I woke up a few weeks ago thinking about the story of Elijah and Elisha. For those who are unfamiliar, Elisha was called to follow Elijah and become his successor. At the time when Elijah called Elisha to follow him, the Bible says that he threw his mantle on him (his coat or outer garment), 1 Kings 19:19. This was a symbolic way of saying: “Come and follow me, serve me and learn my calling.” Elisha basically said: First let me go and kiss my parents and then I will come and follow you, to which Elijah replied, “Go on back, what have I done to you.” It seemed that from the calling of Elisha, all the way to the end of his time with Elijah, he was being tested to see if he would persevere to the end.
II Kings, chapter 2, records the story of when Elijah was about to be taken to heaven in a whirlwind, at the end of his time on earth. When Elijah was ready to leave Gilgal, he told Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me 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. When it was time to leave Bethel to go to Jordan, Elijah again told Elisha “stay here,” but again he refused. At the time when Elijah was about to be taken away, he asked Elisha what he wanted, to which he replied, “A double portion of your spirit.” Elijah replied that he had asked a hard thing, but if he saw him when he was taken away, he would get his request, but if not, he wouldn’t.
As you may know, Elisha persisted in following Elijah until the time of him being whisked away in a chariot of fire, and he was then blessed with the same anointing that had rested on Elijah, only a double portion of it. The Bible records that Elisha did twice as many miracles as Elijah. What I sensed that the Lord was speaking to me from this story was that he wanted me and all of us to be persistent in seeking Him to go to the next level. It can be easy to become so distracted with everything going on in our lives that we just settle at some point and stop really pursuing our relationship with God or moving into new levels of anointing.
A day or two after I woke up thinking about Elijah and Elisha, my husband had two dreams. In the first one, He was in a room that was full of beautiful, oval shaped, sapphire stones, about the size of an egg, that looked like a “crown jewel.” In the middle of the stone and moving out was a swirl that was multi-colored, with the colors of many other gem stones, like the colors of the rainbow. The room was full of these beautiful stones, being displayed in cases, and everyone was allowed to have one. However, there were very few people in the room. It seemed that most people were either oblivious to the fact that they were available to them or they were not interested.
In the next dream my husband had, he saw a white cowboy hat, that he really wanted. However, he knew there were things he had to do to earn the hat. The hat did not represent salvation, my husband is already a Christian, and salvation is a free gift, that was purchased by Christ for us. I believe it represented a calling or mantle, similar to that in the story of Elijah and Elisha.
Last week my husband had a dream that he was going up in an elevator to get a new set of clothes. Again, I believe this represented moving up in his relationship with God or a new level of anointing.
The morning that I woke up thinking about Elijah and Elisha, I got up and turned on You tube, and there was a lady minister on there, talking about “mantles.” She was saying that very few people actually ever receive a mantle because they are costly. It will cost you time, meaning putting aside things you might want to do, in order to seek the Lord, and sometimes fasting, and obedience to go where the Lord sends you and do what He tells you too. It’s not easy, but I think it’s definitely worth it.
I believe we are living in the beginning of the time of the harvest that Jesus mentioned, when he said, “the harvest is the end of the age.” (Matthew 13:39, NKJV). In Matthew 24:14, Jesus said “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” For those who are willing to press in and really seek the Lord, I believe there is a greater anointing that will come on us to win souls and do the work of the kingdom, before the Lord returns. As a matter of fact, I suspect that the double portion anointing that came on Elisha was symbolic of the last great outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will come on believers, to enable them to reap the harvest, before the return of the Lord. God bless you all. Keep pressing in.
In Christ ~ Kelly Rowe
A Deeper Walk 