The Spirit of Elijah 3 - The Price of Possessing the Double Portion

T he Price of Possessing the Double Portion

Someone wisely said, "If it doesn't cost you something, you don't own it." David said, "I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing." All the things of God have a price tag attached. If you are not willing to pay the price, you will never be in possession of that which you seek. 

So it is with the double portion. 

Elisha paid a price to wear the mantle: he paid a price to possess the double portion. 

His master (authority) instructed him to remain where he was. Stay where you are. Proceed no further. 

There are only two types of people in the world: those who can not do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else. 

God's men must to be tested, tried and proven. 

So many today find themselves in the category, "Sit here." "Don't go any further." "What you have done and are doing is acceptable to the Lord. This is all He requires." 

The very calling, the resolve, the determination, the perseverance of every minister must be challenged. The will of God must emerge supreme. The desire for God rooted in the innermost depths of the soul must win through. The minister must go on. 

Numbers 14:24   But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed him fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. 

Hosea 6.-3   Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. 

Hebrews 6:1   Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Let us go on unto perfection. Let us go on. Let us go. Don't stay, go! Go on. Go on, and on, and on, and on. 

The first test for Elisha was to stay at Gilgal. Gilgal means a wheel, a circle, or rolling. 

Man has been designed by his Creator with his reach beyond his grasp. When he no longer functions in the purpose of the God and ceases to go beyond or reach out, he stagnates, he sits down, he goes round and round in circle: just like a wheel. 

Get off the hurly-burly, merrygoround lifestyle of Gilgal and go on with your Master. 

Understand that your destiny can never be realised unless you go on. Sit down and you will perish. 

Proverbs 4:18   But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. It does not sit still. Get up and go! The second test required for Elisha to possess the double portion was not to settle down at Bethel. Bethel means the house of God. 

How easy it is to build one's life around the house of God. Social life, education, worship and a host of activities cry out to be satisfied. 

If you would be a candidate for the double portion, let your emphasis be on the God of the house. Only then will your ambition be realised. 

The third test centered around dropping out at Jericho. 

Jericho means fragrance and symbolises that which is pleasing to the senses. 

Do not allow that which cries for recognition to rob you in your pursuit of the double portion. 

1 John 2:15-17   Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

The fourth test was to give up at Jordan. Jordan means descender, flowing down, and portrays death. 

How easy it is to lie down when everything around you is impregnated with death. How easy it is to stop here. Don't do it. Don't quit. Don't give up now: the fifth and final test is here. 

How important it is to understand that the offer of the Master never came until both men had crossed the Jordan river. 

The requirement? If you see me when I am taken from you. 

Twelve long years of waiting and four heart searching tests had brought the man of God to this very point. Surely he would not let this moment pass, let this opportunity go, let this situation fail. 

His eyes on supernatural signs could have robbed him of the very reason why he was created: to receive a double portion!