Thurs.’s Devo - The Battle is On

Read: 2 Kings 8:1-9:13 Acts 16:16-40; Psalm 143:1-12; Proverbs 17:26 Elisha told the woman of Sarapheth to move her family out of Israel for 7 years because God had called a famine in the land. People say that God doesn’t bring bad things when he clearly does. His purpose is to get us to repent here on earth so he doesn’t have to judge us later. God wanted to spare the woman and her family because they had been faithful to Him. When the famine was over, she came back for her land. The king of Israel had asked Gehazi to tell him some of the stories of Elisha. He was talking about her story and how Elisha brought her son back to life when she walked in to ask for her land. Gehazi recognized her and let her confirm her story. The king ordered all of her possessions to be given back to her and any proceeds of her land while she was gone. That is how the faithful fair in a time of judgment on the earth. We have everything restored to us that was lost during the trial. We can demand that by going to the king, God and presenting our case. A week ago we read that Elijah was to anoint three people, but he only anointed one of them. He anointed Elisha to take his place. He must have given him the job of anointing the other two, because he does so today. Elisha anoints Hazael to be the king of Aram and Jehu to be the king of Israel. Jehoram was the king of Judah but he married Ahab’s daughter joining Israel and Judah by this marriage. This was a bad covenant and bad for Judah. Judah lost control over Edom and led Judah into worse idolatry. His son, Ahaziah ruled after him. His mother was Athalia who was Ahab’s mother so he followed after the sin’s of Israel. Ahaziah, king of Judah, joined his uncle Joram, king of Israel in a war against Hazael, king of Aram. Joram was wounded in the battle and went home to recover. Ahaziah came to visit him in Samaria. That was when Elisha gathered a group of prophets and took off for Ramoth-gilead to anoint Jehu the next king of Israel. Jehu was a commander of the army of Israel. He was told by the prophet to destroy the family of Ahab and avenge the murder of God’s prophets that Jezebel killed. The entire family of Ahab was to be wiped out. Then the prophet ran for his life. When Jehu was asked what the prophet said, he told them that the Lord had anointed him king over Israel. His men when out and spread the news and someone blew the ram’s horn and shouted, “Jehu is king!” In Rabbi Michael Kahn’s book, The Paradigm, he explains how the kings of Israel match the presidents of the US. Jehu would be President Trump and Ahab and Jezebel would be Bill and Hillary Clinton. In Acts, we see the bold confidence of Luke, Paul and the believers. They cast a spirit of divination out of a girl and her owner was enraged because his source of money was now gone. They had Paul and his men beat and thrown into prison. Paul and Silas sat in jail singing praises to the Lord when he answered with an earthquake that opened the doors of the prison and took the chains off every prisoner. The jailer thought they had escaped and drew his sword to kill himself. Paul stopped him and told him they were all there. The jailer fell down and repented and received the Lord right there. Then he invited the disciples of Jesus to his home to tell his family. In the morning new came to release them but they protested became they were Roman citizens and they knew their rights had been violated. The city officials came and apologized and set them free. That is a picture of what we should be like. Our rights have been violated by the left extremists and we need to demand them back. As Christians, we are not suppose to be passive but warriors who stand for what is right. Lord, help us to prepare for the fight because the fight is coming. We will win!