Life Flows Through Honor
Written by Jarred Rushing
(7 minutes)
Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse, and finally he died. Then she said to Elijah, “O man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son?” But Elijah replied, “Give me your son.” And he took the child’s body from her arms, carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying, and laid the body on his bed. Then Elijah cried out to the Lord , “O Lord my God, why have you brought tragedy to this widow who has opened her home to me, causing her son to die?” And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord , “O Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.” The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and the life of the child returned, and he revived! Then Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother. “Look!” he said. “Your son is alive!” Then the woman told Elijah, “Now I know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the Lord truly speaks through you.” (1 Kings 17:17-24)
After Jesus finished giving revelation to the people on the hillside, he went on to Capernaum. A Roman military captain there had a beloved servant whom he valued highly, and who was sick to the point of death. When the captain heard that Jesus was in the city, he sent some respected Jewish elders to plead with him to come and heal his dying servant. So they came to Jesus and told him, “The Roman captain is a wonderful man. If anyone deserves a visit from you, it is him. Won’t you please come to his home and heal his servant? For he loves the Jewish people, and he even built our meeting hall for us.” Jesus started off with them, but on his way there, friends of the captain stopped him and delivered this message: “Master, don’t bother to come to me in person, for I am not good enough for you to enter my home. I’m not worthy enough to even come out to meet one like you. But if you would just speak the word of healing from right where you are, I know that my servant will be healed. I am an ordinary man. Yet I understand the power of authority, and I see that authority operating through you. I have soldiers under me who obey everything I command. I also have authorities over me whom I likewise obey. So Master, just speak the word and healing will flow.” Jesus marveled at this. He turned around and said to the crowd who had followed him, “Listen, everyone! Never have I found among the people of God a man like this who believes so strongly in me.” Jesus then spoke the healing word from a distance. When the man’s friends returned to the home, they found the servant completely healed and doing fine. (Luke 7:1-10)
Honor isn't just the Kingdom-currency that unlocks provision in our own lifetime, honor ultimately creates an atmosphere where the next generation can be revived and resurrected.
We have to see everything in the light of generational legacy, not personal destiny. Our honor is less about ourselves, and more about the path it creates for the next generation.
Life flows through honor.
In the story of the widow, we see a pathway of honor that creates an atmosphere for her son to be resurrected. It started with her honoring Elijah with what she thought was the last of her resources. And in the above scripture we can see Elijah taking the young boy upstairs (in the widow's house) to the room where he, Elijah, was staying. So the widow didn't stop with a bread cake. Honor is always leveling up. Honor started with a bread cake, but then honor took the next step and made room for spiritual authority to be a perpetual part of her house. And when an even greater need arose in the widow's life, honor had already prepared a place where the prophet could go and revive her dead son. Life flows through honor.
We can see the same pathway of honor in the life of the Roman military captain. We see a glimpse of this honor as we read about his unusual relationship to his sick servant. The Passion Translation tells us that the Roman captain had a "beloved servant whom he valued highly." The literal translation of that phrase is "a servant to whom he was honorable." This is not the kind of behavior that we traditionally see in Roman militants. This man was honoring his servant long before he comes on the scene with Jesus. We can also see his pathway of honor in his relationship with the Jewish community. We don't just have a Roman militant honoring a servant which is strange, we also have Jews honoring a ROMAN CAPTAIN which is even stranger. But it's because this Roman captain had been honoring the Jewish community long before this point. The Jews are pleading with Jesus to help a ROMAN because "he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue." This story is steeped with honor, built upon honor, built upon honor. And when a great need arose in the Roman captain's life, honor had already paved the way for Jesus to send a healing word to heal a young servant. Life flows through honor.
Let me ask you a raw, revealing question that I personally feel as I read these stories: if today's miracle was going to be based on yesterday's honor, how would I fare? Do I have a history of honor that could foster an atmosphere where the next generation could be healed and revived?
Honor is what opened the door for Elijah to raise that widow woman's son from the dead. Honor is what paved the way for that Roman captain's beloved servant to be healed solely on a word from Yeshua's mouth.
We have to move past personal destiny in order to get to this place of honor. Can we consistently honor when it's not benefiting our personal advancement? Can we honor in moments that we know won't deliver an immediate return? Can we honor without any guarantee that it will benefit us at all, if it means that it might benefit the next generation in their most desperate time of need?
Honor isn't just the Kingdom-currency that unlocks provision in our own lifetime, honor ultimately creates an atmosphere where the next generation can be revived and resurrected.
As you take a walk with Abba today, let His love convince you of what honor can do in your life. Let His love wash away the residue of personal destiny. Let His love establish a heart of honor in you that will be used to usher His life-giving presence into dead sons and daughters. That's really all He needs... a vessel of honor that He can flow through.
Declare this today:
If life flows through honor, then life flows through me, because I am a vessel of honor.
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Worship: "You Restore Everything" by Rick Pino & Abbie Gamboa
Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place
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