Great is Your Faithfulness

In the catacombs of Rome, where Christians hid out in times of persecution, the symbol most common for believers, even more than the fish, was the anchor. It represented that even in the worst of circumstances, our anchor is Christ--His Word, and His promises. Heb.6:19 reads, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.”

The Bible contains more than three thousand such promises. And in verse 11,12, God gives us examples of those who clung on to the anchor of those promises. And, like you’ve probably already discovered for yourself, there is usually a sizable gap between the giving of the promise and fulfilling of it. Why the gap? Because this is where God does His best work.

The author of Hebrews uses one man in particular to illustrate this faith, the one called “the father of faith,” Abraham. Since you already know the story, I’ll give you the short version: In Genesis 12, when Abraham was seventy-five years old, he was told to pack up and leave his home and family and go to a new land that God would show him. There, God said He would give him offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven. This was especially strange, because Abraham and is wife, Sarah, had no children at present and they were already old. But God came through on His promise and gave them a son, not immediately, but after waiting twenty-five years.

So why would God give a promise and then wait twenty-five years to fulfill it? I could talk about the “endurance thing,” but we’ve all heard that often enough, right? I want to talk about the “perfect blessing.” Ephesians 3:20 reads, “I’m going to do exceeding abundantly above all you could ask or even think.” But it’s going to take time.

If you’re between the promise and the blessing, and it’s gone on beyond, perhaps way beyond what you’d consider a reasonable time, you want to know why God isn’t moving quicker. In fact, it seems like God isn’t moving at all. But He is, and in the time of waiting He is saying, “I’m getting it ready.” When God fulfills a promise, there are many things He is doing at the same time. And to get them all lined up in perfect order and sequence, takes time. But when He finally moves, it’s always worth the wait. Because it’s always beyond what we were even hoping for.

When Zacharias and Elizabeth were far beyond their years for having a child, and had probably giving up asking years ago, God hadn’t forgotten their prayer. He wanted to give them a blessing far beyond what they were asking, but it was going to take time. And when He finally fulfilled His promise to them, He gave them more than a baby. He gave them the greatest prophet the world has ever known, one that would go before and prepare the hearts of the people for the Messiah Himself.

And here’s something else to hang onto while you’re “patiently waiting.” The longer God takes to fulfill His promise, the more it will blow you away when it comes. Abraham patiently waited, although we know the whole story. But he learned his lesson, and then God finally came though for him.

While we’re still on this earth, one of our most important and difficult tasks is to learn the language of faith. In eternity, we’re going to be ruling and reigning with Christ, under His command, representing Him. We’re not going to have the option of “doing our own thing,” doing what we think would be best. And we can't be doubting His Word, second-guessing Him, careless about fulfilling our task. While on earth, He taught that those who were faithful in this life would be rulers over five and ten cities. In other words, He has a destiny for us far beyond whatever we could ever hope and ask for.

Maybe “ruling and reigning” isn’t your thing. I suppose you could always put in for a different position. Perhaps you’d rather be gardening or arranging flowers, or even taking harp lessons, but somehow, whatever God will have you doing will be far more glorious and fulfilling than you could ever hope or imagine. Remember, Paul got a brief preview of it, and though master of the Greek language, he couldn’t find words to express it.

The language of eternity is faith, and we’re to know it fluently if we’re to govern and do the Lord’s bidding in the realms and regions beyond for the next fifty god-zillion years. So what does this have to do with my unfilled promises at present? Few would volunteer to learn this language, so God has to put us in situations in life that force us into a crash course (no pun intended), so that we’ll be prepared for what’s coming.

All the promises will one day be fulfilled. Meanwhile, God is diligently working behind the scenes of our lives, preparing something glorious just for us. One day, when He pulls back the curtain, and we see this world as a mere training exercise, a necessary but temporary launching pad for eternal life in glory, all the waiting and setbacks, the disappointments and frustrations will seem as nothing. 2Cor.4:17; “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

In Hebrews, we read that Abraham patiently endured, and afterwards, received the promise. I have often read that and wondered at the accuracy of that Scripture. Patiently endured? Yeah, but what about the whole thing with Hagar and Ishmael? Did God forget that part? Yes, actually He did, on purpose. Hebrews 8:16 reads, “Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

Thank God, that’s the gracious way He writes our history too. As long as we’re trying to go in the right direction, as long as we’re trying to obey, our failures along the way don’t bother Him as much as they do us. In the language of faith, He only sees our faith that didn't give in until it recieved all of His promises.

You've got to have a heart for the prophet Jeremiah. His entire ministry consisted of declaring the Word of God to the people, and then being totally ignored. Jesus said in Matthew 7, that anyone who hears the words of God and puts them into practice will be like the wise man who built his house on the rock. But to those who heard His words and didn't practice them, they were likened to a man who put down his foundation in the sand, and would not be able to withstand the times of opposition. And in Luke 8, He said, “Take heed how you hear.”

When God speaks to us, we need to listen, whether that is

in a sermon,

a morning devotion,

a book,

or the Word itself--

   It's always easier to write it down then actually do it. It's always easier to tell others that they should obey the Word than to practice it ourselves.  It's easy to think, sometimes, that because we're hearing the Word that we are actually acting upon it, obeying it. In Jeremiah 42, the people clearly heard the Word Jeremiah was preaching to them about not going down to Egypt, but they went down anyway. I heard a preacher recently say, “Every Sunday we hear sermons beyond our obedience level.”

I read that the average person forgets 90% of what they've heard within a week. A wise preacher, aware of this, will try to give his people something worth remembering for that 10%. In our short-term memory, we see our face in a mirror and forget what we look like. In our long-term memory, we stash away the 10% and retain it much longer. People may not remember the preacher's elegant style or his perfect hermeneutics, but the 10% they do remember God can use to change their lives. Unbelievers may not remember your exegesis on the anti-christ or the Levitical priesthood, but if you tell them about the Cross and the Blood, God will make sure they remember that—it will get lodged in their long-term memory bank and seep down into their spirit.

The problem is that we have leaky brains. A leaky faucet wastes about 30-50 gallons of water a day. We hear so many things that we don't need to hear, a lot of “vain babblings,” that forgetting most of what we hear or experience can be a great blessing. Just ask any woman eager to have that second child—ignorance is bliss.

It's been said that we have most of our creative energy before 10 in the morning, and that we should use this spiritual energy for good purpose. This is where we learn most of the 10% that we need to retain. Guard it well, those early hours of devotions.

