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The walk of faith is never easy nor is coming to a place of total blessing in Christ for the true believer. Many times we as believers walk in depression, poverty, bondage instead of joy, wealth and liberty which is what God's true will is for those who are His to be in. It is God's Will that we be in health and prosper, even as our soul prospers. Satan never ceases in his efforts to deprive the Child of God of his rightful inheritance in Christ Jesus. This story of Elisha and the widow's oil tells us that true faith does not stop believing just because life deals us hurts, disappointments and loss. This widow woman lost her husband and could have become like millions have today - bitter, cynical and unbelieving - about the things of God. Instead she listened to the prophet whose lone question is the Holy Spirit's question to us today - "what do you have in the house?" God works from what IS, not from what could have been or what should have been or what may have been. What do you have in the house? From this point, God can perform a miracle just as He did for this widow woman.
By Chris McDonald
TEXT: 2 Kings 4:3 - And Elisha said unto her, what shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house? And she said, Your handmaid has not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
The walk of faith is never easy nor is coming to a place of total blessing in Christ easy and without trial for the true believer. Many times we as believers walk in depression, poverty, bondage instead of joy, wealth and liberty which is what God's true will is for those who are His. While it is God's Will that we be in health and prosper, even as our soul prospers, (3 John 2) Satan never ceases in his efforts to deprive the Child of God of his rightful inheritance in Christ Jesus. This story of Elisha and the widow's oil tells us of such trials without doubt, but it also tells us that true faith does not stop believing just because life deals us hurts, disappointments and loss. This widow woman lost her husband and could have become like millions have become today - bitter, cynical and unbelieving - about the things of God. Instead she listened to the words of the prophet whose lone question to her then is the Holy Spirit's question to us today - "what do you have in the house?" Let the reader understand first and foremost before going on in this journal that God works from what IS, not from what could have been or what should have been or what may have been. What do you have in the house? From this point of faith and place in one's life, God can perform a miracle just as He did for this widow woman no matter the answer to that question.
As we open this narrative we see that one of the sons of the prophets died and his wife, and like the wives of most prophets, was left penniless. According to the Chaldee, Jarchi, and the rabbins, this woman who "cried," was the wife of Obadiah, an Israelite who was chief in the household of King Ahab (1 Kings 18:3). Amid great spiritual degeneracy he maintained his fidelity to God, and interposed to protect the Lord's prophets, an hundred of whom he hid at great personal risk in a cave (4, 13). Ahab seems to have held Obadiah in great honor, although he had no concern whatsoever about Obadiah's God nor did Ahab care about the prophetic community as would be seen in his distaste for Elijah. The last notice of him is his bringing back tidings to Ahab that Elijah, whom he had so long sought for, was at hand (9-16)"Go," said Elijah to him, when he met him in the way, "go tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here." (CLARK) Now upon Obadiah's death we have the making of one of the greatest miracles in the life of Elisha the prophet.
The Creditor is Come
2 Kings 4:1 The wife of Obadiah cries after the death of Obadiah to Elisha that his creditors had come and were demanding payment for his debts and because she did not have the money to pay them, they had threatened to take their two sons as slaves. Under the Mosaic law allowed a creditor to take a debtor and even his children, if he couldn't pay, that they might serve the creditor until the year of jubilee, at which time they were free again (Leviticus 25:39-41; cp. Neh. 5:5-8; Job 24:9; Isaiah 50:1; Matthew 25:25).
Children, according to the laws of the Hebrews, were considered the property of their parents, who had a right to dispose of them for the payment of their debts. And in cases of poverty, the law permitted them, expressly, to sell both themselves and their children.
It was by an extension of this law, and by virtue of another, which authorized them to sell the thief who could not make restitution, Exodus 22:3, that creditors were permitted to take the children of their debtors in payment. Although the law has not determined any thing precisely on this point, we see by this passage, and by several others, that this custom was common among the Hebrews. Isaiah refers to it very evidently, where he says, "Which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves; Isaiah 50:1.
