Danger Among the Hungry

Currently I’m in the middle of seeking God to clarify and confirm some stuff for me.  I’ve intentionally made it a point to read the bible (and other stuff…blogs and such) a lot more throughout the day than I normally would.  That’s not to say that I don’t have an intentional daily quite time or that I don’t periodically pick up the bible and read at different points of the day, but lately I’m reading as much as I can.

So yesterday I was reading in 2 Kings 9 (which btw, if you want some exciting bible reading…read Kings…CA-RA-ZYYY).  As I read v. 1 -13 God showed me something that I’d never seen before.  If you’re not familiar with the story of Jehu, here’s the jist…

During this time Joram was king of Israel and Ahaziah was king of Judah.  Essentially both kings were bad guys and the time had come to “oust” them (for lack of a better term).  So God commanded Elisha to anoint one of the commanders of the Israelite army, Jehu.  So Elisha sent a man, from among the prophets under him, to anoint Jehu as king over Israel.  


What caught me differently were Elisha’s instructions in v. 3.  He instructed the young prophet to:

“Say to him [Jehu], ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you to be the king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run for your life!”

At first all I could think was, “Why would he have to run for his life?!!  The news he was bringing was good news.”  But then God interjected.

During that time, prophets were commonly received as crazy and often times killed.  And to be quite honest, the word the young prophet brought from the Lord, as viewed by men, was an act of treason.  There was already a king of Israel and for Jehu to be king the current one would need to go.  Elisha knew that the word that the young prophet would bring, most likely, would not have been received well by those in the company of Jehu.  Elisha knew that delivering that word carried with it a danger and that was the reason that Elisha instructed the prophet as he did.

The truth of the matter is that sometimes (probably more often than not) delivering the word of God is dangerous.  Sometime the Good News isn’t received as Good News, but as offensive (which ftr, it is.  The Good News offends every bit of pride that our flesh holds on to).  BUT, that is not to deter us from delivering it.  The young prophet still went.

So even though it was dangerous, the young prophet delivered the Lord’s word as God directed.  And what happened?  There was rejoicing.  When people heard the news they celebrated.

After the prophet ran off, Jehu tried to hide the message from his fellow officers, but they insisted on knowing what the message was.  Eventually, Jehu relented and told his fellow officers that he had been anointed king over Israel.  After telling them, “they quickly spread out their cloaks on the bare steps and blew the ram’s horn, shouting, “Jehu is king!”

Here’s the other truth that God revealed.  Even though bringing God’s word is dangerous and some will take offense to it, there are those that are starving for it.  Those that want to hear it and will rejoice upon hearing it.  We are all called to be Christ’s witnesses and when we ignore the voice of God, we are starving people of what God desperately wants them to hear.  Our responsibility is to listen for the voice of God and act on it.

On Fire

Since getting that call on January 14, 2009 to serve God in ministry (I’ll share that testimony soon, it’s long), I feel like I can NOT explain to anyone what I am feeling. I am SOOO anxious to get going in ministry that often times I need to slow down and remember this journey is NOT on my time. I was trying to relay that feeling to my Coach and Lead Pastor, Jeff Maness, and he shared Jeremiah 20:9 with me. It says, “But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” That is EXACTLY how I feel. I love that God has given us the perfect Book for EVERYTHING!

I am reading Acts and Proverbs during my devotion time and I guess I’ve never really read Acts. Today I read chapters 4 & 5. Man, how AWESOME! I love how on fire Peter and John were. First the head priests call them into their main chambers and tell them to stop teaching about Jesus and they say, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We CANNOT stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” What boldness they approached those who opposed them with. They could NOT stop telling people. They were constantly asking God to give them boldness in preaching his word. Even after being arrested and flogged, they “left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.” (Acts 5:41)

As much as I am on fire for God and can’t contain it, I know there are times (more than I’d like to admit) that I do not approach sharing God with that kind of boldness. I know there are times and opportunities that God puts in front of me to share his name and I stumble. Not because I don’t recognize it, but because I stop to think about what the person might say or think. I think too often we pretend to not pick up on those opportunities. We ignore them and act like God himself didn’t put it there and we go about our business without a second thought. Then we wonder what the world has come to. Then we wonder why teens are pregnant and women continue to get abortions, why states are making gay marriage legal, why divorce is the accepted solution to “unhappy” marriages, and why people are fighting to get every hint of God taken out of our lives.

What would happen if we approached our world, country, state, city, our home with even a fraction of the boldness and rejoicing of suffering for God that the early disciples did? As a guy that’s just starting in the ministry and hopes someday to be a pastor (if that’s what God holds for me), I can relate to John and Peter on some levels. They had followed Jesus for 3 years and learned a lot. After Jesus commissioned them and ascended, they were new “pastors”. Actually they were the first “pastors” of the new church, but the point is they were pretty new to it. I’m sure there were times they had no idea how the people they were preaching to would react. Would they stone us, run us out of town or fall on their faces in reverence? They had NO idea, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was that they shared Jesus with as many as they could and they did that. And they did it boldly. I never want to lose the fire and I pray every day for God to stoke that fire so that it burns hotter and brighter for Him every day.

What could happen if we had just a portion of that boldness? What would change? What could He do?

Answer: EVERYTHING!

On Fire for Christ,
Bruce