II Kings 1-3
As we read through the history of Israel, every now and then we see times of great evil – almost too much to imagine coming from people who were supposed to know God. Yet during those times, we also see God move in unprecedented ways, demonstrating the reality of who He is.
Such times were those of Elijah and Elisha. They were men who walked in God’s power, and sometimes the outcomes seem strange.
I love the story about Elijah being taken up into heaven.
The kind of close walk these men had with God was not casual. They had to pursue that relationship with their whole hearts. Only someone who was fervent about the call would be able to withstand the alienation and persecution from those around them.
That’s why Elijah kept telling Elisha to stay where he was and not to follow him further. (2:2-6). It was a test to see if Elisha was intent enough on the call. Was he willing to pay the price? He proved himself worthy and he received the blessing he sought: a double portion of the anointing.
One more comment, however. Once he saw Elijah leave and once he saw the mantle being thrown to the ground, Elisha still had to pick it up. The mantle fell for him, but not on him.
That is significant for all of us. There are purposes of God on every believer’s life – some in pulpit ministry; some in marketplace ministry. But everyone has a call.
The call is there, and the mantle gets thrown to us. Yet we have to pick it up and walk with it. Our lives don’t just happen to us; we live them intentionally. We have free will.
Whatever your call, you have a choice. You may pick up the mantle and walk with it, or you may let it stay on the ground at your feet – and never fulfill what your Father has for you.
I want to pick up the mantle that is mine, don’t you? I want to live the life my Father has for me, and I want to fulfill my destiny in Him.
Luke 24:1-35
The Emmaus Road story is awesome. Jesus walks with two men on the road to Jerusalem. “Their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him,”(v. 16) but they begin sharing with Him about all that had happened concerning His death.
Then He talks: sharing with them how all of the scriptures from Moses onward had spoken of Jesus, the Messiah. He reveals to them the truth locked up in the Old Testament scriptures.
Later, after their eyes are opened and they recognize Jesus, He disappears. They say, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scripture to us?”(32)
The Word was being revealed by God’s Spirit to their inner man – the hidden person of the heart. That’s why they felt it so deeply. I have had a similar experience when the Lord was speaking to me about the Word. There have been times when I would literally feel it within my being.
God’s Word is deeper than our natural minds. Our spirits – and not our minds – are equipped to communicate with our Father, and our understanding goes beyond the realm of reasoning.
That’s why, when people don’t have spirits to understand, they think that Christianity is foolishness. They are trying to understand with their minds, and that’s impossible.
When I turned my life to the Lord and became born again, the Bible came alive to me in a miraculous way. Up until that time, I had read the Bible, but had never understood it.
If you are reading the Bible and feel that you are not understanding, ask God to reveal it to you. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you through Jesus. Ask Him to take the blinders off of your spiritual eyes wo that you might see the truth.
He is ready and willing to do it, if we just ask.
