| The Grapevine Number 69 January 20, 2004 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 The Energy of Believing by Jack Northart Time and again we read in the Word of God about men and women who received God’s deliverance in situations that seemed so bleak at times. When they were sick, destitute, hungry or had another form of need, God came through for them. We are going to take a look at one key ingredient in a few incidences in the Word that was the common denominator in all of them: The energy of believing. II Kings 4:8-17 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people. And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life. What a wonderful blessing it was for her to have a son. To go childless in those times was considered a curse. This certainly turned things around for her and gave her a wonderful blessing. Verses 18-20 And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. Having your son die would be a traumatic experience. She was not expecting this to happen. Verses 21-23 And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. Notice her reaction to this horrible incident. She wasn’t accusing God of killing her child, but rather decided to take action and seek God’s deliverance. The first thing out of her mouth when asked about it was, “It shall be well.” She could have said so many other things at that moment, but her conviction was that God was going to bring something miraculous to pass. Verses 24-26 Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. She confessed it once again when asked about her welfare. “It is well,” was her response. Can you imagine how her heart must have ached? Can you picture the potential hysteria in her mind? Yet, she believed that God would take care of her situation. As a result of this mind-set, she saw the deliverance from the Lord. Verses 35-36 Then he [Elisha, the man of God] returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite [woman]. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Her dead son was alive once again. What a blessing that must have been! The key element in all of this was the energy to carry out her believing. She didn’t sit home and cry about it. To the contrary, she got up and went to the man of God. She took action. She was persistent. She aggressively sought the answer. This is the true nature of believing. Not passive, but active, persistent and aggressive. Let’s look at another incident. Mark 3:1-4 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. ] And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. He could have said to Jesus, “Oh I wish I could stretch out my hand, but as you can see, it is withered.” Or he could have said, “Are you joking me? Can’t you see that it’s withered?” He didn’t say that, but rather acted on the Word of God, spoken by Jesus Christ. Verse 5 And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. He was active in his belief of what God would do for him. He sought deliverance but didn’t sit around waiting for it, but rather stood forth in the face of opposition, and got his deliverance. Let’s look at one more record with the same key element as these two incidences that we’ve just read. Mark 5:25-28 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. She knew in her heart that Jesus could heal her. She had lived her life trying to get healed and had no success. She could have been very resentful about her situation, but she wasn’t. This was to be her day and she knew it. She didn’t let the crowds stop her, but pressed through to get to Jesus. Verse 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. She aggressively sought God’s deliverance. She could have just given up in the midst of trying to get to Jesus. However, she had the conviction to do whatever was necessary to receive her deliverance from that sickness. The circumstances were very challenging for her, but all of the obstacles in her way were irrelevant. She received her wholeness as a result. Too many times we are waiting for God to show us what to do, or tell us which road to take. The bottom line is that God loves us. He wants the best for his children. He wants us to be happy and have wonderful lives. We are not robots for God. He has given us His Word and the ministry of reconciliation, (II Corinthians 5:18,19). We have the enablements to carry it out. We must do it with all of the energy of our believing, and He will bring it to pass. |
 |
| Return to main page |