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When Prophet Elijah crosses your path…….

Prophet Elijah represents the order of ministers of God who are known for their personal integrity, hard work, dedication, holiness and uncompromising attitude; who oppose every ministry that promotes the idolatry of Baal in the House of God; who hate the corruption that pervades the Body of Christ through the influence of Jezebel; who restore the House of God to its original glory. Two important persons crossed the path of Elijah. They are Zarephath, a widow commanded by God to minister to Elijah. Elijah found her gather sticks. She was on the verge of acute poverty. Elijah said to her, “Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand”. She retorted that she had not a loaf baked but only a handful of meal in the jar and a little oil in the bottle and that she was gathering two sticks that she might bake it and share the same with his son and die. Elijah besought her to “make me a little cake of it first and bring it to me and afterward prepare for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “The jar of meal shall not waste away, or the bottle of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth” (I Kings 17: 11-14)

Zarepath did obey as Elijah said and he and her household were blessed materially by God. There are thousands of people of God who minister to the ministers likened to Elijah even when they themselves are in penury. When they give to God out of their penury, God does bless them materially. The two sticks they are gathering today will not be there again in their lives. They will never find the jar of meal being empty and the bottle of oil failing. It is for them to look for Elijah to cross their paths. If you find him today, you have to minister to him.

The other person who crossed the path of Elijah is Elisha, the son of Shaphat whom the Lord wanted to be anointed by Elijah in his place. The elder has to ordain the younger for the ministry. But here we find Elijah had to disappear after making a way for the young Elisha whom he had to anoint or ordain in his very place. These days, we find that the elders who have been doing the ministry for a very long time do not ordain their co-workers for doing the ministry in their places. Elijah has to go. This is the God’s order.

Elijah found the young Elisha toiling hard by way of plowing with twelve yoke of oxen and it was the final round of plowing. Twelve means a complete circle. All these years Elisha was sincere in his secular work and the call of God comes to him suddenly. “Elijah crossed over to him and cast his mantle upon him” (I Kings 19:19). Today, we find many elders in the God’s vineyard holding on to their positions very tightly and they do not want to cast their mantles upon the young people or the co-workers in the ministry with the result that their images larger than life emerge and become idols in God’s vineyard.

After receiving the mantle of Elijah, Elisha immediately “left the oxen, and ran after Elijah”. (I Kings. 19:20). Had he tarried, Elijah would have crossed over him. Today, many children of God lose the wonderful opportunities to serve God because they do not take the falling of mantle on them very seriously and instead, continue plowing with the yoke of oxen. When Elisha sought time to kiss his father and mother for bidding them a final farewell, “Go back again for what I have done to you?” In Tamil translation, it is written, “Remember what I have done unto you”. Elijah wanted Elisha to remember the casting of the mantle. Elisha did not walk but ran after Elijah. He did not tarry, thinking on the mantle that fell on him. He did not consult his parents for following Elijah. He ran and ran. This shows his love for God and His prophet who ordained him. Today, many of us miss the call of God because we do not “run” to do His ministry. God does not want those who wan t to settle their own problems first and then to do His ministry.

In verse 20, we find, “so Elisha went back from him. Then he took a yoke of oxen, slew them, boiled their flesh with the oxen’s yoke and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, followed Elijah and served him”. Elisha had to sacrifice one of the yokes and one of the oxen for feeding the people of God. Elisha was not required to feed Elijah in the same manner the widow Zarepath did. He had to sacrifice a part of his hard-earned money or possession for feeding the hungry people of God first. After feeding them, he was required to follow Elijah and serve Him.

Elisha was not called by God to serve Him directly but to be a co-worker with Elijah till the time Elijah disappeared from the sight of Elisha. Elisha was sincerely following Elijah first to Gilgal, then to Bethel and finally to Jericho. The young ministers of God are supposed to follow the footsteps of the elders in the Body of Christ. A period of training through the hands of the elders is very essential for the younger people to serve God in His vineyard. The elders are supposed to manifest the very life of Christ in their lives and ministries.

Like the widow Zarephath, are you ministering to the Elijahs who serve God in the wilderness of many missions which are not accessible to you? Like Elisha, are you able to recognize the Elijah who crosses your path so that you can follow and serve the Elijah first before serving God?

- Job Anbalagan