Pursuing God (II)

By Pastor Young Joon Park

July 18, 2010

“It is Well.”

1. Verse 8 “It fell on a day”

II Kings 4:8-10, 11, 18

⁸ And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great (gadol) woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.

⁹ And she said unto her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God who passes by us continually.

¹⁰ Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee (please), on the wall (on the roof); and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in there.”

The Shunammite Woman

⁸ And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman;

In the Bible God described her as a great woman.

God teaches us through this woman as a good example in pursuing the Lord.

He shows us through this woman and promises us if we learn from it and pursue the Lord in our daily life.

God spoke to us to be faithful the Chronos Time through the Shunammite woman. We also learned that the kairos moment comes in your life.

Chronos time is the actual passage of time, continuing time like everyday.

Kairos time is the certain special time in the sense of ‘right time’, ‘opportunity’, ‘circumstances’, and ‘favorable occasion’

Chronos time is continual time, but the kairos moment is the moment God lifts you up to His Time for your life what you had been through. The kairos moment will change your entire life to the higher level and a great turning point of your life.

Shunammite woman’s right decision for her kairos’ moment, and she did not miss the kairos moment, constrained Elisha immediately, and invited him in her house to serve. She obtained the anointing in her life, and she carried the anointing over her life.

She never missed the chance of the Lord what He has plan for her life and her family.

She completely opened her house and her life to the Lord and received as much as she could.

She did the best offer for Elisha.

She did prepared the best meals whenever he passed by.

She did prepare the best dwelling place for him on the best place of her house.

Challenge

Do you give the best offer of your life to the Holy Spirit?

Are you available to the Holy Spirit all the time, and you are ready to serve Him at any times?

Do you submit to Him as your Lord every area of your life?

Like as your spiritual life, your marriage life, your family life, your business, your financial area, your job, your time, your emotion…?

How much do you rely on Him as 10%, 50%, 99% or 100%?

You believe in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord.

It is not an option to believe in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord.

The Savior means that you believe in Jesus Christ who died fully, shed all His Blood on the cross for your entire sin, and resurrected from the dead because of your righteousness fully 100% in your daily life and forever.

The Lord means that Jesus Christ is the only King over your life and your obligation is to submit to Him 100% in your daily life and forever, but not partially.

Jesus Christ is not your Lord yet if you do not commit to submit to the Lord 100%.

Before you believe in Jesus, you were under the authority of satan, so you lived whatever you wanted through your flesh lust desires, another means that you submit your life to satan 100% in everyday.

When you believe in Jesus Christ, He broke free all your chains from satan’s bondages and gave you the full freedom and full salvation. To believe in Jesus Christ means that you completely came out from satan’s authority and entered into the Kingdom of God, under His Protection, His Love, His Grace and His Authority. There is no middle ground.

So welcome the Holy Spirit, invite Him into your life and surrender yourself to Him fully, and you will receive His Anointing flow over your life.

John 7:37-38

³⁷ Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “ If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

2. Verse 11 “It fell on a day”

II Kings 4:11-17

¹¹ And it fell on a day, that he came there, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. ¹² And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” And when he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³ And he said unto him, “Say now unto her, ‘Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? Would you be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?” And she answered, “I dwell among mine own people.”

¹⁴ And he said, ‘What then is to be done for her?’ And Gehazi answered, ‘Verily she has no child, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ And he said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

¹⁶ And he said, “About this season, according to the time of life, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto your handmaid.”

¹⁷ And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her,

according to the time of life.

God has a plan for her destiny even if she did not ask for one. Elisha saw how much the Shunammite woman planned very well in preparing his special room at the best place of her house to serve him. Elisha’s heart was so touched by her and he wanted to do something for her according to God’s Will.

God has plans to release His Favor of Rewards to you because of your commitment and submission to the Lord. This principle is not going to be changed, and many passages proved this kind of rewards for His People who are following Him with full heart.

