A DRIVE BY PROPHECY AND ANOINTING!

Posted on September 27, 2025 by randscallawayffm

Though evil kings reign; what God says will happen through his prophets—happens!  Not matter what is occurring in our world today, what God still says about keeping our hearts fixed on Him still stands as truth.  Are we for God and all He says to be Truth or not? There are only two choices.  God or the Enemy.  God is most assuredly for, not against, those whose hearts are fully committed and surrendered to Him and His will.  Committed hearts seek God, consult Him to know His will then trust and obey what He says no matter what is happening around them. Jehu has become that person who knows what God said through the prophet of Elijah and now Elisha. Jehu is standing up for the cause of God and obeying what has been commanded for him to do—rid God’s people of evil kings.

The Hit and Run—

It is a bit amusing for a prophet to declare God’s message with oil in hand to anoint the next king of Israel and then run from the room as fast as he can!  But that’s what God told him to do as He declared Jehu as the next chosen king.  What God says—happens! 

Dressed to Kill—

It is downright odd to us, but in character for Jezebel to get “dressed to kill” as she applied her makeup and did her hair just before being tossed off the balcony by her own servants!  But, this is what mattered to her—to look good at all costs which showed the shallowness of her heart!  Years earlier, God had proclaimed the demise of Jezebel who was so full of evil that her behavior was notorious down through the ages! Her name is still used today to call a person out for being evil!  “You, Jezebel!”  Everyone knows what they mean.  Her name is synonymous with disgusting evil practices just as Judas is synonymous with betrayal.  These are two names to avoid when naming your children!

What God says, happens.  It would wise to trust and obey Him alone!

2 Kings 9

Jehu Anointed King of Israel

The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. 2 When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. 3 Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run; don’t delay!”

4 So the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said.

“For which of us?” asked Jehu.

“For you, commander,” he replied.

6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. 7 You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel. 8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. 9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10 As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’” Then he opened the door and ran.

11 When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this maniac come to you?”

“You know the man and the sort of things he says,” Jehu replied.

12 “That’s not true!” they said. “Tell us.”

Jehu said, “Here is what he told me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

13 They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”

Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

14 So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram, 15 but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, “If you desire to make me king, don’t let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.” 16 Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

17 When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, he called out, “I see some troops coming.”

“Get a horseman,” Joram ordered. “Send him to meet them and ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’”

18 The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’”

“What do you have to do with peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”

The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he isn’t coming back.”

19 So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’”

Jehu replied, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

20 The lookout reported, “He has reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a maniac.”

21 “Hitch up my chariot,” Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. 22 When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?”

“How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

23 Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”

24 Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot. 25 Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the Lord spoke this prophecy against him: 26 ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the Lord, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the Lord.’ Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the Lord.”

27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, “Kill him too!” They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there. 28 His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his ancestors in his tomb in the City of David. 29 (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)

Jezebel—Dressed to be Killed! 

30 Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she put on eye makeup, arranged her hair, and looked out of a window. 31 As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?”

32 He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. 33 “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.

34 Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of that cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.” 35 But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. 36 They went back and told Jehu, who said, “This is the word of the Lord that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.   37 Jezebel’s body will be like dung on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, ‘This is Jezebel.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Where we might think of sin as slipups or missteps, God views sin as a godless attitude that leads to godless actions. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way” (Isaiah 53:6).  As each king of the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah “followed their hearts” instead of the heart of God; chaos ensues because of satisfying their own selfish desires.  God’s people are caught in the crossfire of evil kings and their queens.  God chooses Jehu to do what He says for what God says, happens. Jehu had remembered the words of the Lord through the prophet Elijah!

Max Lucado writes this perspective from this passage which gives us hope and encouragement to consistently seek the heart of God, turn our hearts toward God and trust God no matter what—

“The sinful mind dismisses God. His counsel goes unconsulted. His opinion, unsolicited. His plan, unconsidered. The sin infected grant God the same respect middle schoolers give a substitute teacher—acknowledged, but not taken seriously.

The lack of God-centeredness leads to self-centeredness. Sin celebrates its middle letter—sin. It proclaims, “It’s your life, right? Pump your body with drugs, your mind with greed, your nights with pleasure.” The godless lead a me-dominated, childish life, a life of “doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it” (Ephesians 2:3 MSG).

God says to love. I choose to hate.

God instructs, “Forgive.” I opt to get even.

God calls for self-control. I promote self-indulgence.

Sin, for a season, quenches thirst. But so does salt water. Given time, the thirst returns, more demanding and demanding more than ever. “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed” (Ephesians 4:19).

We pay a high price for such self-obsession. “God isn’t pleased at being ignored” (Romans 8:8 MSG).

Are you troubled by the evil that surrounds you? Leaders or managers who don’t honor God? The suffering of the innocent? The influence of sin? All of these can weigh you down and make you doubt God’s ability to intervene. Remember: God has perfect timing. He has a plan to judge and punish evil. Bring your discouragement to him and rely on his victory.” –Lucado, The Encouraging Word Bible

No matter what is happening in our world today; God has not given up His authority over the world and its inhabitants. God will intervene as He sees fits in His timing. I read the end of the book—God wins. Jesus already gave us the victory over death. 

Believe, repent, trust, and obey! 

There’s just no other way to be at peace with the King of kings and Lord of lords forever!

