Reflections on God's Word

by Victoria Robinson 

Girlfriends, is restoration your destination on this road called life? In the book of Second Kings there is a lady who experienced two major restorations in her life. This story unfolds when the Lord brought the prophet Elisha into her life. This gracious, hospitable lady, approached Elisha and persuaded him to come to her house so she could feed him. She soon came to see his need of a place to stay, so she asked her husband if they could build and furnish a room for him to stay in. The Lord blessed her kindness, and one day Elisha told her she was going to have the son she always wanted. Elisha’s words came true, but tragically her son became ill and died in her arms. This brave lady immediately set out on a journey with a destination of restoration.

Oh what a journey for restoration this would be! When her husband asked her why she was going to meet Elisha she said, “It is well.” That certainly would not have been my response! She saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.”

Restoration for her did not come immediately. When she approached Elisha with her need, he said to his servant, Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.” This course of action did not satisfy this grieving mother’s need to see her son brought back to life. She emphatically told Elisha, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. She was a wise lady because as it turned out when Gehazi did what Elisha told him, the boy did not come back to life. It was then that Elisha went in with the boy and prayed to the Lord. He then went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

Now that is a wonderful ending to her “destination restoration”! However, this lady would once again find herself in need of restoration. Some time later, Elisha instructed her to leave her home and take her family to go stay wherever she could because a famine was coming. Everything worked well except that after seven years when she returned she did not own her home. So she went to the king to make an appeal for the return of her property. As only our Lord could orchestrate, Gehazi was with the king telling him the story of how Elisha had brought a woman’s son back to life. Then Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.”

Dearest girlfriends, I pray that we would seek and allow the restoration only our heavenly Father can give us to bring healing to our lives.

The ultimate restoration we can experience is the eternal restoring of our souls. If you have not personally experienced the restoration of knowing Jesus Christ, you can click on this link and find out how. Heaven

Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. “Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.” And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there. Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.” So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.” So he said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. Then he said, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!” But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her. And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.” So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.”Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” And so she departed, and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman!. “Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ” And she answered, “It is well.” Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.” So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?” Then he said to Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.” And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.” When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out. ~ 2 Kings 4:8-37 NKJV

Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the Lord has called for a famine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years.” So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years. It came to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land. Then the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done.” Now it happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, that there was the woman whose son he had restored to life, appealing to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.” ~ 2 Kings 8:1-6 NKJV

Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. ~ 71:20 NIV

Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. ~ Psalm 80:3 NIV

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ~ Psalm 51:12 NIV

by Victoria Robinson

The words, “I wanna say I’m sorry.” hold a special place in my heart. I have a precious young lady God has placed in my life and though she is now all “grown up” at six years old, when she was younger and would find herself stuck in the corner of the hallway of her home in a timeout, she would utter those sweet words. At times though, it would take some time facing the wall with no toys to play with for her heart to decide to line up with God’s heart. However short or long she waited, she would inevitably have a big smile on her face as she embraced the freedom a right heart brings.

When my heart is not right with God, I am stuck in that same prison my little friend found herself in. With a frown on my face, misery in my heart, and an unwillingness to say to God, “I wanna say I’m sorry.” my life just does not improve.

In the book of Numbers we see an example of a man named Balaam who suffered a crushed foot because of his refusal to have a right heart. Balaam had been summoned by the Moabite king Balak to curse the Israelites before they entered Canaan. Because of a greedy heart, he agreed to commit this evil act. God was clearly not pleased with him and even used a donkey to not only crush his foot, but to literally speak to him. Oh, if only Balaam would have said to God that he was sorry before his foot was maimed!

Along with saying you’re sorry, it is also essential to follow God’s plan. If you are truly sorry then obedience will follow. Just as my little friend would find herself right back in the corner if her behavior did not change, we will find ourselves back in trouble. In the book of Deuteronomy we see a perfect of example of this. The Israelites had chosen not to trust God and go up and take the land He promised them. Upon hearing Moses rebuke of their evil behavior they promptly decided to say they were sorry. However, as soon as they repented, they did not follow God’s advice. They told Moses they would now go take the land despite Moses warning them they would be killed. The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against them and chased them like a swarm of bees and beat them down from Seir all the way to Hormah. So, if you have told God you’re sorry, do not try to solve your problems, but allow Him to show you His plan.

