Elisha Spirit
by Neil W. Gamble
Elisha was the prophet that followed Elijah. He was the one with the
double anointing. He was the one who revealed that not only “God is”
(Elijah) but that “God saves” (Elisha). Through the years people keep
praying the same prayer over me, the double anointing of Elisha. They
don’t know what others have prayed, but still pray the same thing.
Even in India I find the same thing happening, the same prayer. I have
studied this prophet over the years and have a few things to share;
not about the prophet so much, but maybe about us. The people of our
generation, who are called to share the Word of God and His presence.
I will use his call as an example.
I will not be going to scriptures much but you can check out what I
am saying in the Word. Elisha is called in the 19th chapter of 1st
kings. Then he appears again in 2nd kings 2. Chronologically there
seems to be about 10 years from the time of his calling till you hear
of him again. He was in training for a while. Sometimes we tend to
want things now but with God we should expect time to go by between
the call and the anointing.
There are four tests that the Lord put Elisha through preparing Him
for ministry and these same tests await all called to be God’s
representatives. These tests are; loyalty, loneliness, faith, and
ambition.
First is loyalty. Loyalty could be called commitment of a kind but is
deeper than that. It has to do with the attitude of unfailing and
determined love. Loyalty stays when commitment runs out. It stems from
God’s call so it’s deeper than your words. It stays when there is no
encouragement. It gives when there is no reward. It sees changes
though knowing that there will be discouraging things happen. Rather
than being based on convenient love, loyalty is based on covenant
love. Elisha’s loyalty is tested when Elijah is starting his journey
to go home to the Lord. Three times he is given the opportunity to
quit. He is tested to see if he would cling to his vision or abandon
it because of other good things. If he didn’t want to take the risk
that what he felt was true, he was given the opportunity to stay
safely behind. Loyalty is a decision of the will. For Elisha leaving
Elijah is not an option because He fears God and loves Elijah.
Second comes loneliness. Loneliness could be isolation from others,
those who don’t hear the call to really be sons or servants as deeply
as you. Elisha had been plowing for years and had no way to answer the
call in his heart till Elijah came along. He left his home, family,
living, and burned his bridges behind him. Loneliness can come from
misunderstanding you and your dream in the Lord by others also. We
need each other and we need to work at relationships in ministry, yet
at times there will be a real separation unto God, by God, so your
dependence on God will be your only rock. Being shunned, criticized,
or misunderstood should never give us the excuse to be bitter or
unforgiving. It should lead us closer to the Lord. People will not
understand you. They will be jealous and envious of God’s presence in
your life when things start to happen that show God is for you. They
may even laugh when you have misfortune or appear to have lost your
anointing. We must be prepared to walk alone with our vision until
some catch it with us and realize that it is God. Loneliness will test
your relationship with God and your security in the call He has on
your life. Responsibility always brings with it envious and
patronizing comments from fear filled, hurting people. Responsibility
will cause many lonely times for the man of God with a vision of God’s
will and purpose.
The other prophets probably shunned Elisha because he was always with
Elijah and looked like a “favorite” as he served the prophet’s needs.
He also probably felt alone because no one understood his desires for
the Lord and the anointing that filled his heart.
Third is faith. Faith works by love and is fueled by hope. Biblical
Christianity is unashamedly supernatural in exhibition and fact. Faith
produces miracles. God’s supernatural events usually were channeled
through men of faith. Elisha was a man of miracles through faith. He
even raised a man from death after he was in the grave. God is a
liberator and every miracle of God is an act of liberation to men and
nations. Elisha’s life was filled with miracles. God is always about
the destruction of the devices of satan and his deceptions. We need to
have a faith that puts us in touch with the Spirit and power of God.
