Don't Give Up! Keep Pressing In

(II Kings 4:8-17)

"One day, Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat. Then the woman said to her husband, “Behold, now I know that the one who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Please let us make a small room upstairs and put in it a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him. Then, when he comes to us, he can stay there.” One day, Elisha came to visit and went to his upper room to lie down. And he said to Gehazi, his servant, “Call the Shunammite woman.”

And when he had called her, she stood before him, and Elisha said to Gehazi, “Now tell her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?” “I have a home among my own people,” she replied. So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?” “Well, she has no son,” Gehazi replied, “and her husband is old.” “Call her,” said Elisha. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.”

“No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God.” But the woman did conceive, and at that time, the next year, she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her."

The Shunamite woman had no son. And she made a special place in her home for the man of God. As a result, Elisha prophesied that she would have a son, and she did.

Have you made a special place in the home of your heart for God? What place in your heart and life does He have?

Sometime later, the boy grew, and he had an aneurysm and died. She did not give up and would not accept it. She got ready to go find Elisha, and when her husband asked, she told him, "Everything is alright."

So she left to get Elisha; she did not give up, she pressed in! What do you do in your difficult circumstances?

(II Kings 4:24-37)

"Then she saddled the donkey and told her servant, 'Drive onward; do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman. Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?” And she answered, “Everything is all right.” When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’” So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.” And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.” When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed. So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand. As he stretched himself out over him, the boy’s body became warm. Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her, and she came.

Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.” She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out."

When God blesses you, do not allow the enemy to steal it, even when it appears dead!

(Isaiah 7:9) "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."

(John 10:10) "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

God's promises will be fulfilled, and His gifts, irrevocable.

(Romans 11:29) "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

(Joshua 23:14) “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed."

Stand firm! Trials will come, problems will arise, and the enemy will try to deceive you into doubting God. Doubt is from Satan, faith is from God! He died for you; Satan did not. Don't fall for it!

(John 8:44) "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."

Stand firm; stay in faith!

(Hebrews 11:1 & 6)

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Your Heavenly Father longs to bless you and be gracious to you. Waiting for Him, trusting Him, helps your faith to grow and become spiritually mature.

(Isaiah 30:18) "Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him."

Press in, do not give up, stand firm, you will see the deliverance of the Lord.

(Exodus 14:13-14) “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Don't believe it when the enemy tries to make you doubt, when he tries, by the issues of life and others involved, tries to make it appear dead. If God promised, He will fulfill! God is not a man that He should lie or change His mind!

(I Samuel 15:29) "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”

Be relentless, press in, do not give up, stand firm! Victory is promised!

(Galatians 6:9) "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."