Take a moment and read II Kings 4:8-37, and 8:1-6.
This is the story of a Shunammite woman who had a servant's heart for the prophet, Elisha. This was a financially well off and significant social standing woman. She had nothing to gain nor profit from helping Elisha. She had no motive, no hidden plan. When Elisha came into town, she would feed him. She was submissive to her husband, because she went to him and asked if they could make a small walled upper chamber for Elisha, When he came into town, he could have a bed, table, stool, and a candlestick. He could have his own place to rest. They did build the room, and Elisha came to rest. Elisha sent his servant to this woman to see what she wanted in return. He offered her a king or a captain....and her answer was, "I dwell among mine own people." She was satisfied. She wasn't caring for Elisha in return for something, she did it because it was the right thing to do.
Elisha knew that she had no child and her husband was old. So Elisha told her that she would bare a son. She did find that hard to believe, and said, "Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid." And of course, she did conceive and bare a son. The Bible doesn't tell us how old he was, but said he was grown, so I am thinking he isn't a small child or toddler. He was old enough to go out into the fields and reap with his father. He began to complain of a headache. A worker brought the child into his mother, and he sat on her lap and died.
She could've flipped out, gone mad, blamed Elisha, blamed God....and human nature would understand all of those reactions. But, she took him up and laid him on the bed she kept for Elisha. She knew her son was dead...but she also knew that Elisha's God was the answer. This woman blows my mind at the faith she had! She told her husband that she was going to get Elisha, the husband said, (I paraphrase) 'Why would you go today, he won't see you...it's not sabbath, or a new moon."....Her reply....I love her reply!...."IT SHALL BE WELL!" Hold up, her son just died in her arms!! All is well?
She took off, and she went in a hurry! No joke! Mom's are going to do what they have to for their children!! Elisha saw her coming and sent his servant to see what she needed. The servant asked her, "Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child?" She blows my mind once again with her reply...."It is well" What?!?!? Her child is dead.....how can she say that??? She knew the servant of the prophet Elisha wasn't who she needed to get into her story with.....she needed Elisha! She grabbed Elisha's feet, she was humble and touched the man of God lowly. The prophet's servant pulled her away. Elisha knew she was in deep distress by her actions. God had not told him what was happening.
Elisha sent his servant quickly to the child, and had him lay his staff upon the face of the child. The mother, meanwhile didn't leave Elisha. She knew where the power of God was. The child was still dead. Elisha came to him and prayed over him and lay upon him, and the child's body became warm. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. He gave the child back to his mom, she bowed to him, and took her child. This Shunammite woman showed great faith and humility. She didn't whine, or get angry, pitch a fit, or try to heal her child her way, nor listen to her friends for their opinions. She was mature in her faith.
Later in chapter 8, we see this Shunammite woman again. A famine was coming, and was going to stay for seven years. Elisha thought enough of this woman to tell her to pack up her household and dwell somewhere else for seven years. She could've whined and said, This is my house, these are my things, I can't leave it all. What will I ever do?? Where will I go?? I don't see any famine coming?? Nope...verse 2 says she arose and did what Elisha told her to do. After seven years were over, she went to petition the king for her house and her land. Meanwhile, Elisha's servant was telling the king about this woman's story.....don't tell me that was a coincidence....my God is always on time!......and so the king asked the woman if the servant was telling the truth, she gladly told him. The king restored all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day she left the land even until now! What?? Not only did she get her house and land back, but the king gave her the fruit of her land from seven years ago until present date!! Don't tell me my God isn't real!!
Because of her faith and service, God healed her child, and later remembered her so she wouldn't perish during the famine, and then blessed her much more than she even asked for!! God always goes above and beyond what we ask of Him! If we do our part, if we stay faithful to Him, if we do what He asks, then He will protect and care for us! We can be like that Shunammite woman and serve Him without asking for a thing, and by keeping faith, He will continue to pour out His blessings!!
I want to be like that Shunammite woman......I want to serve him, not outrageously, not loudly, not to draw attention to self, but to serve Him because He is my Saviour. I don't want or ask for anything in return, I want to be satisfied with what I have, even when the storms are raging, when illness hits, when the death angel visits, when finances are low, when friends walk away, when whatever comes my way, I want to reply, "It Shall Be Well!"
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Closet Praying
Matthew 6:6 "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
I have beaten myself up in the past because I felt I haven't gone into my closet and prayed enough. Satan has nagged at me about it, telling me I am not spending time enough with God, therefore He will not hear my prayers. Meanwhile, I have a full time job, I am a wife, and mother. I have taken care of elderly parents too. I find myself praying every time I am in the car, while I am in the shower, in the bed before I go to sleep, praying as I jog down the road, and on and on.
Don't get me wrong, I do get on my knees, in my bedroom closet and grab hold to the horns of the altar, make my needs be made known, and praise Him. We need to get in a quiet secret place and get alone with God, away from everything and get in the throne room is an honor. Because of Jesus, we can boldly go into the throne room and make our petitions known! Thank you, Jesus!!
