The Faith God Blesses and Uses!
“27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so” (Genesis 1:27-30).
Adam and Eve knew God by experience and through conversation with Him,
but we can be sure that their comprehension of Who and What God is was
far beyond their empirical senses. Initially, knowledge of God would
come from understanding the infinite depth and complexity of His
creation as Adam named all the various species of animals, plants, and
insects. It would immediately become apparent that the Being that
created all the earth, animals, and all that sustains their existence,
must be a very powerful Being. Adam and Eve did not exist while God was
creating the universe, so the only way they knew about the God of
creation was the testimony of the existence of the creation. They knew
the creation belonged to God because God said, “I have given you” (Genesis 1:29). They knew God was in authority because He commanded them, “16b Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat
of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”
(Genesis 2:16-17). The point in all of this is that humanity’s
knowledge of God has always been primarily by faith. There has been
historical encounters and interaction with God recorded in the
Scriptures by the inspiration of God to give us added knowledge of God
and His will, but faith is still predominant. Faith grows through
knowing the Word of God and the historical actions and conversations
with God from His Word (Romans 10:17).
Faith cannot be transferred from one person to another. A child does
not acquire faith from his parents. A child can begin to grow faith by
seeing the example of his parents’ faith, but he will need to apply his
own faith before that faith can be said to be his faith. There is no such thing as surrogate faith or proxy faith.
Just as parents cannot eat food for a child to sustain him, so it is
with faith. Everyone must build and develop his own faith.
In II Kings
2:1-15, in the account of Elisha acquiring Elijah’s mantle, people are
often confused into thinking that Elijah transferred his power with God
to Elisha in the transfer of Elijah’s mantle to Elisha. This is
certainly not the case. Power from God was not in the mantle, but in
the faith in God of the person owning the mantle. This is the substance
of the narrative of II Kings 2:1-15.
Notice in II Kings 2:5 that all the “sons of the prophets,” including
Elisha, knew that it was the very day that God was going to take Elijah
home to glory. They all were waiting to see this miracle of God. Fifty
of the “sons of the prophets” (II Kings 2:7) “stood
to view afar off.” Only Elisha was near Elijah having the kind of
faith that wanted the power with God in prayer that Elijah had.
“1 And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. 3 And the sons of the prophets that were
at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that
the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said,
Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 4 And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. 5 And the sons of the prophets that were
at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the
LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered,
Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 6 And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. 8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground” (II Kings 2:1-8).
Three different times Elisha says to Elijah, “As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.”
The prophets all knew that this was Elijah’s appointed day to die.
They probably knew some catastrophe was going to happen and Elijah’s
life would be taken. They may have even known it was going to be by a
“whirlwind.” This is why they watch from a great distance. They did
not want to be killed by the “whirlwind” too. Elijah’s consistent
admonition to Elisha to stay away was the testing of Elisha’s faith.
Could God take Elijah with Elisha in close proximity without taking
Elisha also?
“9 And it came to pass {the proximity of the death of Elijah},
when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I
shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I
pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. 11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it,
and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the
horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own
clothes, and rent them in two pieces {an act of faith in anticipation of getting Elijah’s mantle}. 13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; 14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. 15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him” (II Kings 2:9-15).
According
to II Kings 2:16-17, the fifty “sons of the prophets” thought God might
take Elijah up in the whirlwind only to cast his body upon some
mountain top or into some valley nearby. They would spend three days
searching for the body of Elijah. They most probably did not see
everything Elisha saw in Elijah’s death and home going. Although we do
not know for sure, they probably saw the “whirlwind,” but not the
“chariot of fire, and horses of fire.” Elisha did not need to go
searching for Elijah’s body with them. Elisha knew to where Elijah was
taken. There are some things we know by sight and other things we know
only by faith. Which of the two do you think God honors and blesses the
most?
In every generation of believers there have been men and women with
such high levels of faith and commitment to God, He has been able to
mold them to be wondrous vehicles of His power and grace. These people
have become living testimonies to the reality of God’s existence and His
ability to transform lives. God has moved in the lives of previously
insignificant people to shape their character in such a way as to be
able to use them to do great things. Faith is the key to all of this!
God’s use of people is not always based upon what they are, but rather upon what they could be (potentially). God sees within them a moldable spirit
(we can change our spirit) and a quality of character that could be
developed because of a level of commitment to know Him and serve Him.
As their level of commitment increases, these believers’ quest to know
God personally and intimately increases (expressed in the O.T. by the
words “seek His face”).
