Unbolt The Door To Your Heart

Tag: elisha

  • Believe Your Prayer Has Been Answered

    Asking God, Believing God, Praising God!

    “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit”. 2 Kings 2:9 NIV

    “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt” James 1:6 NIV

    “Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army” 2 Chronicles 20: 21 NIV

    Some may wonder what these verses have in common or why did I put them in the same discussion?

    Let’s look at them individually and then tie them together.

    In 1 Kings 19:16 we are told that God has told Elijah that he needs to anoint Elisha to become the next prophet. Elijah went and put his cloak around Elisha, who left everything, and became Elijah’s attendant.

    The Story then picks up in 2 Kings chapter 2 where we are told that God is about to take Elijah to heaven in a dramatic pickup event. Elijah was not just going to disappear. There was not going to be a question about what had happened. In fact, we are told that God had already told the prophets of Bethel and Jericho that this was going to happen today.

    “The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?” 2 Kings 2:3 NIV

    “The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?” 2 Kings 2:5 NIV

    This taking of Elijah was not going to be a secret and there was a very good reason God wanted all the prophets to see and know about it.

    The reasons God told the other prophets about Elijah going to heaven and doing it in a dramatic fashion and then seeing the cloak falling from Elijha to Elisha, was so no young upstart of a prophet would get the idea that they were the next anointed prophet from God.

    Before Elijah was going to be taken, he asked Elisha, “what can I do for you before I am taken from you?’ Elisha responds with a request, “let me inherit a double portion of your spirit”. Elijha responds that this is too difficult for him to do and that if Elisha sees him taken up it would be Elisha’s.  Signifying that it was in God’s hand to answer that request.

    You see, in those days the first-born son always got a double portion of the estate so that the other children would know who the head of the family was after the father passed away. Elisha wanted to receive the double portion so that all the prophets would know that God had picked him to follow Elijah.

    We know that God answered that request.  Your bible records that Elijah performed fourteen miracles and Elisha performed twenty-eight miracles. A double portion!

    In the first chapter of James, the author tells us that when we request anything from God, we are to believe that God has already answered the request.  We are not to doubt for one second about the answer. We are to step out in faith from that moment on in total belief that the miracle is performed. Not acting like it may happen but believing that it has happened.  There is a big difference.  

    In 2 Chronicles chapter 20 we are told that a vast army had formed against Jehoshaphat and the kingdom of Judah. Jehoshaphat called on all the people of Juday to fast for three days and inquire of the Lord.  Then we are told that Jehoshaphat was told that the battle was not his battle but that it was God’s battle. Jehoshaphat was to march down against this large army the next morning. 

    To show that Jehoshaphat believed that the battle was God’s he put the choir and band out in front of the army and had them sing the victory song on the way to the battle. They were praising God for the victory before they ever got to the battlefield. They did not wait to see if God provided a victory, they believed and sang at the top of their lungs about the victory. The second they started praising the Lord, He set ambushes up and the whole enemy army was wiped out. The only thing the people of Judah had to do was pick up the spoils.

    Ask God, Believe in God, Praise God before the answer and victory! 

    God loves when you ask for the impossible. “Double Portion”. God loves when you don’t doubt the answer and start singing His praises before you’re done asking your request.

     “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”. Ephesians 3: 20 NIV

    “For with God nothing shall be impossible”. Luke 1:37 KJV

    “Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”. Mark 9:23 KJV

    Where is God when He hears you Praise Him before you get the answer?

    “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel”. Psalms 22:3 KJV

    Praise creates a spiritual environment where His presence dwells. When you praise, God says “there is a heart that I can live in” and He sees that the door is open for His presence.

    Praising God before seeing an answer redirects attention away from anxiety, worry, and your perceived size of the problem, focusing instead on His character, faithfulness, power and Love. Showing God your gratitude for His answer before He gives His answer shows a complete trust in Him and a trust in whatever form the answer may come in.

    Paul and Silas were stripped, severely beaten with rods, and thrown into the inner dungeon, their feet locked in heavy stocks for preaching the gospel. We find no bible verses where either of these two men prayed for deliverance from imprisonment or for God to take away the pain they were in.

    They just started singing the praises of God and how great He was. How did God show His excitement about this praise?  An earthquake rocked everyone’s world and ripped the chains off their feet and everyone’s feet. Yet Paul and Silas never moved a muscle to run out of the open doors.  God had other plans for their praises.  The prison warden and his family needed saving!   The pain and suffering of Paul and Silas did not save the warden, but their praising of God brought the Holy Spirit into the heart of the warden.

    Ask for the Impossible, Dress like you have received the impossible.  Praise God from the mountain tops, for all to hear, that His answer to your impossible situation has already been provided.

    This world today needs men and women that are walking with an attitude of Praise and Thanksgiving for greatness of their Savior.

    People saw that in Jesus and it drew them to Him.  Are you drawing others to God today with your attitude of praise in all situations?

    Walk in the Faith of your great God and all will be yours.

    Prayers and Love for all.

    Larry 

  • No Plan B

    “He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate”. 1 Kings 19:21 NIV

    On February 19, 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés set sail for Mexico with over 600 sailors and soldiers with him. They were in eleven ships. The indigenous population upon his arrival was approximately five million. From a purely mathematical standpoint, the odds were stacked against him by a ratio of 7,541 to 1. Two previous expeditions had failed to even establish a settlement in the New World, yet Cortés conquered much of the South American continent.

    What Cortés did upon arrival on the shores of Mexico is to scuttle or burn all his ships. In one act he showed his men and those living in the land that there was no plan B. He took the option of plan B away.  It was survive or die.  There was no running back to the motherland when things got rough and uncomfortable.

    Elisha and his family were the largest farming operation in all of Israel.   While most people owned or rented a team of oxen and plow to do the farming.  Elisha’s family had 12 teams of oxen and twelve plows.

    “He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair”. 1 Kings 19: 19 NIV

    Elijah was sent by God, after a discussion at the mouth of a cave, to go and put his cloak around Elisha and make him the new prophet. He found Elisha in the field plowing and went up to him and covered him in the robe that he was wearing to signify that God had transferred the prophetic power to Elisha.

    Elisha did not hesitate, He accepted and told Elijah that he would be right back.  He went home to kiss his parents and then slaughtered the oxen and smashed the plow into firewood. He then proceeded to BBQ the oxen and fed everyone and then said goodbye.

    Elisha took away plan B.  He did not just put the oxen and plow in storage, just in case this prophet thing did not work out or if he became discouraged.  He burnt and ate his past. He eliminated the possibility of going back to farming.

    When Peter decided to get out of the boat and walk on the water. He simply put all his trust in Jesus.  He did not ask the other disciples to tie a rope around his waist and pull him back into the boat if he started sinking.  With no life jacket or rope for safety, he simply stepped out in full faith of Jesus his Savior. No Plan B. When he failed and started sinking, he did not start swimming back to the boat. He looked up and noticed a hand reaching for him. Jesus was there to save him.

    Are you at a moment that you need to burn the ships and oxen of your past? The only way is to make a defining decision to eliminate the possibilities of going back to the old world we left behind.  You burn the ships of past failure, past success, bad habits, addictions, regrets and guilt. You burn the ship named my old way of life.

    Most people would assume God had blessed them to have twelve yokes of oxen and that is where God wanted them to shine.  But God had other plans for Elisha. 

    Does God have plans for you that you need to step out into faith and burn the past so there is not going back?

    The rich young ruler missed out on the wonderful life Jesus had planned for him because he was not willing to give up plan B.

    Prayers for All.

    Larry