Introduction to A New Series: LORD I NEED A MIRACLE TODAY (2 Kings 4:1-7) (By Evangelist ITUMELENG (Itu) MABOYE) Elisha's prophetic ministry is highlighted in 2 Kings chapters 4 to 8. Its a ministry that clearly demonstrates that God cares for His people and that He sometimes works miraculous and sovereign ways that are far beyond that which we can think or imagine. Though the lessons of the passage are many, it does deal with a financial problem or need and as such it particularly speaks to our physical needs. God supplies our greatest needs in the midst of abject poverty and debt, lifting us out of the deep pangs of debt and setting us up to live in prosperity and glorious abundance. He reaches out to meet our needs according to His Will and riches in glory through Jesus Christ (Phil 4:19). The setting of the miracle of Chapter 4 is critical. One cannot miss that in Chapter 3, God used Elisha to save kings from dying from thirst and defeat in the desert! Elisha's ministry is well known within the cycles of kings palaces and courtyards as among spiritual leaders of those days. He was in the public eye, all the time, yet he had ample time to attend to the poorest and most needy, a bereaved widow from the community! So often people in ministry, especially those in the public eye, are more concerned with their reputation and popularity than they are for meeting the needs of people. Unfortunately, our pulpits and other places of public ministry are too often filled with those who, like Diotrephes, love to have first place (see 3 John 9 and Luke 22:24 and 2 Thess. 2:1-13). Those in public ministry become exclusive, prestigious, and unreachable centres of power and authority and out of reach of the common person who needs us most. But the prophet Elisha was not concerned with the praise of men nor with position or power or prestige. Though his ministry was filled with miracles they were for edification, not for show. Like the Savior, he came not to be ministered to, but to minister. Furthermore, Elisha's day was a time of great national degeneracy and apostasy, much like the times in which we live. The world as a whole was unsympathetic to God's people and to the ministry of His Word. It was tough to be a believer and to stand for the things of God. For many believers it was often hard to even make ends meet. Such was the case with the widow in 2 Kings 4: 1-7. She was evidently a believer and her husband had been a prophet, A MAN OF GOD who was involved in the ministry and teaching with Elisha. But one of the lessons of the passage is that regardless of the times in which we live and the problems we face there is no problem or need which God cannot meet if we will simply trust and obey Him. God cares (1 Pet. 5:6-7). The real issue is not the problem, but in our response to the Lord in the face of problems. How do we respond or react? This is the crucial issue! May God shut you in behind the doors of your circumstances and reveal to you the wonders of His Love and Grace!"

• published: 05 Sep 2013
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