In
this process of growing in faith, God transforms the believer as the
believer sets aside worldly, selfish, and carnal desires to incorporate
the truths of God’s Word into his everyday life. Worldly,
selfish, and carnal desires are not compatible with the growth of faith
and spiritual growth. Their supreme quest of life was the search for a
personal and intimate knowledge of God that resulted in transformed
lives.
The transformed life that God uses to accomplish great things is the product of the quest for growing faith, not its goal. It
is a great thing to attend each of the weekly services of your local
church, but it is a vain and empty use of time if your primary goal is
not focused on meeting with God, worshiping Him in spirit and truth, and
cultivating a personal and intimate relationship with Him.
It is certainly a good thing to read and study the Word of God and
discover God’s wondrous truths, but it is a vain thing if those truths
do not bring us into a closer, more intimate relationship with God. It
is good to pray and witness, but they are empty exercises without the touch of God upon them.
What
differentiated Elisha from all the many other prophets (II Kings 2:3
& 5) prompting God to choose him as Elijah’s replacement? Why was only Elisha chosen to receive the same blessings that God had given Elijah and not all
the other prophets trained by Elijah? It would appear the reason why
was because Elisha’s central desire in life was to be used of God in
such a magnificent way as to enable him to daily glorify the God of
heaven on earth. Elisha sought to personally and intimately know the
incomprehensible God. Only God could make Himself comprehendible to
anyone. The Apostle Paul communicated this kind of knowledge of God and
the means through which any believer might attain it.
“9
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him {these things are incomprehensible and unimaginable} . 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit {the inspired Scriptures}: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which
is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of
God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are
freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (I Corinthians
2:9-13).
You may not realize it, but every time you open your Bible, every time
you listen to a sermon, or participate in a Sunday School lesson, you
involve yourself in a supernatural event called faith building. The spiritual dynamic involves three elements.
1.
A sanctified believer (separated from worldliness unto God) desiring to
know God’s will for his life and to be used to bring God glory.
2. The Holy Spirit as the Illuminator and Convictor of right and wrong
3. Knowledge of the Word of God
Elisha wanted to be used of God in the same way and to the same degree
that Elijah had been used. His life was consumed with that desire. He
did not want this for personal fame or glory. He was a man who knew
that the greatest blessing of heaven would be to daily live in the
presence of God. The desire of his heart was to know God personally and
intimately. That is a desire God delights in giving.
“1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God” (Psalm 42:1-2)?
When a true believer dies and goes to Heaven, do we cry because he is
gone or do we cry because we did not get to go with him? Answering this
question truthfully is a test of the reality of our faith. When the
Church’s desire is directed toward the world, rather than God, it will
always fail of the faith necessary to live for Him. Such people will
never be used of Him to fulfill the Great Commission. Elisha believed
his life would continue after Elijah’s departure. He was willing to
remain by Elijah’s side when God took his life. He was willing to risk
his own life to insure he had power with God as did Elijah. There was
no guarantee that God would give that same power to Elisha, even Elijah
knew that. Elisha was willing to risk his very life for the
possibility. This defines full surrender!
The people who have historically been used of God to accomplish great
things are those people who have maintained a proper perspective of
their relationship with God. We
must maintain the perspective that we exist within a much larger and
spiritual dimension of God’s presence and existence. The person of
living faith understands that his being used of God is totally dependent
on God’s presence before he can accomplish anything for God. Although
we live and minister within a physical dimension of existence within the
spiritual dimension of existence, only that which is spiritually
accomplished in the spiritual dimension will have eternal benefits.
Jesus spoke of this reality in John 15:1-8. Being connected to the
“Vine” is being connected to the spiritual power of the eternal Creator
Jesus.
“I am the vine, ye are
the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
Secondly, we must maintain the spiritual perspective that God is
seeking men and women that He can use in great ways. We must be
spiritually aware that each of us possesses the potential to be the kind
of person that God can use to magnify Himself to this world.
The reason there are so few of these people in history is because there
are so few who are willing to make the personal sacrifices in walking
away from their desires for the things of this world - FULL SURRENDER!
When considering the spiritual potential of people, we should wonder if
they will be one of those people God will use in some great way to
magnify Himself to this world. The potential to be one of those people
lies within every one of us. What might be the single thing that is
keeping God from using a person the way He wants to use him. What thing
of this world has a hold on your life that might be keeping you from
realizing the potential you have in Christ? Every one of us has
something. It is called a besetting sin. Sometimes the failure is as simple as putting your life goals for yourself before God’s life goal for you.