Lord,

Thank you for your message that restores our joy and peace this morning. Thank you for being with us always and knowing all that we need and providing it. Thank you for cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, refreshing our souls, and restoring the joy of you in us and us in you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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SIN COMPOUNDS WITH INTEREST

Posted on September 26, 2025 by randscallawayffm

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:13-15

Good versus Evil

Who doesn’t love seeing our money make more money as we save or invest our assets wisely. It takes time, forethought, and wisdom to do; but if we wait long enough the interest or the investment will grow and mature. Most often, there is a payoff at the end.  We know that funds invested in a disciplined and wise manner will give us income later when we need it most to sustain our lives.  Waiting is key.

There is another way to invest our lives that aggressively leads to the implosion of our lives.  We want it and we want it now is living life that feeds our daily desires. The Enemy of God knows our nature to sin well.  He tempts us daily with shiny objects of affection that lead us away from the wisdom and desires of God.  God wants His best for us. Evil wants merely to distract, deceive, and ultimate destroy us.  God gives life. Evil leads to death.  Both are eternal and forever.  Who do we choose then?

Sin gives birth to death—it always has and always will. Hiding it does not get rid of it.  Glossing over it with comparing our sin with other sinners thinking “our sin is not as bad as their sin” does not remove it or stop its growth.  Sin compounds with our interest in it.  Sin leads to more sin as we give in to the desires of our hearts. Speaking of our hearts, stop believing the notorious lie of the enemy who says, “just follow your heart” and all will be well. It won’t!  We cannot trust our hearts!  God relayed this message of Truth to Jeremiah, His prophet who warned God’s people what their sins would lead to—certain death.

“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 MSG

Sin compounds with interest with kings who “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” With Jehoshaphat as a father, Jehoram had a good example to follow. When he became king, however, he foolishly chose to marry the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (probably as a political alliance). This daughter, Athaliah, brought evil practices and the need for God’s judgment to the southern kingdom.

If we purposely ignore God’s desire for us, we will find ourselves candidates for his discipline.  God disciplines those He loves.  Hold that thought forever along with God’s blessed assurance; “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

God is our hope and future. Sin leads only to death.

2 Kings 8

The Shunammite’s Land Restored

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” 2 The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

3 At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and land. 4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” 5 Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to appeal to the king for her house and land.

Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.

Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”

Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad

7 Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, “The man of God has come all the way up here,” 8 he said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the Lord through him; ask him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

9 Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

10 Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” 11 He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep.

12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael.

“Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”

13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?”

“The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram,” answered Elisha.

14 Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, “What did Elisha say to you?” Hazael replied, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” 15 But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king’s face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king.

Jehoram King of Judah

16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 18 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab.He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 19 Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.

20 In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. 21 So Jehoram went to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night; his army, however, fled back home. 22 To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at the same time.

23 As for the other events of Jehoram’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 24 Jehoram rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.

Ahaziah King of Judah

25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. 27 He followed the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to Ahab’s family.

28 Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; 29 so King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.

Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab, because he had been wounded.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God knows the desires of our hearts; but gives us exactly what we need as His best for us.  We may not agree with God at the time; because the desires of our sinful nature and the temptations of evil are great.  But remember, evil’s power is limited.  God is great and His power available to us is greater still. The same power from God who resurrected Jesus from death to life three days later is available to all who believe in Jesus. 

This is the “secret” sauce of living a life with power that overcomes evil! (Colossians 1;27) Christ lives in all who believe and call on His Name for help to overcome all temptations to sin!  We will always be tempted by sin until Jesus comes back to take us to our forever home.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 We will fall at times because we are not perfect.  However, we are perfectly forgiven!  Not only that, God forgives all repented sins in the Name of Jesus immediately and completely—to be remembered no more!  There is no one like our God!  It is Jesus who cleanses us, clothes us in righteousness, making us presentable to God, the Father! 

John, beloved disciple of Jesus, writes;

“My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception. 1 John 4:4-6 MSG

Replace sin with God’s perfect will!  Surrender is our greatest investment!

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2

When we fully surrender our lives daily to our all-knowing, all powerful, sovereign God as an offering to Him; we will know God more and His desires for us. Follow, trust, believe God—not our hearts!  Our goal is the know and follow the heart of God!

Lord,

Some kings did what you asked for the good of your people and for your glory while other kings did not.  We see the difference in walking with You versus walking with evil. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your new mercies for today, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us.  We need your power to overcome. Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I’m yours and I’m listening.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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WHAT GOD SAYS, HAPPENS!

Posted on September 25, 2025 by randscallawayffm

We have been reading of the kings of Syria and Israel who frequently fought each other, with tenuous times of peace between the battles. During one raid, the Syrians arrived at night and surrounded the city. This caused Elisha’s servant to be greatly afraid, but the prophet told him not to fear. Elisha was not disturbed by what he saw; instead, he gave his servant the ability to see the invisible spirits that are constantly ready to do God’s work. The Lord was in control, and there was no need to worry. (Read that again, read it until you believe it!)

The Bible, all of it, is the story of God. Every human from every nation is part of His story.  God’s Word, written down word by word by His people who listened and obeyed Him, freely speaks of His character, habits of behavior, along with His great, relentless, unfailing love, mercy, and grace for those He created, “in the image of God.” No matter how far His created wander and become lost; God the Father never gives up on them—or us.  Jesus, the Son was sent as the Way back to God.  Jesus was Truth and proclaimed Truth to a confused world. Jesus, God in the flesh, redeemed us of our sins with the gift of eternal Life with God.

