GOOD
NEIGHBOURLINESS
Memorise
A
man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24
Read
2 Kings 4:1-8
4:1 Now there
cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha,
saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did
fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be
bondmen.
4:2 And
Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the
house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot
of oil.
4:3 Then he
said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels;
borrow not a few.
4:4 And when
thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and
shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is
full.
4:5 So she
went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the
vessels to her; and she poured out.
4:6 And it
came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me
yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil
stayed.
4:7 Then she
came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt,
and live thou and thy children of the rest.
4:8 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.
MESSAGE
The widow of the dead indebted son of the prophets
lived in a predominantly poor but friendly neighbourhood. This can be deduced
from the response of her neighbours to her request for empty vessels. There are
lessons to learn from this interesting story, one of such is that: you are
living in the midst of opportunities. Where you live right now is where your
miracles are. God will inspire you and like that widow, you will discover that
your miracles are in your neighbourhood in Jesus’ Name. The point to note here
is that, you must be friendly with the people living around you. Can you
imagine what would have happened after Elisha told the widow to go to her
neighbours for the vessels with which she must collect the object of her
miracles and she couldn’t because she was not friendly with them? Can you
imagine what their response will be if she had fought all the people in her
neighbourhood? The Bible in Proverbs 18:24 says,
“A
man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother.”
In so many instances, you do not need to relocate
from where you are to get your breakthrough. In Genesis 26:1-3, we come across
another interesting story in which God commanded Isaac not to go down to Egypt.
God commanded him to stay in Gerar despite the famine in that land. He stayed
and God blessed him mightily. In like manner, God is going to prosper you no
matter the economic recession in your neighbourhood or in your country. There
is a river in your neighbourhood that harbours a particular fish with a gold
coin in its belly. All you need to do is to catch the fish, open its mouth and
claim the coin that will enrich you for life (Matthew 17:27). There are some
people in your neighbourhood, who have more money than they can ever spend in a
lifetime. You only need to reach out to them with the message of salvation. Do
you know that those that are extremely rich are hungry for the message of
salvation? There was a young lady that preached to a rich man and he gave his
life to Christ. This man became so filled with the joy of salvation that he
decided to give something to this sister. He purchased a brand new car as a
gift for this sister in appreciation for the salvation of his soul. What God
did for that sister, He can do for you. Go out and be a good neighbour to those
around you by offering them the message of hope and salvation. You will be
surprised at how God can reward your labour of love. Be a good neighbour today
by evangelising to the lost souls in your neighbourhood.
Action
Point
Go out and preach the gospel to your
neighbours today.
BIBLE
IN ONE YEAR
Ezra 1-3
Ecclesiastes 5
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