By Pastor John Mateos Ong
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In one way or another, we’ll all be called to do our purpose. Elisha, the prophet Elijah’s protégé is just like us who have been called to serve. When the two met they already know that they need to team up for the Lord’s glory. And just like that, Elisha followed Elijah and became his servant. As servants of the Lord’s work, what would you do if this happens to you? Would you sacrifice everything you have and go on the Lord’s way or would you have second thoughts?
If your answer is the first one then praise God, but if your answer is the latter let me tell you one thing that we can pick up from the brave move Elisha made.
1. God is calling—surrender everything – no one is called just to sit back and give tithes. All of us have two callings—our general calling which is to share Jesus and disciple others, and our unique calling, which can be anything that God knows you’ll be successful. Try it out, after all, no one fails when going the Lord’s way.
Let’s continue the story, the Bible records 14 miracles of Elijah which some of these are his prophecies. Fast forward to 2 Kings 2, it is time for Elijah to go. The Lord instructed Elijah to go to Bethel, Jericho then Jordan. But Elisha refused to leave Elijah so they went together. For the last time, Elijah asked Elisha what does he want before the Lord take him. Elisha then answered to give him two portions of Elijah’s spirit. Elijah then said, 10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” After this, a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
So the Lord granted what Elisha asked and the Bible records twice as many miracles Elijah made.
2. Don’t be shy to ask for a Double Portion – double portion can mean 2 things, first is twice the power or to be considered as a firstborn, this means you will get a double portion of the inheritance. Elisha bravely asked for a double portion and it was given to him. We can clearly say that God is generous. He wants to bless us but he is just waiting for us to ask.
Because of Elisha’s request granted, he exhibited more miracles and prophesied more, even the plans of the King of Aram. And because of this, the king was alarmed and confronted his army to reveal who has been sabotaging their plan. One of them told that there was this man named Elisha who is prophesying to the King of Israel.
When the servant asked Elisha how would they defeat the Aramean, Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said: “open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw the hills full of horses of fire and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
3. Open your Spiritual Eyes – most of the time we are already content with things we see because we are not aware that there is another world, which is the spiritual world that is invisible to the naked eye. For us to see this, we need to open our spiritual eyes. Now, if there are two worlds how does it affect us? We can determine where we are focusing on which world we are seeing. When in times that we pray and nothing happens it shows that we are only looking at the physical world. We must remember Ephesians 6:12, we are not to fight with people but with the spiritual evil that surrounds us. We can use words, our knowledge and wisdom, the signs and wonders and even angels to fight against these spiritual enemies. The Bible said so that our words if we declare in the name of Jesus has power.
How can we open our spiritual eyes?
Through faith, it is when we trust in what we see by the spirit. (2 Cor. 5:7) By being born again, it is only when you are born again with the spirit that you will see the Kingdom of God. (John 3:3) By seeking, if you still can’t see God it is because you are not looking or you are not looking with a repentant heart of faith. (Deut. 4:29) Through prayer and anointing, the servant’s eyes were opened when Elisha prayed for him while in Revelation says, anoint your eyes with a salve that you may see. (Rev. 3:18)
When Elisha served his purpose, he died with a severe illness. King Joash went to him and said the same thing Elisha said when Elijah was taken up to heaven. “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
Being a man of God doesn’t exempt you to illnesses, we may question our faith because of these circumstances. We may excuse that the Lord is not real because if He is He won’t allow you to be in such a situation. But this is what we need to know, as we serve our purpose and do what is God’s will for us our rewards aren’t to be found here on earth but in heaven.
When we die believing in Jesus Christ, no matter in what way, He will grant us our reward in heaven—the promise is not here but in Heaven with our Lord and Savior.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
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