Like Elisha, we need to bring the miracles of God to bear on the wiles
of the devil. In America we have tried to tame God and make Him
manageable. We want a God that will not shock, surprise, or threaten
anyone. We need to overcome our fears of what God will do and just
move with Him, trusting Him. We need to get acquainted with a
non-predictable, scary and not necessarily safe, but loving God. Love
and power are made available to us as servants and sons to demonstrate
at this time His mercy and truth to a dying world. Faith produced
miracles enable us to destroy the works of the enemy. They bring hope
to the masses of frightened people, who will fear us and mock us with
our God in spite of the miracles. Faith should possibly have a
definition of “risk taking belief” added to it’s meaning. You risk God
not showing up. You risk the ridicule of your peers. You risk your
life and reputation. You risk missing God and misrepresenting Him, but
to those who are called, you must risk! We must die to the fear of all
these, to have real faith. All of the fruit on the tree is “out on a
limb”. Plundering hell will always make the enemy mad and will always
involve risk-taking. Regardless of the consequences faith is daring,
because God has told you to do it. We live by faith or we don’t live
at all.
Fourth and last is ambition. Ambition is the aspiration or hope we
have for our own future and the future of the lives God puts in our
path. It is the form of faith in a future tense. Elisha demonstrates
godly ambition when he asks for the double anointing of Elijah’s
spirit. Fleshly ambition will ask for fame and money, maybe even a
tape ministry. It envies everyone it meets that is having a greater
anointing or appears to be. It is selfish. Godly ambition seeks; the
double anointing for the miraculous, the faith for souls, and the
wisdom to change people’s hearts. It is desirous of the presence of
God and all He brings – for others. Godly ambition is not a spur of
the moment thing. It has weighed the cost and realizes that this
double anointing will cause one to have to confront sin and
misdirection, challenge idolatry and demon worship, risk poverty and
unpopularity, and expects to be misunderstood and mistreated. Elisha
had been with Elijah for years and knew the suffering of the prophet
well before he asked for the double anointing.
The following message was given to me on the 30th of June 2001: “God
will soon demand of his anointed ones a demonstration of the love,
presence, power, and character of Christ worthy of the day, hour, and
time in which we live.”
Only the Elisha spirit will bring this demonstration of “God is” and
“ God saves” to the world. Let us be prepared. Let us be ready. Let us
pray for the double anointing.
The calling of God on our lives should cause us to look at our lives
without deceit. We should be real in all of our reflections. If God is
not calling on us to do the impossible then we should wonder why. We
should be constantly and consistently checking ourselves out to make
sure we are in “The Way”.
All of the prophet’s life, he was giving grace and mercy to the ones
in need and the oppressed. At the same time he confronted the
religious and the powerful. He was a man of sorrows and He was a man
of deep passion. If we are to make the world know that their gods are
not in control we will have to develop an intimacy with the Lord that
causes us to know what is going on in their bedrooms to confound the
enemy’s plans. WE will have to become companions of the Lord’s
presence. A new and better covenant is what the Word says we have. A
son is more than a servant, closer than a friend. We should dwell in
His domain. Heaven is a place where all is known. The Word of the Lord
says we should know the truth and things to come through the Holy
Spirit. Are we willing to be scorned? Are we willing to pay the price
to have a double-edged sword, a double anointing? I think that we have
avoided the Lord in some ways, like not being willing to see the
judgments of God on our works and our lives. Let’s get freed up and
stop deceiving ourselves. Let’s see the grace in judgments and
justice. “Those He loves, He chastens”. God is calling us to come away
with Him, but we are saying no, because we fear seeing to clearly. It
will cause us to fall on our faces in fear. We will have to see the
truth and that can be really scary. I have found in these last days
that I am not honest with myself. I will not put myself in a place of
being to vulnerable to Jesus as it will hurt too much. Even though I
pray for him to change me I find that I hedge on that prayer when I
see things too clearly. I am becoming a man who is undone. A man who
finds himself in the presence of one who will not trifle with sin, yet
loves me. I want to fulfill His desire and His purpose for my life;
yet, I tell him that I don’t like the price that He wants me to pay.
May the Lord have mercy on us all and remember that we are like grass.
How can we see, and know, and not do? How can we face the enemy if we
don’t deal with the sin that suppresses us? We must apprehend who and
what we are from the Lord. We must become dangerous to the enemies of
the Lord! We must become more than we know! It is time for the church
to say, “ No more, no way, to all our enemies!”
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