Dearest girlfriends, do you need to stop right now and say to God, “I wanna say I’m sorry.”? If so, this is a perfect time to release yourself from an uncomfortable spiritual prison and walk in the freedom  that only He can give.

… yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and … Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. ~ 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 NIV 

Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. ~ Ecclesiastes 7:3-4 NIV

Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road. Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat her again. Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”  The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said. Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her.” Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”  ~ Numbers 22:21-34 NIV 

Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go. When the LORD heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: “Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.” … Then you replied, “We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. But the LORD said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’” So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the LORD’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah.  ~ Deuteronomy 1:29-36,41-43 NIV 

… I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. ~ Acts 26:20 NIV

by Victoria Robinson

In the beginning … ahhh those famous first words recorded in the book of Genesis. Beginnings so often start with a sense of great hope and wonderment. This was the fresh starts of all fresh starts. A blank canvas with limitless possibilities. Girlfriends, don’t you just love a fresh start? A chance to begin anew with no past mistakes. There are times when we just need to start over.

Spiritually speaking, a new beginning is found in the book of John. That new beginning is found in putting our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The apostle Paul spoke of this transforming faith in the book of Titus. he said, “… a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time …” Acknowledging that a new life is only possible through Jesus Christ is the only way to have a fresh start. In fact, Jesus said to a man named Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Born again—let’s start over! If this is your desire, click on this Heaven link and learn more. Heaven

If you already have a relationship with Jesus Christ then you surely know what a wonderful feeling it is to be able to “wipe the slate clean” and start over. King David came to a place in his life when he desperately needed to start over. Troubles surrounded him due to his disintegration into a sinful life. The enemy of his soul had enticed him to indulge in lustfully gazing upon a beautiful woman named Bathsheba. This led to sleeping with her apart from marriage as set forth in the Word of God. Once it becomes known to him that Bathsheba is pregnant, we see the actions of a desperate man. So panicked by his circumstances that he engaged in a murderous plot to kill Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. If ever a person needed to start over it was King David.

The good news is David repented and turned his heart back to the Lord. David’s fresh start resulted in the Lord speaking these kind words about him after his departure from this world, “… walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness …”

King David whose life was ravaged by his sinful choices, but who got a fresh start from the heavenly Father, has been memorialized by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus.  He wrote, “David was truly a man after God’s own heart.”

This is an encouraging story when we reach a point in our life where we need a new beginning. If that is where you are today, then praying the very words King David prayed after he repented are appropriate. In the book of Psalms David wrote, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Near the end of Lamentations, a book of poetry written to lament the destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah makes a plea to the Lord. He says, “Bring us back to you! Give us a fresh start.” What a wonderful way to cry out to the Lord when we have a remorseful heart and want to start over!

Dearest girlfriends, let us turn our hearts towards our heavenly Father and receive a new beginning.

by Victoria Robinson

The strong leader and prophet Nehemiah, set a wonderful example of being slow to speak for us all to follow. After hearing the distressful news that his fellow Israelites were in trouble, he immediately prayed. Not so amazing since that is the usual action one would expect of a godly man. However, following this scenario is something quite interesting concerning prayer. When King Artaxerxes notices Nehemiah’s sadness and ask him what he wanted, Nehemiah does not just blurt out the overflow of pain in his heart. Instead, he pauses to pray before answering the king. We would do well to follow his example.

These two incidents are actually separated by three months. Nehemiah was a man with a strong conviction of the power of prayer and had prayed during this three-month period. One of his request was for God to grant him favor with King Artaxerxes. After praying for three months it would be easy to think he was “prayed up” and ready to speak up. Not this man who took prayer so seriously—he thought one more prayer was important enough to keep the king waiting.

Our Lord and Savior was an expert at not hurrying to blurt out the thoughts He held so tightly inside. When Pilate questioned Jesus where He was from, He did not immediately answer. When this was taking place, can’t you just imagine how uncomfortable the situation was as Jesus remained silent.

Girlfriends, we tend to look more at our horizontal relationships than our more important vertical relationship—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It would seem that Nehemiah being the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, a very intimate relationship, would have just blurted out his needs to this powerful man. Instead he trusted more in his vertical relationship with his all-powerful God. A great example to remind us of the power of prayer.

