It happened during a time of earnest prayer. I had just returned home from Bible School and was seeking the Lord for direction. As the Spirit of God began to breathe His prayer through me, I found myself crying out over and over again, “Abba Father”. As this heavenly cry grew in intensity within me, I was led to open my bible to the book of Galatians for spiritual illumination. It was as if the scripture just burst out of the pages of the book as I read it:

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Gal 4:4-7)”

What love and assurance filled my soul! What confidence was born in me as I realized my true identity with the Father! It was as if God had poured out a warm anointing oil on the top of my head that ran down to the soles of my feet. I was a son of God and this divine fact would be eternally emblazoned on my heart. This moment of divine revelation would be the turning point in my life and ministry. It was then that I entered into a deeper relationship with Christ and a greater dimension of power and effectiveness.

It was literally this revelation, made real to my heart, that thrust me into a new dynamic of ministry. My capacity for compassion seemed to take on greater proportions. I felt the throbbing burden for the lost in a dimension I hadn't known before. The gifts of the Spirit began pouring out of my life to meet the need of the broken and afflicted. As I realized my sonship position with the Father, insecurity and intimidation seemed to disappear instantly. God ordained me to something new and wonderful in Him. I left that prayer closet declaring, “I am God's son, God is my Father, and all of heaven's resource is available to me!”

Ephesians says we are to grow up into Him, our Head in all things. Like Sarah, the barren church will bring forth a promised child. Christianity is progressive in nature. We should be continually in the process of growth and development. According to Acts 1:8, the believer is in a process of becoming. Jesus Himself, according to Luke 2:40, 52 and Heb 5:8-9, grew in spiritual stature until He became strong in spirit.

We began to advance on the pathway to sonship when we received the baptism in the Holy Ghost. When you received your baptism, you actually received the Spirit of His Son. Scripture confirms this by declaring, “And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Gal 4:6-7)”

Our development is spiritual in nature and deals directly with our baptism in the Spirit. Paul understood that God was bringing the Church into full stature in Christ as sons. This potential of sonship is contained in the baptism of the Spirit.

Paul the apostle had a burning passion for the Church that was often revealed in his prayer life. Listen to the words of Paul, “My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.... (Gal.4:19)” The great intercession of the Apostle Paul was for the Church to realize its sonship position. Once the vision is made clear to us by the Spirit's revelation, this will also be the intercession of our day.

This apostolic intercession of sonship was then and should be today the Spirit's cry deep within the heart of the Church. Remember that the Spirit is a travailing Spirit¾and God is looking for men and women who will surrender their hearts to His indwelling intercessor. This sonship travail of the Spirit that was in the heart of Paul must continue in us until the full stature of Christ is reached by the people of God. As we read in the book of Romans, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. (Rom 8:22)” A symphony of travail is now going up to the throne of God in anticipation of the manifestation of the sons of God.

In the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul gives us the fullest unfolding of God's promise of sonship to the Church, ”Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: (Eph.4:13)”

The Church has a destination to reach. This age will not be completed until we cross the finish line and arrive at the goal of God's eternal purpose. Sonship is our manifest destiny in Christ and our highest attainment as believers. The dramatic truth to be understood is that this can only be fulfilled in a corporate sense (until we all come). No one can achieve this goal and objective alone or apart from the Church. We must reach our destination together as we are vitally united to our Head, Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is impressing these truth upon the mind of the Church. The miracle of Christianity is that Jesus gave Himself to the believer, that He comes to anoint the believer’s spirit from heaven, that He comes to take possession of the believer’s heart and life, to live in him, move in him, act in him, speak in him, pray in him, and all the other activities of the Christian soul. Jesus took up residence within us. This resident reality of the inner life of Christ empowers us to live in sonship in this life. Sonship implies dominion and power over the enemy. The same divine authority that was vested in Jesus is vested in every believer's soul by Jesus. This is our right of sonship before the Father.

