Little is much.

One more glimpse into the life of Elisha, the Man of God as the week comes to an end. This glimpse is all about doing something for God, the small things…. Let's read it and then talk about it after. 

This passages comes from 2 Kings 5:

5 The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

2 At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. 3 One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.”

4 So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. 5 “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”

7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.”

8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.”

9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.”

11 But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.

13 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” 14 So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!

15 Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

16 But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused.

17 Then Naaman said, “All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord. 18 However, may the Lord pardon me in this one thing: When my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to worship there and leans on my arm, may the Lord pardon me when I bow, too.”

19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said. So Naaman started home again. (NLT2)

There is so much in this one passage.. but, I want to focus on one major truth… 

Naaman had a difficult time in accepting what Elisha had told him to do—- (Jump in the river…)

He reasoned that there were plenty of rivers that he could have jumped in near his home…. he hadn't come all this way to do what he could have done at home… he expected some big thing; some big way to be cured from his incurable skin disease. He even thought he should have been greeted "at his door”! Imagine! 

All of this changed, when one of Naaman’s servants told him, that he would have had no problem if he was told to do something huge; it would have been easy for Naaman to have done that, but because it was something small, Naaman had a hard time with it. 

This made sense to Naaman, and he finally did the small thing that he was told to do— which actually wasn't really a small thing— but he did it anyway, and He was cured of his skin disease. 

Sometimes I think I’m not making a difference unless I’m doing something HUGE! Like, oh, I don’t know, leading on a Sunday Morning, or preaching to a crowd, or helping someone understand a difficult passage of Scripture— (maybe this one?)

What I need to remember is that God uses all things in my life for His purpose, big or small. 

What God wants me to do is simply obey Him, and do what He might be asking me to do… either jump in the river 7 times, or sit in my chair and “be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:1) 

If you are a fully devoted follower of Christ, then this verse has tremendous application for your life, and it’s one that I am trying to remember as well…. 1 For. 15:58 reads: “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” (NLT2)

Nothing done in the Lord’s Name is ever useless. Let that sink in for a moment. 

Big or small, if it’s done in the Name of the Lord, then it is worth it. If you are teaching kids; if you are a homemaker, if you are on disability, if you are… the possibilities are as endless as there are people. Nothing done in the Name of the Lord is done in vain. 

The old saying may sound corny, but it fits: “Little is much if God’s in it.” (Elisha has a story about that as well… 2 Kings 4:1-7)

So, Loved one, take this to heart.. God isn't looking for you to do big things for Him. He isn't even looking for you to do small things for Him. He’s just looking for you to be obedient, He’ll decided if its something big or something small.. just be obedient to what He might be asking you to do, and He will use you in a powerful way. (Posted July 28)

Is it time for a Fire??

Today I want to take a look at the call of Elisha. It can be found in 1 Kings 19:19-21:

“So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. 20 Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!”

Elijah replied, “Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.”

21 So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant.” (NLT2)

Elijah had just come off a wonderful Mountain top experience in 1 Kings 18— its a wonderful account of God making a huge campfire… read it... you’ll enjoy it. 

After his mountain top experience, Elijah received a  threatening word from the Queen of the day, and he was scared, so he ran away… Met with God, was replenished by God, and God told him to go and anoint a new prophet.. Which brings us to this passage. 

Elisha was out in the field gardening, he is bringing up the rear of a team of oxen, Elijah approaches him, throws his cloak over him, and Elisha stops right where he was and wanted to go say goodbye to his family and when he came back, he did something interesting… look again at verse 21: “So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant.”

Before, Elisha left to follow Elijah, he completely destroyed his old life. killed the oxen, used the wood from the plow that he had been using to make a fire, which allowed him to cook the meat, and when the meat was cooked, he shared it with those gathered around, and then Elisha left to go. 

It wold have been super hard for Elisha to go back to work if the following after Elijah thing didn't work out. He had nothing let. He got rid of it all. 

When we follow after God, we are supposed to make a U-turn like this too. (thats a 180, not a 360). 

Jesus said: “no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

We can’t follow God and still have one foot in our old way of life. Its all or nothing. You're in our you're out. Sitting on the fence does no good. It divides your loyalty, and it divides your heart. 

I wonder what “plows” God might want you to burn in order to fully follow Him? What do you need to give up in order to go deeper in your walk with Jesus? 

It might be your job— it was for Elisha. It might not be as big as that. It could be your TV viewing habits. It could be the books you read. It could be, well, it could be anything. 

Jesus isn't asking you to give something up because He wants to harm you, He's asking you to give something up because He loves you, and His ways are much better than our ways. 

We only see a small part of His plan, while He knows the entire plan, so if He is asking— or has been asking—- you to give something up, then take a few moments today and “burn the plows.” 

Give it up and give it over to God, and then follow along. I promise you that His plans will be much better than anything you or I cold ever come up with. 

What will you set fire to today?

Open your Eyes

Have a read today from 2 Kings 6:8-23:

When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.”

9 But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” 10 So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there.

11 The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?”

12 “It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!”

13 “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.”

And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” 

14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.