Yes, the story is all about God.  From beginning to end; God is in control.  God is in all, above all and over all.  God the Father, Jesus, the Son, and Holy Spirit are the Three-in-One, the Alpha and Omega—beginning and end who puts the period on His story of redemption for all who believe.  God has never given up His authority or sovereignty over the world in which He created.  Many will try, but they will fail.  God is God.  We are not.

With God in mind, let us read on….

2 Kings 7

The Siege Lifted

3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

9 Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

12 The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, ‘They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.’”

13 One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened.”

14 So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, “Go and find out what has happened.” 15 They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said.

17 Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18 It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

19 The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” 20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God warns his people through His prophets. Elisha is one of those prophets who are honored to see some of what God sees.  Elisha’s trust in God (mentored by the faith of Elijah) is beyond most of those within the world around him. He knows God will do exactly what He says He will do so he says exactly what God tells him to say.  Not all will want to hear it or heed the warnings of God through his prophets; but that doesn’t matter. Truth will be said.

The same God that gave us commandments such as “Do not commit adultery, do not murder” said, “Do not fear, along with do not worry.” It’s a violation of our relationship to God to question his authority by worrying.  God’s story frequently tells his prophets to say, do not be afraid, because God is doing what He says He will do.

From experience, both past and present, I have learned that fear can paralyze us.  Worry divides our focus and attentiveness of our trust in God causing an inability to do exactly what God told us to be and do. A habit of worry erodes our trust in God who is able. But surrendering all to God builds our trust and gives a faith of resolve—resolved that God knows and can do what only God can do.  This is called “blessed assurance.”

NEWS FLASH:  Most of the things we worry over for days on end, don’t even come to pass. Yes, read that again! 

Continue to be honest, for God already knows our hearts and sees our minds. It’s okay and acceptable then to tell God of all that is bothering us and zapping our energy. And remember what Jesus said;

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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.”—Jesus, Matthew 11:28-29

This is God. This is who God is. This is God who gave His One and Only Son, a part of Himself, to remove our sins by a once and for all sacrifice, so that we may live in relationship with Him for eternity. This is a love that never fails or gives up on us, we who are His created.  Bottom line—from Old Testament through the New Testament is that we have a real, attentive, all-knowing God who loved us first and desires us to simply love Him back, trust and obey Him.  God desires His best for us.

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes!”

Lord,

Thank you for the miracles you performed through your prophets like Elijah and now Elisha that declare your glory at work in all situations and circumstances. Thank you for the miracles you perform daily that open our eyes to see You, really see You in all your glory as you consistently demonstrate your love, mercy, and grace for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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TRUST GIVES SIGHT!

Posted on September 24, 2025 by randscallawayffm

God provides miracles in many shapes and sizes throughout our lives!  From waking up each day, to avoiding a wreck on the way to work, to a refund you didn’t expect but needed desperately to pay a bill, to the healing of a illness that could have taken life away but didn’t.  God is all around us, watching over us, providing miracles when we least expect it.  Sometimes, it is the miracle of His strength in our weakness when we go through trials, thinking God is not there because we cannot “feel or see Him” at work.

But it is in the worst circumstance that God shows up most glorious to remind us that He was there all along, working in our lives and in the lives around us.  In our imperfect, fallible world because of sin; God is and always will be at work.  His glory is seen more visibly when our trust grows stronger

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How do I know, you might ask? “I’ve seen it with my own eyes!” I am still discovering how God works; but one thing is assured; the more I trust in God the more aware of God I become.  The more I trust God, I see God at work in miraculous ways.  In dire situations; my prayers always include, “God, may your glory be seen in this circumstance” along with, “Lord, May your glory be seen in me so others will know you, too.”

Elisha is a prophet of God who believes and sees what God sees as he tenaciously trusts God in all the details of life.  He sees God for who He is and what He can do.  Elisha asks God first what He thinks then believes what God says to be the absolute truth that is to be trusted and obeyed without question. Do we?

2 Kings 6

An Axhead Floats

The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”

And he said, “Go.”

3 Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”

“I will,” Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them.

They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”

6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

Elisha Traps Blinded Arameans

8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”

9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

12 “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

19 Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.

20 After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?”

22 “Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” 23 So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

Famine in Besieged Samaria

24 Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.

26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”

27 The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?” 28 Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.”

30 When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and they saw that, under his robes, he had sackcloth on his body. 31 He said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”

32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Don’t you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” 33 While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him.

The king said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

Chapter 7

Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Consider what Jesus said who healed the blind and deaf in more ways than the physical—

In reference to their seeing with eyes wide open, Jesus taught his disciples the true meaning and depth of trust in God with; “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

“Blessed are those who do see”, specifically Matthew 13:16, means we gain knowledge of God through Jesus when we listen with teachable ears and see with pure trust in God, our Father.  Jesus’s disciples learned that trusting what they saw and heard led to knowing and understanding more the divine truths He was teaching. They had heard what many in their historical past, including prophets and kings, had said but could not yet understand. Similar teaching is in Luke 10:23 where Jesus tells His disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see”. The blessing is for those who have been given spiritual insight to understand God’s word, which offers the opportunity to choose righteousness.  Trust God first; then understanding of God builds.

Our response:

  • Believe, repent and be saved from all our sins. New Life begins that assures eternal Life with God.
  • Listen with open ears and eyes wide open to hear with tuned in tenaciousness and focused minds to understand what God’s Holy Spirit who lives in us is teaching us—all Truth.
  • Trust and obey.  “We’ll see it with our own eyes!” all that God is doing right in front of us!  God is always at work!  His love never fails and never gives up on us.