The marvel of true Christianity is found in the fact that a believing yet mortal human being is given the right and privilege to become a son of God with power and move into a new sonship status in his life just as Jesus did. Through the redemptive work of Christ, he is actually given the ability of God to do the works of Jesus and duplicate His ministry on the earth. The call of the Spirit is to tap into this divine potential of sonship and duplicate the lifestyle and ministry of Christ in the earth. The call of the Spirit is the call to sonship living.

With our new sonship status comes certain inalienable rights and privileges: answered prayer, for one. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He came healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38). He did not use carnal weapons in destroying the works of the devil. He used a spiritual weapon. We are to duplicate His ministry in the earth, to carry on where Jesus left off, to minister in His stead. The many-membered body of Christ ought to be a carbon copy of Jesus in His three and one half years of ministry on the earth.

The ultimate and final purpose of Christ as Savior, Healer, Baptizer, and Lord is that every Christian shall be a reproduction of His own nature and likeness. The indwelling Christ is so daily revolutionizing our nature as to make us like Him in every facet of our lives. What is Jesus doing today? He is duplicating Himself. As we read in the book of Ephesians:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Eph 4:11-13)

It is the mission of the Son of God to transform the soul of every believer into the likeness and character of Himself, and then present mankind to the Father Holy and acceptable in His sight (Col 1:22). The transforming grace of God within us is duplicating His nature, character, ability, compassion and attributes. We can joyfully exclaim, with John, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: (I John 3:1)” Let us not fail to continually thank God for this great miracle of grace He has given us!

We stubbornly go on with business as usual in our churches while the contradiction between what should be and what is stares us in the face. Like the proverbial ostrich who buries his head in the sand, many pretend all is well and refuse to admit this problem really exists. Yet the price of our spiritual ignorance is mounting and is becoming far too great to be tolerated any longer.

Thank God, there is a remedy. We can get back on course, but to do so, the Body of Christ must apprehend a clear vision of God's intention for the Church. Unless we get back ‘in the know,’ we will never get back ‘into the flow’ of divine reality. A revelation of God's purpose directly from the Holy Spirit is required.

Isaiah the prophet underscores the magnitude of the challenge we face when he writes,  “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him. (Isa 64:4 )” God has predestined a glorious future for mankind, but, according to this verse, a prevailing blindness afflicts him. From the very beginning of time, men have been simply unable to perceive God’s purposes.

The Church of Jesus Christ is not exempt from this condition. We, too, must contend with an inability to hear, see, and perceive the plans and purposes of God in the flesh. But Paul the apostle sounds a clarion call of hope when he declares, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Cor 2:10, emphasis added)” In a divine intervention of love, God assists His people and opens their understanding to see into His wonderful purposes and intentions for them.

Nowhere in the bible is that purpose more dramatically pronounced than in the book of Hebrews, where it is written; “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory... (Heb 2:10)” Our Christianity will invariably take on new meaning and rekindle a new excitement as the Father reveals His purpose in bringing many sons unto the glory of the first begotten Son. God's desire for a vast family of matured sons has always been the hidden mystery of His eternal purpose for mankind.

Nothing can be more exciting than to understand that at the moment of New Birth, we were supernaturally placed and positioned as His sons. At that miracle moment of regeneration, a divinely-imparted ability was implanted in our spirits to become fully matured sons of God. This is plainly set forth in the gospel of John, which declares, “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: (John 1:12)”

Here we discover the central theme of the New Testament and the objective of all God's redemptive action toward mankind: Power to become a son of God! This is a staggering but irrefutable fact out of the sacred pages of the word of God.

But what does it mean? We cannot afford to be obscure on this point. Simply stated, we, as believers, have actually inherited a glorious potential for a new and dynamic personality; a personality that is divine in nature and supernatural in origin.