For thirty years, Jeremiah had been prophesying--”don't go to Egypt, disaster will come if you do, surrender to the king of Babylon.” Instead of listening to him and acting on the Word of the Lord, they rebelled and put him in prison. The day came when Nebuchadnezzar attacked and destroyed the city, burned down their temple, killed many people, and gouged out the eyes of their king, Zedekiah. Now the people were finally convinced that Jeremiah was a true prophet. So the people still left in the land petitioned Jeremiah to go before God and ask Him what they should do now. The Word came back, “stay in the land, don't go to Egypt.” When the people heard these words, the same ones who saw Jeremiah's previous prophecies fulfilled, validating his prophetic calling, they called him a liar and went to Egypt anyway. That would be extreme, short-term memory.

When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, He performed ten mighty miracles by the hand of Moses. But not long afterwards, the people were ready to string him up—quite forgetting what they saw back in Egypt only a few weeks earlier. Our biggest challenge and hindrance in moving forward in life is being fooled by the “good old days,” somehow thinking everything would be better if we could return to them. The devil is long-practiced at bringing up the pleasures of those days, but conveniently neglects to remind us of their pain and bondage. The children of Israel remembered the melons and leeks, but had already forgotten the cruel, bone-breaking slavery in the hot sun.

In Jeremiah's day, the people thought they could flee their problems by running away. Egypt always holds a certain fascination during hard times. While in Egypt, God told Jeremiah to hide some stones under the entrance to Pharaoh's house, and tell the people that one day Nebuchadnezzar would set up his throne upon those very stones. In other words, the very thing they were fleeing from would catch up to them in another place. The people rejected the Word of the Lord, and even went so far as to imprison Jeremiah again, but in the end, it was them who were put in prison in Babylon. If we're going to run, run toward obedience to the Word of God, not back to Egypt, thinking we'll escape our problems.

There are times in life when we need a new start, and even more, a new heart. If God is leading you, everything will be done calmly and peaceably. Whatever He is doing in your life, remember, “He has done all things well.” What God says may not always seem like the wisest, most logical choice. But if we obey, we'll be blessed and avert unnecessary hardships in our lives.

There is one thing God wants us to forget: “Forgetting those things that are behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Phil.3:13.

There is one thing that even God forgets—our sin.

Thank God, He casts them as “far as the east is from the west.”

We live in a world, like no other generation before us, that is full of fears. There's the fear of a terrorist attack, a fear of a flu epidemic, fears about the direction our nation is headed, fears about our moral decline as a nation, fears of financial ruin, and you can add your own fears as well. As one commentator said, "We live in a culture of fear."

When Paul wrote from Nero's prison to Timothy in 2Timothy 1:7 and said, "God has not given us a spirit of fear," he himself was facing certain execution in a matter of days. But he wasn't focused on his fears; he chose courage instead.

Courage is not the ability to never feel fearful, but it is the ability to take the action God wants us to regardless of the fear we may be experiencing. Courage, as Joyce Meyer once put it, is "doing it afraid." Feeling fearful does not make you a coward, but only when we give into that fear. We are cowards only if we let fear rule our emotions and decisions.

Fear will never stop assaulting us, as long as we're still on this earth. Fear is not merely an emotion, although it affects our emotions. Fear is a spirit, a demon spirit sent from hell to hinder or prevent us from carrying out the will of God for our lives. That's why Paul said, "God has not given us a spirit of fear." Paul chose his words carefully, fully understanding what fear was and where it was coming from.

Doctors tell us that between 80-90% of their patient's infirmities are rooted in their fears. Fear causes stress, and stress carries a heavy price tag emotionally and physically.

When we are legitimately confronted by a danger, for instance, a car coming at us on the road, God has designed us that a secretion of a certain hormone enters our blood stream that gives us extra alertness and energy to avert the problem. Then when the problem is over, we revert back to normal. But many people live in a perpetual state of fear and stress, and so, even though there's no immediate danger, that certain hormone is still secreted into their bloodstream, producing anxiety, panic attacks, and other emotional and physical problems.

How do we resist this spirit that causes people so many problems? One way, is to confess what God's Word says about us and not what our fears are telling us. Out loud, and in our self-talk. Some people's self-talk is so negative it would depress the devil himself. And praise, especially when you don't feel like it, is always a powerful weapon in our arsenal, often under-used.

"He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps.91:1). This is a scriptural promise that has comforted countless saints through the ages. "The most High," or El Elyon, is a name for God that is always linked to priestly praise. In other words, he that lives in the secret place of praise and worship shall abide under the shadow of God's protection and provision. Praise always precedes power.

F.B. Meyer tells us there are four kinds of calls a mother hen makes to signal her brood. One when night is falling, one when danger is coming, one when food is found, and one when she simply wants her chicks close to her. Jesus said, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I would gather you as a mother hen gathers her chicks, but you would not."

God desires to gather us under His wings because He sees the darkness coming; he sees the danger coming to this world. He has spiritual food to nourish us with, and yes, He simply desires to be with us.

When He calls, be quick to answer. Live in an attitude of praise and you will be secure under His wings, and you will confidently be able to say, "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me."

Col.2:2,3; "that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Too often, we as believers do not realize fully what we have in Christ. We do not always realize the full extent of what our redemption means, and how that we were delivered from the eternal torment of a raging hell. I know this is not a popular theme in today's church world, but it's actually a very popular one in the Bible. Indeed Jesus spoke far more about hell than heaven.

But this is getting off topic. The story is told that one day William Randolph Hearst was looking through a book of famous artwork when a particular painting caught his eye. "I want this painting for my collection," he said to his aides. But after making many inquires, they reported back to him that they were unable to locate that painting.

"If you value your jobs," Hearst said, do whatever it takes to find that painting and bring it to me immediately.

A few months went by and the aides finally returned to Hearst. "Did you find the painting?" he asked.

"Yes, they replied. After much diligent and careful work we discovered it."

"Did you purchase it?" he asked.

"No, sir, we did not."

"And why not,?" he demanded.

"Because we found it stored in your warehouse."

When we recieved Christ, we got all the wisdom and knowledge, the power and victory, the joy and deliverance we need to live a successful Christian life. We don't have to be running off to the next seminar or to the latest Christian fad that is blowing through the Church world, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels", it's already in our spiritual warehouse. We don't have to run off to the unbelieving psychiatrist or the secular humanist for the answers for our lives. We don't need the pep rallies where they chant, "I am getting better every day in every way." We don't need a twelve-step program: We got a one-step program when we repented and turned to Christ.

