Elisha, the Floating Ax Head and God's invisible Army (2 Kings 6 & 7)

 The place that Elisha and the prophets would meet, was getting too small. So they decided to go down to the Jordan River, chop some logs and build an addition onto their meeting place. One of the men was chopping down a tree, when the ax head flew off his ax and landed in the water. The man was very upset. "That was a borrowed ax!" He cried. Elisha could see how upset the man was. He walked over to him, put his hand on his shoulder and told him not to worry. Elisha picked up a stick and asked the man to point to where the ax head went into the water. Then he tossed the stick into the river. The heavy ax head floated to the top! "Now reach in and grab it." Elisha told the man. So he did. God cares about us and He cares about the little things. Don't ever decide not to pray about something because you think it is too small for God.
   Meanwhile the king of Aram was up to his old tricks. He planned to attack Israel. He sent his troops in, but Israel was waiting for them and the Aramean army retreated. The king of Aram waited a couple weeks and tried again, but the Israelites were waiting again! This happened again and again. Finally the king of called all his officials together and demanded that the traitor step forward. But one of his men said to him. "It is not one of us, my lord. It is that prophet in Israel, Elisha! Apparently he is hearing from his God and relaying the message to the king!"
 "Alright! We know what we have to do. Get rid of the problem! I want one of our spies to find out where that niusace is staying, and tomorrow all our troops will decend upon him and destroy him!"
The next day, all the Aramean troops headed to where Elisha and his servant were staying. Early in the morning Elisha's servant heard a thundering off in the distance and went to the rooftop to see what is was. He screamed in fear for Elisha to come to the roof! "Look master! There are more horses, chariots and men than we can count and they are advancing toward us!"

 "Don't worry." Elisha said with a slight smile. "There are far more on our side than on theirs."
 The servant looked confused. He looked again, but all he saw were the Aramean troops.... and they were closing in! Then Elisha prayed. "Oh Lord! Please open my sevant''s eyes so he can see." When the servant looked up, the hillside was filled with heavenly horses and chariots of fire!
  We are in the middle of spiritual warfare.  We cannot even imaginine the angels and demons that are around us each day. But just as Elisha told his servant. " There are more on our side than against us.  Greater is He who lives in us than he who is in the world (1John 4:4)  Remember, when you are feeling fearful, God is on your side!
 Then Elisha prayed that God would blind the Aramean army. The Aramean army became confused and Elisha led them to Samaria. The king of Israel saw the army being led into Samaria by Elisha ansd he was so surprised. "What should we do with them?" The king asked Elisha. "Should we kill them?"
"Of course not!" Elisha answered back. "Feed them and give them something to eat and send them home." So the king fed them well and sent them back to Aram.
 In the first part of today's post, we see that God cares about the little things. In the second part we see that He cares about the big picture as well. In any situation we are in throughout the day....God cares. (1 Peter 5:7)

(2 Kings 1 and 2) Chariot of Fire

Well we just finished another book of the Bible. So now 2 Kings begins with the the death of King Ahaziah who succeeded king Ahab.. Then the next chapter continues with the two prophets Elijah and Elisha walking and talking on the road from Gilgal.

"The Lord has told me to go to Bethel. It's a long and arduous Journey. So if you don't want to come, you can stay here."  Elisha knew that the Lord was going to take Elijah home to heaven any day, and he didn't want to miss learning something or witnessing great things that he had heard that Elijah had been doing or he didn't want to miss an opportunity to be a part of something amazing that God was doing through Elijah. So he answered, "No, Wherever you go, I will go."
 After a while in Bethel, Elijah said. "The Lord has told me to go to Jericho. You should stay here while I go ahead." Elisha again replied. "No, wherever you go, I will go." So they went on to Jericho.    One more time Elijah speaks up."Now the Lord has directed me to the Jordan River. Elisha quickly responded. "I am sticking with you no matter what, Elijah." When they came to the Jordan River, Elijah rolled up his cloak and struck the water. The river divided and the two men walked across on dry ground! When they got to the other side Elijah asked. " What can I do for you before the Lord takes me away?"

