An Online Devotional from Pastor Chad Carter

W e ' r e m o r e t h a n j u s t a C h u r c h . . . W e ' r e a F A M I L Y !

Double Portion Anointing:

Receiving a Tangible Transfer

of God's Power

Pastor Chad Carter

Excerpts of Pastor Carter's message

from Family Harvest Church

Turn with me this morning to the Book of 2 Kings,

Chapter 13 as we look for a few moments, at only

two verses of Scripture this morning, and by the

help and grace of God, you will be able to leave

this place this morning declaring that you have

received the tangible touch of the reviving power

of God!

2 Kings 13 in The Message Bible, beginning at

verse 20:

20-21 Then Elisha died and they buried him. Some time later, raiding bands of

Moabites, as they often did, invaded the country.

It’s important to stop and note here that the graves of the Jews at that time, were not like we are accustomed to today. Instead, they were caves, or tombs, cut in the sides of rocks and mountains. The opening was sealed by heavy stones.

Now the body of the prophet Elisha was not put in a coffin, as we do, but rather, wrapped tightly in grave clothes. The Scripture tells us that within a year of Elisha’s death, Israel was threatened by a band of Moabites. Today it would be similar to a border attack upon our nation. The Moabites destroyed their crops and their flocks. It was during such a raid that we find the context of our Scripture today. Verse 21, in the Message Bible, shows what happened next:

"One day, some men were burying a man and spotted the raiders. They threw the

man into Elisha's tomb and got away. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the

man came alive (NLT= “revived”), stood up, and walked out on his own two feet."

Imagine with me if you will, this poor Israelite, struck down in battle, and his comrades trying to give him a decent burial. Now they had his body with them, when suddenly, they spot their enemies on their way in for an ambush against them. Can you imagine their responses – “We can’t stay here, or we’ll be dead like him!”

I can see them, in my mind, throwing his body into the first hole they found and hightailing it out of there! They needed to escape! They needed to get away! And probably without realizing it, or being unaware of who’s tomb it was, or perhaps not even knowing that there were old, dry, dead bones in there, threw their buddy inside and took off.

Can you imagine the looks on their faces when moments later, as they fled from their enemies, they look over and saw the dead man they threw in that cave, running right behind them and starting to pass them up! When the dead man touched Elisha’s bones, he came to life again! ...There was still enough of the tangible anointing of God resting on the bones of this Old Testament prophet to raise a man from the dead!

Now, if that much anointing is in a dead man’s bones, how much more should be inside you?!

Today, the Lord has led me to this passage of Scripture, and shown me a few types and shadows to share with us that we may be encouraged and enlightened about the place in which we stand, prophetically, at this season of our lives. The Prophet Elisha, for us this morning, provides a glimpse into the anointing of God that we have available and have experienced in times past. The anointing of God upon Elisha gives us a glimpse into the anointing of yesterday… the anointing of a bygone generation, that possessed power and ability beyond our ability to comprehend.

Instead of seeing (literally, in the flesh) the kinds of things that were performed through the ministry of the prophet Elijah, and then doubled through the ministry of the prophet Elisha, we have to turn to the pages of a Book - the Good Book, don’t get me wrong... but a book nevertheless - to see the types of signs and wonders that for them, were commonplace, but for us, would be unbelievable show-stopping, head-turning, front-page-grabbing acts of supernatural ability that would become an identifying factor of our lives and ministries.

When we bring up the prophet Elisha, we can’t help but remember the prophet Elijah, who was one of the most notable Old Testament figures, and a supernatural force to be reckoned with in his day. Under the tutelage of Elijah, Elisha’s appetite for the supernatural began to manifest. He had a love for God, and for the things of God, and said, “If this is really God, Elijah, I want everything you have and more!” And we find him in Chapter 2, verse 9 asking for a double portion of the anointing that was on his mentor.

