Prophetic Work Preparation?

 

Patterns in prophetic work and mission: a preparation for?

Next week we must deal with chariots of fire and whirlwinds (2 Kgs 2) and how Elijah left; and maybe think a little on our own leaving. So, for this week, a kind of prep look at a few things we’ve seen thus far, and a few more to think of.

1.Life for the children, the widows, single moms…

Elijah brings a widow’s son back to life. (1 Kgs 17) And this is what? Resurrection? Not the Jesus type though. Because the child will age and then die. Same happens with an Elisha incident. No offspring? (2 Kgs 4:14ff) God can fix that, God did so with Abraham and Sarah, remember? Called him Isaac, (Yitzhak, laughter) because they laughed and said such a thing could not be! (Gen 17:17ff).  But God is timeless. Age restrictions do not apply. If God calls you to a thing, you will be able to take it on. God will have already made it so. Thus, the child is born but falls ill and dies. (2 Kgs 4:32ff). Elisha does not accept it, does he? Will God interfere in cause and effect? Once again, it appears so. God brings the child back. Finally, Jesus is called when Jairus’ daughter leaves. (Mk 5:35ff ) The mourners are mourning, the professional ‘cryers’ are crying, but this leaving is too soon. It happens for a purpose? Jesus brings the child back. Not so much to show that there always are exceptional exceptions, but that such is the life power of God. Life is neither linear nor circular for God. The limits do not apply. Allow the little children to come to me, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matt 19:14ff) In their innocence they slight no one, until they learn by example from the wickedness of the people around them. If, as Bono once implied, we feed the children of the world, enmity may become a thing of the past. Maybe even bring peace to the world one day. God gives life.

2. Bread for the people, for those who don’t have enough to eat…

In Elijah’s time, a little flour and a little olive oil(1 Kgs 17:12ff )  goes a long way; and keeps going! It is the spirit of God who provides. And keeps on providing. Not riches. What does God have to do with the riches and the wealth of this world? Prosperity is always to have enough, and if we seek first the Kingdom, we will always have that. Like God needs cash? But we need it to do God’s work. Really? Go help someone, give what you have, and find that it needs no cash, just time, energy, a meal, and a smile, something to help them on their way. The greatest intangible I have found is that of encouragement. Can’t put a price on it. We are so dependent on organized funding. But in a neighborhood, neighborliness can bring food and warmth! In Elisha’s time, the same provision is seen for the Shunamite. More so, there is a large group of people, 100 strong, who are fed ( 2 Kgs 4:42ff) when they have but little amongst them. Again, Jesus feeds the thousands who come to listen  - with a few fish and a few loaves of bread! ( Matt 14:13ff) God gives food.

3. Physical end is no end. Do we fear death? Are we body dependent? Is that all there is, for many? In these stories there is a constant shifting between body, mind and soul consciousness….

In my Father’s house are many rooms;(John 14:2ff) I go that I can prepare a place for you. What is a ‘room’? A place? A level or plane? A dimension? Any one of those or a combo that shifts from one to another as you grow? The notions of ‘hell’ and ‘heaven’ were good for their time. In our time, they exist as oversimplified notions. There is no one size fits all. But just as we have seen levels of goodness and of wickedness in our lives or have perpetrated the bad or done the good, they will be there for us when we leave, the consequences of our own making, for as ye sow, so shall ye reap. (Gal 6:7ff) The stuff that God has allowed us to create with our own free will.

But realize already in Elijah there is a ‘beam me up, Scotty’ experience happening. You see him here, you see him there.  Gehazi says it very clearly. By the time I get to Ahab, you’ll be somewhere else. (1 Kgs 18:11) Faster than a chariot and covering great distances. And finally disappearing altogether. Just a man who followed God and experienced much as a result of doing so. He was tired at the end. I’d like to leave now. (1 Kgs 19:4ff) God heard. And took him home. He was already used to different moves that surpassed normal action and being. A ‘whirlwind?” So be it, No problem, It’s how the Almighty works. What is it to God?

