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GOD
WILL NOT
ABANDON HIS
PEOPLE!
by Pastor Max
Solbrekken
"And
it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts
2:21)
"Now
there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the
prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is
dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord:
and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be
bondmen.
And
Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me,
what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid
hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
Then
He said, go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy
neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
And
when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee
and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those
vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
So
she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her
sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.
And
it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said
unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her,
There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
Then
she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the
oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the
rest." (2 Kings 4:1-7)
1.
GOD KEEPS THE BOOKS
The
account found in our text proves, without a shadow of a
doubt, that God is interested in His people and does not
forget the good that His servants do.
When
someone asked the famous scientist Albert Einstein, "Is
there life on the other planets?" he reportedly
replied, “God does not throw dice”! In other words God
is not a gambler. He does not believe in CHANCE, He is well
organized and knows what He is doing.
CERTAINLY
HE KEEPS BOOKS
The
Scripture says, "Nevertheless the foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that
are His..." (2 Tim. 2:19) He knows us all and sees the
sparrow fall to the ground. The very hairs of our heads are
numbered and He clothes the lillies of the field and looks
after His own! (Matt. 6:28-31; 10:29-30)
Even
the angels of God who came to the garden tomb to roll away
the stone from the Sepulchre declared to the followers of
Christ: "I know that ye seek Jesus of Nazareth ...He is
not here: for He is risen." (Mark 28:5-6)
GOD
IS NO MAN'S DEBTOR
When
the widow of the man of God was in trouble; without money to
pay her debt and her two sons were about to be sold as
slaves, GOD WORKED A MIRACLE FOR HER!
Her
husband had labored
long and hard for God's kingdom and now his widow was in a
financial situation of severe magnitude.
When
she cried out for help by going to the prophet Elisha, an
answer began unfolding for her. God is no man's debtor and
will not be held accountable to anyone. He will make His
Word good!
The
Bible says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good
measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running
over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same
measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you
again." (Luke 6:38)
King
David made a statement that has stood the test of time and
eternity: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord: and He delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall
not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with
His hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He
is ever merciful,
and
lendeth; and his seed is blessed." (Ps. 37:23-26)
EVERY
ONE HAS SOMETHING HE CAN USE AS A KEY TO RECEIVE A BLESSING!
No one
is so poor or insignificant that God will bypass them.
Certainly, each individual is unique and has qualifications
and usefulness that others may not have. God spoke to Moses
on the backside of the desert: "What is in thine
hand?" He answered, "A shepherd's stick." God
said, "Throw it upon the ground." He did and it
became a serpent.
Later,
Moses was commanded to pick it up by the tail and it became
a rod in his hand again. God then spoke to Moses telling him
to take the rod in his hand and to go to Pharaoh, King of
Egypt, demanding the release of Jewish slaves.
The
Scripture says that Moses embarked on his journey,
"with the rod of God in his hand." (Ex. 4:20)
It
had been only a shepherd's rod but under God's Divine
leadership it automatically became "The Rod of
God." Little becomes much when God is in it!
HER
HUSBAND HAD BEEN A MAN OF GOD
The
widow woman told her problem to the prophet Elisha. Her
husband who had been a faithful man of God had passed away
leaving behind a stack of bills. She had no money to settle
the account, and now the creditors were threatening to take
her two sons as payment! The prophet asked her, "What
hast thou in the house?" She answered, "Thine
handmaid hath not anything in the house, SAVE A POT OF
OIL."
(2
Kings 4:2)
She
was like many today who say: "I have nothing to offer;
I am nothing; what I have doesn't amount to anything!"
That
pot of oil was going to be the KEY TO
HER DELIVERANCE - It was something the prophet could
use. It was a starting point in her recovery out of debt!
Concerning
the ‘Tabernacle in the Wilderness’, God instructed Moses
to command everyone to bring something as an offering to
God. The rich could bring a bullock from the herd, the
middle class - a lamb or a goat from the flocks and the poor
- two turtle doves or pidgeons. The very poor could bring an
offering of flour and salt.
NO
ONE WAS TOO POOR TO GIVE SOMETHING TO GOD
St.
