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Kings Chapter 6 reminds me how often we walk through life completely
unaware of the spiritual battle going on around us. Let me be clear;
on the cross, Jesus paid the debt of your sin and mine. Through His
resurrection we are given the assurance that as believers, we will
spend eternity in fellowship with the Father. The battle is for
those who have not yet accepted Christ as Savior. Jesus warns, “The
thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I
have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly”
(John 10:10).
Throughout the chapter the prophet Elisha was used by God to protect
the Hebrew people and draw them back to a right relationship with
God.
Elisha continually foiled the plans of the enemy of Israel by
warning the king of Israel of every trap.
This enraged the king of Aram. “Then
he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by
night and surrounded the city”
in order to capture Elisha.
I am often far too casual with my prayers. James 5:16
reminds us,
“The
effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much“.
Next
we read of one of the most profound pictures in the Bible. “When
the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next
morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city“.
Picture
the hillside all around lined with enemy soldiers in full armor and
chariots. The servant was certain they were doomed. Elisha answered
calmly, “Those
who are with us are more than those who are with them“.
And Elisha prayed, “O
Lord, open his eyes so he may see“.
Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, “and
he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all
around Elisha“.
The
enemy hates when we call for reinforcements! Ephesians 6:12
tells us
“For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this age, against spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places“.
Take comfort, 1 John 4:4
tells us
“You
are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who
is in you is greater than he who is in the world“.
Elisha
then prayed that the soldiers would be blinded and he lead them to
Samaria to the king of Israel. After they entered the city, Elisha
said, “Lord,
open the eyes of these men so they can see“.
The king asked, “Shall
I kill them?”
But Elisha instead told him, “Set
food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go
back to their master“.
The chapter continues, “After
they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they
returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding
Israel’s territory“.
As followers of Christ, we are told, “Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”
(Romans 12:21).
Don’t
fight the spiritual battle you are in alone. Jesus
promised us
in
Matthew. 18:20, “For
where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in
the midst of them“.