Isaiah 50:1
And our Lord alludes to the issue of creditors and debtors in Matthew 18:25, when He mentions the case of an insolvent debtor, Forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded HIM to be SOLD, and his WIFE and CHILDREN, and all that he had; "which shows that the custom continued among the Jews to the very end of their republic." (CLARK).
This story in Matthew alludes to something I want to deal with more as it relates to spiritual freedom and slavery.
Matthew 18:25
Neighbor, if the church of this modern 21rst Century does not CEASE to stop resisting and rejecting the moving and operation of the Holy Ghost, the creditors are coming to take our children captive! I want to say it again. The bondmen are coming for our children and the ONLY hope for this generation of young people (old people too for that matter) is the freedom found in a ONE encounter with the HOLY GHOST brought to us through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for us at the Cross! I want to say it a third time - this time for the backslidden church to hear it - there is only ONE source of freedom from the creditors and the bondmen of the powers of darkness that are destroying our young people through drugs, alcohol, illicit sex, pornography, greed, hatred, racial prejudice, rape, murder, idolatry, Satan worship, and the occult and that is the POWER of the HOLY GHOST.
The entire discourse of Romans 6, 7 and 8 is a discourse about spiritual FREEDOM that we have obtained through Christ and justification by FAITH! Neighbor, if you say you're saved and yet bound by the powers of darkness, something is wrong with your salvation experience! I'm not advocating nor insinuating there is such a thing as Christian perfection; the Word of God does not teach such. But what I AM saying is this: He that the SON has set FREE is free indeed!" Glory to God. When Jesus Christ went to the Cross 2,000 years ago, He paid the price for man's FREEDOM from every single sin, every single bondage, every single vow of poverty, every homosexual and lesbian deception and power, every single sickness, every single disease, every single act of unbelief - Jesus PAID it ALL, ALL to Him I owe, SIN had left a CRIMSON stain, but He washed it white as SNOW. Paul said in Romans that because we are justified by faith, we are FREE from the fruits of unrighteousness; The HOLY GHOST says through Paul in Romans 8:2 that the Spirit of LIFE in Christ Jesus has made us FREE from the law of sin and death!
I have never minced words in these journals and there is no reason to start now. Man of God, get your head out of the Purpose Driven Life module and seminar books and get your head back into the WORD OF GOD and let the HOLY GHOST fill your soul with the message that can ALONE set captives free and break the chains and the shackles of sin off our children today who are in line for the creditors and bondmen of this world. Sin brings slavery friend. The powers of darkness bring SLAVERY!
Three weeks ago now I was in service at our local church when a young man bound by drugs for nearly 20 years came forward. The prophet of God, who is also our pastor and quickly becoming a spiritual father to this writer more than he knows himself, received a word of knowledge from God, called the young man up and anointed the young man's TONGUE with oil and declared to him, "this day by the power of the blood of Jesus and the power of the HOLY GHOST you are set free from the power of drug addiction and bondage." The young man began to cry and weep, repented. I sat in service this past Sunday and this young man has been in church ever since FREE from the powers of darkness. The pastor asked him publicly "have you done drugs since we prayed for you?" The young man with a SMILE on his face declared "NO!" "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" Neighbor, that is spiritual FREEDOM and that is the only POWER and HELP our young people can hope to be afforded today if they want to be free of the powers of darkness! Are you hearing me neighbor? Are you hearing me church? Are you hearing me backslidden apostate leaders who think the path to spiritual freedom is sticking people in rehab centers and putting them through "celebrate recovery," and every other glorified self-help 12-step programs that just have a Christian title attached to them? I can assure you of this. This young man didn't have to go through 12 steps to get free. He had to go through ONE step and that was BEING TOUCH by the HOLY GHOST. ONE TOUCH of the HOLY SPIRIT and this drug addict was set free from years of addiction.
