change his mind!!!

God's plan continues...would you be a part of it?

Background:I am moving on to Ezra. Israel has seen its share of kings and leaders, those that led them to the Lord and those that led them away too. The 2 Israelites kingdoms Jerusalem and Samaria, lost their inheritance, to the Babylonians until Cyprus the king of Persia came into ruling in Persia and the Persian empire was strong "1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:
2 "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:" 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' "

When there was no king available to head the Israelites, God moved the heart of a Persian king to do what the Israelites were required to do. He gathered them to build the the temple of God in Jerusalem. God would love His children to participate in His plan for us, for the new Jerusalem. We have a choice to either get in on the plan, because ultimately God's plan continues. When we participate in God's plan, we get a chance to see our Father in action and see how beautifully He orchestrates everything together and works them all out for good.

When nobody thought it would ever work, no king stood up like David did, Israel(both kingdoms Judah and Jerusalem) lost its inheritance to the kings of Babylon and were living as servants to them and not knowing what would happen, even through the ages when people thought Israel as a separate country was a myth from the Bible, God's plan continued to work even through God moving the heart of a Persian king and Israel as a nation was born again on the May 14 1948.

There is nothing impossible for my God. He is able , no matter how disheartening situations may get. No matter how far one may be lost, my God is able to save in His most amazing manner, and no one is ever unreachable from His love. More than that, God has a plan and it cannot be thwarted. His big plan continues on. Our individual plans are the ones that either can get aligned to God's plan or lose out on the big picture, only to find that what we have been fretting for was absolutely worthless. God wants His amazing plan unfolded in my life and yours.

Conclusion: Remember the time when Jesus entered Jerusalem with much fanfare and rejoicing and the Pharisees wanted the disciples to shut up. "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."Luke 19:39-41. God is not hampered by human failure and negligence, His bigger plan continues, with the open invitation to see His glorious design unfold as the New Jerusalem will be unveiled. Its not our pride but our humility that God would like us, His only created beings to participate as co-heirs of this New Rule. Yet if we think it's because of "me" God's plan moves, Jesus's words reminds us "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham."Luke 3:7-9 God is omnipotent and able, He cares for us and wants us to be part of that magnificent plan He has for the whole mankind, so that we know Him and know the truth about the real plan that is working constantly and when we allow that plan of God in our life, we'll get to see God's power of His kingdom at work in our life too. Whether we realise it or not, Jesus told us, that the Kingdom of God is already here and whether we want to be a part of it, or just stand looking at it as if it wont work and looks foolish, it is our choice. God's plan continues...would you like to be a part of it?

Studying Enemy Strategy-I

This post has blessed me and opened my eyes to see clearly and I know it will bless you too. While reading through Israel's journey through spiritual darkness, with kings that didn't follow the Lord wholeheartedly, worshipping all other gods and forgetting God's covenant, I've come to the point where Israel (one division of the entire Israelite tribe) was taken captive after a 3 day siege by the Assyrian king. The Israelites lost their promised land and were deported to Assyria and the Assyrian king brought in other people babylonians and others to resettle Samaria. In the meanwhile, Judah was under the rule of king Hezekiah. For the first time after a long time, the Bible now describes Hezekiah as a man who did like his ancestor David "3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.". He saw what had happened to the Israelites for being a traitor to the Assyrian king, but that didn't stop him from rebelling against him. I now focussed on the way the Assyrian king behaved with Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a god-fearing man, he trusted God and God gave him victory in all he undertook.

Let me show you the lessons I learnt
What is the enemy like?

