Elijah and Elisha's Double Portion (A continued study)

Being somewhat skeptical when it comes to certain things (I’m totally gullible most of the time, however), I decided to check out if Elisha really did get a double portion of what Elijah had. So, I made a list of all of the recorded supernatural events that I could find:

I Kings 17:1 – prophesy of drought

17:2-6 – fed by ravens

17:7-16 – woman fed him and her flour and oil supply did not run out until the drought was over

17:17-22 – Raised this woman’s son from the dead

18:1-15 – Told to present himself to Ahab and the drought would end

18:18 – gave a word of knowledge to Ahab and Baal worship

18:20-38 – sacrifice match between prophets of Baal and God

18:40 – Killed all the prophets of Baal

18:41-45 – Prophesied of coming rain

19:5 – Angel came and ministered to him

19:7 – Angel came a second time

18:9-13 – still small voice heard

18:15 – told to go to Damascus and anoint Azael as King of Aram; Jehu as King of Israel; and Elisha, his successor

21:17-27 – prophesied over Ahab and Jezebel

2 Kings 1:3-10 – Prophesy over Ahaziah that he would die from his injuries

1:10-12 – prophesy over fire consuming captain of 50 men twice!

1:13 – third group of 50 men – God said to go and give word to the King that he would die, and he did.

2:7-8 – struck water with his cloak and the river divided

2:10 – Elisha asks for double portion

2:11 – Chariot of fire took him to Heaven.

While this isn’t exactly half of the supernatural events that I noted in yesterday’s blog, (Elisha 30; Elijah 20); it does make me ponder. 

I found this list (https://www.godfire.net/rayknight/60_Elijahx2.pdf)), although I do not know the author. If we were to only record the miracles at the hand of each of the prophets, this makes sense. My lists included all supernatural events, but I like this concise format of just the miracles, (so thank you to whomever captured this record!) 

ELIJAH’S 8 MIRACLES:

 I Kings 17:1 NO RAIN FOR 3 1/2 YEARS Authority with nature.

2. I Kings 17:14 MEAL AND OIL FAILED NOT Food supply to sustain life.

3. I Kings 17:22 RAISED THE DEAD - WIDOW’S SON. Healing and restoration.

4. I Kings 18:38-40 Mt. CARMEL. CLEANUP OF THE PROPHETS OF BAAL. Religion has to go!

5. I Kings 18:41 RAIN RELEASED After ‘Baal’ cleaned up.

6. II Kings 1:10 ANTI-GOD ARMY - FIRST 50 CONSUMED BY FIRE. False (in spirit) revivals!!!

7. II Kings 1:12,14 SECOND JUDGMENT OF 50.

8. II Kings 2:8 JORDAN OPENED. Veil split so that all may enter into the land of promise.

ELISHA’S 16 MIRACLES

1. II Kings 2:14 JORDAN RIVER OPENED. Veil crossed through on natural ground.

2. II Kings 2:20 HEALED THE WATERS.

3. II Kings 2:24 42 CURSING MOCKERS DESTROYED.

4. II Kings 3:17 VICTORY THRU WATER IN A TRENCH.

5. II Kings 4:5 OIL FLOWED ON TO PAY OFF DEBTS.

6. II Kings 4:16 SON GIVEN TO SHUNAMITE.

7. II Kings 4:35 DEAD SON RAISED — SNEEZED 7 TIMES.

8. II Kings 4:41 POISONED POT PURIFIED.

9. II Kings 4:43 FOOD MULTIPLIED.

10. II Kings 5:14 NAAMAN HEALED OF LEPROSY.

11. II Kings 5:27 LEPROUS JUDGMENT ON GEHAZI

12. II Kings 6:6 THE AXE-HEAD (IRON) SWAM.

13. II Kings 6:17 SERVANT’S EYES OPENED TO SEE IN THE SPIRIT.

14. II Kings 6:18 ARMY DEFEATED BY BLINDNESS.

15. II Kings 6:20 ARMY’S BLINDNESS REMOVED.

16. II Kings 13:21 DEAD MAN RAISED VIA ELISHA’S BONES. Resurrection-life; victory over death.

Elisha asked for a double portion of the Holy Spirit. Elijah basically told him that it wasn’t his to give ( 2 Kings 2:10), but God granted that desire of Elisha’s heart. 

I want even more. I want to know that when I walk in a room, that the anointing of the Holy Spirit is so obvious that like Peter (Acts 5:15), even my shadow will bring the power of God into that place.

More, Lord, more! For Your glory and never my own!

Elisha's Supernatural Life

Last April, I wrote about the double portion that Elisha had asked for from his mentor, Elijah. It is quite a story, really. (You can read my rendition here: http://l2ohio.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-double-portion.html).

After pondering the floating axhead, I decided to see what other supernatural things were recorded in Elisha’s ministry. It is quite a list:

2 Kings 2:11 – Elisha witnesses Elijah being taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire.

2:13 – Elisha uses Elijah’s cloak to strike the water of the Jordan river, and it splits so that he is able to cross it.

2:20-21 – Healed unclean water with a new bowl filled with salt.

2:23 – When a group of bullies were taunting him, he cursed them and two bears killed all 42 of them.

3:17 – Told people to dig ditches but that there would be no rain. All of the ditches filled completely with water from Edom.

3:21 – Water was red-colored, and the Moabites thought it was blood. They believed that the three kings killed one another, but instead this gave the Israeli army a strategic advantage.

4:1-7 – Widow’s oil story: Woman had debt so that she was going to lose her sons. Elisha asked her what she had, and she told him just a small jar of oil. He told her to gather as many jars as she could. She kept pouring oil into the jars until there were no more containers left. She sold the oil and had enough to not only pay off her debt, but also  for her sons and her to live on for the rest of their lives.

