Answer to, 'Why aren't you doing more?'

II Kings 6:17: [17] And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

“Elisha’s facing the enemy and they’re all over the place and they’re coming down to get him and he says to his servant, ‘Don’t worry about it; they that are with us are more than they that are with them.’

“His servant looks around and says, ‘What did you have for supper last night because you’re not thinking very straight? Unless you haven’t noticed, it’s just you and me, Bud.’

“Elisha says, ‘Lord, open his eyes that he can see into the spirit world.’ The Lord opens the kid’s eyes and he sees on the mountains of Israel the horses and chariots of Israel. He sees the angelic host that’s there; chariots of fire in the angelic world ready to protect.

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II Kings 22: [18] And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?

“The king of Judah and the king of Israel have gone into battle together. King Ahab is a bad, bad dude. His wife made Baal worship the official religion of the northern kingdom and it was in total apostasy.

“He’s going to pull back the curtain and you’re going to see into the angelic realm. [19] And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

“Write down by verse 18 Daniel 7: 9-11, where you’ll see a very similar kind of assembly. Write down Psalm 82:1. You’ll see exactly the same kind of thing.

“Here’s the counsel meeting and he said, ‘I saw how the decision was made that I just gave you. I see the Lord sitting on His throne and all the host there standing about on the right and left [20] And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
[21] And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.

“That’s a strange question, isn’t it? You see, if the Calvinist idea that for God to say it means it has to happen exactly that way, and no other decision needs to be made, that verse wouldn’t make any sense. Because the Lord is saying, ‘Here’s my will; now how do you guys think we ought to do this?’ You say, ‘What?!’ The Lord literally is asking these angelic people in the counsel to participate in how His will . . . He stated his will.

[22] And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
[23] Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

“The Lord invited all these people who were there to be a part. You see, the Father has always desired to have willing, free, intelligent, understanding participants, actively engaged with Him in the business of His creation. It’s never been, ‘You do this, you do that, I control everything.’

“Have you ever worked for a micro-manager? God doesn’t micro-manage in His creation. If He did, you wouldn’t have any freedom. God loves freedom so much that He gave it to you.

“There’s a thing going on right now on the internet about universalism. The argument: ‘How can you believe in hell and eternal torment and not get on your hands and knees and crawl through glass to EVERYBODY you know?! Why aren’t you doing that right right now?!’

“That’s an argument they use to say, ‘See, you don’t really believe in hell. You don’t really believe your friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc., are going to die and spend eternity in a devil’s hell and lake of fire. If you did really believe that you’d be out doing whatever. You wouldn’t be watching ball games, sitting around doing whatever it is you do. You’d be out there doing nothing but that!’

“Well, that’s nonsense. I think about that and say, ‘You know, if God Himself is willing for them not to believe, I’ve got to be willing for them not to believe, too.’

“Romans 5:8: [8] But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

“That’s the answer. The work’s been done. So, it isn’t really an issue of, ‘Why aren’t you doing more?’ It’s, ‘More has already been done.’ God desires our participation willingly, intelligently.

“When He asked the question in verses 20-21 in II Kings 22, have you ever been in a meeting like that? They call it brainstorming. Any idea, you write it on the board—good, bad. Get the ideas out there and then will go through them and figure out which ones are the best.

“That’s sort of what’s going on here. You’re trying to have participation from everybody. Behind that is the idea of training people how to think through problems.

“The Lord literally turn these things into training sessions. My point is, if you don’t understand how God has set up His creation to work, or you think everything’s got to be prearranged, this passage won’t make any sense to you.

“Philippians 1 says, [10] That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

“Your Father always wants you to be brought unto maturity so you can look at a certain situation and pick, not just what’s right or wrong, but among the things that are right, the things that are of the greater value at the moment.”

(new article tomorrow)