This Time Tomorrow
This Time Tomorrow
Courage, Hope and Fulfillment
by Annette Capps
You may be walking through a “dry place” in your life, perhaps having a difficult time… a time when it seems that all your opportunities have dried up. It appears that your financial needs are not being met and your future looks bleak. You may even feel like your prayers are not being heard. Circumstances rise up against you and you don’t see a way out.
Such were the circumstances in Samaria in 2 Kings 6:24-30: The entire city was in severe famine being surrounded by the armies of the king of Syria who was determined to destroy them. The enemy wanted to take their city and possessions. They could not leave the city to trade or get food from the fields or goods. They were literally starving to death. The enemy was “starving them out.” Have you ever felt that way? Like the enemy was surrounding you and preventing any hope, any answer, any encouragement from reaching you? These people were all waiting to die, without any glimmer of hope that things could possibly change. Even the king of Israel was so distraught that he ripped his clothes upon hearing that a woman had killed and consumed her child out of hunger. There was NOTHING he could do to help!
And there may be NOTHING you can do about YOUR circumstances. But GOD…GOD is the God even over YOUR circumstances, God over your finances…He is still God over your family and relationships, even though it looks impossible. He is the God of the POSSIBLE. Nothing is too difficult for Him!
What if you knew that tomorrow things would be different? What if THIS TIME TOMORROW, the circumstances of your life would change? What would you do? How would you feel? Would it change the way you talk? Would you be praising God? It is easy to praise when you see the manifestation of your prayers in front of you, but faith praises God on the basis of His Word, knowing “what He has promised, He is able also to perform.” (Romans 4:21)
ON THE BASIS OF THE WORD
“Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, ‘Don’t you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?’ While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. The king said, ‘This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?’ Then Elisha said, ‘Hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a [a]seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ” (2 Kings 6:32 - 2 Kings 7:1)
When the messenger from Samaria came to Elisha, Elisha said to him: “Hear the word of the Lord.”
Isn’t that where we should be going in the first place? Before the circumstances place us in the state of defeat and failure? Working on our mind and emotions, discouragement says, “Give up. It doesn’t work. It’s over. You tried and it doesn’t work. God is not going to get you out of this.” Wouldn’t it be wiser just to shut that voice out and turn AGAIN to God’s Word and find out what He has to say about it?
You see, the King of Israel was evil and did not give heed to the Word of the Lord. He did not listen but was disobedient. Deuteronomy 28:1 tells us that the blessings come up on those who “listen diligently to the voice of the Lord and are watchful to do all His commandments.”
Maybe the mess you are in was your fault. Maybe you made a mistake or didn’t listen to what the Holy Spirit was telling you, or perhaps you were in disobedience. It doesn’t matter, His grace and mercy are waiting for you to return to Him and His Word. He will deliver you!
You may be like the starving residents of Samaria and through no fault of your own, disastrous decisions have been made by others that are affecting your life. God is greater than circumstances and He dwells in you! Just return to His Word: “Hear the Word of the Lord!”
And here is that Word: “Tomorrow about this time, a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
What word are YOU standing on? The word of your doctor, the word of the news media, the word of your pastor, the word of your banker… or the WORD OF THE LORD?
When God says there will be food and it will be affordable, it is a TRUE REPORT. Heaven and earth may pass away, but GOD’S WORD IS SURE, it is forever established and it WILL NOT RETURN VOID. But if you want to see it, you must BELIEVE what God said.
THIS TIME TOMORROW
Do you know what will be happening this time tomorrow?
God does!
And He gave that Word to His servant Elisha.
THIS TIME TOMORROW, those who are literally starving to death will have an abundance of food that is affordable. THIS TIME TOMORROW, those who have been captive of the enemy will be free.
Even if the enemy of the Samarians were gone, how long would it take to make an economic recovery from such oppression? Where would food be found so readily and reasonably priced? IMPOSSIBLE!
Yes, in the natural realm it may look impossible, but God isn’t limited to natural means.
A valued member of our staff tells an amazing story of God’s supernatural means of deliverance. An automobile accident left his son in a life threatening condition and he was hospitalized for almost a year. The medical and hospital bills were so high it would not be possible to ever pay them off. At the direction of the Holy Spirit, he went to speak to a hospital administrator and let them know that he had no means to pay the entire amount. Expecting arrangements to be made for payments, he was told that the hospital had changed from a non-profit hospital to a for-profit hospital and there was no charity available. But God took care of it anyway, and the entire amount was forgiven! The impossible with man is entirely possible with God!
