The Upper Room By Linda Olson This article is inspired by a sermon I heard online a few years ago. I enjoyed listening to the online sermons from Brownsville Church in Florida. One sermon I listened to years ago really hit me hard, it was a rehma word to me and has directed my path ever since. I honestly don’t remember who was speaking or what the name of the sermon was anymore however I have been feeling strongly lately that the Lord wants us to look at this again – or for some of you for the first time. The sermon caught my attention because the preacher started out by saying that he was excited by all that was happening at Brownsville and he knew God was doing wonderful things there and he wanted to be prepared for what was going to happen next… so he decided to do a little study in the bible on raising the dead because he felt that was the next thing the Lord was going to do at Brownsville, but what he found was totally different then what he expected to find… The Holy Spirit led him down a different path totally. What I want to do is to also lead you down that path of revelation. The first person in the bible to be recorded as raised from the dead was the child of a widow woman in 1 Kings Chapter 17. The 2nd person to be raised from the dead was also a child in 2 Kings Chapter 4. Isn’t it interesting that both are youths? The similarities continue between the two stories… Both mothers called on the prophets for their children, they are both brought to the Upper Room to be raised from the dead, they both were essentially fatherless kids – the first was the son of a widow woman and the 2nd child, when he told his father that he was not feeling well, the father dismissed him and sent him to his mother… when the child died the mother didn’t even tell the father that his child had passed away, she just asked her husband to give her a donkey so she could go and see the prophet Elisha. Is this not a prophetic picture of today’s youth? They are either totally fatherless, or the father is too busy working to be bothered with his children. The kids today are abandoned – they are orphaned kids, left for dead in this world. There needs to be a cry out to the Prophets to start raising these dead kids! We need to take them to the Upper Room. Read how Elisha brought the child back from the dead: When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet's bed. He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the LORD. Then he lay down on the child's body, placing his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on the child's eyes, and his hands on the child's hands. And the child's body began to grow warm again! 2 Kings 4:32-34
This is a prophetic picture of what needs to happen with the youth, this is what needs to happen in the upper room experience. We need to speak life to them – We need to tell them who they are in Christ. We need to pass Vision on to them. We need to take them by the hands and lead them, mentor and disciple them to maturity…
The next time the Upper room is mentioned is when Jesus and the disciples are in the upper room having a Passover meal together, better known as the “last supper”. This was a time of great intimacy between Teacher and Students. It was a wine banquet where the Groom was asking the bride to choose him. The upper room is also were the faithful followers of Jesus waited to receive the promise he gave them of the Holy Spirit. This is when the Holy Spirit came and filled them with the power and fullness that Jesus had talked about. Another New Testament upper room is when Dorcas was raised from the dead in the upper room by Peter. It’s time for us to seek out the upper room; it’s time for kids to be raised from the dead in the upper room! It’s time for the upper room experience to come back to the church.