Morning by Morning, September 27 -- "Where is the Lord God of Elijah!” Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill my mind with Your thoughts and my heart with Your desires, for as You are, so am I to be, so are we to be, in our world (1 John 4:17). ... As I wait for the leading of Your Spirit this morning, embraced in the arms of my Father, what comes to mind are the first words of Elisha after he received the mantle of the Lord from Elijah: “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” (2 Kings 2:14) What I hear in his words, recorded forever in Your Word, is a heart of anticipation for what is to come. Elisha is not asking the question as if he has lost You and wants to know where You are. No, I hear his heart in these words as expectant faith. He’s just received an answer to his prayers. He’s just received a great gift of God from his mentor and spiritual father. And now he’s ready and excited to see what God will do! His question is more like a declaration into the spiritual atmosphere: “Where is the Lord God of Elijah!” And with those words, he takes up into his hands “the mantle of Elijah” he has just received as “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:13). Then with the new mantle in his hands that he’s just received from You through Elijah, he “struck the water” of the Jordan River and “it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over!” (v. 14) Elisha had asked of Elijah, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me” (v. 9). And so it was, from that day forward, Elisha moved in a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, the Spirit of the Lord that rested upon him. He was filled with compassion and love for the people, as he moved in the power and authority of the Spirit of God that rested upon him to accomplish Your will through his days in the spheres of influence You entrusted to him, as recorded in the Scriptures through the Chapters and Verses of the Book of 2 Kings. Elisha’s life, as he carried the particular mantle of God entrusted to him for his time was a foretaste, a type and shadow, of the life and ministry of the Messiah to come--the life and love of the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of our Father. The Apostle Peter declared in the Book of Acts this ministry of the Messiah, the ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in his day, confirming that same Spirit that rested upon Elijah and then Elijah rested upon Jesus to express the Father Heart of God to a hurting, broken, and lost world desperately in need of the love and power, the mercy and grace, of the Lord God: “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all--that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:34-43). As Peter declared those words, “the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word!” (v. 44) Lord God of Elijah, Lord God of Elisha, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Lord God of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Lord God of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Lord God of every heart humbled before You to trust in Your name and power love, let Your Holy Spirit fall on us! Let us hear Your Word and be filled with Your Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Let us be filled with expectant faith and fervent anticipation of the best that is yet to come! No matter what we face, no matter what we go through, no matter the testing we endure as we overcome in You, we are confident in the answer to the question, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” The Lord God of Elijah is with us, even within us, by the Spirit of the Lord God who abides in us as we abide in You (John 15:4; Romans 8:9-11) And “if God is for us, who can be against us!” (Romans 8:31) “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). That’s where the Lord God of Elijah is! You’re with us; You’re within us--right here, right now, every moment of every day, from this day until the end of the age, always and forever! (Matthew 28:20) In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today. In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, may the Spirit of the Living God rest upon you and rise up within you, overflowing out of you in the love and power of God entrusted to you to change the spiritual atmosphere around everywhere the Lord God sends you, in Jesus' name. God bless you, my friend! And you have a great day!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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