The man who was sent from the king to Elisha did not believe in God’s possibilities.
“So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, ‘Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?’ And he said, ‘In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.’” (2 Kings 7:2)
“Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?”
He doubted the Word of the Lord. It was naturally impossible for this to happen, but with God ALL things are possible… TO HIM WHO BELIEVES. But this officer did not believe in the supernatural power of the Word of the Lord.
When your cabinets are empty and your bank account overdrawn, it’s difficult to believe in anything but lack. Having overflowing abundance is a struggle to believe, but do you believe your circumstances or do you believe the WORD of the LORD? That is what makes the difference.
Elisha said to the officer, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
Do you see others enter into the blessings of God but are not receiving the blessings in your own life? Start at number one… HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD. Immerse yourself in the scriptures. Keep them before you night and day. Speak the Word into your heart until you can declare with confidence, “I am the redeemed of the Lord and I say so!” Hear it, read it, speak it until it drives all doubt from your heart. Doubt may come against your mind, but faith in the heart takes command of the mind!
CHOICE and MIRACLES
This is a story of choices and miracles…the action of man (choices) and the action of God (miracles).
- If the king of Israel had chosen to obey God and follow His Word, everyone would have been better off. His choice when faced with tragedy was to send messengers to kill the prophet of God. Wrong choice!
- Elisha was faced with a choice. Speak the Word of God and the king who wanted to kill him would be delivered along with the people of the city. Would you want to bless your enemies? Pray for those who despitefully use you, hate you and want you dead? Obeying the Word and choosing to forgive is a key choice in your life.
- Suffering from a horrendous disease, being victims and outcasts, these lepers made a courageous decision to rise up and go into the camp of the enemy. This was also a key choice. They DID something. They ACTED on faith and hope. They did not wait until they were healed; they made a choice to do something. Sometimes it is better to do ANYTHING than sit and do NOTHING. Often God uses those you don’t expect as MESSENGERS OF MIRACLES. Because of the lepers’ action, they not only saved themselves but the entire city! Never count yourself too old, too young, too sick or weak to be used by God.
“For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses — the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, ‘Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!’ Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact — their tents, their horses, and their donkeys — and they fled for their lives.” (2 Kings 7:6-7)
- Here is the MIRACLE, the action of God intervening by causing the Syrian army to hear the noise of a great army. Did God cause the sound of the lepers’ feet to be amplified and sound as an army? There were multiple actions and choices of men in this story and one very supernatural action of God — a SOUND only heard by the enemy, a SOUND that sent the enemy fleeing in terror. A SOUND in response to the SPOKEN WORD of the prophet. Speak the Word and allow the Spirit to send forth the reverberations that the gates of hell can’t stand against! Resist the devil and he will flee from you!
- The lepers again make a choice… whether or not they would share the food, the clothing, and the treasures of wealth they had found. If they had WAITED to do what was right, would there have been plenty THIS TIME TOMORROW?
- Once the king heard what the lepers reported, he had a choice. He was already paranoid about the plots and plans of the enemy. Surely, this was a plot to draw them out and slaughter them as they ran to the camp desperate for food! Do you realize that if the king had sat there in fear, they could have all starved with an abundance of food just outside the city? How many of us have found ourselves paralyzed with fear or seized with doubt when abundance has ALREADY BEEN PROVIDED???
“And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.” (2 Kings 7:15-16)
The end result is the Word of the Lord came to pass exactly as Elisha spoke… THIS TIME TOMORROW. Yes, the Word spoken by the prophet came to pass but did you know that the written Word that God has given us has been spoken in the courts of heaven and it is just as sure. Those who say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” and those who say “Why should we believe what an old book like the Bible says?” will be like the king’s officer: “Then that officer had answered the man of God, and said, ‘Now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?’ And he had said, ‘In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.’ And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.” (2 Kings 7:19-20)
The promises of God are SURE to those who BELIEVE. There is a rest and deliverance for the people who follow God. Don’t let the enemy discourage you and “starve you out.” Feed yourself on the LIVING WORD, the true bread of life, knowing that as you courageously take the action of FAITH, God will move people, places and things so that His Word to you will be fulfilled.
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