II Kings 6:17

"And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of th eyoun man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

One of my favorite passages is before us in this section of verses. Elisha has replaced Elijah and is demosntrating the power of God at just about every turn. The king of Syria is the sworn enemy to the children of Israel. And even though, the children of Israel are not walking rightly with the Lord, He is still looking out for them. elisha continues to tell the king of Israel where the army of the Syrians is moving and coming from. The king of syrai thinks there is a spy in his ranks, until finally one tells him of the prophet of the Lord. The king of syria sends an army against Elisha. And here is the response of these events: Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see - word study, to see; elisha is in direct communciation with the Lord. And his request is not for the enemy but for his servant that is seated next to him. His eyes had scales that prohibited him from seeing the presence of the Lord around them. Elisha walked with the Lord and was able to see that other realm, which is oblivious to us. Oh, that we had eyes to see the other realm. We see that which is before us; that which is around us, but what of the other realm that is present but beyond our limited seeing ability. Have you prayed for your eyes to open? How few of God's own people refuse to pray the prayer to have their eyes open. this is why the Scripture is relevant for us, 'Having eyes to see and cannot see'. The prayer of faith mentioned in James is this seeing in faith. 'For faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen'. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man - the Lord did this, not man; Man prayed, but God responded and did it. Too often we glorify the person praying, the person that performs the healing prayer, and the attention is taken off the Lord. Two reasons why healing is restricted today, is for this reason that God is not glorified as He should be; and second, our unbelief, we simply do not believe; Was it ever said of old, that they eyes of the blind could see? and this is not physical sight being restored, but spiritual eyesight. did Fanny Crosby, the great hymnist, pray for her eyesight to be restored? No, for she said that she wanted the first thing her new eyes to see was the Lord Jesus. And having no physical eyesight she had spiritual eyesight. Only the Lord is able to open the spiritual eyesight to allow us to see what He desires for us to see. would the Lord put a desire to see spiritual thing if He did not intend to do it? And he saw - word study, to see; That which God pronounces and His right arm is outstretched, it is done. What the Lord so wills and desires within us, may it be done. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about elisha - What did he see? He saw the angleic hosts gathered before them. What a sight to behold. And do we think that this limited to them, and do we not understand that the Lord stands ready to show Himself mighty in such manner as all of His saints? The fullness of horses and fiery chariots are around us to fight for us. The Bible gives several instances of this, that when looked upon in the whole, we see the activity of God's angelic hosts fighting for the saints. NOt only against the forces of evil of this world, but also the hosts of hell that is laboring over the souls of men and matters of this world as well. Only in eternity will we see the direct results of deliverance that while men were at war here, the spiritual realm was in war as well. I feel Imust give an answer to this, for some will not understand nor recall the Scirpture of what I have just shared. IN Daniel, Daniel was in prayer for three weeks and his angel came to him and said, "That at the moment he began to pray he was sent, but was withstood for three weeks fighting with the enemy before he could get to Daniel.'