Paul says, "Be steadfast in your faith in Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him."

The story is told that in the days of the Roman Empire, a certain wealthy senator had a falling out with his son. When he unexpectedly died, his will was read. "Because my son does not appreciate what I've done, I leave all my worldly possessions to my loyal slave, Marcellus," the will read. "However, because I am a man of fairness and compassion, I bequeath to my son one of my possessions of his choosing."

The testator of the will gave the news to the son. "Sorry, sir, you can take only one of your father's possessions. Which will it be?"

"I'll take Marcellus," said the son.

When you take Christ, we get salvation from eternal torment, a new life in Christ now, and a glorious destiny in eternity that Paul said is so unbelievably rich, mere words cannot describe it.

So walk in Christ. Don't look back at your many failures of the past. Don't fear the future as if God will not see you through. Live with the faith and confidence of Christ in the present, for this is what we've been freely given by the Cross.

The banks of a certain river are lined with a substance called "near quicksand." If you keep walking in this "almost quicksand," there's no problem. But if you stop, you'll start sinking, and eventually you'll get sucked in completely.

The Christian walk was meant to be just that: A walk, a continual moving forward. When we stop, either because of discouragement, or setback, or weariness, or failure, we start to sink in depression, lethargy, cold-heartedness, and endless fears.

When Jesus invited Peter to walk to Him on the water, it was more than just a demonstration of his miracle working power. It was a challenge to keep moving forward,forward in faith, forward in trust, forward in experience and relationship with Him.

And He calls us to the same walk.

In 2 Chronicles 26 we have the story of King Uzziah, who started out fully committed to the Lord and was a godly leader, though like many kings before him, he went south in his latter years.

But let's focus on the good years. He gave the people a righteous vision; he led them in victory over their enemies, inventing new weapons that were able to fling arrows and boulders. But in Isaiah 6:1 we read, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple."

Prior to Uzziah's death, Isaiah was preaching a lot of gloom, doom, judgment, and woes. But after Uzziah died, Isaiah got a clearer vision of God, complete with six-winged seraphims crying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." Now Isaiah cried, "Woe is ME, I'm a dead man. I'm a man of unclean lips." Sort of like Job when God interrupted his pity party and gave him a clearer revelation of Himself, whereby he cried out, "Behold, I am vile " I lay my hand over my mouth ." Did you ever hear an unbeliever boast that when they see God they're going to tell Him a thing or two? I would guess it would be difficult to convincingly threaten Someone when you're laying flat on your back.

It would seem that before the king's death, the eyes of the people were more on him than on the Lord. Their security was in Uzziah rather than in Jehovah God. That being the case, they, including the prophet Isaiah, didn't have a clear vision of God until Uzziah died.

This is a subtle thing. It is so easy to allow "things" to become our "Uzziahs." If you are riding the coattails of your husband's salvation, or your wife's, you're not seeing clearly the glory of God. "Uzziah's" don't have to be evil things. For instance, you can allow a church organization, or even a pastor to become your "Uzziah." Now I've been a pastor long enough to know better than to deemphasize the need and value of church and pastor. But I've also seen situations where pastors and their organizations so dominate God's people that they have usurped the place of the Chief Shepherd, and the people see them instead of God, without even realizing it.

Small diversion: Pastors are under-shepherds to the Chief Shepherd; their responsibility needs to be as John the Baptist's: "I must decrease and He must increase." Congregants should be continually encouraged to develop a hunger for God's Word and nurture their own, personal, unique relationship with the Father. Those believers don't belong to us; they belong to God. We weren't crucified on the cross for them. The only thing pastors need to crucify sometimes is their egos when it deludes them into thinking the people in his church are his. We (spiritual leaders) will be held accountable for how we cared for, protected, and fed them.

Uzziah had done much good for the people in his time. But eventually God had to remove him so the people could see Him for themselves. Even the best of pastors have to be careful not to make it about them.

The thought comes to mind of raising children. While in the home, the child looks to his parents practically as gods, at least until they reach teen land, when they are transformed into something unspeakably different. Eventually the child leaves home, now an adult, and he must make his own way and establish his own relationship with God. But imagine if he never left home. His growth in every way would be stunted, crippled, and he would be unlikely to ever form his own thoughts and convictions.

Think of the parents in this illustration as "Uzziahs." Though they did much good for that child in raising him, and he will forever be able to take the foundations and valuable insights he learned with him, yet if "Uzziah" isn't removed, he will become old wine in old wineskins and will only see God through his parent's prism.

And that leads me to the second thought on this issue: Following the Chief Shepherd. In Psalms 23, David writes, "He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness." We need to see God and not "Uzziahs" because God individually leads each of us in the path that is right for us, a path that is predestined by Him for our restoration and full redemption. If we allow the Holy Spirit to leads us, He will show us the unique path that will bring us to a fulfillment of that greater purpose He created us for.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me." Sheep are not known for their brightness or for their ferociousness. They tend to wander off and over cliffs, following the one in front of them. Left to themselves, they will always follow the same paths and eat in the same pasture, even after that pasture is stripped bare. They are also defenseless: They've been known to be beaten back by fully armed squirrels.

"He makes me to lie down in green pastures." There are times when the sheep become so frayed and rattled, like after being attacked by a scurry of squirrels, that the shepherd has to gently but firmly make them lie down. You know where this is going. Our Shepherd, through setbacks, illness, or loss, sometimes has to make us lie down for a while and reboot, and get us back to a place where we're seeking His face again. This may involve a time of solitude, away from outside influences, where we are alone with God.

But just as sheep need to be led to better pastures, we need to be taken at times out of the ruts we've dug out for ourselves or we'll remain stuck. Sometimes this means He will lead us through deep valleys and dark places, places we would never choose for ourselves. But we can walk confidently even there in the face of evil, without fear or dread. Why? Because "You are with me." He doesn't leave us in the dark valleys; He takes us through.

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." God doesn't usually remove our enemies; He prepares a table for us in the midst of them. What a beautiful picture. While the enemy is raging and trying to spook us out of our socks, God sets up a table and invites us to a peaceful and refreshing meal right in the middle of our meltdown. While the enemy is condemning us, while the bills are piling up, while our mind feels like it's cracking apart, God says, "Here, sit down and eat, you look like you could use a good meal." It is thought that David penned this psalm in the days he was running from Saul, and that his men brought him a feast right out in the open wilderness.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." I've had all kinds of things following me in life, not all of them good. I've had fear, condemnation, guilt, sadness, and other things too morbid to list. But God says none of these things have a right to follow us around, but that Goodness and Mercy do--they've got our back.