I've mentioned her before, I'll mention her again and probably a lot more in the future. Kathy Herrick, a new friend to this family ministry, from Macon Georgia, bound by the powers of alcohol for 18 years and I mean BOUND, known as a binge drinker meaning every single day she would drink alcohol for hours upon hours without stopping and with no care or power to stop. One night in the wee hours of the morning, she is watching our pastor on television preach and offer something he gives out freely known as "blood of Jesus anointing oil," and sends for it. She don't know why she does this but as an act of faith (the oil is not mystical or anything, it's a point of FAITH) she anoints herself with this oil, gives her heart to Jesus and starts feeling something has changed inside of her. She testified (you can see her testimony on our website soon) last weekend (August 2007) that the next morning she wakes up getting ready and realizes there is no more desire to drink again. My Lord, some body reading this needs to shout. Somebody needs to praise God. Somebody needs to shout to rafters the praises of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who ALONE can set the captive free! Kathy Herrick didn't need a rehab center or a 12-step program to get free and neighbor Praise the Slain Lamb of God forever and forever, those who trust in HIS SHED BLOOD and truly are touched by the HOLY GHOST will not not rehab centers either!
The reason the church in its utter stupidity and moronic thinking sends people to such places is because we've rejected the HOLY GHOST. Entire denominations sink into a moral abyss claiming they are preaching the true gospel when in fact they take out the very POWER of the Gospel when they stop preaching the Cross and thus reject the operation and moving of the HOLY GHOST. If we don't stop resisting the HOLY GHOST, we're going to get what we're asking for the creditors and the bondmen and the powers of darkness are going to come and put our children in prison and chains. MILLIONS are bound by the power of the devil because mom and dad or some backslidden bag of wind preacher or ministry director or Sunday school teacher told them this "HOLY GHOST" stuff just wasn't for today. I know of a lady right now whose son is in prison who mocked and lampooned and cursed this writer when he married his wife, her best friend, not for any other reason but because I spoke in tongues and believed in the power of God. Her son was bound by things that I can't even write in words in this journal; yet her way of handling it was to quarantine him and locking him in his room because she did not believe in the power of the HOLY GHOST. She kept telling my wife over and over "I just don't know what to do with him." When Lisa, said "Lay hands on him and pray in the Spirit," she was mocked and told "I can't believe you married a Pentecostal who speaks in tongues; I could have handled it better if you had married an ex-murderer better." Got to love those Southern Baptists; oops didn't mean to name the denomination she is apart of. You better hear me neighbor. YOU can't quarantine sin! I can't quarantine SIN. The church world cannot quarantine sin! Why you mighty ask? Because Sin is both a NATURE and an ACT, both WHICH have a POWER to them that beggar description and a power than mortal man can never overcome within the confines of his own strength or mental capacity. That is why psychology is such a failure; you can't "think" away the bondage of sin and the powers of darkness. Sin can't be dealt with laying on a sofa talking to another sinner. Got help us. One sinner can't set another sinner free.
Man don't need quarantining, man needs to be set free from the powers of darkness by the power of the HOLY GHOST which comes as a result of the SHED BLOOD of the Lord Jesus Christ! We don't need a counseling seminar or session, we need a POWER session; a HOLY GHOST session; a laying on of hands SESSION. Glory to God!
The greatest threat to the power of God that will change society is not society. It’s backslidden, mossy-back, pharisaic, religion that stands in the way of God and what He wants to do in this last hour. Most of the church is like the "church" council in Acts chapter 4 and the group Jesus addressed in Matthew 12 whom He severely warned they were close to blaspheming the Spirit of God by their unbelief and attributing the works of the Spirit to Satan. They couldn’t argue over the miracle that had taken place - a demonically possessed man who before could not speak or think now could SPEAK and THINK. Luke records in Acts chapter 3 a man lame from birth was healed by this same powers through the hands of Peter and John. He stood healed in front of the religious but yet instead of praising God, they had to “confer among themselves” about it. Peter and John says, “whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more unto God, you be the judge.” Then they say something that is very key and what I speak to this generation of church goers today: “WE CANNOT BUT SPEAK THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD.”
