2 Kings 13:14-20a,
14 When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”
15 Elisha said to him, ” Take a bow and arrow.” So he took a bow and arrows.
16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands.
17 He said, ” Open the window toward the east, ” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!”And he shot and he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Arama; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.”
18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped.
19 So the man of God was angry with him and said, ” You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.”
20 Elisha died, and they buried him.
ELISHA
This man, a great man.
He took over the mantle from Elijah. He was there, always working with Elijah until his very last day when he was taken to heaven. He performed his duties well and now it was time for him to go back to our God.
He is on his bed dying, but Joash, the king of Israel still recognizes that Elisha is a man of God. The same man that was able to turn the poisonous fruits during the famine into food.
He is the same man that prophesied to the prominent Shunamite woman that she will have a child, and at the same time during the following year, she bore a son.
He is the same man that cursed the boys that called him a baldhead and two bears emerged from the woods and destroyed all the 42 of them.
He is the man that healed Naaman of his leprosy.
He is the same great man of God that prophesied that there will be food the next day during the great famine and it came true.
But now….
He is on his death bed-in old age- but even then, the king still recognizes that he is till powerful and goes to inquire from him about the war that Israel was facing against the Arameans.
In every church organization, there is a man or woman that has been ordained to take care of the flock or congregation.
Many are the times that we get so much used to them; we have dined together with them, we have seen them struggle in life, we have sat together in groups or even lend them some of our belongings till it reaches a point that we no longer see the great anointing over them but we reduce them to ordinary people.
We get used to it that its possible to leave the service without talking to them, we passby as if its just normal.
They are same people we go to, to help solve our problems, pray for our needs, intercede on our behalf and yet, we reduce them to our level.
- Getting used
to the anointing is very dangerous. It reaches a point where the words
spoken by these great men and women of God no longer affects our lives. We
live with them just like our brother and sister..and when its healing time
you ask yourself, “Where did their fire go?” The fire is till in
them but its you who no longer sees the God in them.
- Like king
Joash, we will seek advice but not follow the instructions that they give.
In the end, what is the point? The king was given the instruction of
taking the arrows and striking the ground. He was not told how many times
he was to do that but using his own mind as a decision tool, he struck
only three times. He limited his own victory. The instruction was, ‘Strike
the Ground.’ It did not say how many times. In this case, he was to do
that until he was told to stop but he did the opposite. As a result, he
only defeated them Aram three times.
We have all failed or we will fail on how to handle the anointed ones. But this is not the end.
CONCLUSION
Below is what we can do to get back on track:
– Recognize our mistakes and ask for forgiveness, both from them and God. The Bible says that, ‘if we confess our sins, God is just and is ready to forgive us.’
– Start doing what you used to do. It does not matter whether you are more educated than them. Recognize the power in them and start respecting and honoring that. If you were cleaning the church, start doing so, if you were supporting the work of God either in kind or in cash, begin doing the same again.
-Finally, when the 38-year old man was healed at the pool, Jesus told him that he had become well, therefore he shouldn’t sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to him. Imagine this, if he sinned again, maybe his walking capability will be taken away and even the slow movements he could make, would no longer be possible. So, instead of the 38 years, he would spend his entire lifetime there at the pool.
This should not be your case and mine. Once we start over, lets forge ahead and do what is required of us.
I would like to know, from you my dear reader;
Since you got saved, what has been your experience so far????