Consider the fact that on a natural plane, personality is determined by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Environment interacts with heredity and personality is born. Even so, in Christ, we as believers have inherited genetic and environmental conditions through the New Birth. We inherited the genes of our Father God (all things reproduce after their kind, Gen 1:11), and the environment of the Holy Ghost. As new creation men and women, God the Father passes on to us His Spiritual traits and divine identity. By this miracle of new birth, we are literally adopted into God's family and become His sons in the earth.

To clarify this most fundamental aspect of God's purpose to the Church, the Holy Spirit gave us the spiritual term ‘sonship’. Remember, the Holy Spirit's ministry is to reveal truth and show us “…the things that are freely given to us of God. (1 Cor 2:12)” So from time to time, the Holy Spirit will give us inspired terminology to encapsulate the  revelation of a present truth He purposes to unfold to his people.

That having been said, we would also be well served by a word of caution here: While it is true that God is calling His people into sonship status, we must be careful not to think that God is offering us His deity. God is not now deifying, nor will He ever deify man. This will never be His Purpose, through all the millennia of time and eternity. He alone is God, and I refute any erroneous theological position that suggests we are “little gods.”

Let us consider this important message of sonship by asking the question the psalmist David asked many years ago, “What is man that thou art mindful of Him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? (Psa 8:4)”

What is man indeed? He is simply the raw material that Father makes sons out of. If you have surrendered your life to Him, then you are a son of God in the making. As the first epistle of John declares, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2)” You have a built in potential to be an exact duplicate of God's first and pattern Son, Jesus Christ.

If moving into sonship status is clearly God’s desire for all that call upon the name of the Lord, then reaching full potential as sons of God should be the primary goal of every believer. Paul considered the realization of this potential in his personal life as a prize to strive after and press into. He revealed this in his epistle to the Philippians, where he wrote, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14, emphasis added)” What was the prize Paul was pressing toward, but sonship?

He knew purpose generates action, and so a godly purpose generates godly action. Realizing God wanted to maximize his potential (while the devil wanted to minimize it), Paul surrendered every carnal pursuit and embraced God's grand purpose for his life.

Let us be followers of Paul, even as he was a follower of Christ (I Cor 11:1).  As the Lord opens our eyes to clearly see this glorious destiny He has planned for us, let us quickly renounce every other competing carnal pursuit in our lives and press for the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus!

The Church in the United States is confronting challenges of greater magnitude than it has ever faced before. Many nations around the world wonder if they are actually witnessing the world's greatest known superpower crumble from within. The fear and trepidation is global. We also hear the dismal cry of disillusioned Americans: "How could things have gone so wrong so quickly?" Luke 21:26 continues to unfold in our generation: "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."

The reality is a destructive landslide of secular and anti-Christ forces has been reigning over contemporary American society for decades. According to recent studies, fewer people identify themselves as Christians than ever before in our history. The allegiance of contemporary American society has slowly shifted from a covenant-keeping God toward a secular mindset, causing a tragic erosion of divine favor over our nation. In light of the godly origins and heritage of this country, this is a disturbing revelation indeed.

Can a nation whose motto has been 'In God We Trust' now reject its foundation without a qualm? Has its conscience been seared beyond the ability to recognize its true fallen state? Will the United States suffer the same fate as many of the once godly but now thoroughly secularized societies throughout Europe and the rest of the world? This constitutes a state of emergency for the Church!

But there is good news: In light of the present crisis, Americans are turning to Jesus for shelter from the storm. When the enemy comes in, like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord raises a standard against him (Isa 59:19). I can see with my spiritual eyes a divine standard rising over this nation. I cannot add my voice to the doom-sayers of our day, yet I issue a sober warning in the words of Jesus, as recorded by John the beloved: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work (John 9:4, emphasis added). These words have never been truer! The fields are white and ready for harvest (John 4:35). As we are faithful to lift Him up, He is faithful to draw all men to Himself. It's harvest time in America!