The church has a hard time arguing away that millions of people have been touched by the power of God and gloriously set free from the powers of darkness. Millions have received the glorious infilling of the Holy Ghost and the experience of speaking in tongues as those gathered did on the day of Pentecost in the Bible. (Acts 2:4) Luke also mentions this experience throughout the book of Acts. Paul also gives great attention to it in his epistle to the Corinthians. Others have been set free through words of knowledge, prophecy, gifts of healing, and other gifts of the Spirit. Do you know that the Pentecostal movement is the LARGEST religious movement in the WORLD right now?? It's getting bigger and bigger everyday friend - WHY? Because it was foretold in scripture that in THE LAST DAYS God would POUR OUT HIS SPIRIT UPON ALLLLLLLLL FLESH! Friend, we're in that time now. Let me change that, we are just on the brink of that time now. We are seeing a glimpse of what is coming. AND WE CONTINUE TO WANT TO FIGHT THIS??????
Joel 2:28-29
I ask you youth pastors, "When's the last time you've led your young people into a time of just intercession and prayer until the glory of God filled the room your young people were in and they began to cry, weep, repent, and were baptized in the HOLY GHOST, speaking in tongues, prophesying? How long YOUTH PASTOR has it been since you took the WORD OF GOD and instead of reading them a damanable lie out of a best-selling BOOK you've got before the Lord, gotten something in your soul and declared, "THUS SAITH THE LORD!?" HOW LONG, how long, how long? The creditors are coming, the creditors are coming, the creditors are coming and without the HOLY GHOST, without the anointing of the HOLY GHOST, without the power of God protecting our children, they will go into bondage and debt to this world system and the powers of darkness.
I ask you in tears right now, "Do they see the power of God on display or do they hear sermons and messages that DEGRADE and DENY the supernatural working of the HOLY GHOST?" Don't think those people on television are faking it. They are listening to demon spirits, who are also called "familiar" spirits in scripture, lying devils performing miracles and deceiving MILLIONS in this hour with a display that many don't understand or even believe. But we will believe in one or the other very soon. I love something my brother said a few years back in one of our family conferences when he stated, "the Lord is getting ready to remove the gray areas; it's soon to become so black and white as to what side we choose there will be question for discussion on where we're going to place our faith - either in the powers of God and the HOLY GHOST or deny those powers and embrace the darkness of Satan!" The lines are about to be erased neighbor. There is not going to be a fence to strattle much longer! There is not going to be a profession of Christ yet not showing one ounce of a POSSESSION of Christ in our lives and us surviving the onslaught of hell's vomit much longer! Demonic power is just as real as God's power BUT GREATER, GREATER GREATER is God's POWER than ANYTHING Satan can offer our children if we will but BELIEVE as this widow woman will in this narrative as we shall see. Don't be foolish in thinking Satan does not have the power to deceive; it is his greatest and really most lethal weapon when it comes to destroying men's souls.
I could write an entire journal on this
first verse and those words "the creditor is coming" but I need to
move on. In the midst of this tragedy, this dear widow through tears
I'm sure goes to the prophet and pleads for his help. He speaks to
her the words I believe the Holy Spirit is speaking to us today,
"what do you have in the house?" What Do You Have In The House?
2 Kings 4:2
I'm certain this woman had to be in a deep state of despair not only because of the creditors, but also dealing with the loss of her husband, who incidentally was a prophet of God. As stated many believe he was Obadiah and was part of the school of the prophets taught by Elisha. I'm going to come back to this husband at the end of this journal because there is a serious question I must ask you reading this today about him; but for now I want to look at the widowed woman and her faith. Many a Christian is like this widow; depressed, poverty stricken; in bondage; despairing; discouraged; down and out; not caring to live or die, and in some if not most cases afflicted and oppressed by the powers of darkness. She comes to Elisha who was now the head of the schools of the prophets, and begged for relief.
