Free Make Room for Your Miracle by Mahesh Chavda, Bonnie Chavda Page A

slept for days. He was lean and drawn, and his step seemed labored as a man who wore his mantle heavily. Things had been difficult in Israel. King Joram’s reign was evil. We suspected that our friend was often in Samaria as tensions between the north and south escalated after the war.
    When I led him and his servant to the room I thought for a moment that the gesture, our gift, might move him to tears. Elisha looked at me with such kindness. It was a look of the grace my father used to give me when I knew I had done well.
    “Even a carpet!” he said.
    With a smile in my heart I said, “I’ll send up water and have you some food prepared.” And with that I excused myself and left the man of God and his servant to the restful quiet of the warm afternoon.

And We Listen . . .
    Why did Elisha keep coming back? Because he could rest there. This was not a ministry stop for him; it was literally a refuge. He was not there to preach to her, he was not there to pray for her, he was not there to talk with her friends, he was not there to make everybody in town know that she was something special. That word resting —it is like the Holy Spirit settling on Jesus in the gospel of John when He came up from the baptismal waters. So the question becomes: Can we have a heart and a life where the Holy Spirit can come and be at rest? A place for His Spirit to descend and remain?
    Mostly we get distracted from this goal by focusing on work, struggling in one way or the other. Sometimes it is from hyper-spirituality; sometimes we just miss it, like Martha. But there is real grace in letting the Lord rest. And that is one of the reasons this couple’s relationship with Elisha evolved—he found a permanent place to rest. There is no way to tell whether or not Shunem was a regular stop for him prior to her running into him and constraining him to come home with her. But from that point, just as Jesus would go to Bethany and stay with Lazarus and his sisters, Elisha would go to Shunem.
    But, at the same time, the Shunammite and her husband were not presumptuous regarding their guests’ time and talents. The reason we know this, as we will see later, is that after he has come many times and wants to do something for her, he does not even know that she has no kids running around! We are talking serious rest for him.
    Making room for a miracle means building a habitation for the Presence of God, being a reservoir for the glory. People are usually unable to relate to the Holy Spirit because they never allow Him to come and rest. They are always demanding— give me, give me, give me . This is a more childish approach, and the opposite of what He expects. He desires a place to rest.
    How do we move from visitation to habitation? How do we cultivate the atmosphere of miracles? How do we keep it around us? The atmosphere determines the Presence of God, the breakthrough and the miracle provision. Here are four ways we have learned.
    It Starts with Servanthood
    The Shunammite was foremost a servant. She had no agenda. This was an attribute that Elisha would understand because he had learned it himself. It is how he came to have a double portion of the anointing of his mentor, Elijah.
    Elisha’s double portion goes back to the beginning when he was first called. First Kings 19:19 tells how the great prophet Elijah came along and called Elisha to the “ministry.” Actually, Elijah never said he was calling the young man to the ministry. Elisha was going about his father’s business, taking care of his father’s fields like a good son, stewarding his own inheritance right there in his hometown on his father’s property. This particular day he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen.
    Everybody knew who Elijah was; he was called “the troubler of Israel.” So when Elijah came along and threw his mantle over you it was not exactly going to make you the most popular kid on the block. But that is what Elijah did: He threw his rough mantle over Elisha.