1. The enemy wants to take it all-Assyrian king was not satisfied by having the entire Samaria as his newly captured state, but he wanted more. He wanted to take over Judah as well. So it is with our enemy the devil, if you think he will let other people be, just because a few have already traded themselves with him. No. We the children of God, who want to live for the Lord are his nightmare. He knows he cannot defeat us, but he will not stop trying. So we've got to keep our guards up, the Sword of the Word of God sharpened at all times.
2. You are deceived if you think you can make a fair trade with the enemy-After capturing Israel out of Hoshea's hands, the Assyrian king turned to Hezekiah, to take over Judah too. Sennacherib the Assyrian king attacked Judah and captured it, but Hezekiah begged him to leave and that he would give him all he wants (2 Kings 18:13-16). Hezekiah gave Sennacherib everything even to the point of, stripping the gold with which he had decorated the temple of God. It might have given him temporary relief from the attack, but that wasn't going to be for long. Sometimes when we knowingly let go of our stand on some "harmless" things, like backbiting, lying, tolerating evil, we're making trades with the enemy. It might give you temporary relief, but soon we might get trapped. I fall many times, but the key is to get up, ask for pardon and move on never to return to that trade again.
3. Give the enemy a little space and he'll want to stake a claim-When Hezekiah paid Sennacherib with gold from the temple and everything he could find within his jurisdiction, that didn't stop the Assyrian king from sending his commander in chief to make another trade with Hezekiah, to the point of making him his vassal as well (like king Hoshea of Israel was). He wanted to claim the entire land little by little. He wasn't going to stop at the point where he got all that gold. He wanted the people in the land as well and more. So the Bible says to counter this attack "Resist the devil and he will flee from you". Resistance needs something within you which will counter what's trying to happen to you. Without Jesus we would have no resistance, but now for us we have this assurance ,"1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.. So stand and resist.

there are more lessons than I could probably try to fit into this one post...therefore to be cont'd

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 )

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.

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

Emmanuel

I discovered in yesterday's post that God loves to stay with the people who invite Him in their lives.

God is so in love with us that He loves to be with us every single moment of our lives, if only we want Him. He is so serious about this fact that even His name reads "Emmanuel" meaning "God with us".

Results of God being with us.

1. Fullness in God- Elisha wanted to bless her with what was lacking. He searched and found out, through his servant. 14 "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked. Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old." (2Kings 4:14). When we've invited Jesus to dwell in our lives, He will search what is lacking in our lives and fill up our lives. Our Lord Himself said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:10)
2. Protection of God-When God dwelt with the Israelites as a pillar of cloud and fire, He provided them protection from their enemies.
3. Guidance from God-Not only did the Israelites get God's protection, when the pillar of fire came between them and the enemy, but also the pillar of cloud showed them the way to go. The pillar of fire lit up their path.

Conclusion:Our Loving Father, paid a heavy price just so He could have fellowship with us. He paid it in the blood and death of His only Son. How can we let go by such a costly sacrifice? No matter what you're in, God wants to be in it and bring you out into fullness. If, like this woman we are invite God to our lives. He will complete it in ways we could have never thought possible. God is able to provide for us, of things we thought we could live without, like this woman thought she could do without a son, yet God knew how and what could fill up the person's life. The person who values God's sacrifice, for the sake of our fellowship with Him.

Recognising - Dining - Dwelling

Elisha heads on to Shunem, there he has an encounter with another woman, this time a well-to-do woman.

"And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us."

(2 Kings 4:8)

I noticed 3 things here,

(1) Recognising- This woman would have probably heard of Elisha and then has started observing him and understood that Elisha was a man of God, and so she tells her husband "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God". In order for us to know who God is, we've got to watch Him, His work (be it in our lives or in the lives of people around us). Like this woman, I recall Zacchaeus, "He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd." (Luke 19:3) He too would have heard about Jesus and now wanted to know who He is. Later on for both these people who wanted to know God better, we'll see they were blessed in whatever they needed, even without asking. Many times we see God's work and fail to recognise it, but the moment we do recognise our Lord's work in our lives, we must get ready cause we will now get to know our Lord.

(2) Dining-Another thing in knowing our Lord is to dine with him. The woman in Shunem, wanted Elisha to dine with them and so she urged him to come. In other words this woman invited Elisha to her house for a meal. It so went on, that later we read "So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat" v4. Now this tells me something wonderful, this dining was not a once in a while affair, the dining had become regular. So, as many times Elisha went to Shunem, he was dining at her house. As we open our hearts to understand our Lord, through His Word, soon we will be dining together, you know dining with the Lord means. "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 4:33-35. So when we dine with our God, we're actually learning to do the work of God, learning to do what God had planned for us to do. In singing, in praying, in teaching, in pastoring, in leading a company, in being a sportsperson...we'll be doing the will of God for us.

