'A Double Portion of Your Spirit'
"Jehovah-shammah" The Lord is There
*Deuteronomy 4:7 "For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?"
Everyone needs a hero, someone to look up to. People by the hundreds flock to bookstores, concerts, movie theaters, political functions, seminars, airports, and sports arenas just to watch, get a glimpse of, hear, or get an autograph from their favorite icon. Often showing their approval through shouts, praises, dances, and applauds and mimicking them in dress, hairstyles, platforms, voice, movements, and, some, to the extent of plastic surgery.
During the course of our life we may hope to aspire to greater things than our idols accomplish in their lives. We constantly strive for what we believe would be the greatest accomplishment in our life - to be someone of importance or to make a difference in the world. What we often fail to see is the fact that these so called heroes had others that they too once looked up to with admiration, ones that they chose to imitate.
Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. Unfortunately, when one generation follows another imitating its predecessors the flaws and imperfections in their character begin to escalate when we do not fully understand their motives. Where boundaries were set in one generation the next generation moves the line just a little farther until wrong is considered right and right is considered politically incorrect. What starts as a flicker in the flame can become a consuming fire.
Taking on another person's character can be appealing; however, before we ever step into another person's proverbial shoes we need to know who and what that person represents and what type of nature motivated their actions.
When Jezebel threatened Elijah after he killed all the prophets of Baal he fled to the wilderness to Mount Horeb where God told him to return by way of the wilderness of Damascus. God instructed him to anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. He was to anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel. Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah, he was to anoint as prophet in his place.
On his way from Sinai to Damascus, Elijah found Elisha plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. When Elijah passed by he threw his mantle upon Elisha. Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Let me return to my father and my mother and kiss them goodbye. Then I will follow you." After returning to Elijah, Elisha remained with him as his adopted son, ministering to his needs for over seven years.
When the time came that the LORD had appointed to take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, Elisha went with Elijah from Gilgal. There he told Elisha to remain while he went to Bethel, but Elisha refused and went to him. Then Elijah told him to remain while he went to Jericho, and again Elisha refused and went with him. A third time Elijah told him to remain in the city while he went to Jordan but again Elisha refused saying, "As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you."
Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view at a distance when Elisha and Elijah stood by the Jordan River. As they watched, Elijah took his mantle then, wrapping it up, he struck the waters, and the waters divided so that the two men crossed over on dry ground. After they crossed the river Elijah said unto Elisha, "Ask me what I should do for you before I am taken away from you." Elisha answered, "I pray let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." Elijah responded, "You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken away from you, you will have what you ask. But if you do not see me it shall not be so."
As they walked and talked there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire that separated them and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. When Elisha saw it he cried, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof," and he no longer saw Elijah. The only thing that remained was Elijah's mantle which had fallen. Elisha picked up the mantle went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Taking the mantle of Elijah he struck the waters and said, "Where is the LORD God of Elijah?" When he struck the waters, they divided and Elisha went over on dry land. The fifty men of the sons of the prophets witnessed all these things and bowed before Elisha accepting him as prophet in place of Elijah.
The miracles of God performed through Elisha far outnumber those of Elijah. It was the double portion of the Spirit of God that moved in and through him that brought many people in Israel through both war and famine during the sixty years Elisha served the Lord as their prophet.
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In an upper room in Jerusalem thirteen men were assembled sharing a sacred meal. It was time and Jesus knew that His hour had come. As He arose from supper He laid aside His garments. Then picking up a towel, He bound it around His waist. Pouring water into a basin, He began to wash His disciples' feet and wiped them with the towel.
When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter exclaimed, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I do you do not now know, but hereafter you will know." Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet," but Jesus answered, "If I don't wash you, you have no part with me." Peter responded, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head."
When He had washed their feet He asked them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord. This is good because I am. If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have given you an example. You should do as I have done to you. Truly the servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, you should be happy to do them."
After these things Jesus said to them, "Little children, I am with you for a little while but you shall seek Me, and as I said to the Jews I now say to you, 'Where I go, you cannot come.' Don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions, if it weren't so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you so that where I am, there you may be also. You know where I am going and you know the way."
Then Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where You are going, how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. If you had known Me, you should have known My Father. From henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him."
Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us." Jesus said, "Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father. Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you are not My own but the Father's that dwells in me. He does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works' sake. Truly I say to you, He that believes on Me, the works that I do he shall also do, and greater works than these shall he do because I go to My Father."
"Whatsoever you shall ask in My name I will do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you love Me, keep My commandments. I will pray to the Father and He shall give you another Comforter so that He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it doesn't see nor know Him, but you know Him because He dwells with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will not see Me anymore, but you see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."
The world's heroes come in many forms and many guises. The image which they often reveal to world reflects all that is pleasing to the eyes, tickles the ears, and stimulates the flesh. The image which they reflect can be appealing to the senses and what they say and what they do has a definite impact on society.
What we see others do has a great impact on our lives, but often what we consider idealistic falls short of real heroic characteristics. Self-importance and self-indulgence are among the most motivating factors in many of the worlds icons. They may start out wanting to be just like their heroes but once they are elevated the sensation becomes hypnotic and takes on a character of its own. What the world sees is a facade of who they truly are and once someone else steps in to take their place they are quickly forgotten by the next generation.
Stepping into someone else's shoes or putting on another person's garment comes with great responsibility. Elisha spent over seven years of his life with Elijah. What he witnessed in Elijah was something that he desired. His one request was a double portion of the Spirit of God that rested upon Elijah. The Spirit of God that reflected on Elisha was the same as what was seen in Elijah. Elisha may have done greater things, but it is Elijah that is remembered throughout the course of history.
Jesus said that no man has at any time seen the Father except the Son, He came to show us the Father. What He revealed to the world was an image which those who believe in Him are to show to others, a reflection of His glory. The glory that can only come from the Father through the Son, the Spirit of God.
The image which we portray to the world reveals our character, our nature. When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior our character changes. We put on His garment, so to speak, and become a new creature in Jesus Christ. We take on the character and nature of Jesus Christ which came from the Father through the Holy Spirit that resided in Him.
The Spirit of God is the Who protects us and guides us. Who gives us strength when we are weak. Who gives us the faith to do more than what we believe. Who causes our foot not to stumble and makes us stand in the very presence of God. He gives us the words to speak when our wisdom fails us and we know the mind of Christ.
Jesus told His disciples that those who believe in Him would do greater things than what He had done. We are Christ's ambassadors in the world. What greater things can we do than to reveal the Son of God to a lost and dying world by spreading the word of God to the farthest corners of the earth. Whatsoever we ask in His name He will do to the glory of God the Father.
We cannot do this by our own power. It is only through the power of God, the Spirit of God, that we are able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think. When we put on the nature of Christ we have a great responsibility, to reveal His likeness to the world. It is Christ in you the hope of glory. We are taken from glory to glory in and through Him and it is only to God be the glory for the things He has done.
O The world is looking for a hero. Someone to ride in on a white horse and to set every thing that is wrong right. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, is one of those heroes who is remembered for doing the right thing and the Lord was with him because he walked in the ways of David.
*August 21, 2004