 "I not only want to be your successor, but I want God to do twice as many things through me!"
 "You have asked a very difficult thing Elisha," Elijah answered."But if you are with me when the Lord  takes me home, then you shall have what you asked for."

 They began walking again and suddenly a chariot of fire swooped down. It was being drawn by two horses of fire. It passed between Elijah and Elisha and Elijah was carried away and taken to heaven, Elisha was awestruck at such a sight! He stood there for a bit, then he noticed Elijah's cloak lying on the ground. He picked it up and headed back toward the Jordan River. When he reached the Jordan, he rolled up the cloak, cried out to God and struck the water. The river divided just as it had done for Elijah. It was Elisha's first miracle. It wouldn't be long before he performed his second. Fifty prophets of the Lord saw Elisha crossing between the parted waters and exclaimed. "Surely Elisha is Elijah's successor!"
 When Elisha got to Jericho, the leaders of the town approached him with a serious problem. "Our water supply is tainted!" They told him. "people are getting sick and we don't know what to do because the spring that feeds our water supply is contaminated!"

 Elisha said. "Bring me some salt in a new bowl" So they brought it to him. Elisha took the salt and went to the contaminated spring and threw the salt into it."This is what the Lord says." Elisha shouted so all could hear. "I have made this water clean again. So there won't be anymore sickness, disease or death." And sure enough, the spring was pure.  This was his second miracle. Then Elisha left Jericho.

Did you notice how close Elisha followed Elijah? He wanted to be a witness to God's work, He wanted to learn about God's work and he wanted to be a part of God's work. We should follow Jesus that close! God has an amazing plan. What a blessing to be a part of it! And to be a witness to it! Following Jesus can be hard sometimes, but it is always exciting. How do we follow Him? By reading His word. (The Bible says that Jesus IS THE WORD) The better we know the word, the better we know Him and what He wants from us. Read your Bible, pray and hang out with others who do the same.

Elijah"s Disappointment (1Kings:19)

 So Elijah had just witnessed God's amazing power in discrediting the prophets of Baal. He ran all the way to the Gates of Jezreel. He even beat king Ahab there... and he was in a chariot! The king went to his wife Jezabel and told her all about Elijah and how the prophets of Baal had all been killed. She became furious!
   Meanwhile Elijah waited outside the gates of the city for word that the king and queen were now convinced that the true God of Israel was who He said He was. Elijah waited in excited anticipation. He knew that if the king and queen would turn from their false idols, that all of Israel would turn as well. Elijah looked up and he saw the king's messenger a long way off. He couldn't wait. He rushed toward the messenger to hear his message.
 "Queen Jezabel has issued this statement." Elijah waited to hear the words that he had waited so long to hear. And the messenger continued. "May the gods also kill me if by this time tomorrow if I have failed to kill you, just like you killed my prophets! In the words of the queen"
 Elijah was astonished. "What?" He knew he had to get out of there quick. He and his servant quickly left the gate of Jezreel. After a while Elijah told his servant that he wanted to be alone. So Elijah left his servant and continued on his journey the rest of the day on his own. The more Elijah walked, the more depressed he got. He kept going over in his head how he had failed. How things hadn't turned out like he planned. And how he was all alone.

  Sometimes we have such high expectations, that when things don't go how we planned, we get really down. Remember that no matter what, God is good and He is in control. It is OK to have expectations, but if we remember that God sees the bigger picture, and that His plan may not be ours, we can accept disappointment with the knowledge that God has this.