Dearest girlfriends, let us always consider the importance of prayer before we speak.

by Victoria Robinson

If we live our lives based on what we see with our natural eyes we will never live up to the expectations our heavenly Father has for us. Bad spiritual eyesight causes us to make wrong decisions. David was a young boy without military experience when he boldly went up against the over nine foot tall champion Goliath and won. Had David looked at the situation with his natural eyes, he would have rightly ran away in fear, as all the others before him. Elisha’s servant looked at the siege of horses and chariots surrounding him. His natural eyesight was clear, yet his spiritual eyesight could not have been more blurry. When the Lord opened the servant’s spiritual eyes, he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around. The Lord was with them in full force!

Girlfriends, what you see is not always what you get! Beware of not seeing your circumstances as the Lord does. The Word of God says we are to live by faith and not by sight. The greek word for faith is pistis which means conviction of the truth. When you are confused by what your natural eyes see, live your life by the conviction of the only truth there is—His unchanging Word! This is how we strengthen our spiritual eyesight.

Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would open our spiritual eyes and see the “hills full of horses and chariots of fire”.

by Victoria Robinson

The prophet Isaiah wisely stated, “Look how your sins have made fools of you.” When we sin we are being foolish. In his devastation King David said, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.” He had played the fool by going against the Lord’s will by taking a census. Job’s wife was playing the fool when he rebuked her, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” She had played the fool by telling her husband, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

When we sin we are playing the fool and will always look foolish, but more importantly destruction will be our constant companion. Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would take sin seriously and stop playing the fool.

by Victoria Robinson

Don’t you just love being waited on at a restaurant or store by someone who is smiling and being attentive to your every need. Hmmm … sounds a lot like the greatest servant of all time, our Lord and Savior! In the book of Matthew He describes his true heart of service as, “… the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Girlfriends, do you serve with a smile or do you sometimes find yourself complaining? It is so easy to allow the enemy to plant the seeds in our hearts of self-centered desires which is the opposite of our Lord and Savior. This in turn grows into weeds of complaining and discontent. It is necessary to take these seeds out of our hearts immediately and allow our Lord and Savior’s attitude of “service with a smile” to permeate our hearts.

The only way we can serve with a smile is to serve in the strength God provides. This then will bring glory to God as it says in the book of First Peter, “If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”

Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would serve with a smile as we rely on the strength of our heavenly Father and bring glory to Him.

by Victoria Robinson

The wonderful provision of our heavenly Father is the only provision we should desire. It is better to do without something rather than to provide for ourselves. There are so many examples in the Word of God where people felt they were not receiving from God what they needed and thus went about providing for themselves. What a disastrous decision! The prophet Isaiah warns that providing for yourself will result in torment.

I am in no way referring to being lazy or irresponsible. There are certainly examples of godly people providing for themselves and their household. God has made it clear that if we are able to work and will not, we should not have food to eat. The difference is to look at where your trust and reliance is set? Yourself or Him? We are never to rely on our own provisions.

To put this into perspective, here we have a provider who owns the world and everything in it, and yet in our foolishness we think we can do better than Him. Dearest girlfriends, let us look only to our heavenly Father for the provisions we need and trust in Him alone.

by Victoria Robinson

Girlfriends, an angelic treasure hunt sounds fun doesn’t it? I am not talking about searching for angels. I am referring to a beautiful story found in the book of Genesis. Abraham was old and wanted to find a proper wife for his son. He sent his chief servant on a treasure hunt and told him, “The LORD, the God of heaven, … will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.” Girlfriends, that is a breathtaking romantic story! We should all believe in God’s divine guidance when we seek to choose a spouse. My eldest son actually fasted and prayed for the beautiful lady he believed God had chosen for him. After a persistent romantic pursuit, (He inherited his father’s romantic gene!), she said yes, and  they are now blissfully married!

But this story has far more to do about a principle of our heavenly Father rather than about romance. It shows the wonderful guidance He wants to send us as we seek the treasures He wants to give us. In this story, His provision came through seeking, prayer, and angelic intervention.

Dearest girlfriends, are there treasures you are seeking from your heavenly Father today? If so, pray and believe Him to provide divine guidance.

Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “… I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will … go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. “The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. ~ Genesis 24:1-7 NIV

Then he prayed, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.” “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful. ~ Genesis 24:12-21 NIV

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, saying, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” ~ Genesis 24:26-27 NIV