Double Portion of Anointing

25 April 2013 by James Hoh CM-

 

Last Sunday’s message by Senior Pastor Rev Ong Sek Leang of Metrotabernacle Assembly of God, Gombak, touched on the Elisha anointing that inspired the congregation to desire the same. 

 

Here is his message:

Are you the person to receive the double portion? Do you have what it takes to receive victory after victory?

God is always leading us from victory to victory but are you the person that will receive it? In the Bible, we can see that Elisha asked for a double portion.  

 

 

The great prophet Elijah knew and realized that his era was over. All great things have to come to an end. He realized that even God ordained victory also have to come to an end so that greater victory can be seen.

Elisha had a very close relationship with his mentor Elijah even though he was not one of the sons of the Prophet, he was merely a servant. This passage teaches us that relationship is greater than knowledge.

The great prophet asked Elisha, “What do you want.” And he replied, “ The double portion of anointing.” What is the double portion? Many of us make the mistake thinking that to have the double portion means that we are more anointed, more miracles or healing power, more prophecies.

 

 

We even find Scripture to support this while many of us also have the worldview thinking about numbers and greatness. It is very true that Elisha has much more miracles than Elijah but double portion here is not merely about numbers and size but on influence and impact.

So what did Elisha asked for?

¹⁷ But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his. (Deuteronomy 21:17)

Elisha was actually asking for the right of the first born. Elisha wanted to do whatever Elijah had done. Even if God has appointed you irrespective of how powerful God has appointed you, it is only a potential. We all have great potential in God; in fact greater potential than the generation before you.

But if you want it, you must be able to go through a process.

 

1.   You must ask for the double portion of his spirit.

 

What Elisha was asking was the intrinsic qualities of his character because God had done something in Elijah’s life before he did great things.

So ask for the intrinsic character of the successful life instead of asking for skills. Look for the kind of character that made a person successful.

It is not the kind of cars and houses that the successful person has but his character that made him so powerful. Ask what God has been doing inside of him, for example, determination and humility.

 

a.   Elijah has the spirit of faith – He walked by faith and that’s why many miracles happened. We have a lot of intellectual people, opinionated people, a lot of people with style but so little faith. Faith is something that can only be birthed in you by the Holy Spirit if you allow Him. He will work in you not from seminars and workshops. Do you have faith in God?

 

b.   Elijah also has a spirit of obedience – He learnt to obey God instantly when confronting the king and commanded that there will be no rain. The prophet also suffered when he did this but the Lord provided him through a stream, a raven and a widow. It made no sense but he obeyed. My opinion and your opinion means nothing if we are not going forward.

 

c.    He also had the spirit of courage – Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastering of fear. In front of so many prophets, Elijah challenged fire from the heaven to prove that God is God and the fire came. That is courage!

 

The prophet Elijah responded to Elisha that it is a hard thing because we cannot change character. Only God has the power to work in us. This was what Elisha asked for from his mentor prophet Elijah.

 

 

Only God can work in us in faith, obedience and courage. It will be hard works and sacrifice. But it is achievable! We all can have victory to victory, grace to grace; God desires to give us but you must be faithful to God.

 

2.   You must demonstrate steadfast resolution or focus determination.

 

a. You must be ready to take it, make sure you are there to take it. Elisha followed prophet Elijah all the way even he didn’t need to.

 ⁴ Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!”   So they came to Jericho. (2 Kings 2:4, NKJV)

The rest of prophets were standing afar that is why they were not given the double portion. The servant that had a relationship with his master, was at that right place when Elijah was taken away. Are you going to be there?

<span font-family:="" verdana,="" geneva,="" sans-serif;="" font-size:="" 14px;"="">Keep your walk strong in the Lord despite whatever things other people tell you. They may have experience but breakthrough can only come from God. So silence those other voice and focus. The breakthrough will happen but are you going to be there?

 ⁵ Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?” (2 Kings 2:5,   NKJV)

 

b.   Do not get distracted by the opportunities. This is even more difficult to handle.

They went through Gilgal, Bethal, Jericho and Jordan, these were pleasant places with historical values and these cities stirred the imaginations. Gilgal was a place of new beginnings, they celebrated the Passover and did circumcision for the first time there; Bethal was a place of great dreams, Jacob saw the ladder of heavens and earth; Jordan was the place of past victory where they crossed to the new land. Jericho was the place of victory where the wall came down. But do not get distracted if you want the double portion. There are always opportunities for us to rest, enjoy and retire.

 

 

Get out of the place of new beginning and grow! Some people have dreams but never achieve their dreams. After Jacob had the dream, he spent 20 over years allowing God to work in him. There will always be opportunities to boost our great experience with God but they never had another greater experience of God.

 

3.   Anchor our faith in an unchanging eternal God.

¹¹ Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.¹² And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. ¹³ He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over. (2 Kings 2:11-14, NKJV)

Elisha received the mantle and saw the miracle. If we stay on, we will see the miracle and the unexplainable. Christianity is boring for some people; that is why many look for something that excite them. True Christianity should be surrounded by the unexplainable and the remarkable.

 

 

Sometimes we are so canal, we think that being blessed, we would have ten cars and beautiful bungalows or strike lottery. Nowadays we interpret blessed to numbers and size.

But in actual fact to be blessed of God is to have the fingerprint of God in whatever we do. We can feel fulfilled not strife because God has touched our lives.

Elisha struck the river Jordon and said “Where is the Lord God of Elijah, my master?” He invoked the Lord God of his master. Regardless of who we are today, the Word and promises of God will stay true.

 

 

'Sociological strangulation' affects our Churches and families today by accepting what the society dictates them to be e.g. Children and adults cannot concentrate and focus. This is not true since there are so many people glued to the TV to watch a football match.

We seem to let the today’s philosophers, technocrats and politicians defined our lifestyle. But where is God in our lives?”

The problem today is not God. The problem today is that we don’t have enough Elishas, the men and women who really want to make it. You will get the double portion because God is waiting to do it because this is what the Bible tells us.

 

Reference: Picture of Elijah and Elisha

http://shannondavidwooten.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/asking-god-for-the-hard-stuff/

 

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