And so it was, that when Elijah was taken up into heaven by a whirlwind, that his mantle descended through the sky into the watching eye and outstretched hands of a man that knew what he wanted from God, and knew that he would have it! The mantle of the ministry of Elijah came upon Elisha, and his prayer was answered! Everything he had desired and inquired of the Lord about was beginning to come to pass. He found that he was capable of performing some of the same miracles his predecessor performed. Elijah raised a mother’s son to like by laying upon his dead body, and Elisha did the same with the Shunamite woman’s son – her only child.

Not only did Elisha perform similar acts as that of his predecessor, but his acts began to supercede that which his mentor had shown.

Elisha fed multitudes supernaturally

He raised dead children to life

He healed Naaman the leper, and then turned around and smote Gehazi with leprosy

He prophesied plenty in the midst of a famine-stricken city

He smote the waters of the river Jordan and passed over on dry ground

He brought waters of refreshment in times of draught

He supernaturally increased a widow’s store of food

He performed miracles for people outside of the boundaries of Israel

He pronounced sentences on kings, smote their armies with blindness, and called down vengeance upon unbelievers

In 1 Kings 19:19, Elisha represented the model spiritual leader. In 2 Kings 2:9, Elisha sought the equipping of the Spirit of God for his calling. In 2 Kings 3, Elisha spoke with authority, as the Oracle of God. In 2 Kings 5, we find Elisha was of incorruptible integrity (a lot of preachers now a days, could stand to take a lesson on integrity from Elisha). Elisha, according to 2 Kings 6:15-16, lived in a spirit of victory! 2 Kings 6:17 declares that Elisha was a man of great spiritual vision!

Elisha never lost his courage. His reception of a double portion of the Spirit was proven in the life he lived – he was victorious in everything he did, and he performed a greater number of miracles than any other prophet except Moses.

Today, I ask you to understand that Elisha is representative of the double-portion anointing that we are to have in this day and age. You all have heard me preach it time and again… thank God for what the previous generation did – the groundwork that they laid for us – but I will not – I cannot be content to expect only what I saw as a child or heard told about from an early age. God expects me not to perform at the same level as those who went on before me! He expects me to surpass it! God expects me not to be satisfied with the same level of anointing, or the same level of results or success that those before me experienced… God expects that what they accomplished, what they performed, what they experienced was only to be a taste for me - just enough to whet my appetite - to ask for, and expect, to see much more than I had ever witnessed before!

Now, in our passage of Scripture for today’s thought, let us allow the dead man to represent where we have been hangin’ out. Let him represent how we have been living. Let him represent our home life, and our family situation, and our circumstances and trials. All of us can look inwardly to ourselves and see those things that are motionless and without life…

How many of you would have the prayer on your lips that God would begin to stir us up until we realize we need the fire rekindled in our own hearts. How many of us would be willing to raise our hand and admit we could stand to have our fire stoked a little bit? How many of you would be honest with yourself and with God and say, “Lord… my fire has died down – God I need to be re-charged! God I need to be set on fire again! I need to be revived in Your presence and by Your anointing!”

Some of us have looked so dead and so lifeless, that those around us have already wrapped us up in grave clothes and started the journey to drop us in the ground. What some of us need to do is open our eyes and shake ourselves and say, “hey, I may look dead, but I’m not there yet! …Loose me and let me go!”

If we could put flesh, this morning, on our prayer lives, would we see something alive and vibrant? …Or would we see a limp, lifeless figure lying on the floor at our feet? For some people, if we could put flesh on their church attendance, I wonder would there even be a body to see! If we could put flesh on our witness for Christ, would we see a mature and educated figure that is ready to give a defense for their faith in their Lord, or would it be nothing but a malnourished child sitting in the dirt? If we could put flesh on our faith today, would we see a toned, well exercised fisique of strength and vitality, or would we see a shrunken, imatiated figure, barely able to lift its head from its chest, gasping for breath and striving to survive?

What is it that you can objectively look at today and identify to the Lord… “Lord, if there’s anything I need Your help with today, it’s that right there! …If there’s anything I need You to revive… it’s this portion of my life! …If there’s anything, Lord, that I could stand to see You bring back to life… it’s this right here, God!”