You have heard it said, “seeing is believing.” But Jesus says, “believing is seeing.”

Lord,

Thank you for this lesson of trust. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls, and restore the joy of your salvation always at work in all who will trust and obey. Thank you, thank you, thank you! To you be all the glory, honor, and praise!

In Jesus Name, Amen

HE WON’T FAIL

I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I’ve seen it in my own life
He keeps every promise, I’ll never be forsaken
He keeps every promise, I’ll never be forsaken

(He Won’t Fail, by Todd Galberth)

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THE MEASURE OF TRUST

Posted on September 18, 2025 by randscallawayffm

In the middle of a circumstance in our lives that has waved heavy on our minds for over a year I had to ask myself, “Do I trust God, or not?”  Throughout our challenging circumstance James’ words would come to me; “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  James 1:2-4

This is tough reading when unexpected, overwhelming circumstances enter our lives so great that it threatens our very existence. Without trust in God, we panic first. We cannot see the future. We don’t how it will end or how it will affect our lives.  So, we problem solve on our own because our human desire it to fix it so we can move on with our lives. Only God knows the outcomes of our existence on earth. Only God sees what lies ahead for us. Only God knows all the details of our lives.  Only God knows the faith-building lessons we need from Him to preserve in this present trouble.

So, do we trust Him, or not?  Do we trust only God to guide us through it or do we only pray for God to just wave His hand over it and make our troubles disappear like a magician?  If it the latter, His joy eternal escapes us.  Real joy from God sustains us when we ask, “Lord, what is it that I must repent of and learn from this?  His Holy Spirit who lives in those who believe immediately continues His work of salvation in us.  We learn much from these present troubles on earth, the imperfect world we live in.  Troubles bring us closer to God than ever before! That alone is a great gift of His love for us with a promise from Jesus who spoke God’s words;“Surely, I will be with you always—even unto the end of this age.”—Jesus, Matthew 28:20

So, it seems that perseverance, having a firm grip on God’s hand, going where He leads us, doing exactly what He says to do, builds our faith in Him right in the middle of the circumstance and then becomes the true measure of our trust in God.

2 Kings 5

Naaman Healed of Leprosy

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.

13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

16 The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

17 “If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. 18 But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”

19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said.

After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. “Is everything all right?” he asked.

22 “Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered. “My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’”

23 “By all means, take two talents,” said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. 24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.

25 When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”

“Your servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi answered.

26 But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? 27 Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Trust and obey—for there’s no other way!

Lord,

By your power living in us, help our first thoughts be You.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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MIRACLES

Posted on September 17, 2025 by randscallawayffm

“Wait, what just happened?” “How did that happen?” “Who made it happen?” When humans have no explanation with a human response; you can be sure God did it.  God is doing it now. And God is doing it again! God still makes a Way through it all for people to see Him, love Him, call on His Name, and then trust and obey Him.  Our part is to pray with believing, humbled, committed hearts and God works “in mysterious ways” to accomplish His will that was planned long before the time of desperation was on our radar! God’s glory is seen and His faithful goodness saves us when we call on Him!

God delights in all the details of our lives. Nothing escapes God’s notice.  The prophet Zephania prophecies this truth about God; “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephania 3:17 Read the whole chapter for more understanding of God’s love and character.

Truth: When we come with a broken heart, confessing our sins, God will receive us the way a loving mother receives a disobedient child. He will love us and even sing to us! He will bring peace to our hearts and quiet us in His love. Yes, we suffer for our disobedience, and sometimes we carry the scars of that disobedience for the rest of our lives. But the Lord will forgive us (1 John 1:9), forget our sins, and restore us into His loving fellowship. Redemption, Resurrection, and Restoration are supreme miracles of God given to us through Jesus Christ, His Son!

God miraculously shows up when we are at our lowest and don’t know what to do next in desperate times. God provides a Way out that we could never think or imagine.  This is who our God is—the God of miracles who never fails in His compassionate love for us!  When we get to the other side of the miracles God provides, we realize that He was with us all along.

He won’t fail
He won’t fail
No, He won’t leave you
He won’t fail

I’ve seen it with my own eyes
I’ve seen it in my own life
He keeps every promise
I’ll never be forsaken
He keeps every promise
I’ll never be forsaken

(He Won’t Fail, by Todd Galberth)

In fact, God has a plan to rescue us before we know we need saving.  I know, right?!

2 Kings 4

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

The Shunammite’s Son Restored to Life

8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”

11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”

She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”

14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.

Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”

“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”

17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”

His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”

23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”

“That’s all right,” she said.

24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

“Everything is all right,” she said.

When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”

27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”

28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”

29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”

32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

Death in the Pot

38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”

39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.

41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

Feeding of a Hundred

42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.

43 “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.

But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” 44 Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Come to God. Believe in His Son’s redemption work. Repent and be saved. Trust and obey, even when you don’t understand it.  Live daily with expectant hope that God is in all the details of this life while preparing us for eternal life with Him! Yes, God and miracles go together like pie and ice cream!  Waking up to a brand new day this morning is a miracle! Thank God continually for His miraculous blessings!