Then we can bravely stand up to a whole dray of squirrels.

Even in our enlightened twenty-first century, we don't know everything. Aerodynamically speaking, honeybees loaded down with pollen cannot fly. Their wings are too short and light to support flight. But someone forgot to tell honeybees about this impossibility, and so they've been going about their merry honey-making activities for thousands of years without giving it a second thought. It's a good thing they don't read science books. Of course,this is the same science that says our material world and the whole Universe had a fit of unexplained, spontaneous implosion one day, and suddenly entire galaxies came into existence out of nothing that previously existed. I believe this is the same science that is still desperately searching for a single missing link to verify their scientifically impossible, leap of faith connecting of apes to Homo sapiens.

With all our technical advances and Google searches, there are still many things we cannot know. Like the day and hour of the Rapture.Like how can God be Triune, three in one, and still be one God? How can God know the end from the beginning? How can He know who will be saved, the choices mankind will make before they were ever born, and still not negate the fact of free will? Now I've given you a few more things to keep you up at night.

But there are some things we can absolutely know. We can know for certain that "all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purposes." (Rom.8:28). As believers, we know this, even when we think we don't. Even in our darkest hours, when it seems all is lost and nothing will ever make sense again, instinctively, something deposited by God into our innermost being says, "it's all going to turn out okay. God is still in control."

The Bible records for us in Genesis 42 the story of a man named Jacob who had twelve sons. Although he loved all his sons, he had one obvious favorite, Joseph. Jacob gave this favorite son a coat of many colors, or, more accurately, "a coat with big sleeves." In those days, common laborers wore garments without sleeves so that their arms wouldn't get entangled while they were working. But the upper classes, the more important people, wore coats with large sleeves where they often carried important papers, much like a businessman today would carry a briefcase. Joseph's brothers were naturally jealous of their younger sibling, so much so that they tossed him into a pit and eventually sold him off as a slave. To cover their tracks, they smeared blood on his coat and told their father that he had been killed by wild animals.

Through an unlikely series of events, Joseph later became prime minister of Egypt. When Israel underwent a severe famine, Jacob sent his sons down to Egypt to buy food. He told them, "I've heard there is a man in Egypt who has food. Go ask him if we can buy some grain."

So his ten sons made the long journey and stood before this prime minister, who, of course they didn't recognize as their brother Joseph.But Joseph recognized them immediately, and decided to give them a hard time and see where they were at. He accused them of being spies, and when his brothers denied it, saying they only came to buy food, he made them prove their case by going back and bringing their youngest brother, Benjamin with them when they returned.

Romans says, "All things are working for good." Jacob, like us many times, declared the opposite. Famine was in the land, his wife Rachel was dead, he thought Joseph was dead, his oldest son, Simeon, was being held hostage in Egypt, and the prime minister of Egypt, who thought his sons were spies, was refusing to give them any more grain unless they brought Benjamin back with them. And so he lamented, "Everything is working against me."

Jacob's perception of events was completely wrong. Joseph wasn't dead and Benjamin and Simeon would return safely. When the brothers returned back to Egypt, Joseph revealed himself to them and then made this amazing statement. "All that you meant to me for harm, God has worked it all for good. Everything you did to me was part of a Divine plan that God is working for our good."

Are we not more like Jacob than Paul in Romans?  Looking only to the natural and saying, "All things are working against me? What possible good can come out of my tragic circumstances?" All too often, we snivel right along with Jacob about our misfortunes, looking for some self-pity. But that reaction is a direct affront to a loving Father, bringing into question God's goodness, provision, and protection for our lives. Such pity is at God's expense, casting Him in a negative light. The Fear of God is when we refuse to say anything that would defame His name because we have more reverence for His reputation than getting sympathy from others.

Does this mean we shouldn't sympathize with people who are going through it' No, not at all. When Mary and Martha summoned Jesus because their brother Lazarus was dying, did Jesus tell them to suck it up and quit feeling sorry for themselves? No, He actually wept Himself. But why did He weep? Because Lazarus died? Because He felt sorry for Martha and Mary? Because He felt sorry for Himself? No, He wept because they didn't understand or believe Him. They had said, "Lord, if You had been here, our brother would not have died."  Jesus wept because they didn't get it.

When He wept over the city of Jerusalem, He wasn't participating in some kind of futuristic, virtual self-pity party. He wept because they didn't get it; they didn't want to get it. He weeps because people would rather have self-pity than faith.

Are we doing hurting people any favors by encouraging them to indulge in self-pity? When I lost my first wife from cancer, I admit I fell into a bout of self-pity. And there were those who helped me nurse it. And although my flesh enjoyed it for a while, I eventually tired of it and realized it wasn't helping me to move on. During that time I went to a revival meeting some distance away, and a preacher called me out and declared, "All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes." From that moment, I began to get delivered from self-pity and have faith again for the future.

It's all a matter of perspective. David said in Psalms131:2; "Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting.]" It is a picture of a suckling child, desperate for his mother's breast as if she might forget him, so he better take the matter into his own hands, or his own mouth in this case. But when the child is weaned, now a little less desperately dependent on his mother's constant care, there comes a transition time, a time of increased confidence and assurance, that true to his mother's past care, she can be trusted to continue to provide and protect him, and as David said,"weaned and less fretful."

What does this have to do with our subject? It goes to the core of the problem: Like Jacob, if we don't believe that "all things work together for the good for those who love God," then when the tide of life turns against us we will start fretting and believing everything is against us rather than for us. But if we know that we know that we know that regardless of how bleak and impossible our circumstances might appear in the natural, we will have the confident peace of a weaned baby that knows by long experience that his mother is not going to forget or abandon him, even though he hasn't seen her for a few hours.

Which poses the question: If honeybees were informed that flying was impossible, would they lose all confidence and cease to fly? No, I believe they would choose to remain blissfully ignorant of their "limitations" and would continue to defy the science. If a believer were told by his natural mind and the Enemy of his soul that his present circumstances presented an"impossible" likelihood for success, would he choose to believe the natural?  Not if he's learned anything from the honeybee. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth His handiwork."

