Tag Archives: Elisha

June 4, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Making Room

Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He addressed the disciples. In Luke 24:49 He said, “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven” (NLT). There were 120 of them who went to the Upper Room to wait on the gift of God. Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit entered the room with the sound of a mighty rushing wind, tongues of fire appeared over their heads, they began speaking in other languages and they received the power to be witnesses. On that day, the Church was born. Just as the disciples went to the Upper Room, we too must make room for Him in our life.

In 2 King 4, a Shunammite woman invited the prophet Elisha into her home to eat. From then on, any time he passed that way, he would stop by. She knew he was a man of God and wanted to make room for him in her home and life. In verse 10 she told her husband, “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.” She wanted a place where the presence of God could dwell with her. That room became the birthplace of miracles in her life. Elisha gave her the promise of a son, and years later he was raised from the dead in that very room. I believe God is asking us to make room for the Holy Spirit in our life so He has a permanent place of power in our lives.

I love that this woman provided a table and chair for Elisha. These represent a place of meeting and fellowship. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just want to dwell inside of you, He wants to meet with you and have fellowship. She also provided a lamp for him. Just as a lamp brings illuminates a room and chases out darkness, the Holy Spirit wants to reveal more of who God is to you. He will illuminate the Scriptures, bring His light into our life and cause us to burn brighter for Him. That leads us to the last thing she provided, which was a bed. The Holy Spirit wants to give you rest and renewal. Our lives are so busy that we lack these things He provides. Imagine what would happen if only we would make room in our prayer time, our heart, our mind and our life for Him. As we approach Pentecost Sunday, I challenge you to do just that in your life. Ask the Holy Spirit where you need to give Him more room. I believe that space in your life will be the birthplace of miracles.

Photo courtesy of Copilot

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August 8, 2022 · 5:36 AM

God Of The Impossible

Have you been in an impossible situation where the only way through it was if God intervened? I have too. As I think about those times, I can recall those times when God miraculously showed up and made a way where there appeared to be no way. I can also think of the times where He didn’t show up and rescue the way I wanted Him too. In those times, my faith had to override my feelings. My trust in Him had to be greater than my pain or sorrow. Just because He didn’t intervene, it didn’t mean He was unable. I still choose to trust Him when I need the impossible to happen.

In 2 Kings 6-7, the city of Samaria was besieged by the Syrian army. The people in the city were running out of food, and some had turned to cannibalism. The King became angry at God and blamed Him for their situation. He went to kill Elisha, but Elisha said that on the next day there would be so much food that it would be cheap. The king’s servant said that was impossible and couldn’t happen even if God sent food from heaven. That night, the Syrian army heard the Egyptian army was coming and fled leaving all their food and supplies behind. There was more than enough food for the entire city as Elisha had predicted.

I don’t know what impossible situation you’re facing, but I do know that God is more than able to meet it. In Matthew 19:26, Jesus said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” Everything is possible! Even what you can’t imagine or see. God can make streams in the desert, He can part the Red Sea and He can meet your need. Instead of being angry at Him or declaring that not even He could make a way, put your situation and trust in Him. He is more than able to do the impossible if only we will believe. If for some reason, He doesn’t intervene the way you want, it doesn’t change who He is. Continue to put your faith in Him. He is the God of the impossible.

Photo by Jeremy Perkins on Unsplash

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May 17, 2017 · 5:33 AM

Hard Problems. Simple Tasks.


Have you ever studied for a test, but the questions weren’t what you thought they’d be? You thought for sure the teacher would ask about all these other things, but they didn’t. It may not have been a difficult test, but what they asked didn’t make sense. I’ve had God test me like that. I hear Him ask me to do something that doesn’t make sense, and then I question whether it was from God. “Surely He would ask me to do something else,” I think. Sometimes what He asks of us isn’t difficult. It just doesn’t make sense. 

In the early part of II Kings, God spoke through Elisha and asked some people to do things that didn’t make sense. A widow owed her husband’s debts and the collectors were coming for her sons. Elisha told her to borrow bottles and fill them with what little oil she had. The Shunemite woman’s son died and Elisha told his servant to go put his staff on the boy’s face. There was also a pot of stew that had been made with poisoned gourds in it. Elisha threw a handful of flour in it and it was fine.