But before we go any further, I must pose a question: What level of impact has the local church had upon her community? Are we making a significant difference today? Are we truly salt and light as the Bible declares we should be? The impact of the Church must be deep enough to transform a culture and win a generation to Christ. Every member is required to be mobilized—functioning within his or her unique gifting—and prepared to produce a significant impact on our society. When we mobilize the Church around God's eternal purpose, His grace is released and the harvest is the inevitable outcome!

The urgency of the hour demands a fire baptized people set ablaze for Christ who know how to effectively engage the enemy in spiritual warfare on every front. They know that the anointed presentation of the gospel within and without the four walls of the church is the only weapon that can strike a deathblow to the kingdom of darkness in this hour. In these uncertain times, we must do more than come against the devil with a feather of good intentions. We must violently storm his gates. We must confront sin, fear, lust, religious bondage and unbelief with radical spiritual force. The result will be radical change, and it's all within our grasp.

As the kingdom of God advances in our ranks, we will retrieve a vast spoil of humanity presently under satanic control. We will literally snatch them out of the gates of hell, one by one if we have to! Hell is too hot and eternity is too long for us to sit and sour in the Church while those in the world are dying in their sins and crying for an answer!

Let us seed, plead and bleed before we see one sinner perish eternally and go to hell. If one is going to cross over into the gates of hell, it ought to be over our dead bodies. No hell-bent sinner should end up there without a fight for his or her soul on the battlefield of intercession. This is why I'm proposing what I call an "Impact Now" Campaign here at Upper Room!

I.M.P.A.C.T. NOW is an acronym meaning I MUST PRODUCE A CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION…NOW! I believe that all facets of our ministry must be engaged in this pursuit. I recently received a fantastic report from one of the many components of our I.M.P.A.C.T. NOW campaign. This report so stirred me that I must share it with you now; I can't wait!

Our Evangelistic and Drama I.M.P.A.C.T. TEAMS are seeing an incredible response to the If I Die Before I Wake performances on Friday nights. Not only is our sanctuary filled with hundreds of people who are traveling by busloads from our local communities, but on Friday, February 27, 2009, something extraordinary happened. Four hundred young people flooded the aisles and came to our altar, answering the call to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior!

I spoke to Pastor Nick D'Onofrio, who witnessed this event and was equally excited. He told me it reminded him of our younger days during the "Jesus Movement" back in the '70s. He said that as he stood in the back of the sanctuary, he saw groups of fifteen, sixteen and seventeen year olds consistently coming into the sanctuary looking for seats before the show. Instead of gathering to go to a club, going out drinking, or looking for drugs or some other kind of trouble, they were coming together to the house of God!

My son, Regan, gave the altar call that Friday night. He explained to me that he had never seen what happened in front of that platform before in his life. Regan told them that he had experienced personal pain in his life and knew what it was to be searching for an answer. He felt an urgency as he said to them the following: "It's not in getting high, smoking, drinking, or dancing in a club. The answer is Jesus." I was told that those who responded to Regan's prayer came running to the altar in droves. This type of a response stirs my spirit!

He went on to say, "With those in the world as desperate as they are, the Church must be ready to receive them. They're not going to come in looking like us, smelling like us or talking like us. But God loves them just as they are—just like God loves us. The Church has to embrace this hunger. This new generation of young people is un-churched, and needs to be taught and trained to share what they have received. These are the hungry ones out in the world who are being magnetically drawn by a limitless love that knows no boundaries."

I had the opportunity to speak to two of the heads of our Drama Ministry, Dominick Bonanno and Pastor Teresa Nunziante. Of the recent performances, Teresa said, "The first Friday we had about 400 people show up and we were blessed; that night 150 were saved and that was even more of a blessing. The second week, there were about 600 in the audience and about 250 came to Christ. The third Friday came and we were overwhelmed to see about 1,200 people had come to the production. The altar call that night was filled with people hungry to receive Christ. When week four came (February 27), we saw over 1,500 people in the sanctuary, and words couldn't describe the feeling. Seeing over 450 at the altar was the greatest blessing of all." This increase is nothing less than the working of Almighty God honoring the ministry of an evangelist.

