It Shall Be Well

One of my very favorite accounts in the Old Testament is the story of the Shunammite woman in II Kings chapter 4. This story has so many valuable lessons in it for us. Let's look into this closely for a bit.

II Kings 4:8-10  

And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. 

And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. 

Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. 

The Shunammite woman was called a "great" woman, this doesn't refer to her stature, but to her standing in the community and her wealth. She was a woman who recognized Elisha as a man of GOD and as such, offered him nourishment when he passed by. She recognized the anointing of GOD on Elisha. This is important in this lesson. I like to think of Elisha as representing the anointing of GOD in this account. 

She went to her husband and told him they needed to build a special room for him to rest in when he passed through. We all need to have a special place in our lives and in our homes for the anointing to rest when HE passes by.

In this room, she placed four items: a bed, a table, a stool and a candlestick. She recognized the need for there to be a special place for the anointing to rest and the need to keep that place simple and uncluttered. Only the basic necessities were placed there. A bed to rest in, a table to eat at, a stool to sit on and a light to see by. There were no extras to distract the man of GOD from his task. We can learn much from this simple lesson. We may build a room for the anointing in our lives, but we usually proceed to clutter it up with many things, we have to have our phones, televisions, computers, etc.  

Ouch! We are all guilty!

The Shunammite and her husband were childless and to honor her unselfishness in helping Elisha, GOD blessed them with a child, a boy. In time the child grew and one day while out in the field with his father, he grew ill. They brought him to his mother, where he died. 

This is where this story gets so deep and awesome to me. 

She didn't panic, she didn't run screaming through the house, she simply took the boy to the place she had set aside for the man of GOD, that place she had set aside for the anointing to dwell in, that place that she knew the anointing would come back to if she could just get to him.

II Kings 4:21  And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of GOD, and shut the door upon him, and went out. 

She didn't even tell her husband that the boy had died, because when he asked her why she was going to the man of GOD, her answer was, "it shall be well."

II Kings 4:23  And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. 

Then she went after the man of GOD, after the anointing. She knew if she could just find the anointing and bring it back to the place where her dead son lay, it would be well. She didn't say, "it is well", she said, "it shall be well." She had to find that anointing!

II Kings 4:25-26  So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: 

Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. 

As soon as she reached the man of GOD, that anointing if you will, as soon as she had that anointing in sight, she changed her answer from "it shall be well to it is well." Finding the anointing makes all the difference in any situation. We can do nothing without HIM and HIS power and strength. 

This story has a happy ending. The man of GOD came back with the Shunammite woman to the place she had laid the dead child and GOD raised the child up. 

If we will make a place, a chamber for the anointing to rest when HE passes by...and HE will pass by...then we will have a place to lay our sorrows, our heartaches, our distress, our sick, our financial problems, etc. All we have to do is take them to the place where the anointing will rest, but we have to have set aside a special place. Sometimes HE is nearby, but sometimes we have to go search for HIM, we have to bring HIM to an uncluttered place that is a special place, but HE can be found and HE can be touched.

Make a little chamber somewhere for the anointing of the LORD to rest in your life and your home and then you can say like the Shunammite woman.....

It Is Well!

The Isaacs "It Is Well" (Elisha's Song)

Just Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Taken!

I borrowed a favorite original quote of my son's for the title of this blog post. I think it's a good one.

Be yourself, everyone else is taken.....that's pretty true, isn't it?

I've read a lot of comments lately on Facebook giving thanks for different ones and it's a good thing. We all need affirmation from time to time. I'm thankful for everyone. Everyone has a place. We need to learn that and honor that.

We also need....and this is the focus of this blog post....to learn to love ourselves. When the LORD commanded us to love, he meant everyone, and that includes us. 

King David(who was also a mighty prophet of the LORD) said in Psalm 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I've heard it said often that GOD doesn't make junk! So, we need to quit treating ourselves like junk. We are special to GOD and HE loves us so much that HE is willing to chastise and scold us to help us make it. We as parents and grandparents have to scold our children and grandchildren at times, it certainly doesn't mean that we don't love them for who they are.

I'm thankful that GOD allows us to be individuals, we are not all cut from the same mold. We all have different personalities, some people are introverts, some are extroverts. We should never say that one is better than the other, just because someone's personality doesn't fit our mold. 