All of your problems
All of your pain
All of your trouble
You can give it to Jesus
All of your burdens
All of your cares
Even your struggles
You can give it to Jesus

He won’t fail
He won’t fail
No, He won’t leave you
He won’t fail

God loves all and is in all He has created.  Consider this—God used Elisha to express divine power and concern by working wonders through this faithful servant. The miracles in this passage not only benefited the Israelites but also helped people whom the Israelites considered ungodly and unworthy of God’s attention. Why? Because God so loved the world!  Jesus IS the Way, Truth, and Life now:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

Trust in God, Jesus urges, and trust in Me. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). Jesus is God’s miracle of eternal life for us!  What is the measure of our gratitude for this miracle by God through Jesus where our sins are forgiven and forgotten? How grateful are we to be restored to an intimate loving relationship with God who loved us first? This is huge—take all the time you need.

“Therefore, Go and make disciples…” God’s authority with Jesus’ command to all who believe and follow.  We who have been reconciled to God must show the Way for others to be reconciled.  (2 Corinthians 5)

There’s a “world of people” that God loves who need to know who God has given to rescue them from darkness and death.  Only God’s grace can impart life, whether to a barren womb or to a dead boy, and only God’s grace can impart spiritual life to the dead sinner (John 5:24; 17:1–3; Eph. 2:1–10).

God is the one who gave the boy life, but He used Elisha as the means to do it. So it is with raising sinners from the dead: God needs witnesses, prayer warriors, and concerned believers to point the Way to Truth who brings Life eternal to all who believe!  If that miracle wasn’t enough, God/Jesus/Holy Spirit promises to be with us always!

Lord,

You indeed never fail in your love and faithfulness to us—even when we are not as faithful to you as we should.  Thank you for your salvation—the first of many miracles in my own life.  I’ve seen, heard, and felt you with my own heart, mind, and soul. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

And we’re singing…

He won’t fail
He won’t fail
No, He won’t leave you
He won’t fail

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HOW ABOUT ASKING GOD?

Posted on September 16, 2025 by randscallawayffm

Three kings set out to war against an enemy of all three of them.  All three decide it’s a great idea. Not one stops the plan to invade and conquer Moab with “how about inquiring of the Lord?”—until they are in trouble.  “Who knows a prophet who is reliable?” The King of Judah is the only one asking but even he jumped into this war plan without first asking God about it so he, too is stuck in the desert with his comrades.  King Jehoshaphat, King of Judah maybe less sinful than the other two kings but sins are not ranked in God’s eyes.  A sin in a sin.  Not asking God first what He wants for His People is a sin which lands all of them in the middle of the desert with NO water in sight while leads to no hope on the horizon of surviving. The King of Judah remembers who he worships and asks; what about asking God?  The other two kings just sit in the dust wondering when they will die while blaming God for their current situation.

Have you ever been in a challenging situation when all hope has seemed to vanish and you do not know what to do next?  Is God our last resort or the first call we make?

2 Kings 3

Moab Revolts

Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.

4 Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel. 7 He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”

“I will go with you,” he replied. “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

8 “By what route shall we attack?” he asked.

“Through the Desert of Edom,” he answered.

9 So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them.

10 “What!” exclaimed the king of Israel. “Has the Lord called us three kings together only to deliver us into the hands of Moab?”

11 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?”

An officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”

12 Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why do you want to involve me? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.”

“No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab.”

14 Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you. 15 But now bring me a harpist.”

While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha 16 and he said, “This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. 17 For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. 18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also deliver Moab into your hands. 19 You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.”

20 The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was—water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.

21 Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border. 22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red—like blood. 23 “That’s blood!” they said. “Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!”

24 But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites. 25 They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it.

26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. 27 Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Elisha shows fearless faith!  As a prophet, Elisha knew and believed God. He trusted and obeyed all that God said and told him to say.  He is called up into the presence of not one, but three kings and asked for his help to “inquire of the Lord”.  We see Jehoshaphat’s respect for the Lord’s prophet Elisha which demonstrates the continuation of God’s gracious covenant with David.

Elisha’s greeting to all the kings was a challenge to the kings’ faithfulness, but Joram’s reply still smacked of unbelief: “No, for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab!” When we don’t know God and His best and don’t inquire of what God wants; we assume the worst.  This is a human response who does not revere God.  When it came to confronting kings, we see that Elisha was as fearless as his mentor, Elijah.

God’s Story is woven into all who trust and obey Him!

“Elisha’s abrupt call for music in the face of a military crisis reminds us of God’s unorthodox approach to the defeat of Jericho (Joshua 6:1–17). The music highlighted God’s participation. The music of the harpist also quieted the prophet’s mind and heart and helped to facilitate his communion with the Lord. Then Elisha revealed God’s plan. The miracles recorded in the next few chapters are primarily revelations that magnify God’s grace and mercy.” –Warren Wiersbe, Wiersbe Study Bible

Finding ourselves in the Story of God begins with our humility before God.  We acknowledge who He is with who we are not—God.  Only God was, is, and always will be God!  We are not God. We are not all knowing, all seeing, or all powerful.  We are made in His image, but we are not God, the Maker of all things. All we are or ever hope to be comes from God who molds and shapes willing believers who have become His children. God is our Father; we are His sons and daughters, joint heirs with Christ!  Even the demons know God and His Son, Jesus—and they tremble at His Name! 

When we humble ourselves before God, repent of our sins to God, with a willingness to trust with a joyful attitude of obedience—God blesses us with His wisdom, insight, with more understanding of life here as we prepare for eternal life with them there in heaven.

