Part 2 Beth Moore Simulcast Sept 15- 2 Kings 4

Ok.... the 2nd part of the Simulcast was equally as good as the first.
 Remember, it was about 2 women: 1. One who KNEW she had a huge need  2. One who did NOT know she had a huge need.
You can read part 1 here.
http://inhonoroftheking.blogspot.com/2012/09/grounded-literally-and-spiritually.html
Part 2 focused on 2 Kings 4

The Shunammite’s Son Restored to Life  (Red is scripture/ black is Beth Moore's notes).

⁸ One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. ⁹ She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. ¹⁰ Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
¹¹ One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. ¹² He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. ¹³ Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”
She replied, “I have a home among my own people.” (This is a common phrase for "I'm fine")
¹⁴ “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, “Well, she has no son and her husband is old.” (She has been waiting a long time for a child).
¹⁵ Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”
“No, my lord,” she objected. “Don’t mislead your servant, O man of God!”
¹⁷ But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
¹⁸ The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. ¹⁹ “My head! My head!” he said to his father.
His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. ²¹ She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
²² She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
²³ “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
“It’s all right,” she said. (The literal word she said was....Shalom- peace)
²⁴ She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! ²⁶ Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
“Everything is all right,” she said.  (The literal word she said was....Shalom- peace)
²⁷ When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
²⁸ “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
²⁹ Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
³⁰ But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her. (The man of God was her only hope... The son of God (Jesus) is our only hope)
³¹ Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
³² When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. ³³ He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm. ³⁵ Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
³⁶ Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” ³⁷ She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

Note when Elisha asks what he can do for her..she says I am among my own people...or I'm fine.  Beth said, 
GOD DOESN'T call us to "fine".. He calls us to faith.   A need is God's supernatural invitation to God's provision.  If you have everything you need, you need a bigger life.  (Look beyond yourself.. there is NEED everywhere).     She notes in 2 Kings 4:16  that the woman basically says, Don't tease me... don't tell me I will have a son..and it not happen..  Perhaps others have told her "you will have a child"..and the baby never came.  Faith in Elisha's word that came from God involves RISK.   Risk to hope again... Risk to believe.. Risk another failed dream.    Faith is risky.  Will God say yes?  Will God say no?  Will God give me a child and then not let me keep him? 

FEAR is the crippler of a walking, talking miracle.   Beth said, If God says no... or God says wait.. or if you feel God is silent, you still have HOPE..because HE  is good and wants to withhold NO good thing.  "IF it doesn't come down, then something is up."  This means if you pray...and God doesn't send the blessing down, He is up to something better.  Sometimes we understand this "better"... sometimes we just have to trust..because we know HIM to be good.   

Matthew 7:10-11 ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Our faith rests its case on the resurrection of Christ. 

Ephesians 1:18-23

¹⁸ I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰ which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

God doesn't lack the power to do what He wants to do!   

So, do you think God is a giver....or a taker?   If you think He is a giver... you will be able to trust Him more.

If you think He is a taker, you don't understand His love and His nature.

James 1:16-18 ¹⁶ Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Notice, that the woman does not get to keep her son... he dies after he has a headache and she goes to get Elisha.   Elisha first tells his servant to take his staff and lay it on the boy . (Nothing happens.).  The jars... his first try...worked.   Here... the same Godly man... His first attempt..didn't work.   Why?  I think to show us that we can be in God's will..and things don't always turn out like we think.  We have to see that "Faith faces the fact that there is no formula".  God gets to be God... We can't manipulate..do things a certain way..and "make Him" give us what we want.    Sometimes we are in the center of His will...and He tells us to do something different to help a certain case.  First Elisha tried having his servant place his staff on the boy.  Then Elisha...³³ He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm. ³⁵ Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

We have to ask ourselves... "Do you have enough security in Christ to trust in Him when the mystery doesn't end like we think it should?" 

Beth Moore said she has seen many believers become faithless.  They are hurt by what God allows... what God doesn't give..or does give...... and then she sees that these faithless people become unforgiving... cynical ..cold-hearted people.   She said that Christians can be the  worst bullies.     She said .."this is how we guard against becoming faithless when "the mystery doesn't end like we think it should?"  

You trust that God goes before you... and is working on your behalf....even when you can NOT see the entire picture.  (If you can't see His hand...trust His heart)>

Psalm 68: 7-10

When you went out before your people, O God,

when you marched through the wasteland, Selah

⁸ the earth shook,

the heavens poured down rain,

before God, the One of Sinai,

before God, the God of Israel.

⁹ You gave abundant showers, O God;

you refreshed your weary inheritance.

¹⁰ Your people settled in it,

and from your bounty, O God, you provided for the poor.

We have to trust that He gives abundantly...that He will provide...and He does go before us!

You might say... "you have never been through what I have been through... How can you trust Him...if you have had my life? "  The photo on the right is of my 7 year old son's back... after he had one tumor removed and one tumor de-bulked..last July.   They couldn't remove all of the tumor...all they could do ..is de-bulk it.  I am walking a faith walk.   

I have two babies waiting for me in Heaven... I am walking a faith walk. 

I have relationships unrestored... I am walking a faith walk.  

I have other pains of this life.. I am walking a faith walk.  It is much easier when you follow Ephesians 6..and have God's people speak His word..His truth into your life.  We need one another to spur..our faith walk. 

Ephesians 6 10- The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.