Matthew 10:41

He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

So you need to expect that God has plans to release His Reward in His Way to you even you did not ask Him, because He knows your real need better than yourself.

God’s great plans for your life will be activated when you entered into His Kingdom.

You just believed in Him for the salvation, but you will receive the incredible blessings that are way beyond of what you expected.

Matthew 10:40

He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.

Here is the picture what you have now because of your faith

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

When Elisha asked her, ‘Behold, “You have been careful for us with all this care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army?’

Any reward is not what she wanted, but to serve the holy man of God and to receive his presence and the anointing at her home.

This kairos moment was designed by the Lord for her personal life blessing that God has ordained for her destiny. This is God’s Divine schedule for her life because of her pure heart for the Lord and her pursuing of God. God was about to release and activate her destiny because of her whole heart for the Lord.

Elisha prophesied over her, “About this season, according to the time of life, you shall embrace a son.” She was conceived and bare a son at the season according to the prophetic word of God.

We have to be cooperative with the prophetic word that was released to your personal life from the Lord, because the prophetic word for your life is going to activate your destiny.

You need to seek the Lord continually with the prophetic word that was released to you.

God will use us when we are ready, so we have to wait for the Lord and follow Him faithfully every day. Especially God is molding us into our own character every day through all the sufferings, pains, trials and tribulations. This Shunammite woman had gone through the pains of the barrenness throughout her marriage life until her old age. For her and her husband having a baby was no longer an option to consider they had concluded that it was not possible for them to have a baby any more.

She gave up on the idea of having baby (it was very serious issue of no baby) to fulfill her destiny because the enemy stole her heart from her destiny for many years. You need to understand that God gave each individual the destiny for the Kingdom of God whoever and whatever you are even before you were born. God sent you on earth for the special reasons and the purpose for your life.

Your destiny will not be controlled by your enemy. Furthermore, he has nothing to do with it and has no authority over your destiny. However, the enemy can get you discouraged regarding your destiny, and he can drive you to believe that you are not worthy enough to God at all. We need to remember that satan is a liar and wants you to be separated from God forever, disabling you to fulfill your destiny.

Our enemy, satan, will be frustrated and fear us when God restored our destiny. That is why he does not want you to come to your destiny that God ordained you from the very beginning.

Our destiny is under only God’s power, and He will bring our destiny to the higher level when we are ready. Our destiny comes quickly depending on how we pursue God and be under His Anointing. This Shunammite woman’s destiny was came quickly however impossible it seemed when she was pursuing God with her desperate heart.

We could see how much the enemy discouraged her destiny so many years through her answer to Elisha

“No, my lords, O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.”

“Do not lie,” it does not mean to deceive her, but it is the meaning of the disappointment.

It means, “Do not make me to disappoint in this area.”

Most of the prophetic words for your destiny seem obviously huge and impossible, and you will wonder about it. Sometimes you might feel disappointed and unreasonable, but God never makes us to be disappointed or to shame.

Romans 10:11

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

She has been disappointed about her bareness, and now it is no longer possible to conceive due to her age. That is why she did not even want to bring this painful issue again in her life and did not want to taste the disappointment again, but it’s always been her dream to have a baby.

God will expose your issue. Lot of time we do not want to be exposed our painful issue, but we have to bring it and to deal with it with the Lord, so that we can be healed from the issue, then you will overcome the issue and you will be free. Not only you will be free from it, but also your destiny will be opened from the Lord.

God opened her destiny that had been blocked for so many years because of her pursuing of God. When you receive the anointing from the Lord, the stronghold, demonic hindrance will be broken, your past will be gone, and the new season will be opened in your life.

God spoke to me that the breakthrough and the restoration for our destiny would be elevated and shifted up to the new level in this year. In your life, you have dreams and vision, but they did not come to pass. Your dreams and vision were blocked continually throughout your life until today.

¹⁷ And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her,

according to the time of life.

Your old painful season will be over and the new season is coming to your life this year.

