Choose Faith as a Lifestyle Part 2 – It’s a process

Episode 10 Transcript

Last Episode we set things up discussing nameless women in scripture. After that, we broke down important background information on the Shunamite – looking specifically to see:

• Who is part of the scripture
• Where her life is recorded in the Bible
• Where did this happen geographically
• Who was involved.

We took time to do this so the depth of her story could stretch deeper. God wants us to be rooted. Think back to the Parable of the Sower. God’s Word is the seed, we are the soil. We want to be good ground so when the seed comes into us the roots of the seed can stretch deep, and have the ability to withstand the elements of life.

When we purpose ourselves to truly study her story and see it from all the different angles we’ve discussed, the personal application of her life becomes easier to see. The seed of this word becomes rooted with in us.

A good prayer to pray, is Jesus, ‘Please make me good ground. You see the state of my heart. I want to be able to receive your word fully so you will be magnified in my life.’

So with that let’s dive in.

2 Kings 4:8-11
8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.
9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.
11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.

We could very quickly brush passed these scriptures and go to the miracle of her son being brought back to life, but doing so would cause us to miss the foundation that was laid allowing the miracle to happen.

Here we have 4 scriptures which at first blush may not seem all that great, but a closer look shows us they are packed with importance. Without them, you don’t get to the miracle. Without this same concept, we don’t get ours either.

The Shunamite is a great woman. If you have been reading all of chapter 4, you know that just before it we learn about the poor widow with the cruse of oil. I love how this demonstrates for us God is not a respecter of persons.

He operates in the poor and the wealthy just the same.

As we investigate this woman, I want us to pay attention to the progression that happens in her.

We care about it because it patterns the same progression we are called to follow. God doesn’t expect us to change in an instant. Can he change us in a moment? Yes – but less often than the progression time filled process most of us experience.

It all begins with faith. And we see this foundation of faith laid here in this first portion.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Faith pleases God – Faith moves God.

We have to believe he exists, and along with that we also have to believe he is a rewarder of those who seek him. We often question this, and that’s a different Bible Study. However, He IS a rewarder. We see that in this message.

Romans 12:3 tells us, God has given us all the measure of faith. We can’t really say if that means we’re all given the same amount of faith. That doesn’t really matter. What matters is, we do something with the measure of faith that we have been given.

Faith without works is dead. What we find in the Shunamite woman is, she chose to do something with her faith. She chose to activate it. We have that same choice.

If we go back to Matthew 13: 31-32 we are told about the mustard seed faith. Mustard seed is the least of all the seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

It becomes a place of rest; an erected pillar – a sanctuary.

Planting the seed of faith requires we take a step

The Shunamite was willing to take that step.

She takes notice of the prophet Elisha. This route from Mt Carmel to Shunem was a regular route that Elisha would take when he was traveling. It makes my mind wander, “How long had he been passing through until she took notice?” Which draws my mind to our relationship with Jesus. He leaves the 99 to go after the one. We are all the one he has been in pursuit of. How long did it take us to take notice of him?

She takes notice of Elisha, and is compelled to do something for him. This is where we see her begin to activate that mustard seed faith. She reaches out for him in hospitality by providing him bread. However this scripture uses the word constrained. Constrained means persuaded. It took her some effort to get Elisha to accept her offering. Elisha was a humble & modest man. He wouldn’t have been about associating with high ranking people. He would more often than not been in obscure places desiring not to be seen. It required some persistence on her part. Eventually Elisha gives in, and accepts her hospitality.

When we go to activate our faith, we’re going to come up against some resistance. Ours is not going to be Jesus pushing back, ours is going to be our flesh, our sinful nature pushing back. What she shows us is that persistence pays off. Elisha gets to this place where he is stopping by her home any time he is traveling His circuit.

The Shunamite’s desire to develop the relationship is compelled to move deeper.

The more she’s around him – the more clearly she sees this is a holy man of God. This directly parallels to our relationship with God. The closer we get to him, the more we open ourselves to him. This leads us to see his holiness, and our hunger and thirst for relationship increases.

