Friends in Fellowship – PtP Prayer letter – February 2023

Dear Friends,

One of the attitudes that God looks for in His children is a deep dependency on Him. We find many instances of people who showed such a sterling quality – Joseph, Daniel and his three friends, David, Abigail, Mary and the list is long.

However, king Ahaziah stands as a warning to all of us (1 Kings 1:1-17). He looked to BaalZebub, the god of Ekron to know if he would recover from his serious injury. Very human to
want to know if we will get well and how soon. King Ahaziah did not ask another medicine man but enquired of a god of Philistines in Ekron. When he enquired of Baal-Zebub, he professed faith that Baal-Zebub had the knowledge of his future. He ignored the true living God at best and at worst he rejected Him.

How many times we place the opinion of doctors, engineers and so called “well-wishers” above the clear teaching of God in the Bible? We conveniently ignore God. We take shelter under expert opinion even though the Spirit of God is wrestling us to obey Him. Then when things go wrong, we question God as to why He had not stopped us?

But the hero of the story is the third captain of fifty. He had a better heart than king Ahaziah. He saw how the God of hosts had destroyed the first two captains and their fifties. He trembled, humbled and pleaded for the life of his fifty and himself. The Lord had mercy and spared their lives. But the Lord not only spared their lives but preserved them. If the captain and his fifty had gone back without Elijah, they would have been most probably killed by king Ahaziah. But God sent Elijah with them and executed judgement on king Ahaziah. The captain showed faith. God rewarded him with life.

May God give such an attitude and faith to all of us.

Yours in Christ,
Dr. Samson Gandhi