(3) Dwelling-Soon the woman suggested to her husband "10 Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us." This woman, though well-to-do did have something lacking in her life, she knew the only one who could change her life-the power of Living God. Though she did not do all this just to get that blessing, there was that lack in her life nonetheless. She did not have any children. The woman must have been so blessed in the fellowship with Elisha (on whom the Spirit of God rested) that she longed to know more of God through him. She built him a room above their house so he could stay. Soon Elisha was staying at their house every time he came.

Whats the lesson for us in this?
In reading the above episode, I was reminded of what Jesus said in Revelations "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."(Revelation 3:19-21).

The most important lesson I learnt is that, once we've recognised our Lord, we've taken our first step to know Him. Then in dining with the Lord, it is a regular meeting at a specific time. Dining though is not a continuous affair, it happens only when we are hungry.
Then we move on to dwelling, the most important stage of our relationship with our Lord. When someone stays with us, we get to know that person better. We watch the person all the time, we see the behaviour of the person. The longer they stay, the more the relationship grows. The longer they stay, the more we get to know about them day by day. We get acquainted with their habits. After some time we may even be able to say "Oh , I know that person, he/she likes such and such flower, their favourite colour is blue, they like food presented in this manner, they love this kind of music, they're aim in life is to become so and so, they love this, they hate that...and a whole lot more etc." These are some things we may not be able to learn about a person in occasional meetings. Also when we start staying with a person, who might usually have appeared as cheerful, may have something that troubles them deep within, we slowly get to know their hurts, their joys, their sorrows, their struggles...Thats what happened with this woman. God made sure that Elisha came to know what that woman needed. " v14 "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked. Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old." Elisha later prayed to God and the woman had a baby the same time next year.

The more our God dwells with us, i.e the more we invite our Lord to dwell with us, God looks into our lives and changes us little by little that we may know Him a little more and that we may be blessed. Our lives start changing from the inside, all emptiness in our lives will be filled, because we invited our Lord to come stay with us, to be with us, to stay as a family member. We all are children of God, estranged by sin, yet God wants us to recognise Him, our Daddy, His fingerprint is on us, He longs to have fellowship with us. That was the main purpose, He made us. He is the only one who can complete us. Thats what God would love His children to do, recognise Him, invite Him to dine and invite Him to dwell with them. He's a Gentleman, He won't just come, until You invite Him, though He is your Heavenly Father. God longs for His children to be happy to have Him around, happy to let Him be Dad of their lives, happy to take God's help and become, that which He created us to be.It is God's desire, like any parent to have their children close to Him, to dwell with Him. When Jesus spoke to Zaccheus, He said "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today."Luke 19:4-6 And Zaccheus "6 hurried and came down, and he received and welcomed Him joyfully." In this Zaccheus was blessed. He gave up all his possessions, all wealth he had acquired through wrong means. Zaccheus had been trying to fill up His life with money, but now He had found someone Who could bless him and fill him all in all.
Dear friends, on our Living Lord can fill us in the manner like no one else, for He knows our needs, He knows what we lack and only He is able to complete us. Our lives can never find satisfaction in money, wealth, fame, lust or anything else we've been trying to fill it with. Only Jesus can fill us completely.

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

Give it(Empty)- Take it (Full)

I am now moving on to 2 Kings 4.A lot has happened since Micaiah prophesied the truth. He had prophesied that Ahab would die in the battle and he did. Ahaziah (Ahab's son) dies on Elijah's warning, as he went out to consult baal-ekron regarding his fall from the lattice. After the completion of Elijah task on earth, he gets caught up into the heavens in a chariot of fire and Elisha receives a double portion of Elijah's anointing.

Right now I have something to share with you from Elisha's encounter with a widow. [ The Widow's Oil ] The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."2 Kings 4:1-3 This lady is in deep distress, she is the wife of one of the prophets who served with Elisha. Elisha gives her some instructions on collecting as many empty vessels as she can and blesses her with oil that doesnt end until the last jar is completely filled.