Our pastor tells us often, "don't think of yourselves as better than others, but don't think of yourselves as worse either."

GOD created some to be leaders, some to be followers. It's just HIS way. It takes all kinds. 

I'm so glad that I have finally realized that GOD made me just like I am and who I am and it's up to me to use how HE made me for HIM. Take what HE gave you and use it for HIM. If HE gave you a boldness, then use it for HIM. That's why HE designed you the way HE did. There are many ministries and different personalities are designed for different ones. 

There are many jobs in the KINGDOM of GOD and HE has called many to work in HIS KINGDOM. There is one KING on the THRONE and HIS name is JESUS. If we try to take HIS GLORY, then HE will surely put us in our place and get us out of HIS place. One of the reasons I have fought insecurities in my life is that I have thought that I had to be just like others or to be what others thought I should be. 

I don't and you don't. 

You have to be what GOD designed you to be. We do a grave injustice to family and friends when we compare them to others and say, "you should be more like so and so." 

Like the old song says, "no, no, a thousand times no."

 You should be who GOD made YOU! Just be the best you that you can be for GOD, seek HIM and HIS attributes. HE made you an individual, now go be the best one you can be for HIM! Years of being treated like you're not a good person or being told you don't measure up will take away who you are until you no longer know yourself. Don't allow this to happen and don't do it to anyone else!

What a boring world this would be if we were all little dolls made just alike! Isn't GOD so awesome to make us all so interesting and diverse? Let's let GOD be GOD and let HIS children be themselves. Please let's stop trying to fit everyone into the same mold. We'll all be much happier if we're allowed to just be ourselves! I for one have determined to just be Patti....that's the only one I can be.

Now, let me clarify something. 

I'm not talking about not becoming like HIM...that goes without saying. We should lose ourselves IN HIM. I know that sounds contradictory, but it isn't. Paul was still Paul, but after he was converted on the road to Damascus, he spent three years in the wilderness with GOD, learning first hand how to be what he needed to be for the KINGDOM of GOD. Did he try to fashion himself after Peter or John? No. He fashioned himself after GOD. He allowed GOD to use him as Paul, because that's who he was.

If we're not careful, we decide that people don't like us for ourselves and so we try to become the person that others want us to be. The problem with that is, there are a lot of people in our lives and they don't all see things the same way. You'll end up with multiple personalities if you're not careful....you'll suffer from spiritual schizophrenia.

If we're not careful, we do this to others also, especially those of our own households. We need to help our children and grandchildren understand that GOD made them who they are, train them in the ways of GOD, and let their little spirits be molded to HIS ways. If we constantly say things like, "why can't you be like so and so? They're so calm or they're so focused. " Or maybe it's the opposite, we may ask, "why can't you show a little interest or life sometimes like so and so." 

NEWS FLASH!

They're not so and so, and neither are you and neither am I. Don't take away who they are and don't let yourself take away who you are either. Learn to love yourself.

Another clarification....I'm not saying love yourself in your sin. We're commanded to come out of sin, this post is not an excuse to say, "well, that's just who I am, I can't help myself."

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

As long as you can show forth these attributes and still be yourself, you're ok in my book and I think in GOD's book also.

Go forth and believe in yourselves like never before, GOD can never use you in the capacity that HE desires until you obey HIS commandments and one of those is to love....even yourself!

In HIM.....

patti

We Fall Down....We Get Up! Micah 7:8

Bob Carlisle sang a song several years ago called, "We Fall Down, We Get Up." It's about a man that walks past a monastery each day thinking how miserable his life is and how blessed it must be to live in such a perfect place as what exists behind the monastery walls. Then one day he sees a priest and asks him a question about the life they lead inside the walls. Here is an excerpt from that song:

And he wondered how it would be to live in such a place

To be warm, well fed and at peace, to shut the world away

So when he saw a priest who walked, for once, beyond the iron gate

He said, "Tell me of your life inside the place", and the priest replied

We fall down, we get up, we fall down, we get up

We fall down, we get up

And the saints are just the sinners

Who fall down and get up

This song always reminds me of my favorite scripture, Micah 7:8

We all stumble and fall, that's no surprise. It's the getting back up that matters!

