Tag Archives: 1 Kings
For such a time as this (day 29)
In 2 Kings 4, we encounter one of the best-known miracles in Elisha’s ministry. The widow’s oil.
We are confronted in the Bible with a God of supernatural miracles, and miracles are indeed a big part of Elisha’s ministry. There is the temptation to dismiss this account from 2 Kings 4:1-7 as some would as being simply a Saga, a Novella, folklorist motif a part of oral tradition assoc with ancient times. That is how some see this passage. Indeed if we go along with the scholars, this didn’t happen. To go with some scholars is to hold that Elisha didn’t exist except in the imagination and the stories around the campfire of the Hebrew people. Continue reading
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Tagged 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Bible Notes, Bible Study, Coronavirus, devotionals, Elijah and Elisha, Holy Spirit, prayer
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For such time as this (Day 28)
Is this a prophetic voice for today as well? Think of the parallels, the nation’s club together to ally against a common enemy, they try to form a strategy to defeat this common enemy, but they struggle to even meet the challenge of this common enemy. Until someone asks What about God? What is God saying in all this ?” What I see in these days of Coronavirus is a nation, and nations running about in blind panic without reference to God. We are falling and failing as we are addressing this issue without reference to God. What is God saying to our nation? What is God saying to the Church? Is God even speaking to or through the Church anymore? Continue reading
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Tagged 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Bible Notes, Bible Study, Coronavirus, devotionals, Elijah and Elisha
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For such a time as this ( day 27)
We can at times find ourselves facing situations which are so overwhelming, so difficult, that we think God Himself couldn’t turn things around. We find ourselves just now as a world in entirely uncharted waters. Nothing has prepared us adequately for coping with life during a global pandemic. However, thankfully God has a different perspective from ours. Where we see only impossibilities and problems, these things are an easy or a light thing ( ESV) in the eyes of the Lord. Continue reading
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Tagged 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Bible Notes, Bible Study, Coronavirus, devotionals, Elijah and Elisha, prophets, Youth Club
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For such a time as this ( day 24)
It does seem as if a double portion of Elijah’s spirit did indeed rest upon Elijah, and throughout his life, he lived in a very different way from Elijah. While Elijah’s life was solitary, Elisha’s life was spent much more among people, and what is more twice as many miracles were performed by Elisha as by Elijah. Elijah (like John the Baptist himself) lived apart from people, and he emphasised the law, judgment, and the need for repentance form the people. But Elisha, like Jesus, lived among the people and emphasised grace, life, and hope (see for example the following passages in 2 Kings 4:8–37; 2 Ki 6:14–23; 2 Ki 8:7–15) Elisha was going to make his mark, and what is more fulfil the plans that God had revealed to Elijah a while before (1 Kings 19: 16). Continue reading
For Such a time as this Day 21
If there is one thing that Elijah is well known for it is the Chariots of fire. His last few moments on this earth seem to sum up his life and seal his testimony as the greatest of all Israel’s prophets. He is always known as the prophet of fire, the one whom God answered with fire upon the altar. In the end, Elijah is remembered for the chariots of fire that were to sweep him up to heaven. It is appropriate that this great man who has single-handedly raised up the altar of the Lord in Israel once again and championed the cause of his God, is taken up to heaven in such a glorious way. Continue reading
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Tagged 1 Kings, Bible Notes, Bible Study, Coronavirus, devotionals, Elijah and Elisha
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For Such a time as this ( Day 20)
For the Christian, the Jordan is often symbolic of death and of crossing over into the promise of eternal life beyond. As the Jordan was to the children of Israel the last physical barrier that separated them from the promised land of their inheritance, so death is that last barrier, that last enemy we must all face before we leave this life. The Jordan was waiting for Elijah, as it does for you and me as well, and one day we will have to cross through to the other side. Oh to face the end with the same spirit and assurance of faith as Elijah did? Continue reading
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Tagged 1 Kings, Bible Notes, Bible Study, Coronavirus, Elijah and Elisha, Holy Spirit, Songs of Praise, Testimony
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For such a time as this Day 18
In all the passages we have looked at and indeed in all of the story of Elijah thus far, this is undoubtedly the most difficult if not even troubling passage. Many Christians over the years have had difficulty accepting some of what we read in 1 Kings 22:13 and following. Could it possibly be the case that God would send forth a lying spirit as verse 22 seems to suggest? Could God approve of such lies? Continue reading
For such a time as this (day 17) Vengeance is mine
The comfort we can take from this is that revenge and justice are the Lord’s and He will repay, evil people will not get off with it, and they will all ultimately pay the price as Ahab did for selling themselves to do evil in the Lord’s sight. Nothing is hidden from our God, and although it might seem to some as if justice sleeps, that is not the case. The utter destruction that God was to visit upon the house of Ahab, may have as in other cases too taken years to transpire but as the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem “Retribution” puts it in his translation of an earlier work
Though the mills of God grind slowly; Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting With exactness grinds He all. Continue reading
For such a time as this Day 16
‘The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. (1 Kings 19:15 NIV)
It is a great comfort to know that God is in complete control even when we are not! The latter part of 1 Kings 19 shows us that God had a purpose and a plan in everything that had happened and that He was working His purposes out using Elijah to do so. Continue reading
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS (day 14)
Words are incredibly powerful things. Words can be used to express the whole range of human emotion, from love to hate to everything in between. The use of words in speeches have led to some of the most memorable moments in human history. Every day we use words in one form or other. We use words to express our inmost feelings, and words have a great power to bring healing, restoration and reconciliation. But words also have the power to destroy. Jezebel’s words to Elijah via a messenger were laced with venomous poison. (1 Kings 19:2) Continue reading
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Tagged 1 Kings, Bible Notes, Bible Study, Elijah and Elisha, Holy Spirit
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