Open Eyes
Can I start by asking you a question? Why don't you attend any prayer meeting? We've had them in person, we are having them online now, we have early morning, early evening and even weekend prayers, but you don't attend any. Why? I want you to reflect personally on any answer you come up with and check your spirit whether God approves of your reason.
I believe that as we emerge from lockdown, corporate prayer times are times when God will kindle the fire and passion of the revival we are longing for. We will fan those fires into flames in our personal and intimate time of devotion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Please give yourself to praying.
This Monday, during the dawn of the Spirit prayer (7am), God was speaking again to us as He has done for the past few weeks. Tayo was leading the session and pointed us to 2 Kings 6, the story of Elisha surrounded by the Arameans. Maureen brought a deeper understanding into what "the Lord of Hosts" means - The Lord of angel armies, The God of the armies of heaven.
The king of Aram had sent his army to find and capture Elisha, because he leaked their war strategies to the king of Israel by divine revelation. First the king of Aram thought he had a traitor in his camp who was leaking their plans to Israel, but he realised that "Elisha, the prophet...tells the king of Israel the very words {he spoke in his bedroom}". (2 Kings 6:8-14).
The "strong force" with horses and chariots the king of Aram sent, arrived by night, and surrounded the city (Dothan) where Elisha and his servant lived. When Elisha's servant woke up the next morning and saw the army, he was afraid, and called his master, "what shall we do?". Elisha told him, don't be afraid, "those who are with us are more than those who are with them". (2 Kings 6:16). When Elisha prayed, the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. There was an inner circle of protection around Elisha, making sure nothing touches him, and an outer circle surrounding the Arameans, so they can't escape.
Elisha prayed and the Lord struck the Arameans with blindness, and they were led to the king of Israel, and eventually they stopped bothering Elisha and Israel for a season (2 Kings 6:18-23).
So, what can we learn from this story:
1. As we emerge from lockdown, God will continue to pour out prophetic gifts, that will expose the plots of the enemy before they happen so that God's people are warned and prepared against the evil day. This will happen through preaching, teaching and prophecies.
2. We need more than our physical eyes to see spiritual things. The chariots of fire were always there, Elisha could see them, but his servant could not, until Elisha prayed for his eyes to be opened. We need to pray that God will open our inner eyes, our spiritual eyes that we may see, perceive, and comprehend those things that are not obvious to the naked eye. We need to pray Eph. 1:18-21 over each other regularly. When our eyes are opened, we see our enemies, the obstacles before us, and every difficulty we face, through the lens of God. Our challenges pale in significance, compared to the majesty of our awesome God, who is also our father and shepherd.
3. When Elisha's servant asked, "what shall we do?" he asked it in fear. Everything we do out of fear is sinful and God demeaning. Elisha did do something, but his action was motivated not by fear, but by faith and confidence in God. He prayed and God blinded his enemies. We live by faith, not by fear. As we emerge from lockdown, check that your actions are not rooted in fear, but in faith. If you decide not to come to Church, check whether fear or faith is fueling that decision. Faith glorifies God, fear makes Him look smaller than what we fear, but our God is bigger and greater than anything we are facing or may face in the future. God is greater than any pandemic.
In the words of that song "surrounded" by Michael W Smith, "it may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm surrounded by you...this is how I fight my battles". You are surrounded by God's great angel army. The armies of heaven are on guard over your life, children, family and interests. God is on your side. May your eyes be opened to see Him in the fullness of His glory. What sight that will be, what worship that will elicit.