The Relationship Equation Part 5: The Odd Couple

The Relationship Equation: Part 5- The Odd Couple  (Elijah and Elisha)

The Art of Understanding Time is the recognition of History, Present, and Future…often when we say we need to “Understand the Times” we consider only the Now..

  • Yet we need a recognition of the Signs of our times, past, present, and future…and the times of our Relationships
  • Revelation 1 says in describing Jesus that “He was, is and is to come…” These are reference terms for Time…
  • It is imperative we recognize Kairos moments and how to seize them.
  • In Ezek. 37…and the bones coming together…there is a sound to connection.
  • So it is vital that we show down to “The Speed of Revelation.”

2 Kings 2:1-8, 2 And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went down to Bethel. 3 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent!” 4 Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they came to Jericho. 5 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?” So he answered, “Yes, I know; keep silent!” 6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. NKJV

Elijah isn’t the easiest guy to get along with…

  1. Elijah’s Background
    1. Oftentimes when we encounter difficult people we do not pause long enough to ask “Why or what happened to them in their journey that left them this way?”
    2. 1 Kings 17:1m 17 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab NKJV
    3. We read this never asking “who are where is Tishbie”
      • History tells us that he was a settler or a sojourner of Gilead and implies to us that people fought you over the place of land or territory you once owned or occupied and now they have laid claim to it…dispelling you.
      • By the time Elijah gets to Gilead he is disenfranchised from his home, his original calling to be a priest and he is alone…separated from family.
      • He is probably 40 to 50 years old….
      • He is in all likelihood a loner and he has settled in a place that isn’t far from where Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord
    4. Your personal history matters to where you are right now…
      • Inner healing and therapy was never designed so you could get rid of being you.
      • God desires for us to embrace our limitations and come to Him for healing, so we can see Him turn beauty from Ashes
    5. Your Pain makes you Human…and when it is anointed and surrendered to Christ it makes you powerful.
    6. Elijah isn’t the most relatable person, but He’s the guide Elisha needs, so Elisha can become who God intended Him to Be….
      • Elisha comes from this healthy mom and dad family…and God places him with a loner
      • Elisha comes from the business world…and God places Him under the leadership of a Prophet…who is cantankerous
      • Elisha loves Elijah…
      • And Elijah knew Elisha was going to inherit more than a mantel…he was also about to inherit a truck-load of suffering
        1. We have to count the cost to follow Jesus, but you have to count the cost to follow the call of God on your life
        2. Elijah doesn’t want Elisha to be blind-sided by following the call of God on His life….

Isn’t it interesting that we always see ourselves as the heroes in scripture and never the villain…

  • We’re the Moses, never the Pharoah
  • We’re the David, surely we aren’t the Saul in the story
  • The truth is we are very capable of being both…the moses and the Pharoah…the David and the Saul…

4 Stops Toward Destiny

  1. Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho and Jordan
    1. These are all entry points into the promise land
    2. Elijah for all his idiosyncrasies, his aloneness and isolationism has become a good friend and Spiritual father to Elisha
  2. These 4 places Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho even at the Jordan….
    1. All had shrines to Baal
    2. Jezabel had killed many of the prophets of God

But Elijah and Elisha had started Prophetic schools “right on the doorstep and under the nose of all the shrines of Baal.

  1. Elijah and Elisha had not torn down the altars of Baal…the just offered an alternative community
  2. God has called us to live in Relationships that demonstrate what can be but isn’t fully realized yet….
    1. We are the body of Christ not a social gather spot
    2. We are developing Jesus followers who are becoming transformed into the image of Christ…not becoming good church people
    3. Our sermons and bibles studies are so the Word of God may be incarnate in us…
  • Gilgal
    1. When they get to Gilgal these students in the school of the Prophets come running out thinking they know more than they know….
      1. These young prophets come out to Elisha and tells him “do you know your master will be taken from you today…”
      2. Elisha responds “I know it; keep quiet”
      3. In the Hebrew what he tells them is….” Practice Silent Watchfulness”
    2. When you are being taken through process to receive what is in your destiny…”God will cause you to walk in Silence for a while…”
      1. Elisha has followed Elijah for 13 years in anticipation for this moment…and now here comes these young guys thinking they are going to clue this man of God in on something…
      2. I like this…because it gives us a glimpse into some of the saltiness of Elijah rubbing off on Elisha.
    3. Gilgal is where God cuts away out
      1. Shame based identity….our insecurities…that is another reason Elisha tells the other young prophets “Practice Silent Watchfulness”
      2. Gilgal is where you stop rehearsing your past…and it really becomes a testimony.

Shame is properly defined at Gilgal…Yes I did it, but no I’m not broke and that is not who I am anymore…

  1. Bethel
    1. The first time we read of Bethel is when Jacob is running from Esau to their uncle Lamen’s house…
    2. Geographically Bethel is uphill 40 miles from where Jacob resided with his family…it’s uphill the whole way
    3. Jacob gets to a certain place (Genesis 28:11) (Paca) which is another word for intercession
      1. Jacob doesn’t know the place, but the place knows Jacob and has been in some sense waiting on Jacob….
    4. Elisha is in a season of transition like Jacob was, so Elisha could receive the Mantle he had only brushed against once…
      1. But it has been and is still an uphill climb
      2. There is stuff in our past that is still chasing us into our future….
      3. That thing is being used to push you into your greater future….

Bethel becomes an encounter of Prayer that you will come back to time and time again…

Jericho

  1. A place of initial victory….
    1. Victory by Practicing Silent Watchfulness and feeling the weight of what you are encircling until God says “Push”
    2. It is where every dream, vision, promise feels just out of reach…and you are left in Silence…
    3. In the Silence you are forced to come to grips with your own humanity…
    4. We are forced to acknowledge our Weaknesses…and come to a full knowing…Jesus without you I can’t…
  2. The Odd Couple
    1. In 1 Kings 19 Elisha has a brush with his future…some 13 years prior to this moment…
    2. For 13 years Elisha has not just need to be in preparation…but He has need Relationship with a man of God to guide Him….Elijah
    3. Elijah gets to the Jordan…which means death or the coming to the end of our efforts…
      • At every juncture Elijah has tried his best to get Elisha to stay…but Elisah wouldn’t be denied no matter the cost…
      • Elijah wasn’t being cruel…HE was being honest…to carry what I carry is going to be weighty…
      • And Elijah strikes the water….
        • The old man still had it…
        • The old Prophet of God still had the goods….
    4. Elisha however is getting a deeper glimpse of his level of Elevation…

I’m going to pick this back up next week…and maybe the weeks after that as a while….

  1. Let me ask you a question…
    1. Do you have a person in your life who is hard to be friends with…you need them.
    2. Is God calling you to Practice Silent Watchfulness a little bit in this season…?
  2. Where is it will you stop
    1. Gilgal – the cutting away place
    2. Bethel – the place of Prayer that has been waiting on you
    3. Jericho – The last victory
    4. Jordan – where God is calling you and I to die to some things…some of us need to die to consumer Christianity…”I will if God will”

Email my notes