4:8-36 – Shunamite woman story:  Opened her womb so that she was able to carry a child; then raised the young lad from the dead.

4:38-41 – Made poisoned stew safe to eat

4:42-44 – fed 100 men with 20 loaves of bread and had leftovers

5:1-14 – Naaman healed of leprosy

5:26 – knew supernaturally that his servant was lying and what he had done. Cursed him and his descendents with leprosy.

6:1-6 – Made an axhead float (cool story -- my rendition here: http://l2ohio.blogspot.com/2018/01/floating-iron.html).

6:8-12 – given words of knowledge several times about the whereabouts of the Armeans and shared with the King of Israel so that were prepared and not caught off-guard.

6:16 – Knew that God’s army would be greater than the enemy’s

6:17 – Prayed so that his servant could see the angelic army too, and he did

6:18 – Prayed that the enemy army would all become blind and they did.

6:20 – Prayed that the enemy army’s blindness would be reversed and it was.

6:22 – Advised the King of Israel how to handle the enemy army

6:32 – Received word of knowledge that the King of Israel wanted to kill him.

7:1 – Declared the famine was over but that the officer of the king would not eat any of the provision.

7:20 – Came true what Elisha said.

8:1-6 – Told the Shunamite woman whose son he had raised from the dead to leave the land because of a 7-year famine. Woman came back after the famine and all was restored to her.

8:7-14 – King of Aram was ill. He told Hazael to ask if he would recover. Elisha told him he would recover from the illness, but would die anyway.

8:11-15 – Weeping because God showed him the evil that was about to happen at the hand of Hazael and told him that he knew.

9:1 – Told prophet to give word to Jehu that he would be anointed as King of Israel and would destroy the house of Ahab.

9:13 – Jehu pronounced as King.

13:14 – Elisha is ill. King Jehoash visited him and cried over him. Elisha had the king get a bow and arrows. He told the King to hold the bow in his hands, and Elisha put his hands over the King’s. He told the King to shoot an arrow of victory out the window. Then he told him to take the arrows and strike the ground. Jehoash struck the ground three times, but Elisha was angry that he didn’t strike the ground five or six times. Declared that they would not fully defeat Aram.

13:20 – Elisha died and was buried.

13:21 – Dead person thrown into Elisha’s tomb. When the dead man’s body touched Elisha’s bones, he came back to life.

Wow! This is quite a list. I am looking forward to the time when I might meet Elisha face to face, but in the meantime, I too, want a double portion!

What a blessing to walk hand-in-hand with Jesus through such supernatural events and to bring His Kingdom here in our every day.

Floating Iron

I finished reading an amazing book by Bill Johnson (Face to Face With God) and immediately started Fervent, by Priscilla Shirer. What struck me is that within a 24-hr. period, I read the same story in both of these books from 2 Kings 6 that I had never recalled hearing before. When I read Bill Johnson’s rendition of this story of the borrowed axhead falling into the water, I thought to myself, “Hmm. That’s a cool story. I wonder why I didn’t remember it from all of my scripture reading?”  But when, on the next day, I read Priscilla Shirer’s sharing of very same story, I decided I probably needed to take note.

For those who don’t know the story, this is what happened:

A group of prophets who were studying under the prophet Elisha came to him and said that the place where they were living was too small. They wanted to go to the river to find wood to build a bigger place. Elisha gave them permission, but one of the students asked his teacher to come with them. As they were cutting down a tree, one of them had a mishap with his axe. The iron axhead fell into the river, and he said, “Oh my Lord,…It was borrowed!” (2Kings 6:5).  Elisha asked the young prophet where it happened, and taking a stick, he threw it into the water where the student said it had fallen. The stick caused the iron to float, and the axhead rose to the surface so that the young man could then retrieve it.

Bill Johnson shared this passage in talking about how God loves to do the miraculous in ways that won’t make sense to us. We know there is no magic stick that makes iron float, but when God wants to show His strength in our weakness, even the heaviest of iron can change its physical properties.

Priscilla Shirer went more into depth about the motivation of the young prophet (he was using his ability to create something to bless the body of believers), as well as the social disgrace of losing something that had been borrowed. She also went into great detail, using this passage to provide several very strong points. I will not repeat her words here (the book is quite powerful—you should read it for yourself!), but her point is well taken.  We might be in the middle of doing something really important for the Kingdom, and know in our heart of hearts that we are where we are supposed to be, and then find ourselves like this young prophet suddenly being whammied into losing our axhead in mid-swing.

The important lesson for me from this is two-fold:

First, even when we are doing what we know to be God’s purpose for our lives, stuff happens.  We are not unique—in fact, we can count on something happening. Secondly, and most importantly, God is right there to put things back in order again so that His will is carried out.

The young prophet immediately went to God’s spokesman. He didn’t know what to do, but he went in earnest to the one who did. Elisha asked God what to do, and God told him to throw a stick into the water. Through Elisha’s obedience, God made iron float.

This is not an isolated case. I know Papa is waiting to partner with each of us to enjoy the miraculous. Not in a spectacular, showy kind of way, but He wants to walk with us in our joy and awe of how far He will go to win our hearts to Him and Him alone.

I’m looking for my next physics-defying miracle that will bring Him the glory that He deserves. It may not be making iron float, but whatever it is, I am sure that I will be just as enthralled as that young prophet must have been when he witnessed a simple stick thrown in the river changing the physical properties of an axhead.

I can’t wait to see what Papa has in store!