Please study this!
"Apply the Cross to the Problem"
2 Kings 6:1-7 King James Version (KJV)
And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.
Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.
And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.
So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.
But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.
And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim. ("The sick," no matter how crude, was symbolic of the Cross of Jesus Christ. We learn from this the tremendous lesson of the Power of Calvary. Every single blessing received by the Child of God comes through Calvary. Elisha applied the Cross to the problem. Regrettably, most in the modern Church have set the Cross aside, resorting to other things, which only bring death.)
Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it. (The Cross is a Finished Work. Consequently, all the Believer has to do is simply stretch out his hand and take it. All that the Cross represents is ours for the asking.)
We as Believers apply the Cross of Christ, i.e., The Finished Work, i.e., The Blood of Jesus, to every problem by placing and maintaining simple Faith, the size of a mustard seed in who Christ is, and what Christ has done at the Cross of Calvary where the victory was won. When this is done, the LORD does for you as He told Moses in Exodus 6:1, "Now watch what I do to Satan, now watch what I do to the problems, now watch, what I do to your health, now watch what I do to your marriage, now watch what I do to any and everything that comes against you. Now Shall you see what I will do to...Glory be to God.
JSM
“THE BITTER WATERS
Exodus 15:22-26
22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. (God tests Faith in order to strengthen and enrich it.)
23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. (Marah means “bitter.” Pink says: “While the wilderness may and will make manifest the weakness of God’s Saints and, as well, our failures, this is only to magnify the Power and Mercy of Him Who brought us into the place of testing. Further, and we must understand, God always has in view our ultimate good.” The bitter waters of Marah typify life and its disappointments.)
“24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? (Three days before, the Children of Israel were rejoicing on the shores of the Red Sea. Now, some 72 hours later, they are “murmuring against Moses.” Such presents a lack of Faith. “Tests” brought upon us by the Lord portray what is in us. Regrettably, it doesn’t take much to bring out the unbelief.)
25 And he cried unto the LORD (Moses set the example; there is no help outside of the Lord, but man, even the Church, seem to find difficulty in believing this); and the LORD showed him a Tree (the “tree” is a Type of the Cross [Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Gal. 3:13; I Pet. 2:24]), which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet (we must put the Cross into every difficulty and problem of life, which alone holds the answer; only by this means can the bitter waters be made “sweet”): there He (God) made for them a Statute and an Ordinance, and there He proved them (tested them! We must understand that God doesn’t give victory to men, only to Christ; His Victory becomes ours, as we are properly in Him [Jn. 14:20; Rom. 6:3-5]),
26 And said, If you will diligently hearken to the Voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in His Sight, and will give ear to His Commandments, and keep all His Statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD Who heals you. (It is demanded that all these “Statutes” and “Ordinances” be perfectly kept; however, no man can boast of such; Christ has perfectly kept all the Commandments and, as our Substitute, kept them perpetually. Looking to Him, we can claim this blessing. As well, the “healing” Promised here has to do not only with physical diseases but, as well, of emotional and spiritual diseases. The Cross is to be put into the bitter waters of these problems, whatever they might be. They can then be made sweet. The name “LORD,” in the Hebrew, as used here, is “Jehovah-Ropheka,” which means “Jehovah, the Healer.” Jehovah has proven Himself as the Deliverer of Israel, and now He proclaims Himself as their “Healer.”)”
Faith never retreats! Faith sees the problem and say problem, "there has never been a problem that my God has not been able to solve; there has never been a sickness that my God can not heal; there has never been a disease that my God can not rebuke!"
JSM