Notice that last statement, "she came to Elisha the prophet." Elisha did not come to her. This woman could have grown bitter, cynical, unbelieving, doubting God and His providence and care for her life as MILLIONS who are reading this have become today! I want to stop here and even if we have to pick this journal up in a second part I want to park my car sort of speak and talk to you reading this journal today in a very very serious manner. How many of you reading this today have suffered loss as a Christian be it a husband, a job, a loved one, a spouse, a marriage, a relationship, money? How many of us are not living in the prosperity that God wills for ALL His children to live in? I'm not about to become an expert and try and dissect why some people prosper more than others and on the flip side some Christians go through trial after trial and suffer more than others; I know there are spiritual laws that govern the Kingdom of God and our obedience to God goes a LONG way in determining those factors. The Bible tells us in 3 John 2 that it is God's will that we "prosper and be in health," as our soul prospers!" If you looked at this situation however from any viewpoint, but especially this woman's standpoint, she was doing anything BUT prospering! Her husband, who was a prophet, DIED. Get that in your heart and hear this writer today.
How many millions of Christians sit on the shore of shipwreck this hour because something happened they didn't believe they deserved or something they feel God caused to happen to them. As a result they became bitter, fell away from the Body of Christ, went into sin and have never come back? How many are in hell today who once were believers but because of disappointment and setbacks in life grew cold and indifferent to God and lost their way and ultimately their soul? Jesus said that in the last days, "because iniquity shall abound the LOVE of many shall wax COLD!"
Matthew 24:10-12 - And then shall many
be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another. [11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many. [12] And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold. [13] But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall
be saved.
Let me take that thought and get this thought out of the way right here and now not to offend you more but to help you with clarity on something the devil has lied to many about. GOD IS NOT TO BLAME FOR ANYTHING! I want to say that a million times again. GOD IS NOT TO BLAME FOR ANYTHING ANYTHING ANYTHING ANYTHING! That is the utter stupidity and moronic nature of psychology, even so-called Christian psychology which demands people to "forgive" God for something they think He has done. God does not need forgiveness, WE DO! God is not subject to man's interrogation of HIM as some criminal on display in a trial as the world system through psychology does all the time. It sickens me to hear the homosexual community put their lifestyle on God - "God made me this way." NO!and a MILLION times NO! You CHOSE to believe a lie of the devil and because you chose that path of darkness you embraced a lifestyle and became BOUND by the spirit of homosexuality. That could be said of any sin, not just homosexuality. James declares "let NO man say when he is tempted, he is tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil!" Are you hearing me neighbor?
James 1:13-14
Homosexual, I'm not meaning to sound callous or cold but you were DRAWN away from the natural desires God created ALL men (and women) with into LUST and enticed and as a result of YOUR CHOICE, NOT GOD'S you have become what you have become. It is not GOD who made you this way, it is the DEVIL, the THIEF who steals, kills and destroys who drew you away into a lifestyle of perversion. I have an acquaintance who once preached the gospel, saw people get healed in his meetings, prophesied to people, who just within the past year went to his wife of nearly 15 years and said "I've been hiding the fact I'm a homosexual for years from you, my family and my peers." He left two children, a devastated wife and a devastated arena of ministry friends who still pray for his soul that he return to God. The horror of this is not even the damage this caused to his family but the deception he finds himself in now. I spoke with him about 8 months ago trying one last time to reason with him; all he would say over and over and over was "I have prayed and asked God to deliver me and because He didn't then I guess that means God wants me to be this way. I don't feel anything is wrong with this lifestyle it's who I am and God accepts me for that and if I died right now I will go to heaven." Friend, don't be deceived this man will NOT go to heaven if he dies in this state. I don't care how many churches tell him that he will.
