Serving a Friend for God

“Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah” (2 Kings 3:11).

Everyone needs a friend who is true. But what we need more is to be a friend who is true. Elijah had a friend in Elisha. Elisha was chosen by God to become a friend of Elijah. Though Elijah found Elisha and threw his mantle over him for the purpose that he might train him, prepare him, and lift him to the office of a prophet, Elijah’s training led to a deep friendship.

Are you a true friend? Do you serve your friend in the Lord with compassion, prayer, and love? Will you miss this friend when he or she is gone from earth? Today in our society many people are “thankful for us” but are you “thankful for a friend.” Elisha poured his life into his aging friend. Why did he pour water into the hands of Elijah? Is this symbolism for serving Elijah? Did Elijah’s hands carry arthritis? Did the warm water help?
 
The Master’s yoke is to led  and taught by God to become a true friend to others. God needs you and wants you to surrender to Him so that you may encourage and build others up. We all need a friend but we need to become a friend first of all.

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  • God Does Not Budge

    “Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me. My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth” (Jeremiah 15:1).

    One would think that God would hear the prayer of His servant Moses and Samuel in any circumstance. But here we learn that the people of God were resilient in their behavior unfavorably before God. They were recalcitrant and rebellious.

    Jeremiah is heavy in heart. He is running out of steam. He has prayed, prayed, and prayed some more and yet he is not seeing the God of Israel move. God doesn’t even seem to care about saving them out of their upcoming judgment and Jeremiah is also caught in the judgment.

    What do we do when America doesn’t seem to understand? What do we do when our children and grandchildren do not understand and we don’t seem to get our prayers answered? We have to be taught like Jeremiah to run with the footmen, and to contend with the horses. Don’t wear out where you are but look up to where God is.

    Our source of grace is found in the Lord. Our strength is found in Him. Things are going to get worse but we need to get better. Don’t run from your assignments because it doesn’t matter where you are God has you there to train you, to form you, and to fill you.

    Though the world loves to wander away from God, nor restrain their feet from living in pleasure, don’t you do it? Keep on the line with God. Let God toughen you! Things are going to get worse but let God make you the man or woman of God you need to be.

  • Only Grace Can Accomplish

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    Remember, that the greatest danger to your child is not the evil outside them; it’s the sin inside them that is the greatest of all threats to their well-being. We have noticed that much of parenting today, especially in the church community, centers around a perimeter of human wisdom. Rigidity along with ritual brings about a conformity that does not help conform that child to the image of Christ. In the end that child runs and we wonder what happened to that training?

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  • Ransacked

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    Israel was once a powerhouse of divine wealth. But then the nation plunged into evil by allowing idolatry and apostasy to stagnate their lives. They slid in and swam into a cesspool of evil and sinfulness with glee.

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    All over our land today are hearts and homes and churches who were once rich in prayer, the Word of God, good works, joy, but now they are ransacked and barren because Shishak has stolen the treasures of the Lord from the people of God.

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