2 Kings 4:8-10 (NLT)
8 One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman
lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that,
whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat.
9 She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in
from time to time is a holy man of God.
10 Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it
with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay
whenever he comes by.”
We must clear out the old to
make room for what's new. To walk in the new, we must get rid of the
old.
We must experience more of
God. More of God requires less of me to create space for Him. He
must increase, and we must decrease.
What do you need to
elevate? What do you need to eliminate? Make your heart a
place that God wants to live in.
Man can change the days of the
calendar, but only God can change the human heart.
My biggest issue is me. I
must create space in me to welcome more of God's presence.
If you will prioritize God's
house, He will prioritize your house.
2 Kings 4:11-13 (NLT)
11 One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this
upper room to rest.
12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell
the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.” When she appeared,
13 Elisha
said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us.
What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the
commander of the army?’”
“No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of
me.”
She was content. Are you
content with Jesus? Is Jesus enough? The secret to having it all is
knowing that you already do in Jesus. Jesus plus nothing equals everything.
2. Wherever God is
honored. His blessings flow.
Whatever you want God to
bless. Honor Him in it.
Malachi 3:10 (NLT)
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there
will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a
blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to
the test!
Make room for God's blessing by
obeying Him in it. We don't serve God to get, but to glorify Him.
However, it is God's nature to honor those who honor Him. If you don't honor God with it,
don't expect God's blessings upon it.
2 Kings 4:14-16 (NLT)
14 Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”
Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her
husband is an old man.”
15 “Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When the woman
returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway, 16 “Next
year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!”
“No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t
deceive me and get my hopes up like that.”
If you honor God, He will bless you in ways you
didn't know you needed.
2 Kings 4:17-21 (NLT)
17 But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that
time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.
18 One day when her child was older, he went out to help his
father, who was working with the harvesters.
19 Suddenly he
cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”
His father said to one of the servants, “Carry
him home to his mother.”
20 So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her
lap. But around noontime he died.
21 She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God,
then shut the door and left him there.
The space we create for God is the place we take
our pain. What do you do with your pain?
We don't know what
this year holds, but we know who holds our year. Life is what happens to
you when you have something else planned.
Our world is filled with pain
that it doesn't know how of process. Drugs, drink, sex. It doesn't
work.
If you turn up the heat on your relationship with God,
Satan will turn up the heat on you. Our pain doesn't have to destroy us,
but creates a platform to shout God's glory.
2 Kings 4:22-26 (NLT)
22 She sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants
and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”
23 “Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival
nor a Sabbath.”
But she said, “It will be all right.”
24 So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry!
Don’t slow down unless I tell you to.”
25 As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw
her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming. 26 Run
out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband,
and your child?’”
“Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is
fine.”
Don't grab your phone. Get on your knees
before God's throne. Keep your words full of faith. God accepts
desperate measures.
2 Kings 4:27-37 (NLT)
27 But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell
to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her
away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but
the Lord has not told me what it is.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? And didn’t
I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and get my hopes up’?”
29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to travel[a]; take my staff
and go! Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the
child’s face.”
30 But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives
and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So Elisha
returned with her.
31 Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s
face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet
Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”
32 When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there
on the prophet’s bed.
33 He went in alone and shut the door
behind him and prayed to the Lord.
34 Then he lay down on
the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the
child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And as he stretched out on
him, the child’s body began to grow warm again!
35 Elisha got
up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out
again on the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!
36 Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. “Call the child’s mother!” he
said. And when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!”
37 She
fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she
took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.
Elisha covered himself completely over the boy's
body. Life came back.
Don't give up on your dream that God gave
you. Give your broken dreams to God. Let God hover over it.
May God open His opportunities to you. May you be overwhelmed with
gratitude. May you be overwhelmed with the goodness of God.
The
supernatural is release in God's presence. Make room for the presence of
God. Let God fill that space within us. The miracle is found in Him and
Him alone.
Lord Jesus, take my life. I make more of you by making less of me. Amen!
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