Here are the lessons I learnt from another widow's life

1. God can help us with what we already have (v2)-" 2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."The widow at Zarephath shared her flour and oil with Elijah and they had enough for them and for Elijah throughout the famine. The little boy with fish and bread had enough lunch for himself, but when he shared with Jesus it became enough to feed a crowd of thousands of people. Even with this widow, she said she had nothing, oil is all she had. Well to think of it from her point of view, what can man do with a little oil. What could a big crowd do with just few loaves of bread and some fish? What could Moses do with just the staff, wondering before the burning bush? What could David do with 5 stones, compared to the giant standing before him? You know in our lives we have some things we think are not enough or are of no value,well this woman too didnt know, how could just some oil be of any help to her and her child. But then it doesn't matter "what" you have but that you have and you are giving. Everything we have is for a purpose, if we know to account it all a blessing. What can you do with just 2 $, not much in the world, but that can bring great results in God's economy, because God's child was willing to share it with God, God's children know, they've got God backing them up like David did.
2. When you give to God what little you have, get ready to take and be filled from God-It was amazing for me to notice again, that with the little that belonged to the woman for her and her family, with that little fish and bread the little boy had for himself, with that oil and flour the widow in Zarephath had for her and her son. That little that they had every time, was turned into plenty. The minimum gear that David used brought deliverance to all the Israelites. If you've got the ability to prayer and thats all you can do, lets give it to God, it will be made a cause for revivals. If you've got the ability to sing, sing aloud for the Lord and we know from the Word of God the Spirit of God is welcomed and brings about God's plan for people. If there be anything you've got and it has been just enough for you, give it to God and see God use it to bless you and multiply it to bless all. Whatever little you've got, just give it to God and see how God is able to help you share it with the World around you.
3. The level of our filling depends on the level of our emptiness- "6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing" Our emptiness for life, can only be filled by God and above that, God will fill us only till the point of our emptiness. How many empty jars can we bring to God? God is able to fill them all. There is another lesson through this too. This lady was asked to bring jars from her neighbours!!!! "3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few" What was she doing filling up other people's jars with oil??? But you know, oil is a symbol of anointing. When God has placed some anointing on you (for healing, for preaching, for teaching, for writing, for singing, for exhorting in worship, for children's church caring....etc...) it will flow from you when its flowing into the lives of others. The anointing with which God has anointed us will multiply and grow, not when we've been trying to save it for ourselves. Let's go use the gift and the anointing God has given us so that it may multiply. If you feel that you've not grown an inch (spiritually) since you came to know Jesus, then we better look at our lives, have we been sitting at home with our anointing and hiding it and waiting for a better opportunity to come. Well even from home, God can use us, in the most powerful weapon of all. The anointing of Prayer.
4. Separate yourself from everything and let the river of God flow-"4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." Elisha asked the widow to close the door behind her. The work of the Holy Spirit keeps happening on the inside, the anointing keeps multiplying on the inside and the neighbours(people around us) will see the result of what God has done, when they see the many jars of oil filled. When we've given God our little gift that we have, God will be multiplying it when we meet with him personally inside, and the jars will be filled as we pour out what little we have. Thats what happens with God's people I guess, most of their anointing gets multiplied when they're spending time alone pouring out what little they have before God, its getting increased, separated from the outside, separated from whats going on around, but closer with God. And the thing is, people outside will know something special happened when the child of God went inside to meet with God, when the child of God poured out what little they had before God. Let the power of God flow through your life. Get into His Presence and pour it out before the Lord.

Conclusion: The power and anointing of God rests with all His children. Most of us have let our anointing sit in one corner and, its been so long, that it just sits there and in some cases we;ve even forgotten we were special people of God. Let's get into God's presence and close all doors which take away our attention from God and the little that we have, for God would like us to use that little, so He can multiply it so it would bless us and bless all who are around us.