Dominick spoke about this phenomenon as well: "People all over the room lifted their hands in the air and accepted the call of salvation. As they made their way to the altar and I watched people pray to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I couldn't help but well up with emotion at the witness of God's faithfulness once again. It wasn't a success because it was a great show, but because God was able to move through a group of people working in unity. The cast yielded their lives and gifts to the cause of bringing the Gospel message to people desperate for an answer."

Hearing about these If I Die performances has sparked me to make a strategic decision. Since God is clearly troubling the waters for the salvation of souls at Upper Room, I feel impressed of the Lord to extend these performances indefinitely.

The many talents and abilities of those in the cast of If I Die have been graciously made available to our loved ones, families, friends, neighbors and communities. Like the loaves and fishes, God is using what they have in their hands. But you have a part to play as well. I encourage you to get tickets and invite everyone you know to these Friday night 7:30 pm performances. This is an evangelistic tool that can change lives forever. There is a harvest. They are hungry. They are waiting. We are on assignment. Let's I.M.P.A.C.T. our community—NOW!

You can email us here:BDComment@UpperRoomCWC.org with any responses/comments to this post, or any other posts.

He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the banks of the Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. (II Kings 2:13-4)

Many gathered at the banks of the Jordan that day, but only Elisha seized the mantle of the double portion. He alone had followed Elijah back through the parted waters to the wilderness side of Jordan. Standing upon the same real estate the Hebrew nation wandered for 40 long years, Elijah asked, "What shall I do for thee?" Without hesitation, Elisha answered, "A double portion of your spirit be upon me!" His willingness to cross over Jordan and follow Elijah into the howling wilderness qualified him for the long desired mantle of power. It was there that Elisha uncovered a powerful principle for us: Mantles fall in the wilderness.

It seems like a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron: A glorious mantle in a howling wilderness? How can we justify this? Surely the double portion is acquired in the promised land! Perhaps it is atop Mt. Zion, at the peak of our spiritual experience. Is it not in the lofty places? Then it must be with Jacob, who wrestled with God in an all-night prayer meeting.

Elisha didn't find it in any of those places, that isn't where we will find it. The spirit of God is adjusting our perspective. Your greatest mantles are unlikely to be picked up in great congregational gatherings among multitudes of rejoicing Christians, but rather, alone in your wilderness with your heavenly Elijah, as you bow in brokenness of spirit before Him.

How could something so despised yield such blessing? The wilderness experience is an inevitable part of every believer's journey to the double portion anointing. It is not the consequence of a life gone irretrievably wrong or the neglect of a God who has forgotten us. There is purpose for your pain and meaning in your wilderness—so don't despise it. God has designed it to qualify you for the double portion. Be confident that you're coming out of your wilderness with greater power than when you entered it. You may have entered your wilderness in captivity, but you're coming out a free child of God. When you exit your trial you will be more than just a survivor, you will be transformed to an overcomer, clothed in new power from on high.

Jesus' baptism illustrates this truth. As John baptized Jesus in the muddy waters of the Jordan, a dove descended upon him and the Father spoke from heaven saying, "Thou art my beloved son, in thee am I well pleased." (Luke 3:22) No sooner was Jesus filled with the Holy Ghost at the Jordan than He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil (Luke 4:1).

This noteworthy truth bears repeating: Jesus comes out of the Jordan filled with the Spirit, but He does not experience the power of the Spirit until He emerges successfully from His wilderness. When did His infilling become His empowering? Only after He passed the test in the wilderness. We read, "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit unto Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about." (Luke 4:14)

If the Lord transformed His infilling at the Jordan into supernatural empowerment in the wilderness, we would be foolish to think we could escape that process in our own lives. But this process is not uniquely reserved for Jesus. It serves as a divine model for every true child of God who thirsts for the double portion anointing. You may be a spirit-filled believer, but you will not become a spirit-empowered overcomer until you successfully pass through your wilderness experience. Clearly, there are mantles of power found in the wilderness that cannot be found anywhere else.

