Where Is The Lord God Of Elijah?
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and … they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over ~ 2 Kings 2:14.
Introduction:
The objective focus of every Christian soul should be to purposefully seek after the true God. If we do not find Him, we have found nothing durable. We must have the God of Elijah; we cannot live or excel without Him. This is a great truth to keep by all believers who wish to leave indelible imprints on the sacred sands of time.
Moreover, times come when some great difficulties lie in our ways. If they are to be removed, the best thing to do is to lay them before the Lord. There is nothing which can possibly be beyond the power of Him whose name is Jehovah, the great I am that I am!
Today, people focus more on the man, the mantle and the oil. But, beyond all these, Elisha knew the God of the mantle. Yes, any believer would like to have Elijah’s mantle. However, there would be no use having his mantle without having his God? Only those who have Jehovah-God will do very well with the mantle, because it takes the Spirit of God to make the mantle work.
Elisha was faced with the challenge of how to cross the deep and rapidly flowing River Jordan, which stood as a bulwark against him shortly after he received the double portion of Elijah’s unction. Satan here attempted to use the force of nature to curtail Elisha’s supernatural manifestation.
Happily, Elisha had the fiery mantle that dropped from Elijah in his hands. He knew it contained the power of God; he took it and smote the waters with it, roaring, “Where is the LORD God of Elijah”?
Notice he didn’t ask for Elijah, neither did he ask for the “mysterious power” in the mantle. Rather, he called unto the God of Elijah Himself. And, when Elisha smote the waters with the mantle and cried unto God, the waters at once divided, and the prophet walked through (2 Kings 2:7-14).
“The Lord God of Elijah” is the Way-Maker that can part your Jordan so that you can cross over. He provided for His people by all means, even when He had to use the stingy ravens. He fed Elijah, and supplied his needs by the brook Cherith and at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:2-16).
He’s the God who kept Elijah faithful to the end when almost the whole nation had turned aside. He answered Elijah’s prayers and worked many miracles for him and through him. He hasn’t changed; whatever He did before, He can do again and even more for us today through Christ Jesus (James 5:16-18). He still answers by fire!
Inevitability of Fire In the Raging Troubles of Life
The fire of the Holy Ghost is quite essential for any believer that hopes to record victories in the constant spiritual contests of life. In fact, at personal as well as corporate levels, the fire of the Holy Spirit is inevitable for our survival in this end time.
Spiritual beasts of the field may keep on challenging your experiences with God, but if you’re strong enough in the power of the Holy Spirit, they will always bow out at last. This was what Phillip the Evangelist demonstrated very well in Samaria (Acts 8:5-13).
Another Challenging Experience In Elijah’s Ministry
One would have expected that, with the unforgettable humiliation meted out to the satanic agencies represented by Baal and her prophets in 1 Kings 18, the devil would have forever stopped playing games with Israel. But, not so with the shameless devil! He always re-engineers old battles at different fronts and with different strategies. It is we believers that must ensure our fire is ever burning for God.
Shortly after Ahaziah succeeded the late King Ahab, he had a bad fall and became very sick. Unfortunately, instead of seeking help from the true God of Israel, he was deluded to seek after Baal (2 Kings 1:1-15). Baal again?
For this avoidable error, God’s wrath was kindled against Ahaziah, and He sent Elijah to go tell him that he would die of that sickness. I think God adjudged it is better for one man to die rather than subjecting the entire nation to another round of untold pain, agony, suffering and incremental death.
Understandably, this didn’t go down well with King Ahaziah. Rather than showing penitence and asking God for mercy, he planned for vengeance against Elijah the Lord’s messenger. So, Elijah became the king’s scapegoat again. Ahaziah gave multiple orders for his arrest and, possibly, for further brutal ordeals.
At this point I like to make the note that Elijah was not politically or socially famous, neither was he popular with “the media”. In fact, the king’s chamberlains merely described him as “an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins”, who had met them and said unto them: “Go, turn again unto the king … and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD ….” (v6-8).
Notwithstanding, Elijah, with an authentic “thus saith the Lord”, invoked the Holy Ghost fire to settle this new case of high-caliber harassment also. Eventually, King Ahaziah’s plot failed, and he died according to the Word of the Lord. Fire had settled it again!
Elisha too, as recorded in 2 Kings 6:8-23, had to invoke fire to deal with a similar issue of life. He was simply discharging his prophetic duties and standing in the gap for God’s people, when the King of Syria decided to treat him as a dangerous criminal by deploying a whole battalion of the Syrian army to arrest him.
The sight was so frightening! Elisha’s servant was even caught in the fear-web, but Elisha was not because he was sure of the superior firepower of the God whom he served. He prayed that his enemies would be disarmed by the blinding and dazzling effects of the majestic fire of God, and he got it. At last, his enemies lived only at his mercy and their hostility ceased for a while. Alleluia!
Paul and Silas also experienced the raw power of this fire when they were wrongly accused, convicted and jailed for freeing a demon-enslaved young lady. There was a precision earthquake, opening the prison doors, and releasing them for the assignment of their destiny (Acts 16:16-36). The Lord’s fire justified them!
The major lesson from all these experiences is that we must always ensure the integrity of the Lord’s fire in our hearts because Satan is unrelenting in his rabid bids to persecute and ultimately destroy anything connected with God (2 Timothy 3:12).
Furthermore, as it is apparent in the lives of the aforementioned devout servants of God, some of these challenges may sometimes come to us on the paths of our sacred duties. Albeit, with the firepower of the Holy Spirit on our side, we have nothing to fear or be scared of. Indeed, continuous victory is certain only for believers on fire for God.
Your answer is your perpetual victory! If you presently feel the heat of any satanic harassment, just call on the Lord God of Elijah. Only remember to do like Elisha did: know God and follow Him all the way through. Remain firm under His prophetic cover so that His mantle can tackle your battles (Hosea 12:13). You won’t pray in vain again, in Jesus name. Amen. Happy Sunday!
Rhema Christian Church,
Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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