Tuesday March 26th, 2024
« So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper ” »
1 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ”
2 So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?
4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.”
5 And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there.
6 For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!”
7 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives.
8 And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it .
9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.”
10 So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.”
11 And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.
12 So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.’ ”
13 And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; or indeed, I say, they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed; so let us send them and see.”
14 Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.”
15 And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king.
16 Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
17 Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.
18 So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.”
19 Then that officer had answered the man of God, and said, “Now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
20 And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.
The place of the Bible as the unchangeable and living word of God should be firmly established in our hearts.
Apart from the fact that the word is Holy Ghost inspired, it is also prophetic.
That is why Mark 13:31KJV says
« Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away »,
which is also echoed in Luke 16:17 CEV that says,
« Heaven and earth will disappear before the smallest letter of the Law does »
Therefore, the word of God according to the Bible is empowered to work for whosoever believes and acts on it for salvation, healing, deliverance, prosperity, and so on.
Having faith in God and the power of His word is vital to successful Christian living.
Faith in God is the sure way to be established and experience all-round success in life.
Belief in God’s prophets is a sure means to growth and prosperity.
Anyone who fails to believe in God may have great parents, be filled with great talents and endowments, have great abilities and strength, be well connected, and even reach celebrity status, yet such a person will not be established or end his or her sojourn on this earth well. Isaiah 7:9 says
« …If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established »
This brings us to the memory verse today which shows that our belief in God and His genuine prophets will ensure that we succeed in life.
Just like that lord in our Bible reading for today, he disbelieved the word of the prophet and it cost him his life while others enjoyed the abundance prophesied.
We have numerous examples of how the lives of individuals and even a whole nation were turned around for the better through the intervention of a prophet.
Great personalities in the Bible like David, Saul, Rebecca, Jehoshaphat, the widow of Zarephath, Nebuchadnezzar, and others, benefited greatly from the services of prophets,
therefore it is necessary to identify genuine prophets of God in order not to trivialize prophetic ministrations to our own disadvantage.
We must also avoid falling into the trap of false prophets.
The fact is that if God said it, that settles it.
By the grace of God, I know from personal experience that the word from the mouth of a genuine prophet of God is one of the most potent weapons on earth.
I therefore prophesy to you today that it is well with you, your family, your business and ministry, in Jesus’ name.
Application – Having faith in God and the power of His word is vital to successful Christian living.
Author – Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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