We would love to bypass trials and tests on our journey toward spiritual maturity and empowerment, but there are no shortcuts. Jesus never promised us that. What He did say was that the promise is to the overcomer (Rev 3:21, 21:7). And in order to be overcomers, we have to face the obstacles. Our victories will not be without struggles. Life just isn't that way; its paths aren't smooth. There are ups and downs and bumps in the road. We must handle the wilderness of adversity faithfully, because the level of our faithfulness will determine the level of our anointing.

There can be no anointing oil without the crushing of the olive. There can be no wine of joy without the pressing of the grape. And gold cannot be purified without the fire. Most importantly, there cannot be supernatural power manifest in your life without wilderness journeys. You say you're anointed? Let me see some wilderness sand emptied from your sandals!

Much of the underlying frustration and discontentment in the Body of Christ can be traced back to false expectations and deferred hopes. We stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the process that all recipients of divine destiny must go through: that series of crucibles directed toward fulfilling God's plan, often painful, but nevertheless necessary. We embrace the promise, but despise the process and as a result we rarely see those things we desperately desire materialize in our lives.

Many of us would pay any price for the anointing, but it's not for sale. God doesn't hang a price tag on the prophet's mantle of power. He doesn't say, "Fast 21 days, pray three hours a day, and, oh, by the way¾be especially nice to your mother-in-law." There is no price to pay: instead, there is a God-prescribed process we must go through and God only requires our willing submission to it.

God never tells us the price in advance. For example, if I want to buy a car, the salesman tells me the price in advance. If I go to a restaurant, I read the menu and it tells me the price of each meal in advance. But God never told any of the Old Testament patriarchs the price of miracle power in advance. We only understand as we take the first step and His enabling grace empowers us through to the end. (Rom 8:13).

Ah, but Church, the price is well worth it! As the inspired pen of Paul writes, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Rom 8:18) The process we endure is working for us an eternal weight of glory. Scripture is filled with heroes of faith who paid the price, went through the process, and found what they sought most where they least expected it!

Samson, a young man of courage, faced a death defying encounter with a wild lion and there found refreshment. (Judges 14:5-9) As the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, he ripped the lion in half bare handed. Inside its carcass was honey. Wrapped up and contained within the very thing that was designed to destroy him, Samson found the sustenance he needed to go on.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's decree and he became so angry that he ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter. It was so hot that it killed the men who threw the three Hebrew boys into it. But the flames didn't destroy them—on the contrary, only their bonds were burned. But most significantly of all, the trial brought the fourth man into manifestation¾Christ Himself! Were it not for their willingness to hazard the trial, He would have remained obscured and unseen. (Dan 3:1-30)

Joseph endured and found opportunity in the midst of crisis. His coat of favor provoked jealousy among his brothers. They conspired to kill him, but God wouldn't allow it. Instead, He used their jealousy and hatred as a vehicle to position Joseph in Pharaoh's court. Joseph's ascent was a series of divine opportunities stashed away and obscured in crises. Had he never endured the trials, he would never have been positioned to minister divine provision in the midst of a global famine. (Genesis 37, 39 – 47)

These patriarchs endured the trial. God's ultimate wisdom was at work in their process. There was reason for their pain; there is reason for yours. Though many times it is a crucible of rejection, failure, and suffering, it is also the place where the greatest spiritual impartations abide. This is why the Lord says in the book of Jeremiah, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jer 29:11) There is a determined outcome for your life and the wilderness makes you ready, so don't despise it, embrace it!

You can email us here:BDComment@UpperRoomCWC.org with any responses/comments to this post, or any other posts.

