Today’s Devotion
Topic: Discerning Into Prophetic Instructions!
Text: 2 Kings 13: 14-19
13 Sometime before the death of King Jehoash, Elisha the prophet was very sick and about to die. Jehoash went in and stood beside him, crying. He said, “Master, what will Israel’s chariots and cavalry be able to do without you?” 15-16 “Grab a bow and some arrows,” Elisha told him, “and hold them in your hand.” Jehoash grabbed the bow and arrows and held them. Elisha placed his hand on the king’s hand 17 and said, “Open the window facing east.” When it was open, Elisha shouted, “Now shoot!” Jehoash shot an arrow and Elisha said, “That arrow is a sign that the Lord will help you completely defeat the Syrian army at Aphek.”
18 Elisha said, “Pick up the arrows and hit the ground with them.” Jehoash grabbed the arrows and hit the ground three times, then stopped. 19 Elisha became angry at the king and exclaimed, “If you had struck it five or six times, you would completely wipe out the Syrians. Now you will defeat them only three times.” Amen
King Jehoash was scared that the death of Prophet Elisha meant doom for the nation of Israel. He had built confidence in the prophet instead building a relationship with God. Jehoash had had no time to develop his spiritual sensitivity; he had depended entirely on Prophet Elisha in his entire reign. And now that the prophet was about to die, He run to him saying “master, what will Israel’s chariots be able to do without you”.
Elisha, being an anointed man of God commanded him to pick the bow and “arrows (not arrow), open the window to the east and shoot. But before he would shoot, the prophet placed his hand on that of the king, a sign of impartation. There and then Jehoash should have known the command of the prophet had spiritual significance. But he couldn’t discern.
The prophet again asked him to hit the ground with the remaining arrows. He hit only three times. Elisha became frustrated with him and said “if you had struck 6 or 5 times, you would completely wipe out the Syrians but now you will defeat them only 3 times.
You see, to Jehoash, he was only obeying the words of the prophet. He was not discerning enough to realize all the prophet was asking him to do had SPIRITUAL IMPLICATIONS for the nation he was leading. Elisha’s interpretation of the first action didn’t even give him a clue.
Most of us have our confidence in prophets instead of God. We are careful to build a relationship with “Men of God” but not God Himself. We run to them at the least and do everything our ministers instruct us to do without the relevant spiritual knowledge for our full benefit.
We don’t care to build a relationship with God for as long as the prophet tells what to do. We don’t even build our spirituality to the point where we can discern fully into the instructions they give us so that we can obey with understanding for the full benefit.
If Jehoash knew striking the ground with the arrows signified the defeat of the enemies of Israel, all the arrows in the world wouldn’t have been enough for him.
So the next time your pastor encourages you to give, don’t just give. Understand from scripture why you must give and you will benefit fully from the blessings that giving brings. Again, the next time you are told to make a joyful noise unto God, don’t just shout without understanding why. That kind of empty shout is nothing but noise making unless you understand from scripture what the spiritual significance is.
For why should you just make empty noise when your shout could spiritually bring down the walls of Jericho in your life?
We are now in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, pray for a closer walk with the Holy Spirit through consistent prayer and Bible study. So that you may discern the reason for each instruction you receive in a prophetic atmosphere. When you obey with understanding, you earn the full benefit. Begin to pray concerning all these things now!
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