The double portion is a sought-after measure of the anointing that each believer should long for. It is a measure of faith and anointing for the purpose of advancing the kingdom. As believers, each of us is called to serve and operate effectively in the kingdom of God. First, to save souls, and second, to advance kingdom principles in our lives and the lives of others. This is called becoming a disciple of Christ.
There is a journey to the place of the double portion that each one of us must encounter and walk through in order to become the recipient of the measure. It’s coming to the place of obedience and servanthood that is the walk of every one of us that brings us to the position of being ready to move forward effectively. In 2 Kings chapter 2, we see Elisha’s journey with Elijah, which places him in a position to ask for the double portion.
For close to 20 years, Elisha has followed faithfully as a servant. Now it’s time to move into the purpose of his calling. Elijah takes him on a journey back to a place of new beginnings. This is the place where your purpose and calling begin. After the season of preparation, you are in the trusted place to move into the next phase of your Christian life. A place of greater usefulness, where the anointing on your life can now double to handle what is in front of you. The issue is that most people settle somewhere along the journey and never arrive at the place of their purpose.
Four Places Along the Journey
In this 2nd chapter of 2 Kings, I want to address four areas. To me, these are four areas of temptation to settle short of the calling and future God has for your life. The first is “The Place of First Beginnings.” Here Elijah starts.
1. Gilgal — The Place of First Beginnings
2 Kings 2:1 states, “And it came to pass, when the LORD was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.”
Joshua 5:9 mentions Gilgal. It’s where the children of Israel who came out of the wilderness were circumcised. It’s the place of separation from God. It’s where we begin our journey. It’s the place of our salvation. For many people, this place becomes a place where they settle. It’s a place where sins are forgiven, and they are Born Again. Often, many new believers settle here. This becomes a comfort zone for their life; they’re saved and no longer going to hell.
Now they have their comfort zone, and that is as far as they go; they never take the next step in their journey. They’re like the seed that falls amongst weeds. The cares of this life and daily problems surround them. They always come up for prayer, yet never go any farther. This becomes a place of settlement, and it’s important for us believers always to remember that your salvation is not the end of your journey; it’s the beginning of your calling.
We can call it the starting block—the place of the new life in Christ.
All old things have passed away, and all things are becoming new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) It’s the exciting starting place for the journey of your life.
2. Bethel — The God Encounter and Revival
The second place in the journey becomes the place of “The God Encounter,” also the place of “Revival.” It’s called Bethel. In 2 Kings 2:2, Elijah says, “Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, please, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went down to Bethel.”
Bethel is the place of the God encounter. It’s where the promises and covenants come alive with the power of revival. Revival is the platform for the God Encounter. It reveals all God is and His will as He empowers the promises we have. It is a refreshing and healing movement that awakens people to the love and presence of God. This God encounter empowered the promises that Isaac released over Jacob.
Genesis 28:3-4 states: “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.”
The blessing and its inheritance, along with the attached promises, became fortified at this encounter. God has not changed His mind. We have all been blessed with Abraham’s blessings, and revival can be the move of God that awakens us to our calling and purpose. Jacob arrives at what is called Luz at that time and lies down to sleep. He dreams and sees a ladder set up on earth that touches heaven. On this ladder, he sees the angels of God ascending and descending. Luz means “Almond Tree.”
Jeremiah 1:11-12 states: “Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”
The almond tree declares the word that God has given to accomplish the task. You and I have a word concerning our lives that is waiting for its awakening. Encountering God empowers it and sets it in motion.
Genesis 28:13-15 states: “And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: ‘I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
Revival takes the promises on the pages of your Bible and opens them to you so you can receive them from God. This is where the encounter changes everything. Now you have a direct revelation that God is with you, and His presence confirms it. The problem is that revival can also become a place of settling. We step into the flow of God and want to camp there. We want to go from revival to revival without ever moving into the purpose of the great encounters that we have.
We forget that the moves of God are just that. They are to move you into the next level of your life. Revival awakens you to what God is doing, and now He wants you to go forward from there. Jacob changes the name to Bethel, “House of God.” The revelation is that Heaven is involved with your future. Though Jacob had to leave there and continue his journey, the spirit of Bethel will go with him all the way. When revival hits, we take the awakening with us.
It doesn’t remain in the moment for us to keep chasing; it and everything in the revival carry us and move with us as we choose to advance in the journey. Many people have become revival junkies, I would call it. They want to camp in one move and end up becoming useless for the purposes of God.