As we consider these two lonely figures at the end of their journey, silhouetted on the waters of the Jordan, ready to cross over, we are reminded of the beginning of their journey. It began as it was to end: with the principle of the cross, the power and wisdom of God.

Their journey, long and arduous, had been punctuated by brief stays at Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho. Every stopover was teeming with people, including the sons of the prophets (they represent those in the Church who refuse the process that will lead to a destiny of double portion). In each city, the elder prophet urged his young protégé to remain behind. But Elisha would have none of it. All along the way we hear him saying, "As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave you."

By the time they reach the Jordan, Elijah and Elisha stand shoulder to shoulder together at the banks of the river, ready to cross over to the other side, while fifty sons of the prophets stand afar off (a close study of the narrative reveals that they were at every place but this one). At Gilgal, they were there. At Bethel, they were there. At Jericho, they were there. But when it came to Jordan, they departed. Jordan separates the men from the boys.

There is a shore you will reach on the journey to the double portion. At this shore, you will face the same decision as the sons of the prophets who refused to go on. I call it the point of no return, or the dying point. It is easy to hear about breakthrough, prosperity, miracles, and the blessing, but when we talk about crossing over Jordan, only two men appear.

Like Elisha, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with our heavenly Elijah, willing to cross over the Jordan with Him to the place of the double portion. We must refuse to politely observe, or merely spectate in this end-time revival, which will be highlighted by the soon coming demonstration of the double portion anointing.

I can't emphasize this enough: To possess the double portion requires crossing over the Jordan (a metaphor for dying to self). If Elisha had followed his instincts of self preservation or his lust to run with the herd and follow the crowd, he would never have reached the dying point beyond Jordan--the holy terra firma where double portion mantles descend.

Elisha didn't get to the double portion by confessing it, desiring it, or envisioning it. It wasn't enough to speak of those things that are not as though they were. He got the double portion by doggedly following the footsteps of Elijah over the river of death. Elisha would never have reached the place of the double portion had he not submitted to crossing the Jordan.

I see the sons of the prophets, standing afar off repeating what they thought of as a confession of faith in hopes of receiving their double portion--I'm sure some of them were even willing to fast and pray. They might even have been sending large seed offerings in the mail to the prophet's ministry or rushing off to the latest outbreak of revival. All of that is well and good, but the essential key is conspicuously absent.

Without the cross--and its constant application in our lives--the Church of Jesus Christ will never enter into that realm of power, influence and authority we call the double portion anointing. It's time to celebrate the believer's cross. It's time to realize the cross in a personal way; to know it isn't there to keep us from something, but to carry us to something. Without the cross, we will never enter our promised land. Without a genuine application of the cross, we won't fulfill our destiny assignment and possess the blood-bought birthright that is ours.

Salvation is a free gift of God, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost is part and parcel of salvation's grace, but there's a price to pay for the mantle of the double portion. Bearing the double portion demands qualification, and that qualification is the cross. This level is reserved for disciples only. Are you a disciple of Christ?

The imprint of the cross will always be found on a true disciple of Christ. A disciple doesn't treat the Word of God like a smorgasbord. He doesn't show partiality when it comes to scripture. He doesn't give one segment or theme of the Word preferential treatment over another. He heeds the word of the cross as well as the word of blessing. He doesn't highlight what is in his best interest and reject what isn't. If the voice of the Lord goes against the grain of his selfish interest, he always chooses the high road.

Crucified saints doing crucified ministry are among the greatest needs of the hour. The cross bearers of the body of Christ hold the keys to global revival and world evangelism. True, a carnal Church can proclaim the message of Christ, but only a crucified Church is able to demonstrate and incarnate the message of the gospel to the world. God is looking for a people who emulate the spirit of Elisha. The qualifier is the cross . . . who will bear it in our day?