Now, let’s look again at the bones of the prophet Elisha. We said that Elisha represented the life and anointing of a generation gone by, and it’s true. But there is more the Lord wishes to show us through this passage of Scripture today. Look again at verse 21 in The Message Bible:

"…When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came alive (NLT= “revived”),

stood up, and walked out on his own two feet."

The revelation in this is that when the dead man’s body fell upon the bones of the dead prophet Elisha, his was made alive! What the Lord is saying to us today, is that His tangible touch - His double portion anointing - though it may have appeared to be dead and out of sight, inactive in your life and inactive through your local church, it is still present to meet your needs! It is still present to perform a miracle! It is still present and able to raise to life anything that seems to be dead!

Though the gifts of that miracle-working anointing seem to have been laying dormant for some time and you question whether or not there is even power sufficient to accomplish what it is that you are asking God to do. God is saying today, activate your faith! God is saying, “Though you haven’t seen my power the way you remember seeing my power in the past, …I still have the power! I still have know-how! Ain’t nothing broke I don’t have the power to fix! I still have the authority! I still have the ability! I still have the anointing to break off every yoke that has you bound! I still have the anointing to break off every shackle and chain that binds! I still have the anointing!"

God is saying, "You may have thought my miracles were dead and gone, and that the miracle working power I possessed yesterday is nothing but a memory and is bones in the grave, but I’ve got the power to PUT IT ALL BACK!"

Do you want it all back? What about the joy the enemy took? What about the peace he took? What about the power he took! I WANT IT ALL BACK!!! Oh, I’m here to tell us today, if we will stop looking through eyes of the flesh… if we will stop lookin’ through the doors of the sepulcher and seeing what we think are just bones – just the fragments of what once was – just the memory of what God used to do… If we can look in at the bones, and say, I don’t care what it looks like right now, there’s still some power there! There’s still some anointing there! There’s still some authority there! There’s still something tangible, something transferable, something attainable! There’s still something available there! There’s still something laying there in those bones! There’s still something laying there that can do more for you than you can do for yourself!

God’s saying today… "If you can get past what you see… if you can get past what you feel... if you can get past what you perceive to be the trouble in your life... if you can get past what you think is dead and is the end of the road... if you can get past what you think is your burial ground…you’ll find, that laying there, in that tomb, laying there in that mess, laying there in those bones, is the perfect, supernatural power of God you need! And what looks like death, staring you back in the face, is really the miracle of life in disguise! It’s resurrection power in disguise! It’s the power of God, laying there in the dark! It’s the power of God laying in there in that tomb! ...That when you get to the end of your strength and your ability to keep alive that which has been entrusted to you… and when you get to the end of your ability to achieve in the arm of the flesh that which can only be achieved through the power of the Holy Ghost… and when you get to the end of your strength and the life has been sucked out of you, and the door of death is all you have to look forward to, the power of God arrives, and His strength becomes your strength! His life, becomes your life! His power becomes your power! His anointing becomes your anointing! His mantle becomes your mantle! His victory becomes your victory! And at that moment, when you stand there thinking it’s all over, you need to change your tune and rephrase your words, from “it’s all over” to “it’s all over but the shouting!” …for what you thought was dead, just came into contact with the supernatural power of God that which was dead will become revived!

...Somebody ought to be shouting unto the Lord with a voice of triumph, for at your house, things are starting to get up and walk around! At your house, things are starting to throw the covers off and get some movement! Shout unto God, for across town somewhere, your long-lost estranged family member that used to know the Lord and now lives in the gutter, is wiping the blindness out of their eyes and coming to their senses! Shout unto God, because the seed you sowed has, as it’s supposed to do, died in the ground, and is about to spring forth in life and power to bring you the harvest you never thought would come! Shout ‘cause your seed’s coming back, some 30, some 60, some 100-fold!