But let's get off of the homosexuals and get back to folks just like yourself who may be reading this and you're not bound by some perversion or lust perhaps, but things have happened and you've become bitter at God. I look at this woman and wonder how she found the way to go ask Elisha for help after her husband's death. The Bible don't tell us how he died but it does say "he feared the Lord," meaning he was not a sinner but a believer under the Old Testament economy of grace. If we know that to be true which it is, because the Bible says it is, then we also know that NOTHING that happened to this prophet and his family happened EXCEPT God at the very least allowed it to happen. That is something someone needs to hear.
Child of God, you are not a by-product of or subject to "chance," "whims," "Happenstance," "possibility thinking" (God how long has it been since I heard that term from the Shuler ministries of the 1980s) or "luck." I attend two universities and every single professor I've had so far is always wishing the students "good luck." Neighbor, there is NO SUCH THING as LUCK when it pertains to the child of God. EVERY STEP of a good man is ORDERED by the Lord. Nothing that touches us as children of God does so BEFORE it first touches God! Nothing that Satan seeks to do to us happens except it first goes through God. Let me interject this thought as well: there is certainly something to be said also for our own reaping and sowing in this to be sure. Many times when bad things happen to us as Christians the devil is no where to be found but we look into the mirror and realize the devil we most fear is the devil inside us known as "SELF" looking back at us in the mirror.
My pastor gave a great example last Sunday when he stated people get a flat tire and just say almost automatically, "well the devil made me had a flat tire." NO, the devil did not make you have a flat tire. If you see steel spokes coming out of your tire and you keep driving on it - that is your own bad judgment that caused you to have a blow out in the middle of nowhere. I've had flat tires and with as much traveling as I've done it's a miracle none of these flats occurred in the middle of nowhere but usually occurred within feet of an establishment or where I could get help quickly. My wife had a flat about a year ago and I was en route to get her when she called back and said "two men just drove up in a van, got out fixed the tire, got in and left and said "God bless." Now did Satan cause the flat? No! But God's PROVIDENCE and PROTECTION over our lives because we belong to HIM caused two strangers to stop and assist her on a busy Interstate 75 south of Knoxville. Every GOOD gift and PERFECT gift comes from God. His mercy endures forever. So understand that while its not a black and white issue sometime and there are many gray areas of discussion when talking about Christian suffering, we must settle it that ANYTHING, be it good or bad, that takes place is in reality controlled by God in that He either directly causes it or allows it to happen at the behest of the enemy; there is also the general reaping and sowing of life where our own decisions cause things to happen to us that are not so good sometimes. Sometimes God chastises us by allowing certain things to happen as in the case of Solomon, who the Lord would punish for his idolatry by raising up and empowering his enemies to come against him in battle.
No matter WHAT happens to us or WHY it happens that is never the issue. The issue is FAITH and are we going to be like this woman, and like countless others we read of in the Bible and throughout Church history, declare as Job in their heart, "though you slay me, yet I'll trust you!" Neighbor that is faith. It's easy to declare that when there is money in the bank, job is going great, kids are all saved, we're driving around in a Mercedes Benz, not a care in the world and nothing happening whatsoever to cause us grief. It's easy to shout when the creditors are not knocking at the door and coming to get our children because we can't pay our bills.
