Spiritual Warfare

 

The king of Syria warred against Israel.  He told his men where he wanted to camp, but God told Elijah what his plans were, and Elijah told the king of Israel.  So, the king of Israel avoided the Syrians and escaped, not once or twice, but three times.  So, the king of Syria snarled, “We’ve got a spy among us, and I’m going to find out who it is!”  But his captain said, “Not so, my lord, but the prophet Elijah tells the king of Israel what you say in your bedroom.”  So, the king of Syria said, “Well, you men get to that little town of Dothan where the prophet lives and put an end to this madness!”  And so they did.  In the morning, when Elijah’s servant went out early to do his business, he saw thousands of soldiers, chariots, spearmen, and archers - all surrounding their village of Dothan.  He rushed back into the house and woke up Elijah, who was not impressed.  The servant said, “But sir, you don’t understand!  We are surrounded!  We are in big trouble!”  Elijah still wasn’t worried.  Elijah was more annoyed, and prayed to God, “Dear Lord, give this my servant spiritual eyes to see the spirit world as it really is.”  And when the servant looked, he still saw the Syrian army surrounding Dothan, but he also saw God’s fiery army of powerful angels on the mountains surrounding the Syrians!  Then Elijah prayed again and said, “Lord, please strike the Syrians with blindness.”  And God did!  How effective is a blind soldier?  So, Elijah went out to them and said, “No, this isn’t the way to go.  Here, follow me.”  And the blinded soldiers held onto each other like “follow the leader” and Elijah took the entire Syrian army into downtown Samaria.  Then Elijah prayed again, “I pray thee, Lord, restore their sight.”  And God did!  Now it was the Syrians turn to know how it felt to be surrounded!  So, the king of Israel asked Elijah, “What shall I do?  Shall I kill the Syrians?”  But Elijah said, “No, give them food and send them on their way.”  Elijah went on, “Trust me, they’ll never give you a moment’s trouble again.”  And they never did.  Hey, we need to see things as they really are, not just how we think that they are.  We need to see things from God’s perspective.  Paul said it best in II Timothy1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”