I Thessalonians 5:17 says, "Pray without ceasing." That is what I finally realized.....you must be in touch with Christ all the time, it will certainly help your perspective on situations...as well as people, when you are talking with God. And praying in the shower, the car, and everywhere else, is my prayer closet.
God also showed me something else. Closet. I chopped up the word and by doing so, God showed me this: CLOSE t............the 't' by itself stands for the cross. By praying in your closet, you are
'close' to the cross!! That may not mean much to you, but it made me do a happy dance! When you are near the cross, Satan has to flee! No wonder that snake fought me over praying!!
Start your morning in prayer, and don't end it with 'Amen', just continue throughout your day talking and communing with the Father! Making your requests be made known through prayer, with thanksgiving. You will be shocked at how much better your day will go! Let your prayer closet keep you, close to the cross!!
I have beaten myself up in the past because I felt I haven't gone into my closet and prayed enough. Satan has nagged at me about it, telling me I am not spending time enough with God, therefore He will not hear my prayers. Meanwhile, I have a full time job, I am a wife, and mother. I have taken care of elderly parents too. I find myself praying every time I am in the car, while I am in the shower, in the bed before I go to sleep, praying as I jog down the road, and on and on.
Don't get me wrong, I do get on my knees, in my bedroom closet and grab hold to the horns of the altar, make my needs be made known, and praise Him. We need to get in a quiet secret place and get alone with God, away from everything and get in the throne room is an honor. Because of Jesus, we can boldly go into the throne room and make our petitions known! Thank you, Jesus!!
I Thessalonians 5:17 says, "Pray without ceasing." That is what I finally realized.....you must be in touch with Christ all the time, it will certainly help your perspective on situations...as well as people, when you are talking with God. And praying in the shower, the car, and everywhere else, is my prayer closet.
God also showed me something else. Closet. I chopped up the word and by doing so, God showed me this: CLOSE t............the 't' by itself stands for the cross. By praying in your closet, you are
'close' to the cross!! That may not mean much to you, but it made me do a happy dance! When you are near the cross, Satan has to flee! No wonder that snake fought me over praying!!
Start your morning in prayer, and don't end it with 'Amen', just continue throughout your day talking and communing with the Father! Making your requests be made known through prayer, with thanksgiving. You will be shocked at how much better your day will go! Let your prayer closet keep you, close to the cross!!
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Perspective
Perspective..... a mental view or outlook. I've certainly had a lot going on in my life the last couple of years that have changed or heightened my perspective on my life. The birth of my first grandchild, my oldest daughter in college and engaged to be married, taking care of my mother as her health failed, and then her death, and now the death of my 4 year old cousin. God is awesome!! He has proven Himself over and over! The blessings have been immeasurable! I cannot fathom what life would be like without Him in it!
God has placed people in my life, just when I needed them. He has allowed people to come back into my life just when I needed them, and He has allowed people to walk out of my life....just when I needed that too. I have witnessed God pick up the pieces around me and paint the most beautiful portrait! He always makes a masterpiece out of our messes, if we allow Him to! He will not put more on you than you can bear, and He has proven that to me, and because I trusted in Him, I am stronger in my faith.
Galatians 6:2 says, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." I'm so thankful to have fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are genuinely walking with Christ. They have been so wonderful during me and my family's time of need! Verse 3 says, "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." Sad to say that there are those among us who are deceived. But by God's grace, I could be walking around the same way.
Losing my mother was and is hard. I miss her so much. The loss of both parents leaves a vacancy within my heart. I am encouraged by the fact that I live with the assurance of one day being reunited with both of them one day for eternity! Not having them anymore, makes everyday a special blessing for me now. I do not take for granted being a mother, wife, grandmother, and friend. I don't 'sweat the small stuff' as they say. I enjoy my time with them, and drink it in! Time is so short!!! Life is too short and eternity is too long to be stubborn!! Why hang on to hurt, pain, stubbornness, pride???? Will all that matter when we get to Heaven??
The drowning death of my 4 year old cousin this past week only heightened my new perspective on things. All these, hurt feelings, anger and grudges.......what a waste!! Get over all that! Is that hurt, disappointment, disagreement worth more than the person you have those feelings targeted at?? Find a way to get past it, and make a way to have some kind of relationship with your family, friends, whoever, again! Time is too short!! None of us are guaranteed tomorrow!! If that person you have 'issues' with were to die tomorrow, could you live with the regrets?
Is it 'things' that you are focused on? New job, new car, new house, getting bigger things, better things....is all that worth it? We sometimes like to pat ourselves on the back and say, look what God is blessing me with....God is giving me everything I wanted......Everything is going my way! Really? Is it? Or is it just filling the void of things lost that are really what is important in life....friendship, relationships......
I had struggled with seeing some people 'prosper' and think, how is it that they seem to be 'blessed' and others struggle. Well, I recently saw the movie, "God's Not Dead".....a must see, by the way, and an elderly woman made a statement that blew me away. Her son told her that she had lived right all of her life, and had nothing, not even her health, meanwhile he was evil and his life was perfect and had it all. ( I am paraphrasing). Her reply was that Satan allows us to enjoy and prosper in sin, in order to keep us where he wants us.....keep us inside his prison, but one day the cell door will slam shut! Wow!! That's it!! I'm not just talking about sinners either, Christians get imprisoned too! Satan can't get Christians' souls, but he can imprison them so that they will not and cannot be a witness to lead others to Christ!
