[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (DG) as a reading update (reflection) from one chapter of the Bible a day]
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"So he again sent to him
another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to him, "O man of
God, thus says the king, 'Come down quickly.'" Elijah replied to them,
"If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and
your fifty." Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him
and his fifty."
The king didn't mind killing
another group of 50. Elijah did ask God to consume them. And God killed them.
The king didn't change his mind.
Elijah won't compromise either. And definitely, God won't.
Satan will not change his mind. The
government will remain secular. The servants of government– employees,
bureaucrats, officers, policemen, etc. may need to do like the third group!
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“They returned to him while he was
staying at Jericho; and he said to them, "Did I not say to you, 'Do not
go'?"”
Many times, people come up with
stupid ideas, plans, and even adventures for vain things! This is a verse to
remember when it happens again next time.
BTW, some people are looking for
salvation in their devotion, good works, and religious activities; it's vanity.
It's only in Christ.
Some people are looking for God's
will in dreams, visioners, and luck; it's vanity. Read your Bible, Obey, And
Pray; That's All!
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"Elisha said, ‘As the LORD of
hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of
Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.’"
Elisha regarded some men more than
some people!
The king of Judah was far godlier
than the king of Israel!
One righteous man's presence brings
favor to the whole armies!
May we be that man.
BTW, Jesus's act of sacrifice saves many wretched sinners!
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"The mother of the lad said,
"As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."
And he arose and followed her."
The woman was importunate that
Elisha had to go with her.
In the New Testament, another woman
was so importunate that Jesus healed her daughter.
The Lord teaches us to be importunate
in prayer. It involves trust, persistence, never ceasing, and never giving up.
No deadline but until!
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“Then his servants came near and
spoke to him and said, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some
great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to
you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"”
Man [people] reject Christ, not
because they think Christ is difficult to follow but because they think Christ
is not worth their time to follow.
It's not because they are
incompetent to think (intellectually) but because they are depraved to reason
(morally); it's a moral problem.
Gospel is a moral issue, not an
intellectual issue. Illiterate, uneducated, and less intelligent people can
perfectly follow Christ as much as the intellectuals. Please note, that the
intellectuals must believe and follow exactly like the rest.
Namaan was ready and hoping for
something great but he was told something so simple and ridiculous, and only then he
would be cleansed. It's faith in Yahweh that delivers us, not what we do or who
we are, or where we come from.
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“And the king said to her,
"What is the matter with you?" And she answered, "This woman
said to me, 'Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son
tomorrow.' So we boiled my son and ate
him; and I said to her on the next day, 'Give your son, that we may eat him';
but she has hidden her son."”
God allowed such evil among His
people. No surprise Indians are killing one another because of cows or politics
or anything! And the world goes on. One day there will be judgment btw! Until
then, life goes on!
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"So they fled away in the
twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving
the camp as it was, and fled for their lives."
God is above and beyond our
understanding! He let those women eat their own babies in poverty and the next
day in prosperity they sold many things for just a small amount!
God did so in an amazing way by scaring
the mighty Assyrians. God can do anything and will do anything to fulfil what
He has said.
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“And Elisha said to him, "Go,
say to him, 'You shall certainly recover,' but the LORD has shown me that he
shall certainly die."”
Elisha knew what a wicked thing
Hazael will do. But he didn't warn the king nor try to stop Hazael.
It's God who will allow it to happen.
And Elisha could only weep. The weeping of Elisha couldn't change the heart of
Hazael. Rather, he went and killed the king confirming the beginning of his
wicked deeds.