Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.” “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.”
2 Kings 2:9-10
The heart cry of every Pastor, that God would give us at least as much, if not more, anointing than those who have gone before us.
Interesting that Elijah tells the young prophet that what he is asking for is hard. I think most of us ignore that part. I did! I still do!!
The “anointing” seems to be on others around me, and amazing things are happening through them. It doesn’t look that hard from the outside.
Better yet, I think it not really ours to get the anointing. We ask and Jesus gives.
Some hard lessons of pastoral and public ministry have honed in me the belief that what is ours is to steward the anointing.
Some seem good at seeking and getting, but not so good at stewarding it once received. Think of any outwardly successful pastor who eventually flames out in one way, shape or form.
Earlier in Elijah’s life, he learned the hard way too that what Elisha was asking for was not easy!
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night.
1 Kings 19:1-9
The lessons Elijah learned about stewarding the anointing were far more simple than we imagine, mostly. Check your own anointing stewardship against them in this way-too-busy-Easter season:
- What’s your internal thought life like right now?
- How much sleep have you given yourself this week?
- How much time have you invested away from the church or your office?
- Do your spouse, kids, family, friends, know where you are and when and what you’re doing other than “working” or “at the church”?
- What has your diet been like this week?
All just part of stewarding the anointing friends! What would you add?