FORSAKING ALL TO GAIN ALL
Memorise: And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 1st
Kings 17:15
Read: Mark 10:28-30, Bible in one year:
Acts 8-9 Song of Solomon 1:11-2:7
Elisha was the son of a wealthy farmer
(1st Kings 19:19). He was unlike Elijah the son of a nobody, whose
father’s name was not even mentioned in the Bible (1st Kings 17:1).
Yet, Elisha followed this materially poor but spiritually rich prophet of
Yahweh. When a fellow is called to forsake the business world to do spiritual
work, he or she may not know the glory that is waiting for him or her. When
Elisha forsook the flourishing farming business of his father, little did he
know that kings will later call him “father” (2nd Kings 6:21). In
the text of today’s scripture reading, we read of how Jesus assured His
disciples that their sacrificial living shall be rewarded in a hundredfold here
and hereafter. As a result of the demand of God for my service on a full time
basis, I had to leave the university campus where I had a duplex with a servant
quarters to myself, to live in a very small “boys’ quarters” in Mushin, a poor Lagos
neighbourhood. The apartment was obviously too small for me and my entire
family. So, I asked God to give me a bigger house in other to give my family
minimum comfort. The Lord then told me that I should not be asking for a house
because He was preparing a city for me. Today, the Redemption Camp is the
beginning of the fulfilment of the promised city, the city is still being
awaited, because my father in heaven said that we have not seen anything yet.
Whenever God wants to bless an
individual, he sets the fellow up for the blessing. For example, when God
wanted to bless Abraham, he set him up by asking Abraham to give him his only
son Isaac as a burnt offering. The end of the whole drama was that after
Abraham proved his love for God, God restrained him from killing his son and
then swore that he would bless him and that through Abraham, the whole families
of the earth shall be blessed. Abraham was not only blessed, he became a
blessing (Genesis 22:15-18). Also, when the widow of Zerepphath was to be blessed,
she was set up by the demand of Prophet Elijah. He asked her to first prepare
him a meal before hers, even though there was only one meal left in the house.
The widow gave all to gain all, as she and her son were fed for about three and
half years of famine (1st Kings 17:10-16). This principle is still
at work today. If the children of God can learn form the experience of the
people of old and trust God to the point of not withholding from God whatever
he ask us to surrender to Him, then this principle will work for us. As you
begin to surrender totally to God from today, you will always have more
than you will always have than you bargain for in Jesus’ Name.
Action Point
What is God demanding from you? Give it
to Him and you will receive pleasant surprises.
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