Thought for the Week - 13th September

Pastor Gareth Watkins

1 Kings 19: 16

And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

So much of the focus today is on striving to be the best version of ourselves. We are flooded with advertisements, trends, life goals and self-help practices all claiming to be the answer to achieve ‘our best self’. There are more and more quick fixes, yet more and more people are turning to all kinds of addictions to fill the void. More family units are breaking down, abortion rates and suicides are up, and people are in a terrible state. The worldly endeavour to be the best self, never fails to leave us empty in the backdrop of the unachievable promise. We are flawed by nature and simply cannot fix ourselves no matter what we try.

 

Our true best selves can only be found in following Christ and letting the Holy Spirit work in our lives to transform us. This isn’t like the shallow coverings or the fickle positive thinking of the self-help trends, this is the transforming power of God at work deep at the roots of our issues. These things are so often the cause of our suffering, or prevent us from picking up our true calling and becoming the person God intended us to be.

 

Elisha was anointed by God to be the successor of the great prophet Elijah. Elijah was to pass his mantle, the transference of his power, anointing, and authority in God, onto Elisha. To become a prophet in those days would have been a lonely and self-sacrificing walk. The prospect of becoming Christ like to speak the will of God to all the nations, is not a calling that you’d take up lightly. This was Elisha taking the best of all God had planned for him, and he took a double portion.

 

You may think these are things of old, I can assure you they are not. God still anoints His people to prophesy and minister, and the mantle continues to be passed. Now we aren’t all called to be Elijah or Elisha, but we are indeed called for a purpose. It is recognising that call, coming under it, forgoing the quick fix and appealing draws of this world, and desiring our double portion that helps us to have best of what God has planned.

 

Elisha wasn’t great in one day, he had to go through a period of seeking, learning, being humbled, persevering, and serving. He knew God had called him, but he also knew he had to yield his will to God.

 

Don’t turn to the empty promises of society, the quick fixes will not work. Remain obedient in your walk and persevere. Allow the Holy Spirit to make those real changes within where no one else can reach, and only then will you begin to get the best from the life God has given you and fulfil the purpose you have been called for.

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