  Elijah finally got so tired of running that he fell asleep under a tree. As he fell asleep he prayed that God would just take his life because he was such a failure. While he was sleeping and angel appeared. "Get up and eat Elijah." The angel nudged him. Elijah woke up and he saw some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! Elijah ate and fell back asleep. The angel nudged him again. "Eat some more, for you have a long journey ahead of you." Elijah ate and drank some more and then he walked for 40 days until he reached Mt. Sinai. (Remember Mt. Sinai was where God gave the ten commandments to Moses)
  At Mt. Sinai, Elijah found a cave and rested there. He probably had negative thoughts in his head during the whole journey, because when he finally rested he prayed to God. "God, haven't I served you with all my heart? But still the people continue to turn their backs on you. They have killed all the prophets and now I am the only one left! They have also torn down your altars and replaced them with idols. I have had enough, God. I can't do this anymore!"
 God told Elijah, "Go stand outside." As Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by. A mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was so fierce that rocks were torn from the face of the mountain.  But the Lord was not in the wind. Then a strong earthquake shook the mountain. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then after that was a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came a gentle whisper and Elijah heard the voice of the Lord.

  God was reminding Elijah that He was in control. Not only of nature, weather and fire, but also of circumstances. And that if we let ourselves be still long enough, we can hear from God. (Psalm 46:10) Then God reassured Elijah that he was not the only prophet left. There were 7,000 others. Then God told Elijah to go back to where he came from, anoint a new king of Israel and then anoint Elisha to take his place as prophet.
  Elijah did as Lord commanded. He found Elisha plowing a field with his oxen. He threw his cloak over Elisha's shoulders and walked away. Elisha left his oxen standing there and chased after Elijah. He knew that God had called him. "I am just going to run back real quick and kiss my parents goodbye." Elisha said, "Go right ahead." Elijah answered.

God shows up.... big time (1Kings 18)

  After the prophets of Baal spent all morning trying to get their god to answer them, Elijah called the people of Israel over to the altar of God. (Which he was repairing as he spoke) Elijah took 12 stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel to repair the altar. Then he dug a trench around the altar. He had the bull laid on the wood on the altar and requested that 4 buckets of water be poured over the bull, the wood and the altar. So they did as Elijah requested. Then he told them to do it a second time and they did. Finally he asked for a third drenching and they did it again. By this time, the trenches that were dug around the altar were overflowing.
  It was evening by now and Elijah went to the altar and prayed. "Oh Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel. I am your servant and I have done all that you commanded. Oh Lord answer me so that these people will know that you are the one true God."
 Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the bull, the wood, the stones and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! The people were in awe. They began to cry out "The Lord is God! The Lord is God!" Then the prophets of Baal were all put to death.

 In Elijah's prayer we can see that this whole thing was God's plan. He had commanded Elijah to soak everything so that there would be no question that it was Him behind the fire and not some trick.  We
should never put God in a box. In other words, God can do more than we can even imagine. Ephesians 3:20 says it so well..... Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish so much more than we might ask or think.

  Elijah turned to Ahab. "t hasn't rained for 3 years, but I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!. Go home and enjoy a nice meal before it hits." Ahab headed home and Elijah took his servant and climbed to the highest point on Mt. Carmel. Elijah fell face down to ground and began to pray. Then he said to his servant. "Go and look out toward the sea."
  The servant returned to Elijah and said. "I looked out to sea, butI didn't see anything."
 "Go look again." Elijah replied, but again the servant saw nothing. The servant looked toward the sea six times, and then on the seventh time he saw something.
 "Master, I see a cloud rising from the sea. But it is no larger than a man's hand." he reported. 
 "Hurry to Ahab!" Elijah shouted. "Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don't hurry, the rain will stop you!" 

 Elijah's servant caught up with Ahab and told him about the impending storm. Ahab quickly left for his home in Jezreel. The winds were kicking up and the skies were getting darker and darker. Ahab had his horses pulling his chariot as fast as they could go! "Faster, faster!" He shouted.
 Now the Lord gave special strength to Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt and ran faster than the horses pulling Ahab's chariot! Elijah beat Ahab to the entrance gate in Jezreel!


 Wow! Imagine being able to run that fast! God does some amazing things. Ahab just witnessed three of them in a matter of a couple hours. 1. God's fire from heaven 2. The end of a three year drought. 3. Elijah's turbo-speed sprint. 

  Next time we will see if witnessing these three miracles has an affect on Ahab's life and his attitude toward or God, or if his wife Jezebel has more influence on him.