Elisha, I Really Want An Appointment With You.

In Second Kings 4, we are told that the Shunammite woman journeyed from her home in Shunem to Mount Carmel in order to personally appeal to Elisha concerning her dead son.

Based on which scholar you read, the journey would have been somewhere between fifteen and twenty-five miles. On a donkey. On unpaved roads. The Shunammite was determined to see Elisha.

Prophetic engagement, as Pastor Joy shared with us, is time-consuming and inconvenient. The trials of life test us, and our colleagues and loved ones get a front-row seat as they watch our response to the inconveniences that accompany prophetic relationships. Sometimes it means having to travel a long way. At other times it means living with accusations or jealousies from those who don't comprehend the nuances of prophetic-faith exchange.

Sometimes it means we have to go overboard in our expression of love, and deal with the subsequent embarrassment and exposure. Many of us know the story of the woman who poured a substantial amount of expensive perfume onto Jesus (about half a liter or so). The result? Negative comments from His disciples, a home that reeked of spikenard, and a financial loss of the equivalent of a year's wages (see Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8).

Ah, but there was a benefit: the commendation of Christ Himself. "Leave her alone; she has done a good thing. Her story will be told wherever the gospel is preached." Yes, what a great reason to be inconvenienced!

I will say, in defense of Gehazi and his modern-day equivalents, that sometimes ministry assistants don't know why someone is "grabbing the feet" of a ministry leader, and the collective instinct of assistants is to protect their leader. But perhaps it might be better if we all step back and ask God to step in.

Has God called you to inconvenience yourself and radically bless Him by serving His ministers? Go for it.

Are you really unsure about this whole concept of prophetic-faith exchange? Ask God to work out His will in and through you, and to give you grace to bear the cost. You might be surprised at how God uses you to honor His name!