For thought and meditation

[rl69]

Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha…saw him no more. 2 KINGS 2:11-12
It is not wrong for you to depend on your “Elijah” for as long as God gives him to you. But remember that the time will come when he must leave and will no longer be your guide and your leader, because God does not intend for him to stay. Even the thought of that causes you to say, “I cannot continue without my ‘Elijah.’ ” Yet God says you must continue.
Alone at Your “Jordan” (2 Kings 2:14). The Jordan River represents the type of separation where you have no fellowship with anyone else, and where no one else can take your responsibility from you. You now have to put to the test what you learned when you were with your “Elijah.” You have been to the Jordan over and over again with Elijah, but now you are facing it alone. There is no use in saying that you cannot go— the experience is here, and you must go. If you truly want to know whether or not God is the God your faith believes Him to be, then go through your “Jordan” alone.
Alone at Your “Jericho” (2 Kings 2:15). Jericho represents the place where you have seen your “Elijah” do great things. Yet when you come alone to your “Jericho,” you have a strong reluctance to take the initiative and trust in God, wanting, instead, for someone else to take it for you. But if you remain true to what you learned while with your “Elijah,” you will receive a sign, as Elisha did, that God is with you.
Alone at Your “Bethel” (2 Kings 2:23). At your “Bethel” you will find yourself at your wits’ end but at the beginning of God’s wisdom. When you come to your wits’ end and feel inclined to panic— don’t! Stand true to God and He will bring out His truth in a way that will make your life an expression of worship. Put into practice what you learned while with your “Elijah”— use his mantle and pray (see 2 Kings 2:13-14). Make a determination to trust in God, and do not even look for Elijah anymore.

[augercreek]

Good words to follow, THANKS.

[USMC87]

A great lesson, Amen!

[Blackwater]

Wow. What a wonderful post today. Indeed, we all must, at some point, take all the things we have learned, and put them into action. It's either that, or depend on someone else to feed and protect us, and those type sources have never proven very reliable or dependable, or even just. So our best path forward is to rely on ourselves, and what we have come to know about our God. How can we not move forward with our faith? Christ faced the most horrible of deaths, and yet, went willingly and almost gladly! Can we not now face even small snags along our paths? The socalled "snowflakes" among our young seem to have never been taught anything except that if they whine and moan long enough, or pitch a big enough fit, they can get whatever they want, even if they know it's not good for them. A greater example of lack of faith due to lack of teaching could not be found. So many today do not even consider the real and practical value of simple and deep rooted faith. But its value doesn't depend on man's recognition of it. It's the same whether man recognized it or not. Faith can move mountains, we are told, if only that faith is strong enough and solid enough. Our faiths falter at times because we're "human," and thus variable. But real faith always comes back to us, and we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and reapply our shoulders to whatever load is before us. And when it's over, we feel good about what we've done, and about ourselves generally. It's as if we repeatedly say to ourselves, "Well, I may have faltered for a minute there, but I sure am glad I got my faith back in full working order, because it helped me subdue this ornery burden I was facing. And praise be to God that He alone enables us to do that. Do we serve a wonderful and loving God, or what?