At best, Pentecost today experiences what I call a 'Toys-'R'-Us' anointing. We fall down and get up only to do it again, service after service after service, and nobody is changed. It's more like a Christian aerobics class than a life changing experience with almighty God. Let's call it what it is: Carnality. But, worse than this, the immature Christian will attempt to pick up an anointing without first picking up his cross. Paul said, "I die daily…" are we any better than he? This is why there are so many false miracles, religious shams and scams, discrediting the genuine bona-fide article today.

Make no mistake about it--we enjoy our fleshly indulgences and carnal appetites at the expense of forfeiting the supernatural power of God in our generation. This is why we are called to sift every thought, attitude and emotion through the cross. To be void of the cross in your life is to be void of the power of God (Phil 3:18-9, II Tim 3:5).

Scripture says, "The preaching of the Cross is to them who perish foolishness, but to us who are saved, it is the power of God" (I Cor 1:18). Simply put, a cross-less Christianity is a powerless Christianity. Powerless and void in matters of the kingdom; stripped of redemption, unable to infiltrate culture or advance Christ's kingdom in the Earth. And the harvest? The harvest is laid to waste--left abandoned on their lost shores.

It was no accident that the great apostle Paul wrote two thirds of the New Testament, performed miracles, established scores of NT Churches and literally took cities for Christ in his day. The secret of his success was found in his testimony: "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…" (Gal 2:20).

The Lord spoke to me, and said, "Stop waiting for My anointing to go on sale." It will never go on sale. It doesn't come cheap. It doesn't stay cheap. There are no bargain basements in the kingdom of God. There are no 'buy one get one free' deals to be had in the world of the Spirit. You will purchase the double portion at the cost of your carnal nature.

Esther loved Israel enough to vow, "If I perish, I perish." (Esth 4:16). She personified the love of the cross by those words. We are in desperate need of crucified crusaders like Esther!

Jesus says, "…not my will, but thy will be done," (Luke 22:42) and the Kingdom advances. Can we steady the cup and cry the same? John the Baptist says, "He must increase, but I must decrease," (John 3:30) and the Kingdom takes a quantum leap forward. Four priests shouldering the ark refuse to hesitate at the command of Joshua, and the moment they step into the raging tides of Jordan, the Kingdom is taken to a new level, as a nation crosses over into the land of milk and honey. And finally, Elisha accompanies his mentor across the river of death, wins the double portion and the Kingdom moves on. These crucified crusaders embodied the lifestyle of the cross.

It is my profound belief that we will not see a soul saving revival in our day unless we are willing to take up the cross. We will not be given the right to reap the harvest until we cry, "Not our will but your will be done!" The Holy Ghost wants to pry you loose from every involvement of the flesh that impedes your progress in the Spirit. We must tear loose from anything that tears us loose from God's agenda, purpose and power in our day.

The tearing of Elisha's cloak represents the rending of the flesh. You will only be qualified to pick up the double portion anointing after your flesh is rent. We read in the book of II Kings:

And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. (II Kings 2:12-4)

Hidden within these scriptures is a fantastic shadow of what happens at Jordan. Elisha did two things: He tore off his old clothes, signifying the release of the old man and the past. Then he picked up the mantle that had fallen and knew that his double portion had come. The power of God was with Him as he smote the waters and they parted. When the new is on the way, say goodbye to the past. Give up the old so God can perform the new in your life. Only those who follow on to know their God, willing to shed their mantle of flesh (typified by the crossing of Jordan and the tearing of Elisha's cloak), will receive the double portion anointing.

When the double portion anointing is poured out upon this crucified remnant of Christ lovers, then the sons of the prophets who refused to be changed by a baptism into Jordan will recognize the anointing they have missed (Isa 61:4-9). They will humbly bow at the feet of the One who gives this fresh anointing freely from Heaven and desperately cry out for their portion. He will declare unto them, "If any man is in pursuit of My life, power, and ministry and truly desires to live in My sphere of influence, let him deny himself, embrace the cross, and follow me."

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