27.Oct.2008 Making Room for God in Your Life
2 Kings 4:8-17 (NLT): One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat. She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”
One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.” When she appeared, Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’”
“No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”
Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”
Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”
“Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway, “Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!”
“No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.” But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.
The woman of God in this story is a generous woman who’s only concern was the well being of the Prophet of God. She offers him food. From then on, he would eat at her home whenever he was in town, and because of this, she made a room for him. We, as Christians, must make room for God in our lives so that He can move in our lives.
There were four things in the room: a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp.
The bed speaks to us about rest and peace. Rest and peace become your portion when you decide to make room for God in your life. If you are living in the world, the world dictates to you how you should be living your life. Listening to the world only brings about fear. We live on a whole other plain. We make room for God and receive rest and peace. There is a settling that comes on the spirit; it does not matter that all hell breaks loose on your finances, for when you make room for God, you are at peace, knowing God will honor and take care of you no matter what. The bed is a place in God where you can live in trust and know that it will be ok. You tithe and give, and rest and peace is your portion. You know that God’s got your back.
The table is the next item. The table speaks of the provision and blessing of God. The table is the place of abundance. When you decide to make room for God, you create a place, a space where God can bring blessing into your life. Your table is full and blessed when you give Him room to move. David spoke of God placing a table in the midst of your enemies, where all look in and see what He has given you. Your table is full in a world where the enemy steals, kills, and destroys. God is not bound by the economy or the stock market or the price of real estate. Making room allows us access into the supernatural and into the supernatural provision of God, where the Table of the Lord is always full.
The third item is the chair. The chair speaks of authority. A King rules from his throne. As a follower of Christ, you have an anointing on your life. The anointing is a powerful thing in the Bible. It enables you to do things you can’t normally do. It gives you authority on your life because of who you are and where you belong. Paul says that you have been elevated with Christ, meaning God sees you the same as when He looks at Jesus. He has the same love for you as He does for Jesus and has given you the same access as Jesus. There is an authority on your life; there is a calling on you as a child of God. When you make room for God, the chair is telling you that you are sitting with Jesus and can rule and reign in your life. You have the authority to stand on the promises of the Word of God and can speak words of faith into your world that will change your world. You can declare the Word of God into your world. You have authority when you decide to let God in.
The last item is the lamp. The lamp speaks of wisdom and revelation. Navigating through tough times requires us to have wisdom and revelation that the world does not have. The world will not understand the Kingdom of God until the Kingdom is revealed to them. Jesus himself said that the world would not understand. The way we live confounds the wisdom of the world. When you make room for God, you receive wisdom and understanding and even revelation from God. You live your life transcending your own abilities. Nothing you read compares to the wisdom of God. We can live our lives free of relying on our ability. God wants to free us of our ability and into His supernatural provision. The lamp is revelation! You can delve into the Bible and have God speak to you. The Word is alive! God still speaks today the same as He did then. The Word is sharper than a sword; it can pierce your heart and heal your soul and give you revelation that will transform your life. Revealed knowledge that you never had before transcending the wisdom of the world; Paul said the world will think you are a fool. God loves to use what is considered foolish to confound the wisdom of the world. When you make room for God, you tap into the wisdom of Heaven, and in a time when everyone is screaming for answers, we are the ones who have all the answers. Transcending all our natural ability is the ability of God that we can tap into when we make room for God.
Ok, how do you make room for God? Do as the woman did. She make a room for a Prophet to use as a place to rest. It took sacrifice to do it. You can bring a sacrifice to God. If you can get this revelation that God wants to free you from the stress of money, everything else will flow out of that. Giving money is a sacrifice to God. It makes room for Him to move.
