And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. – 2Kgs 6:16 KJV
Click the link above to download the full text of this Ministration.
The king of Syria was in war with the king of Israel and he discovered that strategies discussed amongst his men within the walls of his palace was leaking out to the king Israel. He accused his men expressing his suspicion of the presence of a mole among them. In their defence, they told him of the spiritual ability of Elisha, who was a prophet in Israel, which made it possible for the king of Israel to know before hand all that was being planned by him. In order to curb the activities of Elisha, the king of Syria after receiving surveillance reports about the location of Elisha, decided to invade the camp of Elisha. They woke up in the morning to see that they were surrounded by the Syrians. This, like with any other person got Elisha’s servant worried and the scripture for today is the response of Elisha to the state of mind of his servant.
Elisha must have realised that what troubled his servant was the number of people that were breathing down hatred on them and ready to attack them. Subsequent activities of Elisha proved that he was not bothered but he still needed to calm his servant down. At that moment, two things can be concluded about the servant of Elisha;
1. What he was seeing made him feel completely unsafe and unsecured as he knew there was no way the two of them alone could match these army.
2. He also could not see Elisha having any ability to get them out of that situation.
To resolve the first dilemma of this servant, Elisha had to pray for the spiritual eyes of the servant to be opened for him to see the host of angels that God had deployed to protect them – 2Kg. 6:17. That immediately restored some level of confidence in the servant but then, Elisha by his next action showed that God does not battle like men. Although the army of Syria came with weapons, and he prayed for the opening the spiritual eyes of his servant, Elisha pronounced blindness on the Syrian soldiers – 2Kg. 6:18.
Most of the time we forget who we are and who we have accepted as Lord. Just like the servant of Elisha in that situation, we entertain fear in situations that we do not have to. We forget that there is no situation that can ever catch the Lord by surprise neither is any situation bigger than him. We are so cowardly in our approach to human threats that we forget the ability of our God. In the process we actually undermine him and he is always trying to make us see that we really do not have any reason to be afraid.
We always want to see before we believe but that does not indicate our professed faith in him and his ability to save us in all situations. It is true that the arsenal deployed against you is much more powerful than what you have or are but those with you in Jesus are more than all the enemy may have amassed against you. Jesus, in reaction to doubts expressed by Thomas and after convincing him that he actually rose in flesh said that “blessed are those who did not see but believe” – Jn. 20:29. The scripture admonishes us to walk by faith, and not by sight (2Cor. 5:7) whilst at the same time letting us realise that it is a sin not to have faith (Rom. 14:23) in God. James in his letter informs all that a doubtful person cannot receive anything from God – Jms. 1:6-8.
We may not physically have Jesus Christ with us in contrast to the situation that Elisha’s servant found himself but he it is, that said he would not leave us like orphans which is why he sent us the Holy Spirit – Jn. 14:18. You may be in a situation right now where it seems the whole world is on your case with the intention of putting you in bondage but just believe that you have a Lord who will manifest in that situation and grant you victory. The battle will not start until he arrives. He has never lost a battle and yours will not be the first.
The army of Syria were blinded into submission and defeat, I do not know God’s battle strategy for your situation but I am sure you will sing a song of victory in the end. If an Elisha can eventually convince his servant, then God in the name of Jesus Christ and through the intervention of the Holy Spirit will surprise you in that situation for you to know Him as your mighty man in battle. I pray God endows you with the gift of faith (Eph. 2:8-10) to be able to stand and remain with him in the day of trouble (Eph. 6:8-10) in Jesus name. Amen.