We fall down, we get up
We fall down, we get up
And the saints are just the sinners
Who fall down and get up.

Micah 7:8 has carried me through many dark days and heartbreaking trials. Times of misunderstandings, deep sorrows and more often than not, just plain old mistakes on my part.

You see, I believe we are born into the KINGDOM on a ladder so to speak.  We start out as newborn babes, just learning to crawl, then walk and talk, ever growing, ever climbing. We don't start out at the top, we start at the bottom of the ladder and we start climbing. As we climb, there will be times that our foot slips on a rung of the ladder. 

Now, here's the important part....if you were painting your house or working on the gutters, etc and you had to use a ladder to climb....if your foot slipped, you would steady yourself, get your bearings, catch your breath and keep right on climbing. You have to make it to the top! You wouldn't get completely off the ladder each time your foot slipped. You'd never advance very far up the ladder if you went on in that manner, you'd never make it to the top.

If we're not careful, this is exactly what we do, we slip and we give up, get completely off the ladder and have to start all over again. This has never been GOD's plan. HE knows we are but flesh, HE knows our feet will slip at times. HE has made provision for this.

1 John 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the FATHER, JESUS CHRIST the righteous.

Did you know GOD could speak through a cough drop wrapper? HE can. Actually, HE can speak any way HE wants to. HE's the BOSS!

Dust Off and Get Up!

Don't let the enemy have a reason to rejoice over you. Learn to quote Micah 7:8 and let him know that there is no reason to rejoice because you will arise and no matter how dark it seems, the LORD will be a light unto you!

Walk in confidence that HE loves you and HE will always be there to help you hold your place until you can start climbing once more!


patti

Why Deborah's Door?

I've been tossing this idea around for quite awhile now. I don't expect this to be a daily blog, hopefully it will be at least a weekly blog. The time seems right, so here we go.

Why call it Deborah's Door?

As you can see, I am a woman...I've reminded GOD of that fact often and HE always assures me that HE already knew that. It's not always easy for women in ministry. There will always be those who think a woman is not allowed to have a voice for GOD or if she does, it is very limited and governed by strict rules. Whenever I encounter this attitude, I'm always reminded of Deborah in the book of Judges.

Judges 4:4  And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 

Israel had no king at this time, the highest ranking official was the Judge over Israel. How awesome that GOD chose a woman to be one of these judges....but HE did. It's written there very plainly.

During this time, Israel was oppressed for twenty years by Jabin, king of Canaan and the captain of his host, Sisera. This oppression came as a direct result of their turning away from serving GOD in the way they knew they should. The children of Israel cried out unto the LORD, and as always, HE heard their cries and made provision for their deliverance.

Judges 4:6-7  And she(Deborah) sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD GOD of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand. 

Please pay close attention to what Barak said to Deborah in verse 8....I just love this.....

And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. 

He had complete confidence in Deborah, in her walk and communication with the GOD of Israel and her ability to lead the people. Obviously GOD did too, or HE would never have set her in that position. Barak had so much confidence in her that he stated he would not go unless she went with him. 

This blog is not to be a place to argue whether a woman should or should not be in ministry. I just wanted my first article to explain why I named it Deborah's Door.

By the way....Sisera was delivered into the hands of the people of GOD, and once again GOD chose to use a woman, her name was Jael. She brought Sisera into her tent, offered him nourishment and while he slept, she took a hammer and a tent nail and drove the nail into his temple fastening him to the floor.

Tough little woman! While we don't literally drive a nail through our oppressor's head and fasten him to the floor, we as women of GOD can disarm and nullify the enemy with our anointing, prayer, consecration and unfaltering faith in our call of GOD. This dedication to the ways of GOD can kill an oppressor just as surely as Jael killed Sisera with the hammer and nail.

GOD will use whomever HE pleases and I want to encourage you to not limit yourself. If GOD be GOD, then we must let HIM be GOD! We after all, are just vessels to be used whenever and however HE desires.

Don't be fearful of walking through a door like Deborah's to be the vessel HE has birthed and ordained you to me.

Take a walk through Deborah's Door with me!

Galatians 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in CHRIST JESUS. 

Let me state that I work under the headship of my husband and my pastor.

May you be richly blessed and kept by GOD ALMIGHTY!

patti