I'm going to take a quick jab here at a certain movement that would look at this woman and probably declare as I've heard some imbeciles insinuate that she did not have the right kind of faith or if she did have the right kind of faith the husband would have been healed and this would not be happening to her. Oh really? And just where does this stupidity and utter darkened reasoning come from? I tell you where it comes from. It comes from people who don't know what TRUE faith really is and people who would have you believe they've never had a bad thing happen to them in their life. Neighbor, faith is not some slot machine where we roll a lucky seven and put in the right formula into heaven's slot machine and out pops a spiritual Genie courtesy of the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you this: this woman had exactly the RIGHT type of faith, the RIGHT stuff, the RIGHT heart and the RIGHT leading when this tragedy struck. She did not blame God for her plight, she called on the prophet! I want to say it again. She did not sit in a sea of self-pity, of depression, of despair, blaming God, becoming bitter at him and thinking "well Lord, if you really cared about me you would have not let this happen to me!" NOTHING GOD DOES IS UNJUST or UNFAIR. Even when He does ultimately pass judgment in FULL on this earth - HIS JUDGMENTS WILL BE 100% FAIR, RIGHTEOUS, TRUE and HOLY! Let me restate something I said earlier. God is not subject to man's interrogation of HIM! We are to be subject to HIS interrogation of US! And His interrogation is not so much an interrogation but an INVITATION to come reason with Him, saith the Lord, that we may come and know our condition before Him that He may blot out our iniquity and sin and show us our true condition so He can truly change us and place us in a state where blessing comes and we are set free by His grace and power!
Isaiah 1:17-20
Incidentally, Isaiah's proclamation of this invitation includes a demand to "plead for the widow," which we will be taking up in a soon to come journal the church needs to hear. Look at the words of this invitation and consider this child of God the next time you hear someone tell you "well you just need to forgive God for doing this to you or allowing this to happen." God does not NEED our forgiveness, we are SINNERS in need of HIS!
I'm not going to be able to finish this journal in one writing so I'm going to close for now. This woman had the right kind of faith in that the OBJECT of her faith was God and His mercy and providence, not faith that is measured by so much what takes place immediately but faith that sees the eternal and embraces that which beyond the temporal. Elisha looks at her and says, "what shall I do for you, tell me, what do you have in the house?" The woman's answer is the answer of most, "Lord we don't have anything in the house, SAVE a pot of oil!" This is where we're going to pick up this story in part two of this journal.
As I close, let me ask you something very serious. Are you bitter at life, God or someone else today? Has life's creditors and bondmen come and taken things precious to you and even though you are of the household of faith you have not gotten beyond the hurt and despair of the loss? We lost our mom two years ago and it stung to be frank at the quickness she left us. Two weeks after we found out she had cancer she died. She had probably known this a lot longer than my brothers and I did but those 14 days seemed like an eternity at times. I remember sitting with her every day with this growing sadness inside that she was about to leave us even though I knew in my heart I would see her on the other side. Mom was very private and she didn't want to discuss the situation with us which made it harder to be honest. I wanted so many times to reach over and just say mom, "I love you and I know you're dying, goodbye for now and we'll see you on the other side." I never got to do that because she refused to admit she was dying. You ask, "did you pray for your mom's healing?" Yes we did but not how you think we prayed.
Before I finish that statement, let me ask the question I alluded to earlier in this journal about the husband. God is about to perform a mighty miracle in this widow's life; a miracle that will bring her finances into the place she pays the creditors off and she and her children can live off the rest for the entirety of their days. If God did all of this for her, which He did, as we will see in the second part of this story, then I ask you this, "Why didn't He just heal the husband and save this widow from this heartache?" Think about that till we meet again. It's not a black and white, this and that answer is it? But let me state the tremendous power behind it. The ANSWER to this question MUST be answered and addressed by every single human being on this earth and how you answer this will go A LONG way in determining whether you spend eternity in heaven or in hell.
Two days after I got to the hospital in Tallahassee, Florida where my mom lay, the doctors told us she was dying and it would be months at most. The doctor said that a cancerous tumor they had found two days earlier had spread so much on her colon it had eaten away parts of her liver. I remember standing in the hallway of that hospital crying with my other two brothers who were doing the same. I looked at Todd and said "Todd, how do you feel we need to pray bro? I know God can still do a miracle in her life." Todd looked at me and the second he did I knew almost as if I was reading his thoughts that our mom had suffered many years with bitterness and depression, anger, which thankfully she got resolved before this happened, but in all fairness my mom had a very very very tough life, especially the last 10 years from 1995 on until her death. The doctors warned us all that if she did endure the initial crisis that she was going to face six months of extreme pain and suffering that would beggar description. I fell down on my knees right there in the hallway of the hospital with my brothers Todd and John beside me and we begin to agree in prayer, and just said, "Lord, we ask today for Your MERCY on our mom. Heal her Lord in Jesus name but if there is not hope of healing fully and completely (we didn't ask for a half healing where she'd be in the same spiritual state she was before this happened) including her mental and emotional states, then take her on to be with you before this suffering causes her to relapse into greater bitterness."
