Serve the Lord with Zeal

Today, we will start by seeing the life of ‘Elijah’. He was a great prophet of God. 2 Kings 2:11 says that “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven”. Both Elijah and Elisha did not fear when the chariot of fire appeared to them, because they believed that this fire was sent from Heaven. This was not a consuming fire, but a life giving fire. Elijah, served the Lord with a lot of zest and zeal. Many of us think He was a ‘Superman’. But, no, Elijah was an ordinary man with nature like ours. He also suffered like you and me. The only difference is that Elijah was a great prayer warrior and a prophet of God. In James 5:17 we see “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months”. Elijah was the first prophet of God who performed the miracle of bringing alive the dead. In 1 Kings 17:20-24 we see “And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth”. In the Holy scriptures, we also see two others who performed this miracle. Elisha raised the Shunammite’s Son and Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from death.

Enoch and Elijah, were the two privileged people who did not see death, but were carried away from the earth. We see in the scriptures in 2 Kings 2:11-12 “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.” Yes, Elijah and Elisha did not fear the fire when the chariot of fire appeared to them. Because, they were sure this fire was not sent to destroy them but to give them life. Similarly, we too, must not fear the fire when it is sent to save us. But, we must fear the fire when its sent to destroy us. Malachi 4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD”. This is God’s prophecy, that Elijah just as he was carried away alive from this earth, will be sent to the earth before the coming of the ‘Day of the Lord’. Let us not fear, but let us all be prepared for the fire that will come once again to save us.

The next prophet about whom we will learn today is ‘Elisha’. 1 Kings 19:16-21 “And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him”. We see in versus 19, the anointing comes upon Elisha when He is plowing in the fields and he is twelfth in line with yoke of oxen before him, but still God chooses and anoints him. After receiving the anointing, Elisha started serving the Lord. 2 Kings 3:11 says “But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah”. He became a great prophet of God. Mathew 20:26-27 “But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant”. Before departing from this world, Elijah asks Elisha, “What you want, ask of me before I am taken away”. So Elisha asked for double portion of anointing upon him, as we see in 2 Kings 2:9 “And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me”. In our lives too, we must love God and pursue Him just as Elisha desired to do. We see in the holy scriptures that, all the people who lived for the Lord, desired only for heavenly blessings rather than worldly blessings. 1 Corinthians 14:1” Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy”.

Elijah was a simple prophet, but a powerful prayer warrior - we see how God stopped the rains hearing Elijah’s prayers. He also raised the widow’s son from dead. In every situation, Elijah stood firmly for the Lord. On the other hand, we see how Elisha asked Elijah for the double portion of God’s anointing on him. He was chosen in the fields when he was plowing. Though he was twelfth in line with the oxen, God chose him to succeed Elijah. Both these prophets, did not fear when they saw the chariot of fire, because they believed this fire was sent from heaven to save them and not to consume them. Such was their strong faith. We too must have the desire to serve the Lord, but this is possible only when we love Him. Eg. Solomon the wise King says in Proverbs 20:12 “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The Lord has made both of them”. And we must remember, that the God that made the ear and eye, is also listening and watching over us.

The next we will see is the life of Jehoshaphat. He was Asa’s son, the King of Judah. During his reign as a King, there was great peace in Judah and Israel. But, when Jehoshaphat became the King, the first thing he did was to destroy the high places and the altars from all the cities of Judah and made the people to observe God’s law and commandments. But when he did this, the Ammonites came to war against Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:3 “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah”. Jehoshaphat was now in fear, since he did not have a great army of people nor ammunitions to fight the enemy. 2 Chronicles 20:6-12 “And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee”. Hence, Jeshophat called the people of Israel and Judah to fast and pray and call unto the Lord, for this cause. At that time, the spirit of God, came upon a prophet, who prophesied 2 Chronicles 20:15 “And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's”. This gave the people strength to go on with their fight with the Ammonites, we see in 2 Chronicles 20:20 “And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper”. The people started praising and singing to the Lord, and while doing this, God defeated the enemy and gave victory to Jehoshaphat and his people. We have God’s assurance in Exodus 14:14 “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace”. We see here, the faith that Jehoshaphat had in the Lord. He stood only by God’s word. Lord gave him victory over the enemies. Nothing is difficult for our Lord, only we must have true faith and belief in Him. Thus, He will grant us victory in every situation of our lives.

Next we will see about prophet Nehemiah. Nehemiah lived in the Palace, there was lack of nothing for Him. Yet he was sad, he kept fasting and praying to the Lord. The king notices his sadness and asks Nehemiah the reason of his sorrow. Nehemiah 2:2 “Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid”. Nehemiah tells the King that he is sad because his people are taken captive by the enemy. Nehemiah 1:3 “And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire”. In comparison to Nehemiah’s sadness - Similarly, our Lord Jesus Christ is also sad and sorrowful when his children are taken into captivity by their sins. Jesus rejoiced in the spirit of God, the spirit made revelations to Him and Jesus thanked His Father in Heaven. In the scriptures, we see in Luke 10:21 “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight”. But soon Jesus became sorrowful, because his children got entangled in sinful life and this brought pain upon Him. In Isaiah 53:4 we see “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows and was afflicted for the same. Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed”. Jesus Christ was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. But it is only by His stripes we are healed. Such was His ‘Agape Love ’ for us. Back to Nehemiah, the King ordered that all Nehemiah’s desires be met. He was provided with everything to rebuild the temples in Israel. And Nehemiah thanked the Lord in Nehemiah 13:31”And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good”.

We will now see the life of ‘Ezra’. He was an Israelite, a teacher, a Rabbi, a prophet. He was one, who abided by God’s law. Ezra 7:6 “This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him”. Ezra kept the word of God in his heart. He prepared the people by teaching them the ‘Word’. Ezra along with Nehemiah started serving the Lord. Ezra constantly grew in the Word and with God. He had a government job, hence he used to travel out of his country most of the time. He was away for almost 13 years. So, after his return to is country, Ezra decided to rebuild the broken temples in Israel. As David says in Psalm 119:1-3 “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways”. With the revelation given to Ezra, he preached the Word to the people. In Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper”. The way of the righteous, is with the Word of God. In our lives too, we need to read the Word of God with great care and nurture it in our lives. We must give importance to the Word. So, Ezra worked along with Nehemiah, preached the Word and rebuilt the destroyed temples of Israel.

Queen Esther, was an orphan. She was brought up by her uncle Mordecai. She was King Ahasuerus’ wife. This King was the ruler of 127 countries, out of which India was one of them. Esther 1:1 “Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces”. Queen Esther was a prayerful women and a very powerful Queen. Esther 4:14 ”For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this” This is the most touching verse, when the Lord tells Queen Esther that if she did not help the Jews, their help would come from elsewhere. But then, she and her father’s house will also be destroyed. Hence, Queen Esther decided to fight for the people of Judah. She prayed to the Lord with fasting and lamentations during the Festival of Purim and decreed to all Jews, for themselves and their descendants to fight for their cause. We see in Esther 9:32 “And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book”. Here we see Esther’s power of prayer and her belief in God’s Word, changed the lives of the Israelites.

-- Pastor Saroja M.