God also sees us in the desert of our mistakes and messes with a glorious way to walk through it to the other side.  There is nothing we have done that God will not forgive. The King of Moab pitifully sacrificed his first-born son as a sign of losing. He knew he was losing the war with Israel and Judah.  God sacrificed His One and Only Son as the Way for all the world to win the war over sin! Jesus took our place for the punishment of sin we deserved!  Jesus gives us the victory with a new life! 

So, the next time, before doing anything of significance, do what Jesus, our Savior, Lord, King of kings, and Lord of lords did while he walked on earth to teach us how to live through it all—Ask God first what HE wants us to be and then do.  God will answer a humbled heart who desires Him and wants to know His will.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”—Jesus, Matthew 6:33

“Inquire of the Lord” before our daily war with the Enemy whose goal is to distract, deceive, and destroy our faith in God.  Satan and his demons pounce on our challenging circumstances to draw us away from God.  On the other hand, God uses our circumstances in our imperfect world to build our faith with lessons that turn our messes into messages of His love, mercy, and grace that assures our hope of eternity with Him. So, who do you choose as your first call as your first line of defense? I pray it is God!

Lord,

I love you because you first loved me.  I am forever grateful for your love. I choose you because you chose me to be your daughter made possible by the King of kings, Jesus!  You are the Source of love, power, wisdom, and grace that gives real Life to my soul.  Why would I call on anyone else but you?  Here I am. I’m yours. And I’m listening.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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PASSING THE POWER

Posted on September 15, 2025 by randscallawayffm

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Paul—Timothy, 2 Timothy 2:2

It has always been God’s design to pass on “all the things” God gives to us to others who love Him and to those who do not yet know Him.  God leads people to us to teach us. God leads us to pass on to others in our lives who need what we have learned through God’s Word along with our “trial and error” experiences. We do not have to be perfect to pass on the lessons God has given to us in our lives.

God calls, equips, and sends us to declare His glory, share what His Word says, and point the way to eternal life through Jesus, His Son.  We don’t need to know it all to pass on what we do know!  If we waited to know it all; someone stays lost in the wait!  Truth:  We will never know all there is to know about God. That’s okay! Know who does know!  One of our goals in life is to consistently “be still and know God” by letting go of what we think we know to what is true.  We do that be seeking Him first, believing all He says in His Word, trusting the leading of His Holy Spirit—even if we don’t understand it all, with a holy “loving Hm back” attitude of cheerful obedience. God will fill in the rest!  How great is our God!?!

Pause to Ponder the Beauty of God’s Design: When we really think about this truth, we learn that there will generally be people who need to know from us what we have learned from God along with those God sends into our lives to teach us what they have learned and what we need to know. All these things and people of all ages and stages in life come from Almighty God who builds the faith of His created.  We must be alert to all people God puts in our lives!  All people have purpose—some of these people might be the very ones God has sent to teach us!

As we read God’s story of the relationship between Mentor and Apprentice, look between the lines for the beautiful demonstration and evidence of God’s love between Elijah and Elisha.  Elijah taught by example.  He didn’t tell Elisha to do anything he wouldn’t do himself or had already done.  There are many principles of being a Godly Mentor at play in this passage.

2 Kings 2

Elijah Taken Up to Heaven

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 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.

3 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, “so be quiet.”

4 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

5 The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” he replied, “so be quiet.”

6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on.

7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

9 When they had crossed, 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,” Elisha replied.

10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

11 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. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

13 Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 16 “Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”

“No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”

17 But they persisted until he was too embarrassed to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. 18 When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

Healing of the Water

19 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”

20 “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’” 22 And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

Elisha Is Jeered

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

In our reading today, it is time for the Mentor to pass the mantle of responsibility to the Faithful Apprentice, according to the Lord.  We learn that God will always tell us the time and place of the passing of His power and responsibilities from one leader to another in His Kingdom work.  Centuries later, God’s design of passing the power was demonstrated perfectly by Jesus to His disciples then and now;

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”—Jesus, Matthew 28:18-20

And God is still passing on His power so others will know Him, know the power of Jesus Name who died to save us, and know the power of His Holy Spirit who leads us to Truth. Yes, God is still doing it, again and again, until the whole world knows and comes to Him for redemption—all because of His love, mercy, and grace! We who believe now were led to this power that resurrected Jesus from the grave by those who knew Him before we did!  Praise God for these people and thank God for His design of passing the powerful knowledge of His saving grace so “no one perish but have eternal life!  It is indeed a matter of life or death!

As Elijah’s ministry came to a close, Elisha requested a double portion of the Holy Spirit that rested upon Elijah. Elisha had seen the power of God’s Holy Spirit flow through Elijah.  Elisha’s request demonstrated his willingness to be God’s prophet, no matter the cost, but he knew he would need God’s power working through him as well.  God knew Elisha’s heart. The request was granted as Elijah’s blessing fell on Elisha. From then on Elisha would wear Elijah’s coat and serve with the authority and power it symbolized.  However, with Power comes great responsibility.  The first and greatest responsibility for all prophets are to “inquire of the Lord,” seeking God first, before doing anything of significance for the good His people, in His Name, by His power, for His glory.

OUR POWER COMES FROM GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT

God’s Holy Spirit is our super personal connection with God.  The Holy Spirit is the third part of God—The Three-in-One.  Therefore, The Holy Spirit is God within us to help us. John calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate or Helper.  Max Lucado explains;

“He comforts the saved. ‘Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you’ (John 16:7).  Jesus to His disciples.