Two artists were asked to paint a picture that would best represent peace. The first one painted a picture of a mountain cabin beside a bubbling brook on a clear, crisp autumn morning. I would have added a good book and a vanilla latte. The second painted a picture of a raging river with a thin, willow limb hanging precariously out over the surging current. At the very end of the hanging limb, almost obscured by the rising mist from the heaving rapids, was a baby bird perched peacefully in his mother's nest.

I'll leave it to you to determine which painting best depicts the peace of God.

Acts 27:30,31.

In our text, Paul is on his way to Rome to stand trial before Nero's court. Actually, God was sending him to Rome for far higher purposes than that: he would be able to encourage the saints from port to port along the way, and he could witness to many unbelievers on the ship, and even to Nero's own palace guards.

While at sea, a storm arose that threatened to drown all the two hundred seventy-six soldiers, sailors, and prisoners on board with Paul. Some of the crew were getting ready to lower a lifeboat to make their escape, but Paul, having a word from God, called out, "Except you abide in the ship you cannot be saved."

This speaks volumes to believers in all ages, and perhaps in your life today. There are times when storms arise in our lives, with the wind howling and the waves threatening to capsize our lives, where we are tempted to say, "I'm bailing out. I'm jumping ship. I can't take this one more day."

I think of Jacob. Looking for a wife, he takes off for his uncle's ranch. There, he sees a group of shepherds hanging around the well, but because of a large stone blocking the well, they couldn't use it. He was wondering what he should do, until he saw a beautiful shepherdess approaching. Flexing his muscles and his ego, he leaped into action and removed the hindering boulder, single-handedly. "Come and water your flock," he said to her. She did, and then thanked and greeted him with a kiss. That was it. He was totally smitten. Undying love at first sight.

She was the daughter of his uncle Laban. Laban worked out a deal with him whereby Jacob would work for his uncle for seven years, and then would be given beautiful Rachel for his bride. So infatuated was Jacob, that he toiled for seven years as if they were only seven days--the boy had it bad. When the big day finally arrived, there was a large marriage celebration, with his bride, as was their custom, veiled from head to toe. Later that night, the marriage was consummated in the tent, and it wasn't until morning that Jacob had his first look at his new bride. To his shock, it wasn't Rachel, but her older sister, Leah, whose name meant "tender-eyed," or as one commentator indelicately rendered it, "one who makes your eyes hurt." I'm sure Jacob's eyes were hurting with rage as he stormed out of the tent, and confronted Laban about the deception.

Jacob could have just bailed and went back home, but he didn't. Since it was the custom in that land for the older daughter to marry first, Jacob stuck with it and agreed to work another seven years for Rachel. Now with two wives, the race was on to see which wife could produce the most sons, a major concern in that culture, and aided by the two wives recruiting their own maids, it was pretty much a dead heat, which created the world's first recorded baby boom.

One could go in many directions with this story (the Mormons certainly have) but I want to focus on the thought that God's hand is on the believer's life, especially in their most difficult times, and even when it seems the least obvious. He is lovingly and painstakingly molding us into the vessel He has designed us to be for Eternity. And the mold that He uses are the circumstances of our lives that we feel are often against us, but in reality, are the very shaping instruments the Master Craftsmen uses to perfect us. Our biggest challenge is not to lose sight of the big picture, and not to focus on the difficulties and hardships, measuring how big our problem is rather than measuring how big our God is. And always the question, asked in one way or another in difficult times, "Does God really love me? Has He forgotten about me?"

The story is told of Elgin Staples, a U.S. Navy sailor that was swept overboard by an explosion on his ship. Wounded in both legs by flying shrapnel and in shock, he was able to keep afloat by a narrow lifebelt he was wearing, which he activated by the pull of a trigger. Four hours later he was rescued by a passing destroyer and returned to his ship. The captain was trying to save the ship by beaching it, but when that failed, Staples found himself back in the water, clutching onto the same lifebelt. Eventually he was rescued again, this time by the USS President Jackson,he was one of the five hundred survivors evacuated out of the battle.

On board the transport ship, Staples hugged his lifebelt with gratitude. Examining it further, he discovered it had been made by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and bore an inspection registration number.

Home on leave, Staples told his story and asked his mother, who worked at Firestone, the purpose for the inspection number on the belt. She told him that the company insisted, as their responsibility to the war effort, on having a personal inspection number for each lifebelt, a number that identified the inspector of that particular belt. Upon learning the inspection number of his son's belt, there was a moment of stunned silence, until his mother spoke: "That was my personal code that I put on every item. I was the one responsible for that belt."

The one who gave him birth, the DNA he bore, was the same one who rescued him and gave his life back. When we were birthed into the Kingdom of God, we too were rescued from certain destruction and eternal death, because we bear the same DNA as the Creator. When we were inspected, we came out filthy and guilty. But through the Blood, we have God's eternal imprint on us, and the essence of who we are and every small detail about our life and circumstances are all under the responsibility and loving care of the One who is having His divine work perfected in us.

With the confusing and distressing mess caused by Rachel and Leah trying to outdo the other to gain favor with their husband, God birthed the twelve tribes of Israel. Even when it seems like He is nowhere in sight in the midst of our mess, He is making something He can be proud of for Eternity.

Years later, when Leah died, Jacob had her buried in the Promised Land, in a place called Machpelah. Earlier, Rachel had died and was buried in Canaan. In Genesis 49, when Jacob himself was about to die, he called his sons together and blessed them. Then he made them promise that they would bury him next to the love of his life, Rachel. NOT!

If you know your Bible, you know that's not what he said. "Bury me at Machpelah," he said. "By Leah."

Why? Because at the end of his life, he realized that Leah, the very one he thought was a disastrous mistake, was in reality the greatest blessing of his life. Because out of Leah, not Rachel or either of the maids, came Judah. And from the tribe of Judah came the Messiah. And with the Messiah came a revelation on marriage as being "one man ad one woman" , thank God for that! "I want to be buried by her," he said. No matter how confusing, frustrating, and seemingly senseless God's sovereign will is, it is still always the best. "All things work together for good for those who are called according to His purposes." (Rom.8:28)

The music group, Second Chapter of Acts, sang like angels in the days when I was first growing up in the Lord. I remember one song in particular that went like this: "How could I wonder, how could I fret? Cuz I've got a mansion-builder, Who ain't through with me yet."