Paul expected every believer to bring an offering to God's
work on a regular basis in accordance with His blessings
upon them! "Now concerning the collection for the
saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia,
even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one
of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that
there be no gatherings when I come." (1 Cor. 16:1-2)
USE
YOUR BRAINS
The
prophet said, "Go to your neighbours and borrow all the
empty vessels you are able."
Jesus
made the statement, "...the children of this world are
in their generation wiser than the children of light.”
(Luke 16:8)
Very
definitely God wants us to use our brains! St. Paul stated,
"Be not slothful in business..." (Rom. 12:11)
God
wants us to be profitable for Him. He does not operate a
losing business. IN THE END WE ALL WIN! But we must not hide
our talent in the earth (Matt. 25:25), but use our faith and
ability!
God
wants us to be innovative, inventive and original. HE WANTS
US TO FOLLOW HIM, BUT HE IS LOOKING FOR LEADERS!
All
of us have neighbours or relatives we can speak to about
Christ. Some of them owe us favours. We have been good to
them; they may be close to us and we can use our
relationship or friendship to ask of them a favour...LIKE
COMING WITH US TO CHURCH!
We
can invite them to our home, so that we may show them
kindness and be able to introduce them to the ‘Living
Jesus’!
BUT
THERE IS A WAY OUT FOR US, AS THERE WAS FOR HER!!!
The
prophet of God instructed her to borrow from her neighbors
all the empty vessels (to be returned at a later date).
God
has instructed me to humble myself and ask largely. Possibly
some of our friends are able to send a large gift of several
hundreds or thousands of dollars for MISSIONS! God has
promised to reward those who give willingly, gladly and in
faith!
The
little boy who shared his few fishes and bread with Jesus
was instrumental in providing sustenance for thousands, when
the Master's blessings were on it. (Matt. 14)
Peter's
boat gave Jesus a place from which to preach. Later, God
blessed both him and his partners with a shipload of fish
each. (Luke 5)
Let
us use our heads and invest in God's Kingdom. Jesus said,
"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure,
pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall
men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye
mete withal it shall be measured to you again." (Luke
6:38)
THINK
BIGGER!
Many
of us think too small. We look through a narrow angle lens.
We can't even see the forest for the tree.
LET
US USE A WIDE ANGLE LENS in our outlook and spiritual
perspective. WE MUST BEGIN TO THINK BIG!! And we must use
our faith. The prophet said, ‘BORROW NOT A FEW’!
The
King's business requires haste. The most important work in
the world is the gathering together of finances, people and
programs to assault the Kingdom of Satan, and to take the
battle to the very “gates of hell” in order to rescue
precious souls for God's Kingdom!
‘The
Supreme task of the Church of the Living God in this
generation is to win precious souls to Christ, both at home
and abroad!’ Our
mammoth overseas crusades reach literally multitudes for
Jesus and help to shape the thinking of great numbers of
people; turning them toward God.
Great
numbers are healed by God's grace and power - Thank the
Lord! Therefore, we should put Our Best into the work of the
Kingdom and think big!
One
of the trademarks of being filled with the Holy Spirit is
that we magnify God! In each case where the Early Church
believers were baptized with the Blessed Holy Ghost, we find
that two things always happened:
1)
They spoke in other tongues. They magnified God.
"For
they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God."
(Acts 10:46)
WHAT
DOES IT MEAN TO MAGNIFY GOD?
It
is impossible to make God bigger than what He already is. He
is so big that the heavens can't contain Him, and the earth
is His footstool! To magnify God means to believe what He
says about Himself, to glorify Him and articulate His
greatness & goodness among the people!
The
problem with us all, is that we have been brainwashed by
evolutionists, secular humanists and unbelieving,
modernistic preachers, to picture God as small, distant,
irrelevant & unconcerned! And many have developed a
belief in a very big devil!
Let
us change that, by glorifying God and praising Him by
telling people everywhere how great, powerful and gracious
He really is. May we magnify God by our witness and
testimony of His saving grace and healing power to us!
King
David - a man after God's own heart - was always magnifying
God! (Ps. 34:3) About forty (40) years ago, Rev. Jack Coe
related a revelation the Lord had given him.
