Double Portion – #32 Odd instructions. Or at least, we would have thought them odd. Read 2 Kings 9:1-3. Now Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-gilead. When you arrive there, search out Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in and bid him arise from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner room. Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the Lord , “I have anointed you king over…

Double Portion – #31 The King of Aram is sick and sends his servant to Elisha to find out if he will die. That doesn’t exactly go the way the king expects. Read 2 Kings 8:7-15. Then Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and it was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” The king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?'” So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand, even every kind…

Double Portion – #30 God keeps track of all the details and the timing. Read 2 Kings 8:1-6. Now Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go with your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn; for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will even come on the land for seven years.” So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God, and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and…

The rest of the story. Yesterday we saw Elisha sharing the message to the king. Today we read the full story of how God brought this about. Read 2 Kings 7:3-20. Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill…

Double Portion – #28 It’s one thing to see God’s provision, it’s another thing to actually experience it. Read 2 Kings 7:1-2. Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord ; thus says the Lord , ‘Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.'” The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, “Behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” Then he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you…

Double Portion – #27 It’s a really low time for Israel. Things are so bad that women are eating their own children. The king of Israel blames Elisha. Read 2 Kings 6:31-33. Then he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.” Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when…

Double Portion – #26 Sometimes people need to get lost before they can be saved. Elisha decides to show the Arameans just how lost they really are. Read 2 Kings 6:18-23. When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people with blindness, I pray.” So He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city; follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he brought them to Samaria. When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord , open the…

Double Portion – #25 It’s ok, God’s got this. That’s really the message that Elisha is sharing with his servant. When we are serving God, there are always more on our side than on the other side. Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord , I pray, open his eyes that…

Double Portion – #24 God knows. It doesn’t matter how secret you think you are keeping something, God knows. Read 2 Kings 6:8-14. Now the king of Aram was warring against Israel; and he counseled with his servants saying, “In such and such a place shall be my camp.” The man of God sent word to the king of Israel saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Arameans are coming down there.” The king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God had told him; thus he warned him, so that he guarded himself there, more than once or twice. Now the…

Double Portion – #23 God cares about everything in our lives, even the things that we would normally think small. Read 2 Kings 6:1-7 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too limited for us. Please let us go to the Jordan and each of us take from there a beam, and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live.” So he said, “Go.” Then one said, “Please be willing to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I shall go.” So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan,…