E-Ministries

e-Devotional: Choose to Be God's leper

Inspired by Pastor Ben Ochenjele

Faith Alive & The Christian Evangelical Fellowship of Nigeria

Valerie Rae Hanneman

2 Kings 7:5 “At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp not a man was there.”(NIV)

I was cleaning up one time after a meal at the church – clearing the tables, to be exact – when a friend said, “You working again? You sure do a lot around the church.” “I love to do stuff at the church,” I replied, “I am a Martha-personality – just happier if I am up doin’” “I would like to do more around the church,” the friend said, “I just don’t know what to do.” “Well, we could use some help in the kitchen with the dishes.” I suggested. My friend puffed up like a little banty rooster seeing his rival. “I don’t do dishes at home. Why should I do them at church? Surely there is something better I could do!” “I am sure you will find something,” I answered, as I moved off to wash the next table.

In 2 Kings we read of Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, who amassed his armies and laid siege to Samaria and the king of Israel. The siege lasted for so long that a famine was in the city, a famine so severe that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods sold for five shekels. (A cob is dove’s dung) As the king was walking the city a woman cried to him for justice. When he stopped the woman explained that she and her friend had agreed that they would kill and eat her son, the next day they would kill and eat the friend’s son. They had killed and ate her son but when the next day came the friend had hidden her son away. The king tore his robes and swore that he would have the head of Elisha for this. (Why did these kings always blame the prophets and try to separate their heads from the rest of their body? All that Elisha did was warn the king about what was going to happen!) When the king attempted to do this Elisha prophesied that on the very next day there would be such an abundance of flour and barley that it would sell for only a shekel. In the mean time there were these four lepers sitting outside the gates of the city. They talked among themselves and agreed that if they stayed where they were, they would die. If they went into the city where the famine was they would die. So they decided that they were going to go to the camp of the Arameans, saying, “If we surrender and they spare us we will live. If they kill us then we will die, but we are going to die anyway.” They got up and went to the Arameans camp. When they got to the camp, the soldiers were gone. The LORD had caused them to believe that they were under a major attack and they had run away, leaving everything behind. The lepers had themselves a little party, eating and drinking until they could hardly move, then hauling off silver and gold and hiding it. Before long, they got an attack of conscience and went to the city to notify them that the armies were gone. The people ran out to plunder the camp and Elisha’s prophecy about the abundance of food was fulfilled.

There was a king in Samaria, a man of great importance. But God did not use him to rescue the city from famine. There was an army in Samaria, men of great physical strength – but God did not call upon them to rescue the city. There were merchants and artists, there were laborers and housewives, there were masters and servants, everyday people inside the city walls – but none of them received the call from God to go and rescue the city. Instead God used the outcasts, the defiled, the unwanted ones to serve His purpose. Lepers were the lowest of the low in this society. They could not get close to other people and had to shout out the warning “Unclean! Unclean!” when any other person came near them. They were feared, reviled and hated.

Of all the people in Samaria, why would God use the unclean, diseased beggars outside the gates of the city? Why not the king? Or the soldiers? Or even the everyday people?

Was the king so impressed by how important he was that he was unable to humble his heart before God, and so God passed him by? Were the soldiers so confident in their own strength that they ignored their need of God and so God passed them by as well? The everyday people were fighting daily to stay alive. I wonder if they were so focused on their own needs that God could not reach them and so had to pass them by as well.

All that was left were the four lepers. They had no importance – in fact, they were the least important in this kingdom. They had no physical strength to depend on and there was no way that they could provide for their own needs. They were exactly what God was looking for – four lepers who had nothing to lose by following His call – and everything to gain.

I wonder how many times God has passed me by because I was too impressed by myself, too proud of what a strong Christian I am, too busy to hear His small still voice? I wonder who was listening for His call and answered Him when I would not.

I need to have the heart of a leper, to know that I am not important, that I am not strong, that I need to not be too busy to hear the voice of my God. Then when His call comes, He will find me. Who knows, maybe He will use me to rescue a city! But then again, maybe He will use me to wash a table. I don’t care – just as long as He uses me.

LORD God, if You need a city rescued – point it out to me and I will go forward in Your strength. If you need a table washed, point it out and I will grab a rag because only You are important. Help me to not get so busy in this world that I do not hear You when You call to me. I long to hear Your voice.

e-Devotional: I Don't Want to Be Okay

Valerie Rae Hanneman

Kings 19:21 (NIV) “So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.”