Are all those 'things' you say God is blessing you with helping your walk with Him....or hindering? I'm not saying you shouldn't have nice things or that God is not in you getting nice things.....I'm not saying that at all! But when your perspective is in those 'things', when you are wrapped up in your own little bubble, is that being Christ-like? When you cut family, friends out of your life, when you are so involved in 'things' that others, sinners and even fellow Christians, stop and say, "Whoa, what is going on with them??" It may just be time to get a new perspective.
As we lay that beautiful baby boy in a grave this weekend, rejoicing that he is perfect and whole in Heaven, awaiting on us to arrive, as I visit the grave of my mother, I walk away in awe of God's mercy and grace and love. I'm not sweating 'he said, she said, he did, she did..' I'm sharing God's love and mercy with others around me, all this world has to offer can be gone tomorrow, but my family, my friends, they are here forever. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes.........if God can love us still, and forgive, than surely we can too! Now go hug your children, your spouse, tell that niece or nephew how proud of them you are, call your mom and dad while you can, reach out to that cousin you haven't talked to in a while, let that friend know you are thinking about them!
God has placed people in my life, just when I needed them. He has allowed people to come back into my life just when I needed them, and He has allowed people to walk out of my life....just when I needed that too. I have witnessed God pick up the pieces around me and paint the most beautiful portrait! He always makes a masterpiece out of our messes, if we allow Him to! He will not put more on you than you can bear, and He has proven that to me, and because I trusted in Him, I am stronger in my faith.
Galatians 6:2 says, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." I'm so thankful to have fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are genuinely walking with Christ. They have been so wonderful during me and my family's time of need! Verse 3 says, "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." Sad to say that there are those among us who are deceived. But by God's grace, I could be walking around the same way.
Losing my mother was and is hard. I miss her so much. The loss of both parents leaves a vacancy within my heart. I am encouraged by the fact that I live with the assurance of one day being reunited with both of them one day for eternity! Not having them anymore, makes everyday a special blessing for me now. I do not take for granted being a mother, wife, grandmother, and friend. I don't 'sweat the small stuff' as they say. I enjoy my time with them, and drink it in! Time is so short!!! Life is too short and eternity is too long to be stubborn!! Why hang on to hurt, pain, stubbornness, pride???? Will all that matter when we get to Heaven??
The drowning death of my 4 year old cousin this past week only heightened my new perspective on things. All these, hurt feelings, anger and grudges.......what a waste!! Get over all that! Is that hurt, disappointment, disagreement worth more than the person you have those feelings targeted at?? Find a way to get past it, and make a way to have some kind of relationship with your family, friends, whoever, again! Time is too short!! None of us are guaranteed tomorrow!! If that person you have 'issues' with were to die tomorrow, could you live with the regrets?
Is it 'things' that you are focused on? New job, new car, new house, getting bigger things, better things....is all that worth it? We sometimes like to pat ourselves on the back and say, look what God is blessing me with....God is giving me everything I wanted......Everything is going my way! Really? Is it? Or is it just filling the void of things lost that are really what is important in life....friendship, relationships......
I had struggled with seeing some people 'prosper' and think, how is it that they seem to be 'blessed' and others struggle. Well, I recently saw the movie, "God's Not Dead".....a must see, by the way, and an elderly woman made a statement that blew me away. Her son told her that she had lived right all of her life, and had nothing, not even her health, meanwhile he was evil and his life was perfect and had it all. ( I am paraphrasing). Her reply was that Satan allows us to enjoy and prosper in sin, in order to keep us where he wants us.....keep us inside his prison, but one day the cell door will slam shut! Wow!! That's it!! I'm not just talking about sinners either, Christians get imprisoned too! Satan can't get Christians' souls, but he can imprison them so that they will not and cannot be a witness to lead others to Christ!
Are all those 'things' you say God is blessing you with helping your walk with Him....or hindering? I'm not saying you shouldn't have nice things or that God is not in you getting nice things.....I'm not saying that at all! But when your perspective is in those 'things', when you are wrapped up in your own little bubble, is that being Christ-like? When you cut family, friends out of your life, when you are so involved in 'things' that others, sinners and even fellow Christians, stop and say, "Whoa, what is going on with them??" It may just be time to get a new perspective.
As we lay that beautiful baby boy in a grave this weekend, rejoicing that he is perfect and whole in Heaven, awaiting on us to arrive, as I visit the grave of my mother, I walk away in awe of God's mercy and grace and love. I'm not sweating 'he said, she said, he did, she did..' I'm sharing God's love and mercy with others around me, all this world has to offer can be gone tomorrow, but my family, my friends, they are here forever. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes.........if God can love us still, and forgive, than surely we can too! Now go hug your children, your spouse, tell that niece or nephew how proud of them you are, call your mom and dad while you can, reach out to that cousin you haven't talked to in a while, let that friend know you are thinking about them!
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