You are going to conceive your dream and vision and they will be growing in your womb, and you will bear your dream and vision eventually.

You have to believe your personal prophetic word of God.

3. Verse 18 “It fell on a day”

II Kings 4:18-14

¹⁸ And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. ¹⁹ And he said unto his father, “My head, my head.” And he said to a lad, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

Shunammite woman received prophetic word from Prophet Elisha and the word came to pass in miraculous way, so she was so excited for her restoration of her destiny.

Her dreams and visions were finally realized and it was by the God’s Divine Connection and Divine Time, but one day her potential hope and destiny died all of a sudden.

Suddenly this child had a headache, his mother held her son on her knees for several hours, and he died on her knees. She lost all of her hope in her arm like a smoke. Her baby was the promise of God, and his life should have been guaranteed by the power of God. We could not understand God’s plan. God took his life even he was born by the power of the prophetic word from the anointed Prophet. Did your achievement of your dream and vision suddenly disappear?

²¹ And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out

She did not explain about her son to her husband and request to send one of servant with donkey to visit the prophet.

²³ He said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath.” And she said, “It will be well.”

She replied her husband’s question with “It will be well,’ however, she was not well at all. She told this servant to go fest at Mount Carmel to meet Elisha. She went and came to the man of God in Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite”.

²⁶ “Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ” And she answered, “It is well.”

She answered him with “It is well,” despite of her not being well at all.

When she came to the man of God to the hill, she got hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”

Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘ Do not deceive me’?”

Then he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad’s face.”

³⁰ The mother of the lad said, “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her.

Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The lad has not awakened.”

³² When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed.

³³ He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD.

³⁴ And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. ³⁵ Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

³⁶ And he called Gehazi, and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, “Take up thy son.” ³⁷ Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

She did not give up in very hard and painful situation that she was in, but pursued God because she believed in the Lord. Furthermore, she pursued to revive her son’s life through Elisha. She missed the anointing, her son died because of the absence of the anointing, and she pursued the divine reconnection. I believe that this is the first miracle sign of the resurrection in the Bible. The child had sneezed 7 times and the child was revived.

It is the prophetic word of the breakthrough, the restoration and for the new birth of revival.

God is going to use the dead for the new birth of the revival. We quickly give up when we are going through the painful moment because we do not believe that there is any hope, but we need to pursue the Lord continually, God will bring the new level of revival birth through the pain.

We have been through very painful circumstances here and there, but God is going to bring new level of birth through our pain, so we have to pursue the Lord continually until God brings the new birth.

The spiritual growth comes from the trials, suffering, pains, and tribulation. This Shunammite woman was going through the painful moment, however, she had overcome the tragedy and come to the new level of her life.

Romans 8:28-29

²⁸ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Conclusion

Horatio Spafford was a 43 years old lawyer. He lived in a north side suburb of Chicago with his wife, Anna and his five children. In 1871 his only son died. A few months later, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 consumed Spafford’s real estate investments. He lost his entire life savings. Two years later, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation to Europe. However, Spafford was delayed by the last minute business deal. He sent his wife and four daughters on the S.S. Ville Du Harvre as scheduled, promising to follow in a few days.

On November 22, 1873 the ship was struck by an iron sailing vessel, and it sank in twelve minutes. 226 people were killed. When the survivors of the shipwreck landed in Europe, Anna Spafford cabled her husband, “Saved alone. What shall I do?” Spafford immediately left Chicago to bring his wife home. In the midst of his sorrow, while sailing near the place of his daughters’ death, he wrote the words to the hymn “It is well with my soul.”

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll,

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

“It is well; it is well with my soul.”

Though satan should buffet, though trials should come

Let this blessed assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate

And He shed His Own Blood for my soul

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought

My sin, not in part, but the whole

is nailed to the cross, And I bear it no more.

Oh, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, Oh my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.

And the trumpet shall sound, and the Lord shall descend.

Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well with my soul. It is well; it is well with my soul.