Jesus said in John 14:2; "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

Could it be that the mansion He is preparing for us is not a an eighteen bedroom, twelve bathroom castle with white columns, a six car garage, and an indoor mall? That it is not a new house to live in but a new body to inhabit? And that while we are still on this earth, He is painstakingly preparing in us a character that will thrive in Eternity. Paul said in 1Corinthians 5:1,2,5; "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.  Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God "

Our bodies can maintain fourteen pounds of pressure per square inch. We are composed of seventy-nine percent nitrogen and twenty percent oxygen, perfect for inhabiting earth, but far too limited to inhabit heaven. There is a body waiting for us, designed for total joy and discovery of the Universe, no longer limited by the "tent" we presently live in.

Jesus wouldn't need decades to build a mansion in heaven for us,a simple spoken Word and it would be done. But a mansion of character built into us, now that would take a lifetime to complete. He said He was going back to heaven to work on it. I believe we are that mansion He is working on. And the more we allow Him to complete our mansion, the better able we will be to enjoy it.

So don't jump ship. Like Jacob, trust God that He knows what He's building. "Be perfect," Jesus told His disciples and us. Perfect? The word means, "complete, mature." "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil.1:6)

Moses was trained in a palace to rule in the desert. David was trained in the desert to rule in a palace. Wherever God presently has you, you also are being trained for His highest purposes and the mansion you will one day inhabit.

2Kings 7: 1-9

There was a famine in the land that had lasted several years. Suddenly, Elisha came on the scene and prophesies that it would end the next day. Like the children of Israel in Egyptian bondage 430 years, the king's assistant thought it too good to be true. That is the danger of a prolonged trial,we can easily forget the goodness of God from the past and think things will never change.

The story centers on four leprous men who are living outside the city gate, surviving on the good will of those who throw food scraps to them over the wall. But during the famine, there were no leftovers. They reasoned that if they stayed where they were, they'd starve to death. If they moved on by faith, looking for greener pastures, they had nothing to lose. Of course, they had no idea how much they were going to gain.

King Ben-hadad of Syria besieged Samaria, the capital of Israel. He surrounded the city with thousands of soldiers, cutting off their supplies. His strategy was so successful, that in Samaria, a donkey's head sold for eighty pieces of silver. You wouldn't think you'd be able to do much with a donkey's head but make donkey's head soup. In the open meat market in Cape Town South Africa I once saw a severed cow's head for sale. Apparently, it was quite a delicacy.

These four lepers eventually realized that waiting outside city walls was a waste of time, so they decided to head for the Syrian camp. "Maybe they'll show us mercy. We're gong to die anyway, we've got nothing to lose."

When I was a combat soldier in Vietnam, one day we heard President Nixon on Armed Forces radio announcing that we were sending ground troops into Cambodia. Previous to this, Cambodia was off-limits. But with the Viet Cong utilizing the Ho Chi Minh Trail as a re-supply source from Hanoi, it was essential that we cut off that route to stop their flow of food and ammunition. Of course, we didn't know that it was going to be our unit going in until we found ourselves flying by helicopter higher than we've ever flown before, and when they dropped us off, we were about five miles inside the Cambodian border.

On our first day of reconnaissance, we suddenly came upon an underground bunker, just high enough above the ground to mount a machine gun that was pointed out at the enemy (that would be us). When we saw it, we all hit the dirt. But now we were sitting ducks (or laying down ducks) that the enemy could pick off at will. My friend and I, who were walking point that day, decided to play Audi Murphy and attack the bunker with hand grenades and M-16 machine gun fire. Our reasoning was much the same as the four lepers in 2Kings 7: We could lay here and get blown up, or we could rise up and charge ahead, at least we would die heroically. Either way, we had nothing to lose.

Now of course I'd like to say that the enemy, seeing the raw courage of my friend and I charging at them, fled for their lives, knowing they'd met their match, and since I'm telling the story, maybe I'll just leave it there. After all, it's my story. I will say this: My friend and I were both given bronze stars for bravery.

As the four lepers made their way toward the Syrian camp, they didn't realize God had already gone before them and worked a miracle. That very night, He had caused the Syrians to think that they'd heard the sound of horses and chariots, and so they panicked and ran off, leaving all their food and supplies behind in their tents. When the lepers arrived, they saw the gold and silver, and more importantly, the abundance of food, and so they began to gorge themselves with their amazing good fortune. But eventually, one of them said, "What we are doing isn't right. We need to go back to the city and share the good news." And that's just what they did, informing the gatekeeper of the abundance of blessing they found in the Syrian camp.

But the king didn't believe the lepers, he thought it was a Syrian trap. Isn't that just the way it is when God's blessing has been absent a long time from peoples lives? The king's assistant scoffed at the lepers' report. Elisha told him, "You'll see the food but you won't be able to taste it." And so it was, he saw the abundance, but then those who were stampeding for the food trampled him to death.

It is possible to be so trampled under by life that we can lose hope and faith in the promises of God for our lives. Oh, we see it in others, but it seems to allude us for long periods of time. We can hear what the Word says but refuse to believe it anymore. We can be like the king's assistance, who heard the good report, but because of unbelief, he was unable to enter into the blessing. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due time we shall reap if we faint not."(Gal.6:9).

Maybe you are in a place where you feel like a leper, you're famished, weary, and you're reduced to sitting outside the city gates of life, barely surviving on crumbs of hope. Sounds like a good time to rise and step out by faith. Faith is never learned in comfort. We only learn faith when we're pressed out of measure, when we're hurting, when we're desperate, when we're starving.

These lepers had enough faith to step out in their desperation. "Why sit here until we die?" Step out and see what God will do in your behalf. Mountains are moved by an active faith.

The one leper had said, "It is not good what we are doing. We need to tell others of the goodness of the Lord."  It's not good that we keep God's goodness, His miraculous provision, His salvation to ourselves. We need to tell somebody. Too often believers go from one conference to the next, from one seminar to another, from one latest preaching tape to the next. trying to find ways to become happier, more fulfilled, more blessed, while the world is dying from spiritual starvation. Truly there is a famine for the Word of God in our generation, a famine for the knowledge of God that is rapidly hurdling toward its own destruction.

May God speak to us as He did to those lepers: "This not good. I need to take my eyes off myself, quit worrying about my own needs, and reach out to others that are spiritually starving to death. I am rich compared to them, and I shouldn't keep it to myself. The first two letters in the "gospel" are "go."

