DAY 23: GOD CHOSE ELISHA

 THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY

(A DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM)

 

TOPIC: GOD CHOSE ELISHA

DATE: 23 SEPTEMBER, 2020

BIBLE READING: 1 KINGS 19:19-21

MEDITATION/MEMORY VERSE: 1 KINGS 19:16B (NKJV)

… And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

 

Elisha was the man whom God had chosen to continue the work Elijah started in Israel. The Bible started the story of Elijah with a terrible warning of drought to King Ahab (1 Kings 17:1) and a great slaughter of 450 prophets of Baal in the next chapter. But started the story of Elisha of his quiet life as a farmer (1 Kings 19:19), and his first recorded miracle unlike Elijah who shut down the heaven from releasing rain, was to make a poison water healthy again (2 Kings 2:19-22). This experience is quite similar to our just concluded characters- David and Solomon. David was chosen for war; while Solomon his son was chosen for peace in Israel.

From our verse of meditation, we see how God instructed Elijah to go and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat to be a prophet in his place. That is a significance of spiritual fatherhood, because when you read on in our Bible reading, we see how Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha- an act of conferring upon him the office of a prophet and also an act of sonship adoption (because a father naturally clothes his children); and this notion of fatherhood and sonship was evidently understood between them in 2 Kings 2:9-12.

This experience can be likened to our relationship with God our Father. Jesus fought our battle, and through Him we were adopted as sons of God through the baptism (like throwing a mantle) of the Holy Spirit and we are called not for war but for greater works.

David was not chosen to build the temple but his son, Solomon. Now, comparing this with the ministry of Elijah, God chose Elisha to be his spiritual son who will continue his ministry.

Also, God chose Joshua in the place of Moses because He started noticing pride in him. As we have discussed days ago, Joshua was a spiritual son to Moses. And that’s what Apostle Paul meant in his writing to the church in Rome, ‘For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.’(Rom. 11:29 KJV). Meaning God will not withdraw His grace He had conferred in a family priesthood- biological or spiritual. Joshua was chosen in the place of Moses, same with Elisha when God sensed pride in him. And what Elijah did was a spiritual adoption of sonship.

Elisha was such a humble and selfless man. From our Bible reading, we understand how wealthy he was, and when Elijah threw his mantle on him, we see his selflessness and willingness to yield to Elijah. God chooses a man who is empty of himself regardless of his influence or affluence; God chooses a man who is full of His presence, and is always ready to yield to Him.

Even when he told Elijah he needed to bid his family farewell, Elijah’s response to him shows how God never forces a vessel, but allows the vessel to exercise his freewill, “You can do that. I will not stop you.”

 

DECLARATION: NO MATTER WHAT, HOLY SPIRIT WORK THROUGH MY HEART TO ALWAYS BE WILLING TO YIELD TO YOU. CAUSE ME TO BE EMPTY OF MYSELF AND BE FULL OF YOU.

 

FURTHER STUDY: 2 KINGS 2