“And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the Son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house” LUKE 10:5-7
And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people. And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life” 2KINGS 4:8-17
Without all controversy, Jesus is The Prince of peace. In a world where there is so much chaos and wars, with the rumours that comes with it makes the heart of men fail with fear, people become worn out with the continual chaos and terror. There is so much chaos that certain personal liberties of people around the world have been taken away as governments of the world try as they say to combat terror. You cannot go through security check points at various airports without being stripped and searched, the scanners reveal your nakedness and even some of the women and some men have complained of being touched in ways that are inappropriate; all in the name of fighting terror and bringing peace to the earth. The United Nations are working tireless around the clock, at least that’s what they say and make us believe, with various policies which sometimes even overrides the sovereignty of independent nations; they send what they call peace keeping forces to various countries like they claim to enforce and bring peace. What do we see after all these, peace? No, sometimes the situation even turns worse. People are looking and searching for anything but Christ Jesus who is The Prince of Peace. The world minus Him is equal to complete chaos and utter perplexity. He gives peace unprecedented, peace different from what the world and the United Nations give. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” JOHN 14:27.
Jesus upon sending out his disciples to preach gave them specific instructions as to what to do and the first of those which was the most important was to inquire in the same city who was worthy and then dwell with according to the same account by Matthew (MATTHEW 10:11-13). They were to dwell in houses that were worthy and pronounce their peace upon that house, which Peace was and still is Christ Jesus. Jesus said according to the same account by Matthew, if that house be worthy, let your peace come upon it and remain, if not, it shall return to you. The peace of God and of his Christ can be seen here to rest on only the worthy of homes. What then is a worthy home? A worthy home is that which accept Jesus Christ and build Him a habitation. A worthy home is that which build Him a sanctuary and say to Him, “Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness” 2 CHRONICLES 6:41. This is a worthy house and that which deserves the peace of Christ.
The Shunammite woman in the days of Elisha the Prophet was a shrewd one. It therefore surprises me not that she together with her husband were prosperous. She always did the right things and seemed to be intelligent spiritually and more inclined to receive from God even more than the Jews in the days of Elisha even though she was an alien to the covenants of promise being a Gentile. She convinced her husband to build a guest room for Elisha so he can come and rest anytime he passed by. Matter of fact scripture says she constrained him to come and eat and rest. She constrained him, she forced him. See this woman knew how to tap into the blessings of God by constraining Elisha, representation of God and His Christ, a messenger of Christ to dwell with them. She knew this secret way before the Apostles were sent and given the same instructions. The peace of God rested in their household and she that was barren became fruitful, the wilderness became a fruitful land, “Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest” ISAIAH 32:15. God blessed the house of Obededom when he took the Ark of God into his house when no one wanted it, not even David. The Ark stayed with him for three months and he and his household were prosperous by reason of The Ark of God and when David realised that, he sent for The Ark.” So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite. And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obededom, and all his household. And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness” 2 SAMUEL 6:10-12.
Prosperity in any sense of the word is attained when there is peace and peace which is of God and His Son The Prince of Peace dwells in a worthy house which receives Him and build Him a sanctuary and a resting place. Will you make your house, your body which is His temple a worthy house where He can dwell, a house on which His peace could be pronounced and remain? If so then your life will never be the same again. Amen and Amen!
birdwithmessage 