I read a story about a man who was asked if he would ever share his testimony in a pornographic magazine. He said that he wouldn't because he was so opposed to the contents of the magazine and the damage that such magazines were doing to our culture.

This goes to the heart of the problem. If he shared his testimony in a Christian magazine, who would read about it? Other Christians. "It is not good what we are doing, we need to share this with others."

As encouraging as it is to share our testimony with other believers, that wouldn't do anything to reach a spiritually starving world. I would love for my testimony to be printed in a pornographic magazine. Who would read it? Lonely, desperate, lost, disillusioned people who have no hope. Imagine the impact.

I read about a church that was going to make "Revival prayer and evangelism" their focus for the month. A noble undertaking. But there is a common error I have often seen in this, in spite of the good intentions. That is this: In the talking about seminars and prayer groups on evangelism, and in the organized focus and energy involved in planning and strategizing these targeted needs, it is easy to assume and give people the mistaken impression that one is already engaged in evangelism and revival, when in fact, all that is being done is a lot of organizing and focusing and targeting. And with all the energy and attention paid to the organizing and planning, little energy is left to actually carry out the task.

If four leapers can spontaneously share what they found and spur a revival, we can too. That's all we are: Lepers, unclean souls who had no hope, that one day stumbled across the greatest treasure known to man. It is not good to keep it to ourselves, we need to tell somebody.

Text: 2Kings 6:8-23

Speaking by word of knowledge, Elisha warned the king of Israel about the upcoming attacks planned by the Syrians. Every time the Syrians set an ambush, Israel was able to circumvent it. The King of Syria assumed someone in his party was working as a spy for the enemy. Then one of his servants told him it was the prophet Elisha that was tipping off the Israelites, so the King of Syria sent his army to Dathan to capture Elisha.

The next morning, Elisha's servant rose early and saw that they were surrounded by a host of Syrian soldiers with horses and chariots. He woke Elisha and cried, "Alas, my master! What are we going to do"?

I,ll say this for Elisha's servant. Though he lacked Elisha's faith, at least he was up early and was aware of being surrounded by the enemy. As believers, we are always surrounded by spiritual enemies that are continually looking for opportunities to deceive, destroy, and conquer us. Peter said, "The devil prowls around like a hungry lion looking for someone he can devour." The ones that aren't aware of this, who aren't looking out for this, are always his easiest targets. Those that rise early "take on the whole armor of God."

"Fear not," Elisha told him. Pretty remarkable faith for just waking up. "Lord, open his eyes."

God answered his prayer and the servant's eyes were opened to the spiritual realm. Because Elisha was already looking by faith, his eyes were already open, even before he could rub out the sleep.

"Open his eyes, Lord." Heb.12:1, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Knowing, like Elisha, that we are surrounded by demonic entities that are out to destroy our lives, our finances, our family, our mind, what a powerful encouragement for us to know that we are also surrounded by a host of heavenly witnesses and angels.

Who are these witnesses? Those who by faith have gone before us and triumphed in impossible circumstances, often paying with their lives. In fact, the word "witness" is the same Greek word for "martyr." In a court of law, a witness is someone who simply reports what he saw. "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God"? Calling God as a witness in a secular court of Law? Is that still legal?

What were these Hebrew 11 saints a witness to? They were testimonies of a faith that enabled them to victoriously overcome the vicious attacks of hell against their lives, and though many didn't live to talk about it, their testimony, their witness still lives today. And what was the end of their faith? Today, they are rejoicing and enjoying heaven, and who would know if they aren"t watching the scenes down here below and cheering us on.

Heb.12:22 is a picture of what?s going on in heaven. "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels." How do I know Jerusalem belongs to the Jews? Because Jesus Himself is going to set up His earthly kingdom there for one thousand years. Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem can build as many settlements as they want without anyone giving them any flack.

We know the angels are watching us continuously. I know this from personal experience. Once a seriously demon-possessed woman confronted me in my church. It was just the two of us, and of course all the "friends" she brought with her, which were many. Before I knew it, she physically attacked me with a demonic, supernatural strength. Realizing I was no match for her, I lifted my hands and cried out to heaven for help. When I looked down at the woman, she was lying on the floor at my feet, cursing me. Then, in a tormented voice, she snarled up at me, "Who were those two large men that came and strapped me to the floor with iron bars"? I didn"t see the iron bars, but she did. Nor did I see the angels, but she did and was terrified. When David said, "Goodness and Mercy will follow me all the days of my life," I wonder if Goodness and Mercy aren't two angels that follow the saints, protecting and guiding them.

Elisha not only saw the problem, but he had the solution. "Fear not." Easy for him to say, he saw the armies of God. But did he physically see them? Maybe. But perhaps his faith was so unshakable that he saw them by faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." We're called to believe by faith that we are continually surrounded by God's armies, who put a shield of protection around us where nothing can touch us unless God allows it through.

If the falling of a sparrow is significant to the Creator of the Universe, how much more those who call upon His name? He who calls the trillions of stars by name and knows the number of hairs on your head, has you engraved in the Father's hand. He who watches over Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers. Do you think He would ever forget us and leave us defenseless? We've been purchased with too great a price for Him to forget His investment in us now. "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in us WILL COMPLETE IT until the day of Jesus Christ." And complete it He will, even if the finishing touches come with our last breath on this earth.

To live a victorious, overcoming life in the midst of the spiritual enemies that surround us, we need our spiritual eyes open to see God's armies surrounding the enemies that surround us. We need to see that He will supply all of our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. (Phil.4:19) We need to know that He is the God that heals us. (Ex.15:26). We need to know that nothing will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom.8:35-38). We need to know that happy are the people whose God is the Lord. (Ps.144:15). We need o know that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh.8:10). Who is secure? Who is happy and rejoicing? Who is walking in victory and healing? The ones whose eyes are opened to see the spiritual reality of God's promises and presence.

"Lord, open his eyes." That's the need of the hour. Lord, the enemy wants to destroy my marriage, my finances, my good name, my business, my mind. It looks hopeless, Lord, unless You step in and do something. OPEN MY EYES!?

Who is sad? Depressed? Discouraged? The ones who see the problem and not the solution. "By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints." (Eph.1:18). That your eyes would be "flooded with light."

Even though you thought you were doomed, you probably can"t even remember what you were worried about five years ago. Why? Because the promises of God were true. His promises stood the test of time again and again. He promised to deliver, guide and provide, and He did.