He convicts the lost. “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (Jn 16:8).

He conveys the truth. ‘I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come’ (John 16:12–13).” –Lucado, Encouraging Word Bible

God’s Holy Spirit compels to worship Him alone. “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth”—Jesus, God’s Son (John 4:24).

Identifying and hearing the Holy Spirit is simpler than we think:

Has God ever brought you a surprising peace when the world brought you extensive pain?  That’s God’s Holy Spirit at work to comfort us in our sorrow!

Have you ever been convicted of uneasiness and even felt a stab of sorrow for your actions? That’s God’s Holy Spirit convicting, not condemning, but convicting us for the purpose of correcting our behavior.

Have you ever read a familiar passage in God’s Word and a “light comes on” in your mind with an “ah,hah” moment?  That’s God’s Holy Spirit guiding us to Truth.  “You have heard it said,” says Jesus to all who would listen to Him, “but I say to you…” It’s these teachable moments God uses by the power of His Holy Spirit to all Truth, “all the things” that are God.  God’s Holy Spirit is God in us helping us discern between good and evil.

PAUSE TO THANK GOD!

Thank God for creating us with purpose. Thank God for sending a part of Himself, His One and Only Son, Jesus to redeem us of our sins by sacrificing His life for ours! Thank God for sending us a Helper to comfort, convict, correct, and compel us to be more like Jesus who is the Way, Truth, and Life.  Thank God for the mentors who He sent into our lives at just the right time to pass on the power of encouragement with knowledge of God. Thank God for the people we have mentored in His Name for His glory. I thank God most of all for all He has done in my life, leading me from falls and failures to finding His beauty of Truth from the ashes of defeat.  If we give ourselves to God each day; everything in life serves to lead us to grow intimately and intentionally closer to God in ways that build our trust, faith, and enduring love for Him. 

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2

Lord,

I offer all of me to all of You as an offering to you.  Make me a vessel of your love and grace to others.  Help me to love others like you love me.  Help me to discern your perfect will by cleansing my heart and removing all that is not You. Renew my mind so that I will think more like You, dear Jesus.  Refresh and reset my soul. Restore the joy of you in me and me in you in perfect harmony.

In Jesus Name, Amen 

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FIRE FROM HEAVEN? WOW!   

Posted on September 13, 2025 by randscallawayffm

Jesus’ disciples James and John asked, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”. (Luke 9:54) James and John’s frustrated hearts with tainted revengeful minds thought this would the right thing to do after a Samaritan village refused to welcome Jesus and his group.  After all, Elijah did it!  But Jesus rebuked them, explaining that the Son of Man came to save lives, not destroy them.  Jesus changed everything. God sent Jesus to earth as the Son of Man/Son of God to seek and to save the lost who over centuries had walked in darkness without really knowing God. Keep this in mind as we continue God’s Story.

2 Kings will not be easy reading for every king of Israel “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” and then knew they were defying God but didn’t care. Point taken and proven as we open with King Ahaziah falling through the lattice roofing which landed him in bed and who does he go to for help—Baal.  Not God Almighty, but Baal-Zebub first!  This will be the theme throughout this book. The episodes are not for the faint of heart as evil drives Israel’s kings to sins that will hurt themselves and everyone around them with evil deeds.  But notice also, in our first reading today, how the humbled captain is given immunity from the fire of heaven by God through His spokesperson Elijah.  God knows our hearts and loves our humbled attitudes of respect for who He is.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Kings 1

The Lord’s Judgment on Ahaziah

After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. 2 Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”

3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ 4 Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’” So Elijah went.

5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”

6 “A man came to meet us,” they replied. “And he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”’”

7 The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?”

8 They replied, “He had a garment of hair and had a leather belt around his waist.”

The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”

9 Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”

10 Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

11 At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’”

12 “If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

13 So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! 14 See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”

15 The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.

16 He told the king, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” 17 So he died, according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken.

Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 18 As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This is a reading for the serious disciple of Jesus who knows that sin makes life so much harder, darker, and sicker and wants instead to walk humbly with God in the Light of His glorious ways.  Walking in the Light is so much better than walking in the darkness which causes painful falls and stumbles…sometimes deadly falls as in the case of King Ahaziah! 

We learn we must run to God first when troubles, trials, with challenging circumstances present themselves daily on our walk.  We cannot avoid trouble but we can overcome them by the power of God’s Holy Spirit living in us!  Jesus said we would have troubles in this imperfect, tainted by evil, world with a promise! 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”—Jesus, John 16:33

Jesus’ disciples, apostles and followers picked up the Truth and ran with it, telling everyone the Good News of salvation from sin with a solution— “seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8) Truth became their DNA of being a committed people who identified themselves as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ who brought us into the family of God. Our identity is in Jesus, the only way to connect with God.  Need more backup proof?

  • “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
  • “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
  • “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:5
  • “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7
  • “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5

There’s much more; but you are probably getting the picture of God’s love for us that completes us, gives us peace, and makes us overcomers with Him. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17


“The northern kingdom, Israel, was headquartered in Samaria. Nineteen kings led this nation. Not one was godly. Not one! In spite of strong prophets like Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Elijah, and Elisha, the kings didn’t listen.

The southern kingdom, Judah, used Jerusalem as its capital. Of its twenty sovereigns, only eight walked with God. Again, powerful prophets challenged them. Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah were just a few of the men who proclaimed God’s message. But the people didn’t listen. They slipped from conviction to compromise into captivity. 

