Today’s Bible readings are 2 Kings 4:18-5:27, Acts 15:1-35, Psalm 141:1-10, & Proverbs 17:23
2 Kings 4:18-22
18 One day when her child was older, he went out to help his
father, who was working with the harvesters. 19 Suddenly he
cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”
His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to
his mother.”
20 So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her
lap. But around noontime he died. 21 She carried him up and
laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there. 22 She
sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so
that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”
What a
heartbreak this was for this mom. She had waited her whole life for a son. She
finally got the answer to her prayer. After having the joy of a son for a short
few years, it suddenly takes a turn for the worse & ends in tragedy.
Every parent
knows the pain that comes with raising children. Some people experience this
pain in different ways & in different measures, but we all experience it.
We can learn a lot from this humble woman in her response to the pain that she
experienced in her life.
Maybe your child has:
1. Walked away from God.
2. Fallen into addiction.
3. Chosen a destructive lifestyle.
4. Entered a sinful relationship.
5. Has broken fellowship with you.
he answer
to these is the same that it was for the woman in her day. She knew that she
had to stand the gap for her son. She knew that prayer was the answer. She used
the man of God to get God’s attention. We have an even better way than that.
You & I
don’t have to chase down the man of God like they did in OT times. We have
direct access to the Father through the Son. We can approach God through Jesus!
Ephesians 3:12
12 In him and through faith in him we may
approach God with freedom and confidence.
I remind you of a story Jesus told to illustrate this principal.
Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to
show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared
what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming
to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though
I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because
this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she
won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not
God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?
Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and
quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he
find faith on the earth?”
Persistent faith is what we need. Don’t stop praying. Don’t let up in this area. I am where I am today as the result of someone praying for me. A praying mother makes great thing happen for her children. Never under estimate the power of your prayers. Pray them & leave the results up to a faithful God.
Pastor Richard Schlotter
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