Lord, Teach Us To Pray! Part 214

Prayers of the Old Testament
The Prayer of Elisha continued...

2 Kings 6:17, “And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

Elisha’s prayer consisted of no more than ten words but the outcome and end result of his prayer was truly glorious. In reading Elisha’s life story and all God did through him, we come to realize Elisha’s unshakeable faith in regards to God not only hearing his prayers, but moving on his behalf and answering his prayers as well.

Whether to blind the Syrian army, to return their sight to them, or to open the eyes of his servant, Elisha’s prayers were neither long nor elaborate, but they were full of faith in God’s ability to answer them, and His willingness to do so.

If you’ve ever thought that ‘the prayers of a righteous man avails much’ seemed a bit abstract, now you know what ‘much’ means.

If we take the prayer of Elisha at face value, we come to understand that the prayers of a righteous man can open the spiritual eyes of men, blind the physical eyes of men, and open the physical eyes of men once more, among many, many other things.

If we begin to ponder the implications of Elisha’s prayer and what the servant seeing the horses and chariots of fire means for us as believers, we enter a whole new sphere of wisdom and understanding which many today choose to overlook.

One of the most amazing truths we glean from Elisha’s prayer and the opening of his servant’s eyes is confirmation of the reality of the existence of the spiritual realm.

Elisha’s servant saw with physical eyes, and was understandably frightened. After Elisha prayed, he saw with spiritual eyes and understood that they were not alone.

What the servant saw with his physical eyes was not wrong. It was the physical reality of the time, and any other individual would have seen the army surrounding the city. What we must understand is that spiritual reality is just as real as physical reality. It is man who lacks the ability to see spiritual reality as readily as he sees the physical.

Just because those of the world cannot see the spiritual it does not make it any less real. The fact that I’ve never seen my own heart does not make it any less real, and though I have never seen it I am certain of its existence.

The antidote for fear of the physical for God’s children is the ability to peer into the spiritual. Those of the world fear many things, but we as children of God ought not to fear anything or anyone other than God. We are not afraid even though everything in the physical tells us we ought to be, because we know as Elisha did that the horses and chariots of fire are all around us.

For many believers fear has the stopping power of a rifle. Due to fear they become paralyzed, immobile, and as they delay in their obedience toward God, the fear in them only intensifies and takes on new proportions. Some individuals come to the point of fearing everything, seeing what isn’t there, searching for evil in the shadows, because their focus is no longer on the God they serve but on the fear they allowed to take root in their heart. When we fail to see the supernatural around us, fear of the natural is a foregone conclusion.

When we fail to look upon our circumstances with spiritual eyes, we have a tendency to feel abandoned and alone, one against a thousand. We see ourselves surrounded, we see ourselves buffeted on all sides, without any means of escape or forward motion.

It is only when God opens our eyes and we see the reality of the supernatural that we are strengthened and our hearts rejoice in the knowledge that there are more with us then there are with the enemy, and it will always be thus.

No matter what odds we are facing, no matter how loudly the enemy rages against us, we rest in the knowledge that the hosts of heaven surround us and encamp around us and they are far more numerous than anything the enemy can muster.

The question is not whether or not the hosts of heaven are present. The only question of import and relevance is do we see them?

The angels of the Lord encamp around those who fear Him. They are always present and they are always there. The germane issue is whether we see them or not.

The servant of Elisha only saw what was before his physical eyes, but Elisha had already seen the horses and chariots of fire and this is why he was not afraid.

When we know God is with us, when we know God is on our side, we are fearless no matter who stands against us. Because the world cannot see what we see, because the world does not know what we know, our actions might be seen as mad, foolish, or absent reason.

The world will always judge the children of God based on what it sees and not based on what the children of God see. The world judges us only seeing the mass of enemies encamped all around us, but failing to see the armies of the Lord likewise encamped all around us.

Seeing as we see, and knowing what we know, we cannot be swayed by the cries of the world, or their insistence that we are the ones who are blind. Because we know those of the world are deficient in their perception we give them no credence, nor do we heed their disdain.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.