RECEIVING PROPHECIES
Memorise:
Despise not prophesyings .. 1 Thessalonians 5:20
Read:
2 Kings 7:1-17
Message
Sometimes, God gives prophecies that sound impossible to the human mind and this makes some people doubt and miss out on them. When a prophecy seems too good to be true or difficult to believe, just keep quiet. Don't say anything against the prophecy because if you do, you may never see it fulfilled. In today's Bible reading, the minister voiced his unbelief in Elisha's prophecy. The prophecy came to pass, but because of what he said, he did not live to experience it.
What we say and/or do after receiving a prophecy matters. God told Abraham in Genesis 17:4 and Genesis 26:3-4 that he would be a father of nations and that his children would be as many as the stars in the sky. At that time, he and his wife were already old and did not have any children. Even though Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6), the prophecy was not fulfilled immediately. When it appeared as if the prophecy was not going to come to pass, Sarah got Abraham to have a child with Hagar, her handmaiden. Despite this, God told him in Genesis 17:1 to walk before Him and be perfect and repeated the prophecy. This time, Abraham doubted in his heart (Genesis 17:17), but he did not speak out, nor did he try another alternative outside God's will. God instructed him to circumcise all the males In his house as a sign of His covenant with him, and Abraham obeyed. Although he doubted God in his heart. his words and actions did not express it. Later, in Genesis 18, God appeared to him, and nine months after, Isaac was born. If your mouth and actions don't negate God's promises for you, no matter how unbelievable those promises sound, you will see them come to pass.
When God tells me something unbelievable, I immediately begin to repeat it to those He permits me to Share it with. I don't give room for my human mind to process it and express doubts. I confess the prophecy repeatedly so that it becomes real to me. When God told me that He would build me a city, I could not even afford to build a small house, but I announced it to everyone who Cared to hear. Today, He has fulfilled that prophecy. When He showed me trailers bringing in cows to feed the crowds that will be attending our programmes, I announced it to people, even though we did not have money to buy half a dozen cows. Today, that prophecy has been fulfilled as well.
Bible In One Year:
Daniel 6-8
Hymn:
Standing On The Promises Of Christ My King
Key Point:
When God says something that seems too good to be true, repeat it with your mouth, and you will see it come to pass.
King James Version
2 Kings 7:1-17
Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. [2] Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
[3] And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? [4] If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. [5] And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. [6] For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. [7] Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. [8] And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. [9] Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household. [10] So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. [11] And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's house within.
[12] And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city. [13] And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see. [14] They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. [15] And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. [16] And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
[17] And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.
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