It took these people several decades to get the point. I hope we are better listeners.”   —Max Lucado, The Encouraging Word Bible

It is not God’s desire to call down the fire but to save and forgive His created in His own image.  It IS the desire of the Enemy of God for us to fall into his fire forever. 

Fire or Paradise? —Two choices. I choose God who gave us His Son to save, forgive, and set us free from our sins.  How about you?

Lord,

Make me a vessel, make me an offering, make me whatever you want me to be.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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TRUTH OR WHAT PLEASES YOU AS TRUTH?

Posted on September 12, 2025 by randscallawayffm

When we are making choices between good, better, or best in this crazy world of offered opinions galore, who do we go to most often? Those who agree with us and tell us what we want to hear? Or to those who consistently tell the truth based on God’s leading and His Word for us? Above all—Do we seek the Lord’s counsel first?

King of Israel and the King of Judah get together to solve a problem of conquered land. Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, want to inquire of the Lord first.  Ahab, King of Isreal, seeks prophets trained to tell him what He wants to hear.  We will learn how that turns out for King Ahab.

1 Kings 22

Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab

For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. 2 But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see the king of Israel. 3 The king of Israel had said to his officials, “Don’t you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us and yet we are doing nothing to retake it from the king of Aram?”

4 So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 5 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the Lord.”

6 So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?”

“Go,” they answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”

8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.

9 So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”

10 Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. 11 Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns and he declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”

12 All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious,” they said, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.”

14 But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.”

15 When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or not?”

“Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

17 Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”

18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”

19 Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

“One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’

22 “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.

“‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

23 “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

24 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from the Lord go when he went from me to speak to you?” he asked.

25 Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room.”

26 The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son 27 and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’”

28 Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people!”

Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead

29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. 30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

31 Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” 32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, “Surely this is the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him, but when Jehoshaphat cried out, 33 the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel and stopped pursuing him.

34 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” 35 All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died. 36 As the sun was setting, a cry spread through the army: “Every man to his town. Every man to his land!”

37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there. 38 They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood, as the word of the Lord had declared.

39 As for the other events of Ahab’s reign, including all he did, the palace he built and adorned with ivory, and the cities he fortified, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 40 Ahab rested with his ancestors. And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.

Jehoshaphat King of Judah

41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 43 In everything he followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. The high places, however, were not removed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. 44 Jehoshaphat was also at peace with the king of Israel.

45 As for the other events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, the things he achieved and his military exploits, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 46 He rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father Asa. 47 There was then no king in Edom; a provincial governor ruled.

48 Now Jehoshaphat built a fleet of trading ships to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail—they were wrecked at Ezion Geber. 49 At that time Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my men sail with yours,” but Jehoshaphat refused.

50 Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David his father. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king.

Ahaziah King of Israel

51 Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 52 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he followed the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 53 He served and worshiped Baal and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, just as his father had done.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Background:

King Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, had different goals than King Ahab of Israel.  Jehoshaphat followed in the ways of David and “sought to please the Lord” (2 Chr. 17:1–6). That’s way his comment to King Ahab was, “First seek the counsel of the Lord.”

King Jehoshaphat sent teaching priests throughout the land of Judah to explain God’s Law to the people (2 Chr. 17:7–9) and assigned the other priests to serve as faithful judges to whom the people could bring their disputes. God gave Judah peace, and Jehoshaphat took advantage of this opportunity to fortify the land (2 Chr. 17:10–19). This is why he is coming to King Ahab to take back seized land that belongs to God’s people.

However, one compromise often leads to another. As the descendant of David, Jehoshaphat should have kept his distance from Ahab and never allowed the Davidic line to mingle with that of Ahab. Jehoshaphat soon discovered that all Ahab’s court appointed prophets were paid to agree with the king, so they assured Ahab that he would win the battle. But Jehoshaphat was wise enough to ask Ahab for some word from the Lord. Is there anyone?  Anyone who hears God?

Isn’t there a prophet who speaks the truth of God?” inquires Jehoshaphat.

“Yes, but he doesn’t like me” replies King Ahab.

God does not lie—it’s not in His nature or character.  God will always tell the truth because He is Truth.  Here’s proof:

  • “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” Numbers 23:19
  • “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
  • “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
  • “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

God will always tell us the truth. Jesus is the Truth who is part of God. The Holy Spirit guides us to all truth.  God/Jesus/Holy Spirit—God in Three Persons is Truth.

Truth assures believers that God’s promises are reliable and that His character is consistent. His love is unfailing and His compassions that fail not!

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

God didn’t lie to Ahab; quite the contrary, through the lips of Micaiah He told the truth and gave Ahab fair warning of what was going to happen in battle.

God is sovereign in all things. Ahab had freed the king of Aram when he should have destroyed him, and true to God’s word, Ahab died at the hands of the Arameans. Though Ahab had disguised himself for battle, God allowed a random arrow to hit an opening in Ahab’s armor and kill him. At the same time, God protected Jehoshaphat, in his royal robes, from even a wound.

Two more kings will follow in their fathers’ footsteps. One follows God as his father did.  One did not.  Stay tuned!

Lord,

Thank you for teaching us to fully rely on what you say for you are the Truth we seek in a fallen world.  Because you deliver truth with your relentless love for us; we believe. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your new mercies for today, and restore the joy of you in us and us in you. May our lives declare your glory and lead others to share in your love as they seek redemption.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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