Jesus is Passing By

“Jesus is Passing By”

By Pastor Kent Munsey

October 24, 2021

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.”

2 Kings 4:9–10 (NKJV)

In 2 Kings, we see that Elisha is passing by a house regularly. Elisha was a mighty man of God. He was a prophet who had the double portion anointing on his life from the prophet Elijah. When Elisha spoke, he spoke with power and authority from God.

In this text, there is a couple that doesn’t have any children, but they are observing Elisha. He is passing by them regularly. Elisha represented the prophet of God, who would have declared the word of God. This would have made plain and simple the plan, precepts, principles, and purpose of God. Elisha would have been a type of the Holy Spirit that we see here in the Old Testament.

The woman wanted to make room for God’s work, word, and will. Not only did the woman make a room, but Elisha ended up staying there. If we read the full text, Elisha ended up declaring the word of the Lord to the woman that she would become pregnant and bear a child. We see that because she made room for a miracle, God did a miracle for her. We can make room for miracles in our life. If we are going to experience the miraculous in our life, we have to make room.

This incredible woman of faith in our text put her time, resources, and ideas into making room for Elisha because she sensed that God’s supernatural power was passing by. She was constantly around the anointing of God as Elisha would come and go. Wouldn’t it have been a shame for the man of God to pass by her home and her family and her to not make room? How often does God show up in our life, and we pass by the power of God? This woman went beyond observation and into participation. She decided to make room for God in her home, her life, and her marriage.

The spirit of God in Genesis 1 is introduced to us as the spirit that moved upon the waters. The Holy Spirit is likened unto a river, not a lake or a still body of water. The Holy Spirit in Genesis was hovering; it was moving. The Holy Spirit is present, moving, and passing by today. It would be a shame for us to regularly experience the presence and the power of God passing by and for us not to make room for the supernatural in our life.

Need does not obligate God to move. It is impossible to please God without faith. God searches the earth for those whose hearts are fully committed to him. We must ask ourselves, are we making room for a miracle in our lives?

The Bible says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us, because of sin, have a hard time seeing the righteousness of God. Sin shrinks us. Sin keeps us from seeing who God is and seeing his goodness, grace, and mercy. But, there is a tree rooted in human history, and that tree can only be found on a hill called Calvary. When we climb that tree of grace, we are elevated. We become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, we are saved, sanctified, and reconciled back to God. It doesn’t matter how we feel, what we can see on our own, what we have done, or how far we feel from God. The answer for us is the cross of Jesus Christ.

The cross of Jesus Christ elevates us higher. It raises us up. It is at the tree that Zaccheus was able to see Jesus. Moreover, Zaccheaus was on the tree when Jesus stopped and saw him. Similarly today, Jesus is passing by, but can we see him? All we need to do is call upon the name of the Lord. If we can just get up in the tree, Jesus will see us, and he will save us. Like Zaccheaus, we cannot let Jesus pass us by.

We can miss a miracle by just being quiet, not saying anything, not doing anything, and not making any room for Jesus to show up. God inhabits the praises of His people. Our cry, our prayer, our worship, and our desperation move the heart of God. When we magnify his name, we make room with our words and our worship for the God of heaven to come in. We are making room for a miracle in our life. We cannot allow our miracle to pass us by in this season.

We have a decision to make. Are we going to continue to do life as we have known it, or are we going to believe that Jesus is passing by, and we can cry out to him? Just because this is the way our lives have always been does not mean this is the way it is always going to be. There is no valley so deep that Jesus can’t see us. We can always call upon the name of the Lord.

Reflection/Discussion Questions:

1. Are you doing everything that you can to make room for God’s work, will, and word?

2. Do you have a hard time seeing the righteousness of God because of sin?

3. Are you determined to be like Zaccheus and not let Jesus pass you by?

4. What miracles are you believing God to do in your life?