Elisha had the reputation as the man who poured water on Elijahs hands.
He was a servant, a helper, a student, a minister to Elijah.
God was getting ready to do a new thing, to release into the earth a double portion anointing of his spirit but in order to bring in the new he had to take out the old
This is not strange, this has been Gods process all along.
Heb 10:8-10 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(Job 9:12) Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?
Moses was removed so Joshua to take over
Elijah was removed so Elisha could take over
John the Baptist was removed so Jesus could take over
Jesus was removed so the Holy Ghost could take over
The law was removed (not destroyed) just superceded by grace.
*Very often because of unwillingness to change, or an inability to change or adapt God has to remove leaders and replace them in order to bring in the new or fresh anointing and manifestation of his Spirit.
Lu 5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better
But sometimes there are those like Elisha who loved the old, understood the old, had learned from the old but knew that in order to receive the new he had to let the old go.
*Elijah didn’t die God took him,
Nothing on earth could separate Elisha from Elijah, He was committed, he was faithful, he was established, he loved his teacher, his mentor, his friend,
It’s amazing how little it takes to separate people today.
But when chariots and horses of fire swept down from heaven and separated them, Elisha knew it was time to let go (God was taking something away in order to replace it with something better).
I’m convinced tonight that God has been reaching into our churches and into our lives and he is trying to translate our Elijah’s (Some of our dear old friends,= our traditions, our methods, and our programs, and many of us have got Elijah by the leg and we’re refusing to let him go.
We’re not suggesting these things were wrong, or ineffective, or inappropriate, only that there role is over and instead of feeling like people are trying to kill your Elijah’s you need to realize that it just could be that God is trying to lift Elijah away from your life in order to bring into your life something greater.
Elisha wasn’t Anti- Elijah, He loved Elijah, and had learned from Elijah, but there was a fresh anointing that God was pouring out and he needed a new wineskin or skin bottle, to receive it.
Lu 5:37-38 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
The new wine is alive, it moves, it expands it must be placed in bottles that have the capacity to expand, and move with the inner workings, and expressions of the wine.
If we are going to be partakers of this fresh move of God we must become adaptable, flexible, expandable.
We may have grown up with Elijah but If we’ll let God rub us down with the oil of the Holy ghost we can become vessels that are channels for the new anointing to flow through.
Much of what we have become accustomed to in the church has been the designs of men, Godly men, Godly women but still just men and women, (Instituted by God (for a time = a season and a purpose).
Unfortunately many times we become like the children of Israel and we become enamored with the things, or methods, or tools, that God has used and when he is through with them instead of giving them up and moving on we find ourselves worshipping them and losing the presence and the anointing of God.
Example:
When Hezekiah began to reign over Judah The bible says:
3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.
4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
The children of Israel had set up and began to worship the brazen serpent that moses had lifted up in the wilderness.
Here was something that God had used one time, but the children of Israel had made a God out of the tool that God had used.
They didn’t know how to let go of what God had done, or what God had used and move on with God into the new.
For years Elijah had been his teacher, his mentor his crown of glory
*Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
By the spirit of prophecy these prophets knew that God was going to remove Elijah from Elisha’s life, (Change was coming to Elijah)
Elisha basically says: Yeah I know God has shown me already, but I don’t have time to stand here and talk about it, I don’t want to get caught off guard, I want to be able to see what’s happening and embrace it.
Elisha’s desire was for a double portion anointing
Elijah says: On this condition ( if you see me when I’m taken from you).
*If you see or perceive the spiritual implications, that I am being taken from you by divine purpose and timing
*In other words: To receive this fresh anointing
There has to be enough prophetic insight in your life to recognize that The brazen serpent was Gods Idea, but it was man made When Gods purpose for the tool was finished, the tool itself was worthless, and had no spiritual worth or value.
*Where we miss it is when God is finished with the tool, and has chosen other tools, rather than to let go of the old and receive the new we try to force the new into the old because we don’t want to change.
That’s why there are a lot of people that are getting upset and leaving churches today, because God is changing tools and methods, and they agree that we need a fresh and new anointing but they want it in the same old bottles.
This anointing won’t fit in the old bottles, the old bottles are too brittle, too stubborn, too stiff, and lastly (too worn out).
*When Elisha understood that the only hold up to the double portion anointing he had desired and asked for, was Elijah being taken from him.
He wasn’t making plans, and thinking up reasons and trying to get a committee together to hold Elijah down.
All he was concerned about was seeing it, because by seeing it he became transitional, He became the instrument that God used to transition to a double portion anointing.
I believe the Spirit of God is saying tonight that there are changes taking place and a lot of things that we have been calling an attack of the devil is just a transition in the anointing and those who have the spiritual insight to see what God is taking away, will make the transition into a new anointing.
Those who don’t recognize God in it will be like the sons of the prophets who could not accept that God was through with the old and went into the mountains to try and find Elijahs body.
In other words trying to keep alive something and an anointing whose time is over.
How do we know what God is done with, and what he’s doing now?
The same way it’s always been: Where is the anointing moving, If the anointing is in it God is in it, If the anointing isn’t in it anymore then let Elijah Go.