Friend, when I write these journals I try to be as transparent as a human being can be and this is the God's honest truth. Hearing those words come out of my mouth were the hardest I think I've ever stated. You see, I believe God heals today and He heals TOTALLY and completely. Divine healing is part of the atonement that Christ paid for at the Cross through His shed blood and through the stripes that He bore on His body. The enemy began to mock me in that hallway and said, "well you sure are showing a lot of faith there aren't' you asking God to take your momma on?" I just cried the more and asked God again, "Lord grant mercy, mercy Lord, is all we ask no matter what form Lord that mercy takes." The Saturday night before she slipped off into the final coma before she died that following Sunday afternoon was the hardest but as I sat there and watched her at peace with God, herself and finally a resolution that the toils of this life were soon to end I saw the mercies of God when my mom went on to the other shore of Glory at 4:30, May 29, 2005. Did it hurt? You better believe it hurt and it still hurts today to feel the void that will always be there.. We don't go through Christmas seasons the same anymore since her departure for Christmas was her favorite time of the year and ours under her care when we were young children. Do I wish God would have healed my mom? YES! But I also know my mom had issues in her soulish realm that may have prevented the physical healing that God wanted to and could have brought. But that Sunday afternoon in 2005 the Lord granted my mom mercy and answered our prayers in taking her and as a result sparing her from the suffering that was probably coming to her body had she stayed alive six months longer. The Lord HEALED my mom by taking her to Glory!! I can assure you she don't have colon cancer where she is at right now!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE GOD PRAISE GOD!
I also know that I did not become bitter at God for this but instead this event caused me to realize more so than I have in 43 years on this earth that eternity beckons for us all and our days on this earth are but a flicker of a candle away from ending. It brought me closer to Him and to be frank I've never felt a stronger anointing on my life than during the past 24 months since that sad day two years ago now.
I go back to this woman's husband. Perhaps when he got to heaven the Lord met him at the gate and said, "You're wife wants you back do you want to go back down there?" I can almost hear him say as I'm sure my mom said when she got to heaven, "Lord, as hard as it may be on my family, I don't want to go back to that sinful atmosphere called Earth; I want to stay here in Your presence where there is warmth, and peace, and glory and HEALING!" That is why the Psalmist under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost said, "Precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of his saints." Precious means "costly," meaning yes it's costly to the Body of Christ here on earth to lose a spiritual giant and source of blessing but in heaven's eyes, the death is PRECIOUS meaning heaven is gaining earth's loss.
When the Apostle Paul wrote the 11th chapter of Hebrews listing the triumphs and perils of those in the hall of faith he declared under the unction of the Holy Ghost, "of whom the world was not worthy) meaning that the value of the few true Christians in this world are greater in value and worth than the balance of all the world put together with its temporal riches, vain glory and wicked pursuits.
True faith may experience setbacks and what seems like defeat at times but true faith NEVER QUITS. What is seen as a defeat in the world's eyes, and sadly most of the church's eyes, is not defeat, but VICTORY in the making! What do you have in the house today? Believe God, trust in HIM NO MATTER where you may be today. HE is WORTHY of our trust and faith and can be depended on to do what is RIGHT and BEST in ALL circumstances for our good and HIS GLORY! I leave you today with my favorite verse, one I quote often, especially the last few months which have been a season of testing and trial and one I pray you hear today through the power of the Holy Ghost:
Romans 8:28
Praise God.
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