Power to Reinvent Yourself by Jason Frenn

Author:Jason Frenn [FRENN, JASON]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012040
ISBN: 9780446574846
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2010-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

3. Spend Time with God in Prayer

Spending time with God in prayer changes things, both externally and internally. Let’s look first at an example of how prayer can change external circumstances.

Prayer changes the external. One day a wealthy woman and her husband invited a prophet named Elisha into their home for a meal. After that, when he traveled through that region, he stayed with the family. Recognizing that Elisha was a holy man, the couple decided to make a room on the top floor of their home for him.

As he grew to know the family, Elisha had compassion on the woman, because she had no children and her husband was old. So one day, Elisha said to her, “About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” But the woman felt overwhelmed. She didn’t want to be filled with false hopes. “No, my lord,” she objected. “Don’t mislead your servant, O man of God!” (2 Kings 4:16).

But within a few short months, the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. As the boy grew older, he went with his father to work in the fields. One day, he suddenly experienced a severe pain in his head. The father told one of the workers to carry the boy back to his mother. So the servant did what he was told. The boy sat on his mother’s lap, and at the noon hour, he died.

With a broken heart, the woman picked up her dead son and carried him upstairs to the room they had prepared for Elisha. She gently laid the boy on the bed, shut the door, and left. She then saddled up a donkey and rode off to find Elisha.

When she finally reached Elisha, she grabbed hold of his feet and said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?… Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?” (2 Kings 4:28). Immediately, Elisha turned to his servant and said, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face” (v. 29).

The woman was determined not to leave Elisha’s side. He had delivered a wonderful promise to her. That promise became a reality, and in one afternoon, it was taken from her. She said to him, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you” (v. 30). So Elisha did not stay behind. Instead, he accompanied her back to her house.

In the meantime, Gehazi did exactly what Elisha told him to do. He quickly ran ahead to the house without speaking to anyone along the way. When he arrived, he rushed to the upper room and laid Elisha’s staff on the boy’s face. But there was no response.

After a short time, he ran back to meet Elisha along the way and told him, “The boy has not awakened” (v. 31). The

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