One of the most famous though was a man named Namaan in chapter 5. He had leprosy and went to see Elisha. Elisha sent his servant out to tell him to dip in the Jordan river seven times and he’d be healed. Namaan left angry. In verse 13 one of his servants asked, “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have doe it? So shouldn’t you certainly obey him when he simply says, ‘Go and wash and be cured!'” (NLT) Namaan went and washed and was healed. 

In each of these cases, it didn’t make sense. I think that God asks us to do things different than we expect to test our obedience. God simply wants simple obedience. If He asked us to do something that gave us the answer, we would begin to think it was what we did. When the instructions have nothing to do with it and we obey, it can only be God who answered. Whatever God is asking for you, it may not be about the problem. It could be about your heart. Simply obey and let God do His thing. 

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October 28, 2014 · 7:40 AM

Spectacularly Ordinary

Have you ever been looking forward to something and had a great expectation for it? In your mind, you imagined it to be a certain way and then the reality let you down? You had built it up so much in your mind and played it over and over so many times that when it came down to it, you felt disappointed. In II Kings 5, Namaan was guilty of that same thing. He had a skin disease and was told of a great prophet who could heal him. He had his expectation of what the healing would be like.

In his mind, he had pictured the entire scene of how his healing would come about.. He imagined a quirky, old man would emerge from the house, pray loudly to His God, make a big show with his hands to create a dramatic presentation and then heal him. As his entourage pulled up in front of the prophets house, it was just as he had pictured it. He was giddy with excitement. He was ready for the show. As he stepped out of his carriage, a young man, dressed on servants clothes, came out to meet him instead.

The servant said, “Go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of leprosy.” Namaan felt like a balloon whose air had just been let out. All those dreams and expectations just fell flat. Instead of being excited that he was going to be healed, he got angry and upset. He thought it was too simple and too ordinary. Why should he have to come all that way to bathe in a dirty river? Why couldn’t he bathe in a clean river where he would at least be clean afterwards?

He was looking for the show more than the healing. I wonder if that’s how we are today? We’d rather go to a church that puts on a show, entertains us, creates magic on stage and then brings spiritual healing. When we walk into a church where the Gospel is presented clearly and plainly, we get upset. We think there should be more. We forget it’s about the message and not all the other things that are cool. I’m not against doing those things, but are we more interested to see what the pastor does next than we are to hear the Word of God?

What about in our own lives? Are we looking for the spectacular moves of God while missing Him in the mundane? God does amazing things for each of us every day. We arrive to work safely, we get a paycheck at the end of the week, that song comes on the radio at just the right time, a friend sends a text at just the right moment. Our God does extraordinary things in ordinary ways. Are we missing it because we are looking for the extraordinary? Namaan almost did. Fortunately, he took a bath at the servants request and was healed. He learned that God doesn’t have to go over the top to do something spectacular.

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October 21, 2014 · 7:34 AM

Two Sets Of Eyes

One of my favorite stories in the Bible comes from II Kings 6. The Syrians were attacking Israel, but every time they planned an attack, Israel was two steps ahead of them. The King of Syria thought he had a traitor among his staff, but someone told him about Elisha. In verse 12, one of them told him, “The prophet Elisha tells the King of Israel what you say even in the privacy of your own room.” The king decided he wanted to capture Elisha and so he sent a large army to capture him and to bring him back by force.

They must have traveled all night because it was early the next morning when Elisha’s servant woke up and went outside. He ran back inside and exclaimed to Elisha, “We’re doomed! What will we do?” He saw that the entire city where they were staying was surrounded. He couldn’t see any way out of this situation. He forgot what God had done through Elisha in the past and focused on the present situation and he panicked. He saw no way out, but he knew who to go to.

Elisha walked outside, looked at the army calmly and said, “Don’t be afraid. We have more on our side than they have on theirs.” I’m sure his servant rubbed his eyes, looked at the army and started counting by the hundreds. Then he looked at he and Elisha and went, “One. Two. Hmmm.” Elisha patiently prayed, “Lord, open his eyes and let him see.” When the servant looked up after the prayer, he saw the hillside covered with horses and chariots of fire completely surrounding the Syrian army.

What eyes do you see your problems through? God gave the victory to them that day and He wants to give it to you today. It comes down to what eyes you’re looking at your circumstances through. The one set sees yourself surrounded by your problems with no way out. The other set sees that God is bigger than your problems and wants to give you victory. One set says, “I’m doomed.” The other says, “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” One set forgets what God has done for you. The other knows God has not failed you.

