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FROM PASTOR'S DESK 2023 Pastor's Desk

Be sure you are learning from Him | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 24, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 12, No. 21

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours forevermore from God our Father and through our Lord Jesus Christ. I am glad to welcome you to the last week of the month of September 2023. My prayer is that God will teach your heart how to make the most of all His provisions for you to live a meaningful and excellent life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the reasons many who are Christians don’t experience the power and goodness of God as promised in Scriptures is that they don’t commit themselves to learning from Him how to do so. As we see in Scriptures, the beautiful things God has in store for all those who put their trust in Him are beyond what we can count or imagine (Ps 40:5; 1Cor 2:9). And He is devoted to making us receive and enjoy them all.

However, we have to learn from Him how to receive and enjoy what He has provided for us. Otherwise, we may end up not receiving or enjoying them. For example, towards the end of the ministry of Prophet Elijah here on earth, God told him to go and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, to succeed him as the chief prophet in Israel. And he went and publicly anointed him, though not with oil but with his own garment, in his farm, as God had instructed him. (Cf. 1Kings 19:15-19)

Now Elisha, having been publicly anointed like that, could have gone around the country telling everyone to start calling him ‘Prophet Elisha’ and ‘God’s chosen one to replace Elijah’. What would have been the result of that? A sort of ministerial accident! Why? It is because even though Elijah had publicly anointed him as prophet in his place on the day he found him, the authority and power to function in that capacity did not come on him that day. Besides, though God had chosen him as a prophet, all that he still knew at the time was how to farm and not how to stand as God’s mouthpiece.

For Elisha, therefore, to be able to stand as God’s mouthpiece, he needed to learn. Otherwise, he may end up being rejected by God and replaced with another person, as it happened in the case of King Saul. And somehow, Elisha himself knew this. So, he left his job as a farmer, followed Elijah and became his attendant in order to learn from him how to become the prophet God had chosen him to be. (Cf. 1Kings 19:20-21)

Did that decision, then, pay off for Elisha or not? It did. That is because, as we are further shown in the Scriptures, on the day that Elijah was being taken to heaven by God, he made it clear to him that even though he had fulfilled his part of publicly choosing him as the prophet that would take his place, it was not in his hand to give him the authority and power meant for that office. That was God’s job to do. And if God would not do it, that would most likely mean that He had chosen someone else for that office. (Cf. 2Kings 2:1-15)

Thankfully, on that day, Elisha proved that he had learnt enough from Elijah to be able to see what he needed to see in order to receive the authority and power he needed to function as God’s lead prophet in Israel. So, he went on to serve God faithfully from start to finish. He did not corrupt or abuse his office as a prophet. Instead, he used to make life better for his people.

Unfortunately, the same thing could not be said of Gehazi, the man who later became the attendant of Elisha. Though he was with this prophet all the time and went everywhere with him, he did not learn from him anything tangible enough to be able to take his place as the lead prophet of God in Israel. Instead, he corrupted his way with greed and became leprous. So, instead of becoming what God had chosen him for, he ended up as a story teller in the palace of the king of Israel. What a shame! (Cf. 2Kings 5 & 8:1-6)

Well, in the light of all this, Lord Jesus says to us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30NIV) Did you see that? In order to enjoy rest from the Lord Jesus and become all that God wants to become in this life, coming to Him is not sufficient. We also need to humble ourselves to learn from Him, as Elisha humbly learnt from Elijah. Otherwise, our coming to Him may end up not accomplishing anything significant in our lives.

So, be sure you are not deceiving yourself but are truly learning from our Lord Jesus all that you need to enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings given to you and to become the person He wants you to be in this life. And may you daily be strengthened by the Spirit of God to take this matter seriously, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great week.

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