“I believe that each of us has a dream. We want to see growth in our ministry. We want to see revival fall greatly upon our church! But as time goes by, we may start to ponder whether these dreams can actually be achieved,” said Reverend Wong Chee Meng starting his sharing in a conference held at Johor recently.
Referring to 2 Kings Chapter 4, Reverend Wong was amazed with how a woman in Shunem urged Elisha to stay with them and he threw a question to the congregation, “Have you ever have this urge and desire in asking God to stay with you, just like this Shunammite?”
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.
(2 Kings 2:8-17)
How can the church be fruitful and multiply from its current infertility?
How can we experience the miracle that this Shunammite woman experienced? Reverend Wong shared that this Shunammite woman learned that Elisha was a holy man of God. There was a great hunger in this Shunammite woman to encounter and to experience God.
Hence, the Shunammite woman not only urged Elisha to stay with them for a meal. Instead, they prepared for Elisha a small room, a bed, and other daily necessity (2Kings 4:8-10).
“This Shunammite woman tried as hard as possible to urge Elisha to stay with them, not because of any other things, but she has a great desire and hunger for God. How about you?”
Humility pleases God!
“There is a difference between humility and inferiority. Inferiority is thinking less of yourself; humility is thinking of yourself less. Humility is an attitude that will be emerge in a person’s life.”
The Shunammite woman is a well-to-do woman (2Kings 4:8), yet she humbled herself and prepared everything for Elisha.
Apart from that, humility attracts God’s anointing. Note that Elisha was brought up in a well-to-do family. He was taking care of 12 pairs of cows when he heard the Lord spoke to him. “Cows was a transportation tool at that time. In other words, Elisha’s family owns more than 24 cars! Can you imagine that?”
However, although Elisha has such privilege and wealth, he chose to humble himself, let go of what he has and let God has control of his life. This made him to receive double portion of the anointing!
Later, the humility in this Shunammite woman led her to experience God’s miracle. Out of her infertility, she gave birth to a son! “Humility brings God’s miracle. Just as the Shunammite woman, if we want to see God’s presence staying in our church, we need to be like this Shunammite woman. We need to humble ourselves before God and try whatever we can to please God,” he shared.
Reverend Wong continued sharing that we need to put a lot of effort in building the church, “If we long to experience revival and growth in our church, we need to have effort, pray diligently, read the Bible, and have a great hunger to be immersed in His presence. Welcome the Holy Spirit to work with us and work in our church.”
As we continue to read on, we would noticed that the Shunammite woman’s son experienced a sudden death (2 Kings 4:18-20).
Say ‘Shalom’ when troubles hit
25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. 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?’” “Everything is all right,” she said. (2Kings 4:25-26)
“Sometimes, our ministry will encounter failures and frustrations, just like what the Shunammite woman experienced. Trials and tests happen without need of our approval. But don’t be afraid and don’t hold back. Instead, we should be even more positive. As what we saw in this passage, when troubles hit, we should wave at them and say, ‘Shalom, it is all right.’ ”
Let us start learning to cultivate a positive attitude, have a greater hunger and desire for God, and embrace our problems now by saying “Shalom!”
Note: All photos are from FGA CYC.
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good to listen more of his sermon