Today’s Reading, 2 Kings 1-3
Focal Scripture: 2 Kings 2:9 “When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.” So Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your spirit.”
If you were given a chance to ask for anything what would you ask for when the opportunity arose. From a non-biblical response I would ask to have my family financially taken care of for the future. Knowing that if something happened to me they would have no worries about the next steps would be a great relief. I want to make clear what I am talking about here. I have life insurance and retirement. My family would receive social security and other benefits. They would be taken care of immediately and for the foreseeable future. I would ask for finances to never be an issue for the family forever. Generational wealth that changes the trajectory of a family forever. This might seem like a strange request but it will make sense here in a moment.
In today’s reading Elijah asks Elisha what he can do for him before the Lord takes him away. Instead of just asking for a normal request, Elisha goes for a big ask. He wants a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. He wants more spiritual power and do to greater things than his mentor. He is boldly saying I want to be used by God more than you were in your life. Elisha is requesting a blessing for spiritual intimacy and spiritual power. He does not want the status quo. He does not want to be like everyone else in Israel.
This is the correlation between my finical asks for my family and what Elisha is asking from Elijah. Normal or just enough was not the long term plan. Just like I want my family to be taken care of for generations. Elisha wanted to experience God in a massive way. Earlier I told you what my non spiritual request would be if I had one ask in my life. Now let me tell you what my one request is that is related to my faith. I want to be a person that is completely surrendered to the will of God. I desire God to use me how he sees fit, which means I must be willing to die to him daily.
The challenge for you and for me is that our flesh gets in the way. Our flesh doesn’t want to submit to the Lord. Our flesh wants to go after sin and fulfill its own desires. To combat this we must boldly ask the Lord to convict us, lead us, guide us, and fill us with his Spirit. Our prayers must be dangerous. To quote Thomas Watson “We must take heaven by storm.” in our spiritual and personal lives. To do this we must understand that our faith is something that must be fought for on a daily basis. We must boldly go to the Lord and ask him to work in us and remove anything that keeps us from living a godly life.
Today, in your prayer time asks God to do a big work in your spiritual life. Do not settle for an easy request. Seek God and ask him for a big change spiritually. Be bold like Elisha and take a leap of faith and trust God to do in you what only he can. We need more bold prayers for God to work in his people. Let it begin inside each one of us on a daily basis.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading 2 Kings 4-5