He
was seeking God for answers to the questions of life. And
about future revivals and how they would affect humanity.
The
Lord showed him the little dipper and the big dipper in the
Northern Hemisphere. "Do you see how small the little
dipper is in comparison to the big dipper? asked the Lord.
"The
revivals of the past are like the little dipper in
comparison to the great revivals that are going to come. The
mighty outpouring of God's Holy Spirit in the future will
dwarf the manifestations of His power in the past."
We
who are doing the WORK OF GOD need to begin thinking in a
big way about God's plans of reaping the harvest.
GET
ALONE WITH GOD
The
prophet told the widow to close the door, in order to give
her and her sons privacy as they exercised their faith in
God. Before
beginning to pour the oil into the empty vessels, she needed
to be alone with God!
In
order for us to be effective in helping people in a
spiritual as well as psychological & economical way -
through prayer, ministry and financial assistance - we need
to get alone with God.
Jesus
said, "Watch and pray lest ye enter into
temptation." (Matt. 26:41) "But thou, when thou
prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the
door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." (Matt.
6:6)
Jesus
put out all the unbelievers from the home of Jarius before
raising the little girl from the dead. (Luke 8:51)
Simon
Peter went alone to meet God in the "housetop
experience" of prayer, as well as when he raised Dorcas
from the dead! (Acts 10:9; 9:40)
And
Abraham stood alone with the Lord to intercede for Sodom,
Jacob wrestled alone with the "Angel of the Lord"
and Joshua encountered the "Captain of the Host of the
Lord" alone! (Gen. 18:22; 32:24; Josh. 5:13)
Very definitely, there
are times we need to get alone with God - as well as with
other true believers - in order to see God's gifts operate
in our lives! We
must separate ourselves from unbelief, worldliness and from
negative people, as we seek God in fastings and prayer.
POUR
OUT & TAKE THE MARCH OF FAITH
With
her two sons present - and the door shut - she started
pouring the oil from her pot into the empty vessels.
And
praise God, the miracle happened! So long as she poured and
as long as there were empty vessels, the creative works of
God continued operating! Her faith and obedience was getting
the job done!
We
must get our ideas off the drawing board!! In other words, "FAITH
IS ACTION."
Faith
is a fact, but it is also an act of obedience. She was
obedient and poured out what she possessed, into the empty
vessels.
There
are several lessons here: First
- If you pour yourself into others by helping them you will
always have enough left for yourself!
Secondly
- If you obey God's instructions - regardless of how
ridiculous it seems - you will get results!
As
she poured, the oil continued to flow - It was a miracle of
provision. When all her empty vessels were full, she asked
her sons to bring more but they informed her that they had
used them all.
No
doubt, she felt badly that they had not borrowed more! The
prophet had stated, “Borrow not a few” - In other words,
she should take advantage of God’s blessings - to the
maximum - because the oil would flow and meet every need, as
well as give her an abundance of supply for her family
SHE
SOLD THE OIL & PAID HER OUTSTANDING BILLS
The
widow returned to the prophet with a praise report. She had
done everything he had instructed her to do and God had
performed the miracle! Then he instructed her to sell the
oil and pay her bills. And he assured her that there would
be enough left over to look after her family!
It
is so important to return to the ‘Man of God’ and report
what God has done! When Jesus healed ten lepers, only one
returned to give glory to God. Jesus exclaimed, “Were
there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? there are
not found that returned to give glory to God, save (except)
this stranger”. (Luke 17:17-18)
And
it is imperative that WE KEEP FOCUSED
on the objective, the goals we had before the miracle
happened.
When
God has blessed us, let us use the blessing to pay our bills
in order to secure freedom for those who are lost. The two
sons are a picture of those who are targeted for slavery by
Satan, to be used for his enjoyment and their misery!
When
we have looked after our own obligations, provided for our
families and wisely invested something for the future, let
us not forget the work of God. Let us reach the lost for
Christ. May we stay focused, so that we not only live for
today but provide for the future by investing in God's
Kingdom!
Jesus
said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you". (Matt. 6:33)
The
Bible says, "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and
with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy
barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out
with new wine". (Prov. 3:9-10)
May
God richly bless us all!
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