3. Jericho — The Place of Miracles and Breakthrough
The next level is where God did a great miracle, or breakthrough, in your life or ministry. Moving forward, Elijah now heads towards Jericho.
2 Kings 2:4 states; “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.”
Joshua 6:2-5 gives us the account of the first great battle to be won;
“And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
Jericho was the first great battle as the children of Israel entered the land. With a powerful move of God, the walls came down flat, and Israel won a great victory. The miracle encouraged the nation that God was more powerful than all opposition. With this great victory, they could now move forward into victory after victory, or from one miracle to the next. Quite often, we as believers or as a church see a great deliverance, miracle, or move of God that gets us all excited.
The problem can be that we don’t move forward from it, or set it as a memorial to encourage ourselves or others to follow the example of the victory. Instead, we camp there. Our whole testimony is what God did, not what the miracle He produced has accomplished for the future, or how our journey has advanced. So often I hear people talk about some great thing God has done. They can tell all about the day of great deliverance, but they have nothing about what He is doing now.
It is a discipline to move forward from our Jericho victory. We pressed hard for the first miracle, but lost sight of the next. You and I are called to go from glory to glory, and from victory to victory. Your journey will encounter many Jerichos. Our testimony is not about one miracle, but how we won many battles, saw many miracles, and finished the race.
4. Jordan — The Place of New Beginnings
Now on to the Jordan, and the place of your new beginning.
2 Kings 2:6 states, “Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here, please, for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on.”
Jordan is the place of new beginnings. Everything before in the blog was testimonies of what God has done in others’ lives. In all of them, I attempted to show you how easy it is to camp at any of them. Along the way, prophets stood at each location. They could only, in a sense, speak about where they were, not where they were going. Each one tried to discourage Elisha from moving forward through the Journey of Elisha to the place of his beginning.
Learning from someone else’s journey should encourage us to be willing to step into our own. Sometimes others who have gone no farther in theirs try to get you to camp with them where they settled. Now, in this place in Elisha’s life, he is called to finish the race with Elijah so he can begin his own. You and I can’t take shortcuts on our journey. It is so easy to keep looking back and say, “I have done enough; I can rest now.” Our rest is consistently in Christ.
We are not called to look back, as Jesus said in Luke 9:62: “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’”
Elijah brought Elisha back across the Jordan to the place where Israel would cross, by a mighty move of God. It is in the place of journey beginnings. From here, in 2 Kings 2:9-10, Elijah says, “And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”
Elijah is about to end his journey when he asks Elisha the question. Your next journey begins where you finish your present one. If you camp anywhere before that, you can never ask for more of God’s anointing for your future. You are stuck and living in the anointing that was needed for that level, and have not moved forward with your eyes focused on what’s in front of you.
Looking back is staying back. Looking forward is moving forward.
Jesus said in Matthew 8:20, “And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’”
The heart of Jesus was seen at the cross, where in Hebrews 12:2 the writer states: “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
From the cross, Jesus looked ahead to the harvest His death would accomplish. If He had lost that vision, He wouldn’t have stayed on the cross, and we would have no salvation. The double portion anointing is only for those whose eyes are set on the prize. With Elisha running the full race with Elijah, and not camping anywhere, he was in the position to inherit the work and ministry. But the work will be under a new anointing because it’s never for what was, but always for what will be. The anointing is for what’s ahead.
Then the whirlwind of God comes; the chariot of God and the horsemen snatch Elijah away, and the mantle falls to the ground. Elisha’s journey is about to begin. He tears off the robe of what was and is now ready to wear the mantle of what is to come. Having run the race all the way, he is now promoted to the place of purpose. The Jordan is the fourth place in which many believers settle. Just on the other side of all God has for them.
Sitting in a place where they have taken the long journey to get to, to say, “I’m good,” they have read the books and stories of others that have gone over into the faith adventure. They read about those who faced great Jerichos and saw mighty moves of God. But they never chose to cross themselves. Before them are the greatest adventures of their lives, yet they chose just to enjoy the view of what could be.
All they need to do is believe it and go. Elisha will grab the mantle. He will strike the mantle on the Jordan, and he will enter into his ministry. Elisha’s ministry will be twice as strong; he will see twice the miracles as Elijah and grow the ministry to at least twice its size. Your calling is about what is ahead of you.
Believer, when you choose to see what God sees, you will strive all the way to arrive at what God sees, and not looking back, you will arrive at the place of the next promotion. And when that time comes, you will be ready to receive the double portion anointing that will bring you all the way.
Be Blessed,