...Shout because money orders and blank checks are about to show up in the mailbox! Shout ‘cause that dead-end job that is nothing but a one-way door to the grave for you and your family, is about to get set by the wayside by the Holy Ghost, and the job that pays you double-for your trouble is about to manifest in your sight! Shout unto God, ‘cause the bills that have been stacked up against you are about to get paid by an unknown source! Shout unto God, ‘cause the cupboards that are bare, in your kitchen right now, are about to be filled by box after box after box of groceries showing up on your front doorstep!

Shout unto God, because your church, that others have written off as just another church on a street corner is about to explode at the seams with the supernatural power of God that turns a city upside down, and on its face before God!

Shout unto God, that your pastor, who some hope and pray his influence will not extend beyond the walls and the doors of this church, is about to burst forth on the scene across the state of Indiana, across this nation and around the world, declaring the Word of the Lord with signs and wonders following!

Shout unto God, that you as a local body of believers called Family Harvest Church, will not be confined to the small thinking, and the small vision of a tiny city that barely has a place on a map, but will expand your reach and influence to the point that the power of God at work through your efforts, will be felt like shockwaves across this region and this nation!

Shout unto God for the sons and daughters that will be born into the Kingdom of God because of you! Shout unto God for the prosperity coming to this city! Shout unto God for the drug addicts and drug pushers that will get saved and delivered by the power of God! Shout unto God that teenage pregnancy is bound! Shout unto God that the abortion epidemic in this nation will be stopped!

Shout unto God that both houses of congress will repent of their sins and put this nation on the right track again! Shout unto God for the day we have a president in the White House that will not only do that which is right in the eyes of God, but be a born again believer that gets up in the morning and paces around the Oval Office talking in other tongues!

Shout unto God that this city, and this state, and this nation, that appears as nothing but a rotting image of death, is about to thrown on the mercy of an anointing that it does not remember was there, and REVIVAL WILL AGAIN SWEEP OUR LAND!

In closing, we have a parallel to look at, available in the Book of Acts.

In 2 Kings, we find one prophet taken away in a chariot of fire, as his disciple looked on! In the book of Acts, we find another Prophet caught up to heaven, while His disciples looked on. In 2 Kings 2:9-11, we find the prophet Elijah, making a promise to his follower, Elisha, “If you see me when I go, you shall receive a double portion.”

In Acts 1:8, we find it’s parallel in our leader, Jesus Christ, giving us, His followers, a similar promise: “you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” What kind of power? …Greater Power! …Like Elisha received a double-portion of the prophet’s anointing, we have received a greater portion of our prophet’s anointing as well, for Jesus said in John 14:12, “Greater works than these shall ye do; because I go unto my Father.”

God wants us to receive the revelation today, that there is a great portion of anointing and power available, that we have yet to tap into. What you have seen, is not gone. What you have heard is not gone. God’s power that was available yesterday is still available today… But there is more than what you have seen…. There is more than what you have heard… and if we will become revived in the power of His anointing, we will possess greater power than we have ever possessed.

God did not do what He used to do only to let it be forgotten and fall by the wayside! God did not do what He used to do only to let us stand up at this point in time in defeat and shame!

I close with one more Scripture... In Isaiah 61:7, in the Revised Standard Version, God says…

“Instead of your shame, you shall have a double portion, instead of dishonor you

shall rejoice in your lot: therefore in your land you shall possess a double portion:

yours shall be everlasting joy.”

Somebody say, “I shall possess double!” ...Do you want it? Do you need it? How many of you want His power working in and through you? Do you need God to resurrect you? Do you need God to revive you? Then stand to your feet… □

This entire service, featuring a full-blown move of the Holy Ghost and the operation of His Gifts, and the complete message by Pastor Chad Carter,

is available on DVD or CD for a love gift to Family Harvest Church.

An order form is available in the FHC Online Store.

Please order it as service date: 06/01/08.

If you would like to become a follower of Jesus Christ,

we would love to lead you in that process. Click Here.

Top of Page

Return to Pastor's Devotionals Index

Become born again through Jesus Christ

___________________________________________________________________________________