16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.” (NLT2)

This has to be one of my favourite passages. One that I have prayed a lot in my short time here on Earth.. especially in the hospital, when I am alone. 

I have felt so alone. Even in the presence of nurses and doctors and, even my family and friends. I have felt that, while there are numerous people around me, I still felt that I was all alone. I felt darkness closing in on me. I felt that no one truly understood what I was going though, and I was alone and truly scared to death. 

So, I somewhat understand how Elisha’s servant felt at the sight of the Armean army. They had he and Elisha surrounded. But, Elisha wasn't scared. 

While He was eating his Rice Krispies, he simply prayed that his servant’s eyes would be open. Here, read it again:

When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.

16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.”

Incredible isn't it? We think that we are alone, but we are never, truly alone. Ever. God is always with us. Always. 

I know this to be true because of God’s name: Immanuel. It means God is with us.(Matt. 1:23) His presence is with us all of the time. Even, and especially when we feel so alone. 

If you find yourself in the middle of everyone, but feel all alone;

If you are facing something that is too big for you and you feel alone; 

If you just don’t think you can go one for one more moment, ask God to open your eyes. 

Ask God to show you that He is with you, and there are more on your side, there are more with you, than could possibly be against you. 

One of my favourite verses is Romans 8:31: If God is for us, who can be against us?” 

Think about that. If God is on your side, and if you are a fully devoted follower of Jesus— He is—- then He’s on your side. He will not leave you, He will not forsake you, He will be with you always, you just need to pray in faith, “Lord Open my eyes, help me to see you.”

He might not be where you expect Him to be, but He will show up, and He will hold you. 

It worked for me, and it just might work for you. But you've got to ask first.

Lost and Found

I’ve been reading about the life of Elisha these past few days and want to share some of the insight that I have been learning/taking away from his life over the next few posts. 

Elisha was a prophet, chosen by Elijah Himself. Elijah did some awesome things, but Elisha did awesomesauce things. I hope you’ll learn a bit more about this man of God over the next few days. 

For today’s lesson, lets look at a small, but important miracle preformed by Elisha. It comes to us from 2 Kings 6:

One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. 2 Let’s go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet.”

“All right,” he told them, “go ahead.”

3 “Please come with us,” someone suggested.

“I will,” he said. 4 So he went with them.

When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. 5 But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!”

6 “Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. 7 “Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.” (NLT2)

The miracle here was that Elisha actually made a huge hunk of metal float! 

Why is this significant? Well, it was lost, and it was hard to make a new meeting place without the proper tools…. 

Something was lost. Specifically, here, the axe head. It belonged to somebody else and it was gone. The workers called out to Elisha to tell him that it was gone, Elisha threw a stick in the water and the lost axe head came back to its owner. 

So, where am I going with this today? 

We have all lost something. (a job) we have all lost someone. (a dear friend) 

Whatever we have lost—big or small— I believe this story is in the Bible to teach us that it is ok to ask God for help. 

Elisha you remember, was a prophet, he “worked for” and “spoke for” God. He was His representative. 

If you've lost your BFF, you can call out God. 

If you've lost your job, you can call out to God. 

If you’ve received news that shook you to your core, you can call out to God. 

If you lost your meal ticket, you can call out to God. 

If you lost your car keys, you can call out to God. 

Do you get where I am going with this? 

You can call out to God! 

Peter reminded us of this truth in 1 Peter 5:7: “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” (NLT)

Don’t miss that friend. God wants you to call out to Him…. with big things; with small things. If anything is concerning you; if anything is troubling you, God wants you to call out to Him, because— and don’t miss this— HE CARES FOR YOU! 

If you've lost something— and at some point in time, we all will loose something— or someone— that is near and dear to us— this story is in the Bible to remind us that God wants us to cry out to Him, and ask for His help. 

Maybe He will bring that lost item back to us; maybe He won’t. 

Maybe He will give us something better than what was lost. Maybe He won’t.  

But He will fill you with His presence, and that will be infinitely better than anything you may have lost. 

If you have lost something, go to Him. Ask Him to help you find it. Or at the very least, ask Him to fill you.

God's Got you

I’m in the book of Psalms today…. Its a good reminder for the weekend, actually for any day of the week. 

I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? 

2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

3 He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.

4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

5 The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.

7  The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.

8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.” (Psalm 121 NLT2)

Something jumped out at me as I was reading this Psalm. Two somethings actually. 

Notice first of all, who is doing most of the work in this Psalm. 

Go ahead, read it again: 

I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? 

2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

3 He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.

4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

5 The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.

7  The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.

8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. (emphasis mine)

The One who is doing most, if not all of the work, is The Lord! 

He is watching over you, He is keeping you from harm, He stands beside you, He will not let you stumble, He helps you. 

If the Lord does all of this, what, then, do we do?

We look up to the heavens, and recognize where our help comes from. Him. 

We receive His help. We receive His protection. We receive His Guidance. We receive HIM. 

Going in to the rest of your day/week/sleep/ know that God is doing all of this…. for you!!

A few thoughts on the Book of Acts

I have been making my way through the Book of Acts as of late. I’ve been doing so using a different translation. It’s been an interesting read so far..but I digress. 

