YOUR SEED WILL SPEAK FOR YOU

“Give, and it shall be given unto you,”  – Luk 6:38

A terrible thing a farmer can do to his planted seed is to dig it up every morning to “see how far it’s growing”. That seed will never grow, and indeed will die soon enough. This is also true of spiritual seeds that we plant.

In the Parable of the Growing Seed (Mk 4:26-29) our Lord says “the kingdom of God is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it.

“The seed sprouts and grows – he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help... As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Oftentimes, we’re tempted to worry about the results of the ‘seeds’ we have planted over the years: offerings, hospitality, sacrifices, Kingdom services, etc. But that said worry is tantamount to digging up your seed every morning.

The singular act of the “Shunamite Woman” taking it upon herself to bless Elisha the Prophet constituted a spiritual seed that went into the ground.

But notice that she didn’t determine what the fruit of the ‘seed’ was. 1Cor 15:38 says God gives each seed its own proper body, (GNB). When we try to determine the fruit of our seeds, we place a limit to what God can do with it.

But see the Shunamite Woman; even after she and Elisha had parted ways, and it seemed she had reaped all the fruits of her labours, her seed kept speaking for her. She received a forewarning about a famine and when she returned seven years later, she had all her lost properties returned to her just because God caused her to be at the right place, at the right time, (2Kgs 8:5,56).

You don’t have to worry over the seeds you’ve sown over the years; in Lk 10:2 Jesus called God “The Lord of the Harvest”; and Paul says God’s the One who gives the increase to anything sown (1Co 3:7). Like Paul admonished in Gal 6:9, let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which you have showed toward his name, (Heb 6:10).

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

IT IS WELL, REALLY

...according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;  – 2Co 4:13

You may well be aware of the cynicism and jest attached to the “It is well” phrase among Christians today. Nevertheless, isn’t it really well?

When the “Shunamite Woman” spoke those words to her husband and also to Elisha’s servant, was she lying? No, she wasn’t, because it really was well. She knew, just as the woman with the issue of blood knew of Jesus (Mk 5:28), that if she could just get to the Prophet everything would be well.

When we share our problems with a fellow Believer and they reply that “It is well”, it may sound like cold comfort. Maybe we feel they should have dipped their hands into their pockets, or make a phone call or provide us with some succour of sorts; but that response has more power than we can imagine.

Now, note that scripture does condemn Believers who respond to brethren’s needs with just words (Jas 2:15,16), but this is something deeper.

Yes, they may leave you empty-handed but their words should be a reminder to you that it really is well. The power isn’t hinged on the speaker, it’s anchored in scripture; it’s backed by the One who literally watches over His word to perform it, Jehovah Himself (Jer 1:12).

And just in case you haven’t heard anyone say it to you lately, permit me to give voice to what is already entrenched in God’s Word and say straight to you that “IT IS WELL!”

Not in some metaphoric, figurative sense, but directly and literally, I want you to know that IT IS WELL.

It is well with your Finances and your Family,

It is well with your Ministry and your Marriage,

It is well with your Mind and your Money,

It is well with your Transportation and your Accommodation,

It is well with your Today and It is well with your Tomorrow.

Don’t let the Devil tell you otherwise, regardless of the picture he’s trying to paint about your situation, have the courage and conviction like the Shunamite Woman to declare to yourself, “IT IS WELL”.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

THE ‘WELL’ WE HAVE ALL FALLEN INTO

“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent,”  – Rev 2:5

Isn’t it unfortunate that the phrase, “It is well” has lost the faith-inducing power it used to have among the body of Believers a few decades ago?

In former days, when a Believer tells his Brother, “It is well”, he was echoing the answer given by the Shunamite woman (2Ki 4:26) when asked about her state.

She had just lost her son under strange circumstances and was heading straight to the Prophet. She didn’t panic, she didn’t wail; even her husband wasn’t told that her son – HIS only son – was dead. Instead she told him that “it shall be well”.

What boldness, what powerful expression of faith, what level of conviction. All these are totally lacking when we say the same phrase today.

Even more unfortunate is the response we now hear Christians give to the phrase. When you say that “It is well”, they’d giggle and reply “Even inside the well”.

Need I say that the only victim of this crass trivialisation of the word of God is us. A woman living three millennia ago used that phrase to bring back her dead son to life; we instead use the same phrase as conversation filler as we talk on mundane things.

Beloved, we are not like the secular, unbelieving world; we are a people of FAITH, a people of passionate hope and power. Let’s bring back the conviction into our words. Let’s Remember therefore from where we have fallen, and repent.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Which Came First: The Chicken or the “Seed”?

“Now...concerning Giving and Receiving...” – Php 4:15

We may never be able to know what prompted the Shunamite woman to offer to take care of Elisha the prophet. Nevertheless, one thing we can be sure of is that, contrary to what fund-raising preachers are wont to declare, it wasn’t because “she needed a miracle.”

She may have been childless, but all evidence shows she had accepted her fate. She never hinted to the prophet that she needed anything in return for her hospitality, and when asked directly by Elisha, she still claimed she had no need. Even after the prophet offered the blessing of a child, her maintained scepticism indicates her mind never went that way.

However, was her life bettered by her decision to honour the prophet? Undoubtedly YES! She supernaturally got a child against all biological odds, miraculously got same boy resurrected years later, and even after Elisha’s death, the legacy of her hospitality brought her the full restoration of ALL her lost properties. Giving does pay.

“Give,” our Lord says, “and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom,” (Lk 6:38).

There’s always a reward for giving to God, honouring his servant, or simply being a blessing to others. The problem only arises when our giving is done not because we want to BLESS but because we want to GET.

It is unfortunate that Christians would only give to the pastor who cajoules them with some fantastic reward. The same people who would empty their bank accounts to give a “heaven-provoking SEED” to a strange man of God would never think upon themselves to buy simple groceries for their local pastor.

This is a key lesson we must learn from the Shunamite woman. She saw a basic need of the itinerant prophet, and sought to be of help in whatever little way she could.

Start today... “and your Father who sees in secret Himself shall reward you openly.” (Mt 6:4)

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

LESSONS – AND BLESSINGS – FROM SHUNEM

And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where there was a wealthy woman; and she urged him to eat some food...  – 2Ki 4:8

The Old Testament (OT) isn’t “big for nothing”; it’s BIG for a reason. A whopping 77% of the words in the Bible are to be found in the OT. It may seem like it’s nothing but a bunch of endless genealogies, obscure rituals, strange histories and even stranger prophecies; but every single detail therein is there for a reason.

Rom 15:4 tells us that “whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

Even the circumstances surrounding the lives of the characters were designed for them to be a lesson for us in the church age, (1Co 10:11).

One of such characters, from which we can learn a great deal, is that well-known woman from the city of Shunem.

A descendant of the tribe of Issachar who lived some 2,800 years ago, the “Shunamite Woman” has several lessons to teach us. Like hospitality (she singlehandedly volunteered to cater for Elisha the prophet), humility (she was a wealthy woman who could have snubbed the shabby-looking farmer-turned-prophet Elisha), virtuousness (even as a hostess, she maintained her boundaries with the prophet) and, yes, FAITH (she is the one who coined the now famous phrase: “It is Well”, even in the midst of a tragedy).

And those are just the bullet points in her life, her story holds so much more. The OT stories form a treasure trove of rich, relevant truths for us all. Read the story of ‘the Woman from Shunem’ again, (2Kings 4:8-37 and 8:1-6), and see what lessons – and blessings – hers has for you.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN