2 Kings 4:8-37
Today's Passage: 2 Kings 4:8-37
The baton is being passed from Elijah to Elisha and chapter 4 gives us the proof that the Spirit of God rests upon Elisha. Before Pentecost in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell people’s hearts. Rather it moved through select prophets and kings. So these miracles in chapter 4 show us that God’s Spirit was moving through Elisha.
The crazy reality is that the same Spirit that moved through Elisha now resides in our hearts. If we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God has raised Christ from the dead, then the Holy Spirit indwells and empowers us. Don’t rush past that reality. YOU have the Holy Spirit working in you and through you. Making you alive, giving you gifts to glorify God and serve others, pointing your heart to Jesus, and sealing you for eternity. For this, we ought to show true gratitude.
However, there are two specific points from our passage that we should note. 1 - Elisha is listening to the Spirit of God. In verse 27, Elisha is caught off guard by the news that the boy has died. “The Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” This shows us that Elisha was seeking the Lord and His wisdom/revelation. He was dependent upon God for life and ministry -- to the point that he was shocked that God did not speak to him about the boy. We have the Spirit within us, yet we are painfully slow to ask Him for guidance and instruction —we might even be slower to listen.
The second point is that Elisha’s first attempt to heal the boy failed. The staff did not raise the boy from the dead. Even before Elisha’s strange means of imparting life to the boy, he stops and prays to the Lord. When He is met with a tough, impossible situation, Elisha kneels before the Lord and prays. What happens next?
Our situations may not turn out rainbows and butterflies, but we, like Elisha, must learn to seek the Lord through prayer. The power of God moved through a man of God who stopped to pray. The scriptures are filled with examples just like this, so it is not wrong to say that the power of God will move through YOUR prayers. This is why Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
Here’s your takeaway for today - stop what you’re doing and pray. Pray something unscripted, something bold, something only God could do. Seek him for wisdom and guidance for your day and then listen.
Written By: Joe Weaver
The baton is being passed from Elijah to Elisha and chapter 4 gives us the proof that the Spirit of God rests upon Elisha. Before Pentecost in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell people’s hearts. Rather it moved through select prophets and kings. So these miracles in chapter 4 show us that God’s Spirit was moving through Elisha.
The crazy reality is that the same Spirit that moved through Elisha now resides in our hearts. If we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God has raised Christ from the dead, then the Holy Spirit indwells and empowers us. Don’t rush past that reality. YOU have the Holy Spirit working in you and through you. Making you alive, giving you gifts to glorify God and serve others, pointing your heart to Jesus, and sealing you for eternity. For this, we ought to show true gratitude.
However, there are two specific points from our passage that we should note. 1 - Elisha is listening to the Spirit of God. In verse 27, Elisha is caught off guard by the news that the boy has died. “The Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” This shows us that Elisha was seeking the Lord and His wisdom/revelation. He was dependent upon God for life and ministry -- to the point that he was shocked that God did not speak to him about the boy. We have the Spirit within us, yet we are painfully slow to ask Him for guidance and instruction —we might even be slower to listen.
The second point is that Elisha’s first attempt to heal the boy failed. The staff did not raise the boy from the dead. Even before Elisha’s strange means of imparting life to the boy, he stops and prays to the Lord. When He is met with a tough, impossible situation, Elisha kneels before the Lord and prays. What happens next?
Our situations may not turn out rainbows and butterflies, but we, like Elisha, must learn to seek the Lord through prayer. The power of God moved through a man of God who stopped to pray. The scriptures are filled with examples just like this, so it is not wrong to say that the power of God will move through YOUR prayers. This is why Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
Here’s your takeaway for today - stop what you’re doing and pray. Pray something unscripted, something bold, something only God could do. Seek him for wisdom and guidance for your day and then listen.
Written By: Joe Weaver
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