A few things have stood out to me as I’ve been reading the events of this book. 

The first of which is Peter. Specifically Peter after the resurrection of Jesus. He’s unstoppable. At almost every opportunity, He tells about the Good News of Jesus, from the beggar in Acts 3, to his speech before the Sanhedrin, Peter literally is a changed man. 

How did this happen? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Being filled with the Holy Spirit. Both events altered Peter’s life forever. He encountered The Living God, and was filed with The Spirit of God, and He was a machine. (You can see the before Peter in action in the Gospels— he stumbles over his words, He disowns Jesus and He even cuts off a man's ear.. ) But Peter is a different man in the Book of Acts because of The resurrection of Jesus Christ— because the resurrection changes everything— and because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Both. 

I’ve also noticed the events surrounding Cornelius’ baptism. You can read about this starting here. 

What I find particularly interesting about this event is Acts 11. 

“Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. 3 “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.” (Acts 11:1-3)

The apostles and other believers didn't like the fact that Peter was preaching to the Gentiles… It wasn't sitting well with them… (long story short.. Jews didn't associate with Gentiles for all kinds of reasons.)

This brings us back to Peter— Post Resurrection Peter. He is ready to respond to the apostles and does so quite well:

4 Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. 5 “I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. 6 When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds. 7 And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’

8 “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.’

9 “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ 10 This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.

11 “Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. 12 The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us. 13 He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. 14 He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’

15 “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. 16 Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

18 When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.” (NLT2)

Peter carefully explained to the crowd of believers that God had ordained all of this— with Cornelius and family— and who was he to stand in God’s way?

What really impressed me was verse 18- The others could have thrown up their hands and said “no way!”— “It’s us four and no more.” 

But they didn’t. They recognized that God was at work, and they wanted in on what God was doing.

Where I am going with this?   Well, sometimes we can get caught up in our own way of doing things, in the way we like things, that we might forget that our God can do whatever He wants, however He wants with whomever He wants. He doesn't always want things to be done the way they have always been done. We in the church must be open to new things— (It’s biblical after all)

It’s ok for us to change. Peter is proof. Before Jesus came back from the dead, Peter was a goof. After the resurrection, Peter was a house on fire. 

How about you? Have you come face to face with the Resurrected Jesus? He alone has the power to change you, as He did Peter. 

You never know, He might use you to take the Good News to someone who has never heard it before, like He did with Peter and Cornelius.

Off you go....

Genesis 12 has been of interest to me over the last few days. Specifically the first several verses. Let me allow you to read it first, and then I’ll let you know what I’m thinking… 

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 

2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 

5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

8 After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord. 9 Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.

10 At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner….” (NLT2)

A few things stand out to me as I read this passage, first of all Abe's obedience. 

Right in the first verse of this passage, God told Abe to go, and we are told that Abe went. 

If he complained about it, we are not told about it, He just went. Literally picked up everything and went. He obeyed God, picked up his stuff and went. 

He had no idea where he was going.(at first) He had no clue how long he would be gone for. He just picked up and went. 

When Abe and company arrived in Canaan, he went a little further down the road and built an alter to the Lord. 

Abe was an old man when God asked him to leave. Abe had a lot of “stuff” when God asked him to leave. 

Abe didn't question God— if he did, we’re not told-- he simply picked up his “stuff” and left. 

I wonder what God might be asking you to do today? I wonder what God might be asking me to do today? I wonder if we will DO what God might be asking of us. 

You see, it all comes down to obedience. Will we “trust and obey”? 

It was Abe’s obedience that God was looking for, and Abe’s obedience to what God had told Him to do was good. (you can read a little more about this in Romans 4)

The second thing I notice in this passage is found in verse 10. 

Before we re-read that verse, let’s keep in mind that the Order to obey God had been given….

Here, again is the first part of verse 10: “At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner”

Now, the famine had led Abe to do something pretty deceiving— as you will read if you continue on in this chapter, but I’m not talking about that at this time. 

The point I’m trying to make is that sometimes when we follow what we believe God is asking us to do, the “famine” comes. Sometimes its pretty severe, as it was in Abe’s day.  

You can substitute “famine” for any number of things. It could be the result from the Doctor that is less than desirable. 

It could be the loss of a job. It could be the your BFF has turned their back on you. 

It could be anything. 

And hard times sometimes come when we are following God, so the question that I have for you to consider today is this: “Knowing that the famine is coming, will you still follow after God?” 

Will you chose to say: “Though He slay me, still I will follow”? 

Please understand, that God has the power to remove whatever storm that comes our way, but sometimes He doesn’t. It’s in those times that He wants us to trust Him to help us through the famine/storm/tough time. 

Just because the famine comes doesn't mean that God isn't with us. It just means that we need trust Him more. 

Is God asking you to do something, give something, or do something? Will you respond with a “yes, Lord”? 

The choice is yours, but the old hymn writer had it right on when he wrote: “Trust and obey, for their is no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.”

Also understand, than when the “famine" comes— and it almost always does— God is still God, He is still Emmanuel, He is still with you. 

So, Go!