Elijah was an unusual prophet who showed up on the national spiritual landscape of Israel like a clap of thunder. He declared a 3½ year famine and disappeared only to reappear to declare a return of the rain. Calling Israel back to God through the descent of fire in a sacrifice and judging the prophets of Baal, it is surprising to find his humanity getting the better part of him as he became depressed and felt like dying. Especially because he felt alone in his battles against Jezebel and her horde of idolaters (1 Kings 19:4). His superhuman posture in ministry was such a contradiction to the weakness exhibited in his escape from Jezebel and his loneliness.
God’s answer to the national problems weighing Elijah down however was nothing but the anointing of three people (Hazael to be king over Syria, Jehu to be King of Israel, and Elisha to be prophet in his place -1 Kings 19.15:17). The combination of the three, working in unity against opposition will overcome those forces. For Elisha, as he pursued hard after the anointing upon Elijah through service, several distractions would attempt to sway him in Gilgal, Bethel and Jericho. He however, remained focused, determined and eventually got what he wanted.
The answer to solving personal, family, ministry, business and even national problems is the Anointing of the Holy Spirit. The divine dimension is brought into natural and human circumstances, resulting in supernatural turnarounds when the Spirit of Christ steps in. It was complete chaos and emptiness in Genesis 1:2 and yet the Spirit of God brooded upon it. In response to the Word, He turned darkness to light, brought life to the lifeless, beauty and order to chaos, and transformed a hopeless situation to a glorious new dawn. As the mantle of Elijah became Elisha’s hope of victory over the enemies of Israel, you and I must look beyond our abilities, logic, networks and systems for answers and solutions on every level. A desire for the anointing must translate to a desire for the Anointer, the Lord Jesus. The Anointed one Himself will anoint us as we seek him with focus.
Moses was carrying the burden of Israel in the wilderness all alone until his father-in-law showed up in Exodus 18 . He taught him to delegate responsibilities to others. While this is fundamental to the growth of any organization, for the disciples of Christ committed to the Agenda of God’s kingdom on earth, there are spiritual dynamics that must be in consideration. Delegation is not enough. There must be an Impartation of the anointing after the delegation. In preparing Joshua to succeed him, Moses laid his hands upon Joshua, causing him to be filled with the same Spirit of wisdom that Moses had to lead, manage, adjudicate and legislate (Deutoronomy 34:9). In Numbers 11, God Himself asked Moses to bring the 70 major leaders of the nation before His presence and then took measures of His Spirit (anointing) upon Moses and placed it on all of them. It is pertinent that we bring people close enough to us, pray with them, allow them to serve alongside us, so the substance of God’s grace upon our lives can rub off on them. On the other hand, if you are the one who desires a higher level of Grace, you can contact it through ‘Environment, Influence and Association’. Stay around the anointed, serve around the anointed and allow the anointed to minister to you regularly and you will pick up their mantles if relevant to your purpose.
The Lord Jesus Christ left the world in the hands of 12 men in whom He had reproduced Himself. By allowing them to be with Him (Mark 3:13-14), they received empowerment from Him and learnt His way of doing things. When He departed for heaven and they began to carry out ministry and work miracles in the name of Jesus, people took knowledge that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). Nothing beats the life-on-life impact of a Master/Disciple relationship as Jesus had it with the twelve and commanded us to do the same(Matthew 28:19). Paul also duplicated himself in Timothy and Titus similarly and instructed Timothy to do the same in what was supposed to be an established culture of perpetuity in the church at Ephesus (2 Timothy 2:2). In other words, not only are we to reproduce ourselves in other people, we are to reproduce ourselves in people in order that they might also reproduce themselves in others who will reproduce themselves in others also. Reproducing reproducers is the way to permanently exercise dominion over our world and have the dominion God mandated us to have over the earth. The great commission is depended upon this principle. To be continued.