Breakfast For Your Soul

Monday, April 12, 2010

When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.” But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there. The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?” “It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!” “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.”And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please make them blind.” So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. Then Elisha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to the city of Samaria. As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?” “Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.” So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.

[2 Kings 6:8-23]

A Whisper Away…

Good Afternoon Beloved,

Excitement and intrigue can be found all through the pages of scripture.  In the book of Kings there is no shortage of great adventures.  In them, we see the nation of Israel very much like us.  They had stellar mountaintop experiences, as well as times of pain and degradation.  This was one of those times.  They were at war.  Enemies on all sides.  Yet God had not forgotten the plan He had for them.  The covenant He had made with this tiny nation.  What I found fascinating was the dialog amongst the Syrian king and his servants.  When he would try to launch an attack against the King of Israel, it would fail.  He started to wonder if he had a spy in his camp.  He questioned his servants to see if he could find out who it was, and heads would have rolled… literally!  Can you imagine the fear in the hearts of his people?  Someone spoke up and told him that it wasn’t any of them.  He let him know that there was a prophet in Israel that told his King of every single plot.  His next move?  Take out the prophet of course… Now common sense should have told this King that if this prophet had a God that was close enough to him to hear his every whispered plot, that this had to be some powerful God.  He should have wondered what other powers this God could perform?  Foolishly, he thought that it would be easy to capture Elisha.  His men ended up blinded and led into a trap.  They could have been easily killed, but the King of Israel wisely asked counsel of Elisha on how to deal with them.  Elisha, told him to show mercy and kindness and it worked.  They army went home and did not come back.  Interesting.  Even more interesting is that the God of the Universe, the Creator, could be so close to a person and they not even know it.  To be right smack in the midst of the presence of God and be completely unaware..plotting to do evil, to God’s people, right in God’s face… wow.  It happens everyday, as the world grows more and more insane… but God!  Our eyes can get a little dim too.  Just like the prophet’s apprentice.  Can you imagine what was going through his mind as he looks outside and sees an army coming to get them!  The panic he must have experienced.  Only to have your boss tell you to basically relax… no worries… there are more with us than with them… HUH?!  I can see him saying to himself, “now at last check there was me and him… is this old dude crackin’ up?.. Oh Lord we gon’ die!”.  Every once in a while, God cleanses our sight so that we can see things we were never able to before.  Our vision grows a little clearer and we can step out into it a little further.  We see that God is our defense, and that there is no-thing we can not do through Christ who gives us strength!

…. and that Beloved is Good News!

Y Stress? … U Blessed!

Have A Fabulous Day

Regina

“Have A Little Talk With Jesus”, Donnie McClurkin, Karen Clark Sheard & Marvin Sapp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaTVJHZMUIc

“A Closer Walk”, Karen Clark Sheard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ5-v_isex0

“Nobody But The Lord”, Alvin Darling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLTBzp2EgOw

“God Is Good”, Regina Belle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE0UMuGKUKc

Good Morning Beloved,

How’s it going?  I pray you walk in divine wholeness today and that it is well with you. Remember those old movies from back in the day.  You know the ones where the strong silent man rescues the damsel in distress.  Remember how she would swoon and say ‘my hero’…  I had that feeling this morning, as I read Mark 11.  There is a lot happening in that small chapter.  The triumphal entry, the cursed fig tree, Jesus straight going ‘off’ in the temple (sorry, sometimes ’DC’ shows out in me).  We learn much about Jesus’ temperament. If you listen to ‘the world’, they will have you thinking that Jesus was weak. They portray Him as this pitiful, wimpy emotionless chump, but the Jesus I see in Mark 11 is strong, fearless, tough, powerful, and just.  The bible says to “trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge  Him and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Proverbs 3:5).  Trust.  I remember I had my baby cousin for the weekend.  She was about 2 years old at the time.  She was sitting on a chair watching television, I was sitting on the couch a few feet away.  Someone upstairs dropped something and it scared her.  The next thing I knew my girl was ‘air-born’.  She leaped from the chair, into my lap.  I still don’t know how she did it.  That was trust in its purest form.  She knew that if she could get to me, nothing could hurt her.  She understood she was safe with me, because she knows how much I love her.   Aha!  That’s it. That’s the key.  If we ever realize how much Jesus loves us, we will trust Him more.  I’ll say it again. We will know that ‘all things work together for the good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose’  (Romans 8:28).  Sometimes we may need to ‘jump into God’s lap’ through prayer and worship.  No big flowery words are necessary, sometimes we will only have time for “JESUS!! … HELP!!!“.  He is nearer to you, than you are to Him.

Cartoonist’s Comment:

The world around us is dark & scary & full of sin. But if we stay close to Jesus, we will be safe in His light.

U BLESSED!

Have A Spectacular Day!

Regina