"Fear not," Elisha told his servant. Lord, open his eyes that he might see the sovereignty of God. That he might see the promises of Scripture.?

The Syrians hated God and wanted to kill God's people. But like Saul of Tarsus, whose heart was changed when God knocked him off his horse, God blinded the Syrians. The King of Israel said to Elisha, "My father, shall we kill them"? This is what we deserved under the Law. Thank God for the Blood. "No, don't kill them, take them by the hand and lead them to the capital city of Samaria."

Like the Syrians, we too were blinded by sin. Then we heard the Gospel, knew it was true, and knew we were going in the wrong direction. God led us by the hand. Where? Right into the capital city of God's people,the church. Instead of killing his enemies, Elisha said to feed them, care for them.

We, who were blinded by rebellion and sin, who should have been judged and executed for our crimes, found mercy from God, and instead of judgment, we were rescued and given food and water. This is a picture of us in our redeemed state in heaven just after the Rapture, feasting at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Then our eyes will be permanently open, for eternity.

In 2Kings 6, the sons of the prophets, disciples of Elisha, men dedicated to the work and ministry of God and the study of Scripture, were increasing in number and sought to build a larger facility to expand their ministry.

First of all, anytime you find a group of disciples being discipled by a man of God, there will be revival and God will bring the increase. You can have increase without this, but you won't have revival, just more numbers. These young disciples watched Elisha as he prayed, worked miracles, spoke prophetic messages, and determined they would follow his example, just as Elisha was discipled by Elijah, as Timothy was discipled by Paul. "Follow me as I follow Christ." Just as Jesus discipled the twelve and told them "they would do greater works than Him (because of their numbers). If you are a church leader, what example are you giving your men that they might follow you and do even "greater works" one day than you? The reason most of Christiandom is not in revival today is the very lack of this understanding and practice.

I see many young men in churches today who long to be discipled, looking for anointed leadership who will train them, both in word and example. If all we give them is, "Come to church on Sunday, participate in youth ministries," and for the really serious ones, "Go to Bible college," we are seriously short-changing them. No wonder they wander around our churches, thinking there must be more. A natural consequence of Biblical conversion, at least for men, is a sense of being birthed to a grand purpose, a call to a glorious campaign, a fabulous adventure, a conquest requiring risk for the magnificent cause of eternal souls?a majestic enterprise greater than oneself. And if they don't find something like this, their salvation experience quickly becomes insipid, and their church attendance becomes little more than a glorified social networking club.

Do they see their leader praying? (I don't mean holding hands with closed eyes and a pained looked on their face) Do they see their leader evangelizing? Do they see their leader on the cutting edge of revelation and spiritual living? Most will not rise any higher than the man of God in their lives, nor will they reach their potential and calling if someone isn't discipling them.

Why has this critical facet of ministry been lost in the modern church? I would suggest a number of possibilities. Some pastor's egos couldn't stand for someone rising up and doing "greater things" than themselves. Others have grown comfortable in their position ; why "rock the boat?" Others simply may not have much understanding of the principles and value of genuine discipleship. Perhaps they were never discipled themselves and have no concept of it. Others, unfortunately, just don't want to put forth the effort. Some are burnt out and just barely holding on the way it is, not realizing that genuine discipleship would not only energize the men of his congregation, but the leader as well.

The axe head in our text is a picture of the cutting edge of the power of the Holy Ghost. If a ministry is not built on the power of God, there won't be much to disciple and pass on to others. You can have dynamic worship, encouraging and thought-provoking sermons, a lively youth group, a thriving children's ministry, ample finances, and still not be building on the power of God. You can have an impressive looking church building, a warm place for visitors to attend, a growing congregation, a friendly people, and even plant a church or two, and still not have the Holy Ghost cutting edge of revival. Because if the work doesn't eventually carry on to the next generation, and new leaders and preachers aren't being developed, you will just end up with a bunch of older saints talking about the "good old days." No church program, ministry, talent, or theology can make an axe head float, only the miraculous power of God.

When the axe head flew into the water, the young disciple cried out, "Alas, master! For it was borrowed." Never forget that whatever anointing is on your life, whatever effectiveness and skills you might have, it is not your own, it is borrowed from God. When Rush Limbaugh says, "Talent on loan from God? he is jokingly saying far more than he realizes. If we don't acknowledge where the power and anointing on our lives comes from, we could wake up one day like Samson and find the spirit of God departed. Or like Herod, when the people were hailing him as a god and was eaten by worms because he failed to give glory to God, or Nebuchadnezzar, who became a beast of the field for seven years.

How did the man lose his axe head? While he was laboring for God it flew off into the water. Axe heads don't just one day suddenly fall off and go flying. They become loose, slowly over time. All the man had left was the wooden handle, a symbol of the flesh ("wood, hay, and stubble"). At this point he didn't say, "Oh well, the axe head, the cutting edge is gone, I'll just swing the handle." You say, "That would be ridiculous." Yet many times we do the same thing, continuing to minister and trying to live the Christian life long after the anointing, the cutting edge has departed.

How do we get the axe head back? The disciple cried out, "Alas, Master." This is the only place to start: Realizing we've lost something we once had, that we need to get back what the Master lent us. We've been given certain talents and giftings from God. We can't afford to bury them or let them fade away from disuse.

Elisha asked a very important question: "Where did you lose it?" Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, "I know your good works, your knowledge, your giving. But I have something against you for you have left your first love. Remember from whence you have fallen and repent and do your first works again."

Most of us as young converts had a zeal and energy for God, an urgency about getting out the truth and reaching the lost and having intimacy with God, about praying for our needs and believing God. We haven't just become more mature; we've lost the axe head. Did you used to get up early to pray? Did you used to pour over Scripture, digging for hidden treasures? Did you used to witness to the lost because you feared Jesus was coming soon and they would be left behind?

Elisha took a stick and threw it into the Jordan. The stick is a picture of the Cross,a place where we first experienced the power of God. After the axe head floated back to the surface, the prophet said, "Take it up. And he put out his hand and took it."

Elisha showed the axe head to his young disciple. Now it was his responsiblity to take it up. When God shows us how to regain the cutting edge, we need to put down our pride, repent of our lukewarmness and disobedience, and pick up the axe head.

As leaders, can we make the axe head float for others? Does our life inspire them to pick it up so the cutting edge of spiritual energy and purpose will come floating back to the surface of their lives?

As important as acquiring Bible knowledge is, no school can make the axe head float. Only an Elisha can do that.