My heroes of the faith are an eclectic group. Peter, the disciple, is first and foremost. Yes, I know that he denied Jesus – so do I, maybe not as dramatically as Peter – but I do. I also know that he was first to declare Jesus as Messiah, the only one who stepped out of the boat and onto the stormy water and the one who preached on Pentecost at the birthing of the Church. Then there is Esther, who went to see her husband the king without permission, knowing that he had a reputation for dealing harshly with wives who did not obey. Her courage saved the lives of her people. Abraham, of course, to whom God said “Get moving and I will show you a land I have picked out for you” so Abraham packed up everything and got to moving with only faith to guide him. Then there is sweet, gentle Ruth, the gentile, who refused to leave her widowed mother-in-law and for her faithfulness became the great-grandma of king David. David, who as a boy faced down a giant and as a king lost out to lust, but in the end showed us all the divine mercy and grace of our God. Elisha, whom we will learn about in a moment. Finally there is another of my favorites, Biana. Now, don’t grab up your concordance and start looking for her. She’s not in there. Not in the Older Testament, not in the Newer Testament. Biana is in Fowler, California. A couple of years ago Biana quit her job, sold her house, sold her car, sold everything she didn’t put into storage and moved to Jos, Nigeria, answering God’s call to work with Faith Alive Medical Clinic. From the security of my life, I look in awe at a faith that moved her so far from her family, friends and everything known to her and into a world so radically different with nothing but God’s call upon her.

Elisha was a fairly well-to-do man when Elijah came into his life. When you read this story in 1 Kings 19: 19 - 21 (Please read the whole story) you learn that he owned 12 yoke of oxen. I don’t know if he plowed only his land or if he hired the oxen out to plow for others – but he owned them. He was plowing with them one day when Elijah came by and threw his cloak on him. Elisha knew the call of God when it settled around his shoulders so he asked Elijah’s permission to go say goodbye to his folks before he followed that call. Elijah gave him that permission and Elisha took his oxen and went home. I believe that had Elijah said, “No,” Elisha would have left everything without a backwards glance to follow God by following Elijah. Elisha was so determined to follow God’s call that when he got home he slaughtered his oxen, made a fire with the plowing equipment and hosted a BBQ for the neighborhood. In faith and determination to follow God – he destroyed his livelihood, making sure there would be no turning back. At that time in the history of Israel, the children of Abraham followed every false god that there was, neglecting the one true God, Yahweh. These were the days of Ahab the king and Jezebel (hiss) the queen, a pair that the Word describes as the most evil of all the evil rulers. They were determined to kill Elijah, so Elisha’s’ prospects were not good if he was captured with him. Elisha didn’t have to go. God gave us free will – the right to say, “No.” He could have chosen to stay and live a cushy life with his oxen and he would have been okay. But Elisha didn’t want to just be okay and so he said “Yes, LORD” to the call upon his life. Because he did, he saw the miracles of a life dedicated to being more than okay, including seeing Elijah swept up to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Peter could have stayed in the boat, bailing water with the rest, and he would have been okay. But he chose to step out when Jesus told him to come and because he chose to be more than just okay, for a few steps at least, he felt the cold water on the bottom of his feet. Esther could have said, “I am nobody” and done nothing when her people were threatened. She was the queen and nobody knew that she was a Jewess, so she would have been okay. But, with great courage, she chose to be more than just okay; she followed God’s purpose for her life and is still remembered for her great courage. Abram could have stayed in Ur of Chaldees and been just okay but he moved when God told him to move and became Abraham, the father of a nation. Ruth could have stayed in Moab; she would have re-married and been okay. But she chose to follow her mother-in-law and in doing so was included in the lineage of not only king David, but also the King of kings, Jesus. David could have said “No way!” when he heard Goliath challenge the armies of our living God, and he would have been okay. He would have gone back to the quiet life of a shepherd and we would have never heard of him. David chose to be more than just okay; he chose to not only fight the giant, but to run at him holding nothing but a slingshot and a stone. Because He did He became Israel’s greatest earthly king, and a man that God Himself said was “A man after God’s own heart.” Biana could have declined when given the opportunity to go to Nigeria and she would have been okay. She had a great job and a comfortable lifestyle that served God. She chose to be more than just okay and we may not fully know until we are home with Jesus how wonderfully her choice impacted lives, communities, Nigeria and the world. In my opinion, God made Biana a world changer.

I don’t want to be just okay – I want to see the miracles that God can do in and through a life that is committed to being wholly His. I want to feel God’s call on my life and be ready to chuck it all over and head out to wherever He leads me. But I also want to live a life so committed to Him that if He chooses that I stay where I am, and serve Him where I am – then I want to know that this too is extraordinary. To stay where I am, at His command, is just as vital as to leave everything behind me to go to Timbuktu at His command. The key words are “at His command” At His command I go, at His command I stay. It doesn’t matter the location I am in – it is the location that my heart is in. When my heart is totally committed to God, He is free to use me to make the ordinary extraordinary – and I will never be just okay again.

LORD God, my Glory and the Lifer of my head, just okay is just not okay any more for me. I surrender myself to You completely, to be used by You in whatever manner You choose. Thank You for giving me the free will to choose to be okay or to be used by You. I choose You. Forever, LORD God, I choose You.