Whatever problems are surrounding you today are no match for God. You may have so many things going wrong that you can’t count them, but you plus God equals a majority. You are not outnumber. You are not alone. You are not doomed. You are a child of the God of Angel Armies and the King of Kings. He will come to your rescue and stand by your side in the toughest of times. May God open your eyes today to see that there are more that are with you than there are against you. Trust in Him today and choose to look at your situation through His eyes.

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March 6, 2014 · 7:55 AM

Plow Of Preparation

When I think of living by faith, I always think of Abraham first. The next person I think of is Elisha. Like Abraham, he was minding his own business doing his own thing when the call came to uproot and move. Elisha was plowing a field when Elijah walked up, threw his cloak over him and walked away. I’m not sure what my reaction would be if someone walked into my place of work and did that, but Elisha’s reaction was to run after Elijah. He didn’t ask what it meant or why he did it. Instead he said, “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye – then I’ll follow you.”

I believe that God had already spoken to Elisha even though the Bible doesn’t say it. We know God gave Elijah the instructions to find Elisha and to do what he did, but it doesn’t give us any insight to Elisha before this moment. I believe he was a praying man. I believe that as he plowed fields with those oxen, he spent time praying and asking God to use him in mighty ways. Day after day, he plowed waiting for God to tap him on the shoulder and put him into action. I wonder if he had days where he doubted that God would ever move him from plowing fields to doing ministry.

So many who read this are like Elisha. We’re plowing fields day in and day out. We’re waiting on God to come get us and put us into full time ministry. We’re waiting on God to give us the green light. But as we put our hands to the plow each day, it’s easy to begin to wonder if God has forgotten us or if we ever heard Him in the first place. We look at the calendar and wonder, “How much longer, God?” We start thinking the “what if’s” and “how come’s”. Our faith can weaken in the times that it’s intended to grow stronger.

If we aren’t doing the things it takes to grow our faith while we are plowing, how will we ever do it when we aren’t? God uses the times of preparation to grow our faith, to increase our prayer life and to build our trust in Him. He expects us to be people of prayer while we plow. He expects us to plant seeds in people who are already doing ministry. He expects us to be ministering to people around us before he instructs us to minister to the masses. We have to prove to Him that we can be faithful in the little things while we are plowing before He can trust us with more.

If you are plowing today and are waiting for the cloak to be thrown over you, don’t lose heart. This time of plowing and preparation is essential to your growth and necessary for you to be able to perform later. God has not left you in a field and forgotten you. Be a person of prayer while you are plowing. Build up your faith now that when you have to really walk by faith, you have a sufficient amount. Keep your eyes open and be ready for God’s tap to put you in. Be ready to walk away from the plow and to step into that life of faith at any moment. Until then, keep plowing.

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May 8, 2013 · 9:36 AM

Burning the Plows

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Lately I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Elisha’s calling in I Kings 19. The Lord spoke to Elijah to anoint him as his successor. When he arrived to anoint him, he found Elisha in a field plowing. He was doing his daily duties when the prophet of God walked up to him. The Bible doesn’t show that Elijah said anything. He simply walked up to him, put his cloak on him and walked away.

I don’t know if they ever met or if Elisha knew it was Elijah, but something in him knew this was a significant moment in time. He ran after Elijah and said he would follow him, but wanted to say goodbye to his mom and dad. He then broke the yoke and plow to use for firewood, slaughtered the oxen he was using and cooked a feast for his family. After that, he followed Elijah everywhere.

It’s got me wondering how many times has God tried to approach me in my daily life to call me to do something. Elisha wasn’t looking for God to call him to leave his family. He was minding his own business doing what fed his family when God called him. What if he had said, “Let me finish this field before I follow you,”? What if he had said, “I can’t leave right now. I’m doing something important”?

Are we too busy doing “important” things that we miss God’s daily calls to us? Are we so tied up doing what doesn’t make a difference for eternity that we can’t stop and do what will? I know we have to make a living, but do we take time throughout the day to shine our light so we can lead others to Christ? Ultimately what matters is what we do for Christ. Our bank accounts, our retirement fund and jobs are temporary. What’s done for the Kingdom is what will last.

What changes do we need to make in our lives today to change our focus from our earthly retirement to our heavenly retirement? When God asks us to do something that matters for eternity, will we be willing to do it? I hope I am. I want to be ready and willing to burn my plows when God calls. I don’t want to be the one who keeps plowing when He calls. I want to be willing to follow when and where He leads.

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