ALL IN

As a follow-up to the last devotional titled "This is YOUR Year - ENVISION", Pastor Todd's January 13th sermon was titled "All In" to remind us that once we get a grip on those 2 or 3 things God wants us to work on this year, we can't afford to proceed half-heartedly. In our humanity, we want Him to show us the END of the road, not just the first few steps. Here's the ironic thing, however - we can only see the end of the road when we proceed step-by-step through faith on a journey of His choosing. The Bible gives us many examples of "All In" (and of course, plenty of the NOT All In variety too). The prophet Elisha is a great example of ALL IN...

 

In the book of II Kings, the prophet Elijah was an extremely powerful spiritual leader that all other prophets looked up to, but he was at the end of his time on earth. His companion (and heir apparent) Elisha refused to leave his side during their last travels. When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha "Stay here, the Lord has sent me to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and  as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel. The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked: "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?" "Yes, I know" Elisha replied, "But do not speak of it."  (for brevity, this same scenario occurred a few more times where Elijah basically said "you stay here while I go somewhere else", but Elisha refused. Finally, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?" "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit" he replied. "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "Yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours - otherwise not." As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind (II Kings 1-11). So Elisha's faith secured for him a double portion of Elijah's spirit! From the Helps in my bible: God granted Elisha's request because Elisha's motives were pure. His main goal was not to be better or more powerful than Elijah, but to accomplish more for God. If our motives are pure, we don't have to be afraid to ask for great things from God.

There are going to be people who don't get it and there may even be people who try to discourage you. Both Elijah and the other prophets at each of their destinations tried to dissuade Elisha ("You know that dude's going to be taken away from you today, right?) Elisha understood that our maximum is MUCH less than God's minimum - he was brave enough to ask for double the spirit of a REALLY spiritual guy! So have you caught what God has for you this year yet? Once you do, you need to be All In to capture God's vision for you. 2019 is a significant year for this church and a significant year for YOU, but you've got to let go of the doubt, trusting that you'll be blessed by the journey!

 

Here's how to go ALL IN:

 

1) Seek your path (thru Him)

2) Learn to give up (your version of the plan and notions of how it should go)

3) Recognize that it's going to cost you something

 

Good Luck and God Bless!