The Shunamite is no longer satisfied with occasional drop-ins she wants to create space for him. It’s as though she’s saying, “I want to take responsibility for him in my home. This is exactly what happens in our life when we go from wanting to visit with God on Sunday mornings to more of a, “I gotta have him in my home every day,” mentality. We get to that place where we want to spend more time in the presence of God.

It draws my mind to Matt. 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” You can see how hungry and thirsty she is for that righteousness, and how step by step the appetite is increasing and it’s also being filled.

Then we read of her going to her husband (2 Kings 4:9-10):

9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.

I love her interaction with her husband. It shows our differences really beautifully. Men and women have very different strengths on purpose.

The Shunamite is sensitive. She perceives that Elisha is a holy man. To perceive means to become aware of something. To come to realize it, to come to understand. As she’s interacting with Elisha, she comes to realize for herself that he is a holy man of God. God had opened her spiritual eyes to see – THIS is a holy man of God. The same thing happens to us.

We all have a sort of spiritual blindness

As we purpose ourselves to develop relationship, God peels it back and gives us revelation to his immensity, and to his goodness. We experience this as God begins to shine a light on His word. Where once there was confusion and we experience one of those, “What does this even mean?” moments, we are then struck with clarity. All the pieces of that puzzle, and the fog in our mind is cleared. We can see something where we were not able to initially.

I personally experienced this with 1 Samuel 15:22, “and Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” For some reason this struck me as foreign the first time I read it. It was almost to a frustrating level, and it’s even a little embarrassing to admit because most of you can probably get this right off the bat, but there was a barrier in my mind. I was like, ‘HUH?’ and then I purposed myself to understand. I let God know it felt strange to me. As I did God gave me such revelation leading me to a place where, I love this word. It is one of my favorite things to talk to my children about.

Saul was a great wealthy man. He knew what he was supposed to do, but he was told to wait for Samuel to perform the sacrifice. Saul got tired of waiting. He saw that his people were uneasy. There was an enemy to fight, and he determined he knew what was best so he performed that sacrifice. Just as he is finished along comes Samuel. Samuel lets him know he has not been wise he should have waited. Samuel was the one who was to do the sacrificing. It didn’t matter what Saul had or knew. What mattered was Saul’s obedience, and in this moment he proved his sacrifice was done in vain.

When that revelation came to me, it took the breath from my lungs and God began to show me so many ways of personal application. Obedience is greater than sacrifice. He rooted that word into me so deeply to a point where I cherish it and want to speak to it whenever I can. The more we encounter God the more revelation to him we receive, and the closer we get to him.

That’s where I want to stop for today.

So until next time…

Here are some things I want us to spend time thinking through:

• The Shunammite spent time with Elisha and the relationship was developed.
• She was investing in Him. Same is true with us for us to have a relationship with God we’ve got to invest in it, with both time and space.

Let’s consider:

1. Do you have time to carve out in your day, so your mind can focus on him?
2. Do you have a space – maybe you’re looking for a prayer closet. Mine is my kitchen table or the floor in my laundry room.

We don’t want God just on Sundays. We want him daily. Whether it’s 5 minutes or 2 hours. God just wants to spend time with us. If it’s 5 minutes, I challenge you to see that God can do a lot with our little. It’s amazing how schedules and minds open when we determine we want to make this a priority.

Activate it

Everyone is given the measure of faith. We learn about it in Rom 12:3. I don’t know if it means we all have an equal amount or we’re all given varying measures. Equality here doesn’t matter. What matters is that our faith comes from God. We aren’t the one who dishes it out, but we are the one that is responsible for activating it and nurturing it. The Shunamite shows us very clearly the power of an active and nurtured faith. The faith God gave her caused her to hunger and thirst after God. We see she is filled. The same is true for us.

Are we activating our faith? What ways can we be activating our faith. Maybe it’s committing to spend a few moments in prayer. Perhaps it’s reaching out and encouraging someone that’s been on our mind for a while. Maybe it’s digging into the word. I don’t know what it may mean for you? Look for a way that you can ask God or engage your faith this week. We are told to speak in specifics with God. This is a great way to practice.

Until next time, Remember Faith is a process. thank you so much for spending time with me focusing on how we make faith part of our everyday life.