Lord, Teach Us To Pray! Part 213

Prayers of the Old Testament
The Prayer of Elisha continued...

Throughout the Bible we see not so much what one man can do, but what God can do through one man. It took Elisha a prophet of the Lord to stymie the plans of a king and his entire army. It took one man through which God warned the king of Israel, to wreak havoc and confusion throughout the whole of the Syrian government.

Once he had been informed that Elisha was the source of his troubles, the king of Syria spared no time in sending a great army to surround the city wherein Elisha was rumored to reside.

For anyone else, sending an entire army might have been overkill, but this was the man who spoke the secrets of the king to his sworn enemy as though he had been there the entire time.

Even though the king of Syria did not know the God of Israel, his reaction in sending an entire army after one man betrays his fear both of the man, and of the God he served.

Just as Elisha had been a servant to Elijah, Elisha too now had a servant. As Elisha’s servant arose and went out, to his great surprise he saw the army of the king of Syria encamped all around the city.

2 Kings 6:15, ‘And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’”

You can tell allot about a man’s faith and walk with God by how he reacts to crisis. Faithless men whose walk with God is superficial have a tendency to panic and overreact when faced with the slightest of crisis. It doesn’t have to be anything gargantuan or immovable, just an obstacle they did not foresee for faithless men to act as though it was the end of the world.

Not much is said about Elisha’s servant in Scripture, but by his reaction to the Syrian armies we realize his faith was no on par with that of his master.

2 Kings 6:16, “So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’”

No hesitation, no doubt, no apprehension. Elisha’s answer was sure, to the point, and brimming over with faith in the God he served. If we realize what Elisha asked of his servant, we likewise come to realize the leap of faith he asked of him.

What Elisha was essentially saying was ‘don’t believe your eyes, don’t believe what your senses are telling you and what your mind is processing. In spite of what you see, there are more with us than with them.’

Seeing as his servant didn’t call him crazy and run for the hills tells me he understood the spiritual to a certain extent. He also had enough faith in his master’s relationship with God, wherein he accepted his premise even though he could not see it with his physical eyes.

A bond had been established between these two men, and it was evident in the servant’s reaction both in coming to warn Elisha of the armies surrounding them, as well as not calling Elisha mad for insisting more were with them than with the Syrian army when they were just two men.

Rather than try to explain how being spiritually superior Elisha was able to see the armies of heaven and his servant was not, Elisha prayed a prayer on behalf of his servant.

Herein lies another lesson for those who are willing to dig deeper than the surface, in that Elisha did not desire to keep his servant dependent upon him, but prayed for his servant’s spiritual insight and spiritual eyes to be opened.

Any man who insists he is the lone intermediary between you and God and that without him you will never know the fullness of what God has for you is a liar and the truth is not found in him.

These rabid wolves have been multiplying of late, and each portrays himself as the only means by which you will attain understanding and knowledge of the divine.

If a man is not consistent in pointing the way to Jesus and encouraging you to put in the time to form and cement a relationship with God, but rather, insists that you take him at his word, follow him and he’ll take care of the rest, your only viable option is to run. Run hard, run fast, and don’t look back because we have been forewarned time and again of these last days and those who would portray themselves as Christs.

Elisha desired for his servant’s eyes to be opened that he too might see the glory of God and what lengths God would go to, to protect one of His own. Elisha did not want to keep this glorious insight for himself, nor did he think himself special because he was able to see what his servant was as yet unable to see.

As we study the Word we realize this desire for all to experience the power and presence of God in their lives was a common virtue among true servants. Elisha desired for his servant to see what he saw, Moses desired that all would prophecy, because when it comes to the work and presence of God, there can be no selfishness in us.

I’ve met men who treat the gifts and presence of God as though they were their own, and each time it was off-putting and unpleasant. Perhaps such individuals believe that their stature is elevated due to the gifts that have been entrusted to them or they think they are somehow more special than their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but whatever the reason they exhibit proprietary tendencies which cannot be found in the Bible.

True men of God are givers by nature. They don’t hold back, they don’t try to parcel out the truth piecemeal, they desire that all would come to the knowledge of truth, all would experience the fullness of God in their lives, and all would walk in the authority of the Holy Spirit.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.