The Word of God says
20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 1:20-22

Learning from prophet elijah

It has now been some time since Solomon's death, right now Ahab is ruling the Israelites and Asa is ruling Judah. "29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. "( 1 Kings 16:29) So now you know the kind of ruler Israel had. However things aren't looking down during this time. The Israelites will see their God show them His power, His love and His concern for them, through one of the most powerful prophet, Elijah.
When we think, everything is going wrong, no one can ever correct this situation, no one serves the Living God anymore.... right in the midst of all that negative, God has His choicest people working for Him. God has His important tools of ministry hidden by the brook. God's timing is amazing. If Elijah lived on planet earth at any other time, it wouldn't have made much impact, like the way it did when he lived during Ahab's reign.

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe [a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."
2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
(1 Kings 17:1,2)

When situations are looking doomed, remember God has placed His army men and women in critical places ready for action when called to do so by the Lord. Even you are one of them!!! God has placed you and me at this time in the nations of the world so that when the time is right, we will be brought out of our " Kerith Ravine" and be sent for our assignments.

Lessons:

1. God has us hidden before our real assignment, to learn total dependence on Him- Elijah was hidden in the Kerith Ravine, where he was fed by ravens and drank from the brook. He wasn't doing anything great there, just hiding and being fed. He was all alone.The hebrew word Kerith means "the cutting ". It is the place made by a natural cutting off of the place. This is where Elijah learnt to be totally cut off from people, from society, from earning for living..from family even, being fed by ravens, drinking from the brook. And this episode happened soon after he had made an appearance before the king Ahab and warned him of drought.Cut off means nothing else is there to divert your attention from God and there is no one to provide except God. If we're in a place where we aren't doing much, just waiting, even though our heart so wants to serve the Lord, lets remember, God is teaching us to wait and depend upon Him. We are waiting for the opportune time of assignment, when God would have us face, probably even to chase out, the prophets of baals. You wanna see something ...even Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights before He started His mission on this earth. Paul (Saul) was blinded by the power of God and was waiting and praying (Acts 9:10-12 ). After which we all know the tremendous ministry that came out through Paul's (Saul) work and the amazing power that shone through the life of our Lord Jesus. Such kind of immense demonstration of power can come only through lives which have been in the "cutting".
2. Waiting on God for our provisions-I was wondering at this next point. Now God had told Elijah that the rain wouldn't come unless by his word, as Elijah had declared to Ahab. Now the brook from which Elijah was drinking dried up. I wonder whether Elijah would have even thought of using the 'power' to make it rain. After all God had given him that word. Yet he did not. For God gave him different directions. He obeyed God and went to Zarephath to an old widow who would give him food and drink. I dont know what distance it was from Kerith Ravine to Zarephath, but Elijah went. We'd have to learn to use the power God gives us at the time that He wants us to use it. This can come only with total dependence on God, even to move.
3. Learning to be faithful in few things- Elijah's first encounter with a person after that "cutting" experience is with a widow in Zarephath and his first amazing task is the neverending jar of flour and oil. Wow, I just realised wasn't this the first thing Jesus did too at the wedding!!!.(John 2) and the Word of God says "11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him."(John 2:11) Elijah didn't start on the very first day calling fire from heaven, but started with the simple miracle of flour and oil. God will teach us to walk in His power little by little. Thats why the Word of God says "Matthew 25:21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'" God starts with us little by little so that we will learn to be faithful in the few things He gives us and from there we grow step by step. We cannot handle God's immense power in a split second from the day we were born again, so God teaches us to dwell in His obedience and walk in His Spirit as we learn His ways.

Conclusion: Our God is a wonderful teacher. He is able to guide us to our best potential, when we learn to listen to His every command so that the best in us is brought out. Not of our mind and our plan, but of God's plan and God's work. Only then can we be powerful in God and see God's power work through our lives, to bring healing to bring God's directions, to bring God's Word to His children who are living in these desolate times, like the time Israel was going through under king Ahab. Only then can the people see the great difference there is in the power of God and the power of man. Only then will the distinction be clear and evident to the people of the potential of our Living God and only then can we stand before the 450 prophets of baal and demonstrate how powerful our Living God is.If we haven't been able to show our God's power through our lives to the people around us I think its because we ourselves haven't experienced God's power in our own lives in staying dependent at the cutting place. Lets learn at our the Kerith Ravine where God has placed us, to find spiritual strength(food and water) through our Lord's provisions.

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)