“1
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Hebrews
12:1 reminds us that history has recorded and surrounded us with many
faithful, but imperfect, people who were greatly used by God. In most
instances, they were their own hinderers to being used of God to even a
greater degree than they were. However, we should never lose the
context of the reality that it was their own journey through their
failures that brought them to the place where they were totally
surrendered to God and dedicated to bringing Him glory.
The
one thing that differentiated Elisha from all the other prophets was
his zeal and desire to be used of God as Elijah had been used. He would
not allow any desire in his life to hinder that from happening. How
can we be sure Elisha was that kind of person? We can know Elisha
wanted God’s will more than anything by with who he kept company and the
priorities of his life. There are four things apparent about Elisha
that are critical to understanding why God blessed him in the way He
did.
1. He knew Elijah was the man God was using. Therefore, he spent every waking hour with Elijah.
2. He wanted the power with God that Elijah had.
3. It does not appear he was greedy for power or position. It seems his motives were pure.
4. In the last hours of Elijah’s time on earth, God was testing Elisha, not Elijah.
What did Elisha see in Elijah that filled him with the desire to be
used of God in the same way? Elijah was a man with a vision of life
that transcended this world. When
Elijah understood he was going to die soon, he planned a journey to
visit the three schools of the prophets at Jericho, Gilgal, and Bethel.
Elijah had started these schools to train another generation of
faithful men to continue doing the work of God. Another generation of
doctrinally sound, applicationally driven, faithful Christians should be
the goal of every believer. Who (not what) will be the generation of people you have trained to replace you?
Never follow a leader who has no vision for the next generation or who
is not concerned that our children (and children’s children) are
prepared to live in the world that confronts their Christianity and
tempts their lives. Such a person has no vision of reality or of the
warfare in which we are all engaged. There are three abilities necessary to a blessed ministry.
1. Availability – a person must be available whenever, wherever, and to everyone
2. Dependability – God and others must be able to depend upon us to do what we have committed ourselves to do
3. Viability – a person must be proven, trained, and capable of doing what we are committing ourselves to do
Elijah
was a man of faith, of vision, of hope, and of unhesitant obedience to
God. He was a man who intimately knew God. This defines the “spirit”
of Elijah (II Kings 2:9) that Elisha wanted. Elijah’s mantle
was merely representative of this “spirit.” Elijah was anointed with
the Spirit of God in a very special, unique way. This was because
Elijah’s faith was special and unique.
The “spirit” of a man is what motivates him and what compels him to act
in certain ways or to do certain things (II Kings 2:9). Elijah’s
“spirit” had little or no inclination toward the things of this world.
He desired what God desired. Elisha could have asked for anything in
the world, but he asked for a “double portion” of Elijah’s “spirit.” God reads our hearts. He knows our desires and what we treasure in life.
“19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Elisha wanted to think like Elijah.
He wanted to have faith like Elijah. He wanted a vision of life that
transcended this temporal world and he wanted a double portion of it.
All those Godly desires made up the character of the man that God had
used. This is what Elisha wanted from God upon Elijah’s death.
Elijah’s power was not some magical thing in his mantle. The spirit
of Elijah was whatever made him a person God could use. For years
Elisha had traveled with Elijah and in those years Elisha had learned
the lesson few men learn. He had learned the lesson of what made great
men of God great men of God. Here are three summary points for you to
consider about what made great men of faith great men of faith.
1. It is not who they are. It is what they are. Elisha did not want to be who Elijah was. He wanted to be what
Elijah was and double that. The greatest failures I have known in
Christian service are those trying to be a carbon copy of someone they
hold in high regard.
2. Elisha wanted the spirit of Elijah, which he would use in his own individuality.
3. The spirit of Elijah was the spirit
of a man of God, which enabled him to hear the voice of God through all
the distracting calls from the temptations of this world. Being so
familiar with God, he knew it to be God’s voice and listened to that
voice alone.
Knowing what you know about the spirit of Elijah, what if you (like Elisha) were assured of having a double portion of that spirit if you wanted it? Would you ask for it? What if you knew that you could have the spirit that Christ possessed while He walked on this earth? Would you ask for it?
“15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:15-20).
All the resources of the Spirit of Christ are already available to you in His indwelling Spirit.
It is just a matter of what you want in life. You can be filled and
controlled by the Spirit of Christ with a vision of eternity or you can
live your life chasing after fleeting promises of happiness in selfish
pursuits. It is just a matter of faith and full surrender.
The problem of not accomplishing great things to the glory of God is
not because you have failed in the past or even the sin in which you
have lived. What determines future successes for Christ is the
decisions we make today. The mantle of Christ is always available to the Christian who will make Christ’s desires his.
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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