4. The real call

Is not to faith or belief, which are good beginnings, but to embrace the love of God given by the loving and caring creating parent to us. Embrace this, fill up, and gain the power given to spirit and soul. How? Start with what the Psalm says –  ‘Be Still. And know that I am God.’  ( Ps 46:10) Practice that. And balance it like a starting equation with one other – ‘God is Light’. (1 John 1:5ff ) We will come to God is spirit and God is love soon enough. So much to do on the  characteristics that we need to focus on! But think of the equation. Be still. Withdraw from the world, just as when you fall asleep. Look for the light as the old hymn said – Lead, kindly light. (an 1833 Newman-Dykes hymn). And you will see the light, and the light of God will fill you with peace, love, and joy, that the world cannot give. Go from there. Be careful of the limits of traditional ‘prayer’ or talking to God’. God already knows. We’re telling God in order to assuage our own fears, release our own frustrations etc. God says we don’t need the anxiety. Therefore, be not anxious ( Matt 6:25ff; Phil 4:6ff). Counselors help us divest ourselves of weighty burdens that drag down the soul, the  mind, the body. We do not have to live like that. Jesus says, Let your eye be clear. For if it is clear then yr whole body will be filled with light. (Matt 6:32ff) An important connection! From the Spirit to the mind and on to the body. The one empowering the other, step by step. Go for it! You have nothing to lose!

 

5. The limits of academic theology

Must understand that all of this started from enlightenment times; good beginnings, good intentions, limited minds, limited scope in experience and ability in doing the essential thing. Mental acuity is not enough. Just a part of it. Same goes for emotional intelligence! Spiritual power is not there.  Is it not enough that we have the example of Jesus and the disciples? There is no ‘well, I’ll come back when we have a college, and you can all study divinity.’ God empowers. Everyone. Comes back to Zechariah’s Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit. (Zech 4:6) We will get to that after we overview key stuff of what Isaiah and Jeremiah said and why.  

 

There is work to be done in our personal lives. Rest for the mind and body, sure. But more importantly, encouragement for the soul, which empowers all. Seek to make the Vine and branches link that Jesus offers.( John 15: 5ff) it is far more than faith and belief. It brings the ability of positive experience. The link enables power that flows to us. Everyday. No overwork. Just the sharp distinction between how much should be done in a day and no more. So that there is always care for the body and for the mind. Then the soul or spirit as we are used to say, has the freedom to move that we each need  - to grow, to experience God, and to bring that experience into the daily doings of mind and body. Bad habits can be replaced by good habits. Godly spiritual growth is a big picture that covers all aspects of what it is to be human. We fail to grow when we allow the world to dominate our lives with its nonsense. We need to hear God speak. And follow accordingly. Let Jesus lead. Not what others say about Jesus. Find out for yourself. And prove this to yourself in your life. Otherwise, it will stay as religious talk, which is common everywhere. Or religious feeling, which is popular everywhere.

These days there is much confusion, spiritually immaturity, miseducation and misleading; one recent example from a New York Times Oct 16^th 2025 column by David French, which mentions that “Christians have believed and applauded dark prophecies that relate to that of King Jehu in the Old Testament, a murderous King who commanded the slaughter of the previous Queen, Jezebel etc”. Ah, but the statement is wrong on both counts. After Naboth last week, you have some sense of Jezebel and her Ba’al worship. (clue – Ba’al is the etymological precursor of the NT’s Beelzebub, later Satan) Jehu is not the murderous one here, it is Jezebel. Go read what Elijah said when the Naboth story begins. Elijah made no dark prophecy. It was the judgement of God. It is why ritual child slaughter and temple prostitution and other wonderful things of the time brought God’s judgement on them, and why the social controls on the Israelites were strong, because if you do no resist them, they will change you! Whoever wrote this knows little about the Bible, and sadly, neither does Mr. French, or I assume he would have balked at it and pointed out the misinterpretation that some folk are using.  We have a lot of ignorant so-called ‘Christians’ who have no grace in their lives at all! Be wary. They are being used and don’t know it.

Why are the prophets important, and why should we bother with climbing Jacob’s Ladder? As I pointed out when we started (go back to early posts as needed), salvation is deliverance, and deliverance is to be saved from evil for good, to defeat the evil that threatens us in our lives in this world. We are so used to everyday stuff that we speak of a ‘new normal’. But it is not normal, to begin with. And we often do not see it for what it is.

But we are engaged in an ongoing fight against evil, have always been, and will always be until the end of the order.

Jesus said, Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. It is in that confidence that we can go forward and deal with whatever we must. Many people wonder over the 2^nd coming, the end of bad things, and a new and perfect order. But the 2^nd coming may be a long time coming and there is and there will be struggle, with sad things happening to children everywhere, perpetrated by those who care for no one except themselves. We must guard against them and protect the children in mind, body and spirit as we need to. And when we get it right, we won’t need money or weapons. God will lead us and will fight for us, will identify the evil, and will tell us how to go about dealing with it. But we must do our part and be able to. We have protected our sons as they grew. Now they must protect their children. Sigh. I close with a blessing for all  -

 May the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Love in Jesus, G.