JUST A STICK

[prophetess m. brignac]

If one was to search the scriptures, and assess the multitude of recorded miracles, they would find that the Lord used , the simple unsuspecting things of creation to accomplish the awesome! In II kings 6:chapter, the scriptures relate an incident in which the sons of the Prophets were about the business of claiming and building a "spot" of their own where they could "stretch out" and be comfortable. In the course of their construction project, they realized that in order to cut down the trees they needed for lumber, they would have to borrow an "axe", and you know the story, how the 'axe head which was borrowed, accidentally fell into the river, and there was a panic, because the tool didn't belong to them. In Biblical days, there were very strict laws of restitution and compensation regarding lending, borrowing and stealing,so they had great cause to sound the alarm over this small piece of iron. Elisha, being the man of God, sanctioned to manifest miracles, never even sweat for one moment, but rather he very calmly found a mere "stick" and threw it into the water, and it provoked the axehead to reveal it's location by swirling. Many believe the miracle was a hefty piece of iron, more or less, floating, which defies gravitational laws, but, in actuality, the real miracle was the "stick"! When the patriarch, Moses was in a "miracle match" with the prophets of Baal, he used a "stick" which was turned into a serpent, and the "lying wonders were able to duplicate his miracle, until his "stick" consumed their "sticks". What was the "miracle", the serpents or the "stick"? When the children of Israel were at Rephidim, they discovered that somebody forgot to "pay the water bill", and therefore they encountered drought and severe thirst and began to vex Moses something terrible, so terrible that He had to make an emergency call to God about this impending disaster. The Lord instructed him, to have no worries, and to just take that same "stick" that he smote the Red Sea with, and put a whipping on this rock. Moses proceeded to do as God instructed, and there was water enough for everything thirsty, as the Lord, Himself, filled their cups! What was the "miracle", the "rock", the "water", or the "stick"? When the Israelites journeyed on through the wilderness of Shur, and encountered "Marah", the bitter waters, again, it was a large "stick" or branch, that was tossed into the undrinkable, "unchlorinated", putrid waters, and they were converted into drinkable, satisfying, "cooling waters. What was the "miracle", the "waters" or the "stick?" In Acts chap. 27, when the Apostle Paul was on his way, by boat to Italy, accompanied by the centurions, who were heavily armed because they wanted to make sure their valuable and notorious prisoner didn't escape,and they found themselves in a "category 5" storm,about to make ship wreck, because their boat ran into a place where it could not be moved, so everyone had no choice but to "swim for it", and they did. Now, there were no form of "inner tubes", or any other sort of "floatation devices, so they had to cling to little "sticks" for dear life, and pray that they made it to shore alive, and in one piece, and they did! What was the miracle, that the sea carried them along, or the "stick"? In every case, the miracle was manifest through these ordinary pieces of wood, that men used every day, to start their "bar-b-cues for dinner, to aid in walking, after wrestling with an angel all night long, and to chastise and "not spoil" the children!. The common factor here, is that these "sticks" were symbolic of Jesus, the Christ, the "Branch of Rightousnes, who is our Deliverer, our Way of escape, our Door the Way in, and our Door the Way out! There are "sticks" all around you, that you've overlooked as solutions, and as a way out, because nobody expects a "stick" to save a whole nation, or shut down a coven of "warlocks! No one would ever dream that a mere stick could do what a million dollar "yacht" had failed to accomplish!. Nobody expected "Mary's Little Baby", to become the "Branch of Rightousness" either, because all they could remember Him as was a "tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground, Who had no form nor comeliness, that when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him"! I'm sure to many, that Christ looked like a useless, underdeveloped, "switch" that had been stripped of it's leaves, and it's bark, and most of us have gone through , (if not, just keep living) a season, where we are viewed in the same way. Not to worry, because in due season, someone's going to need a good "stick" to facilitate their miracle. Never underestimate the power of the simple things God created, and the "sticks" again in your life!