SHARED ANOINTINGS
© Morris E. Ruddick
“Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?’ Elisha said, ‘Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.’” 2 Kings 2:9
Elijah’s God-encounter in the cave which followed his exploits against the prophets of baal and asherah began a transition for Elijah’s ministry, as well as for Israel. After challenging Elijah’s hideaway with the words: “What are you doing here;” the Lord then restored him to fulfill his next task. Soon afterward, Elijah was connected with Elisha as his protégé and the process of Elisha’s nurturing began. (1 Kings 19:16).
The authority of Elijah’s anointing shut up the heavens and brought judgment on a reprobate Israel. Then his daring confrontation with evil changed Israel’s spiritual climate. In so doing, God’s people began coming out of the closet.
So when Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, it was no small thing. Elijah bore a disruptive anointing; an anointing that short-circuited the inroads of evil. His authority in the spirit stopped the sorcery in its tracks. It had no equal in that day.
The fulfillment of Elisha’s request for a “double-portion” was evidenced not only by the startling miracles of his ministry, but by the angelic host unveiled around him in his encounter with the army of Syria (2 Kings 6:17). 2 Kings 13:21 then tells of a burial interrupted by a band of raiders. The dead man was abandoned in the tomb of Elisha and scripture indicates that when “he was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.” So Elisha’s double-portion of Elijah’s anointing not only worked unusual miracles, it commanded the authority of a host of angels and carried a presence that even transcended his death.
God’s highest priorities are always about His people. For both Elijah and Elisha, their greatest accomplishments involved the impact on the spiritual climate to mobilize God’s people and impart the prophetic wisdom as advisors to protect those known by His Name.
These dynamics raise two very important issues. First is what Elisha reached for: a dimension in God beyond the incredible spiritual threshold that operated through Elijah. The second is the issue of the anointing itself, and with the anointing the authority, available for the challenges within the church of this day.
The release of the anointing comes at a cost. It involves a stewardship. The stewardship is in the reach one makes for God’s presence; which in turn abides in the place of His glory. The operation of the anointing requires a God-perspective, which means adjusting our mind-sets, to thinking according to God’s order and standard. The release of the anointing manifests when operating in the Spirit beyond ones human capacities. Shared anointings come from mentoring and cooperative assignments directed by the Spirit for the purpose of the community at large.
Operation of the Anointing
Jesus taught his followers how to apply righteous power in corrupt settings. This is the way of the Kingdom. It begins with our thinking.
“Let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus.” Phil 2:5
The anointing flows when there is not one vestige of variation between God’s order and purposes; and our actions or words. It is an emptying of ourselves in humility to allow the unhindered flow of the Holy Spirit through us.
“Who emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bondservant.” Phil 2:7
Jesus taught His followers to abide. Jesus spent hours at night in prayer with the Father. He imparted the wisdom that He always did what He saw His father doing.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5-6
Upon His resurrection, a new thing happened. Jesus made the Holy Spirit available to all believers (John 14:26-27). The ongoing release of the Spirit follows the pattern of Jesus in spending time with the Father and abiding. Many were those who followed after Elijah, but only Elisha stayed the course to embrace the “double-portion.”
The Release of the Anointing
The anointing serves as a catalyst, an igniter of righteous power. Abiding in the place of His presence, the place of His glory penetrates the veil. It is the place where the supernatural power of God to trump evil is revealed.
Yet the anointing is released when what we see in the Spirit-realm is put into action. From his place of abiding Elisha discerned the very words the King of Syria spoke in the privacy of his bedchamber. From that he advised the King of Israel. So in 2 Kings 6 when the armies of Syria came by night and surrounded Elisha’s city, he knew exactly what was unfolding and he knew what he was to do.
Joseph the Patriarch, a slave without position, brought blessing to the household of Potiphar. Genesis 39 indicates that everyone saw that the Lord was with Joseph and made all that he did to prosper. Joseph knew what it meant to abide in God’s presence, but as a faithful steward Joseph put in action what God showed him. He carried the mantle of his great-grandfather Abraham, as a catalyst of blessing to those around him, indeed to the nations.
Shared Anointings
Individual anointings are multiplied exponentially when combined and released with the anointings of others. The scope of Elisha’s mantle expanded as Elijah mentored, nurtured and prepared him. It is the reason why biblical community represents a safe-place to foster the diversity of gifts and anointings; where they are allowed to incubate and work together. However, since Jesus’ resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, shared anointings have taken on an even greater potential.
The charismatic revival of the late sixties and early 70s began when believers hungry for more of God, began gathering to seek Him more diligently. What resulted was shared and passed on by the laying on of hands. Ripples went out that became a torrent of revival as the anointing was imparted and the presence of God manifested to satisfy the growing hunger of those not satisfied with the status quo.
Over the years, within my calling in the marketplace, I have been given opportunity to apply my gift and impart my anointing as a consultant to a number of respected ministries, ranging from CBN to Oral Roberts, to Morris Cerullo to Marilyn Hickey. In each of these cases not only did result come from the application of my gift; but I emerged with a dimension of the anointing from these ministries I had served.
When anointings merge to serve God’s purposes, new dimensions are released on each side.
Many years ago, I received a prophetic word from a minister I had never met before who had no awareness of my situation or background. His words to me simply were: “You sir, have a spirit of prosperity on you. Financially, you may be broke or you may be a millionaire. It doesn’t matter. Prosperity is not about money; but comes from within to bring blessing and increase to others.” That word came not long after I had lost my position with a firm I had been working for. My financial situation at the time was not good.
Yet, the words of truth this man of God spoke penetrated the darkness trying to enshroud me at that time. It bore significantly on assignments I had had in the past bearing on opportunity and increase for my clients; as it has become foundational to the role I now serve with the persecuted church within God’s purposes in making them the head and not the tail.
Yet, what has resulted, as a consultant, a board-member and a teacher-mobilizer comes from shared anointings, which combine the dimensions of my own anointing being blended with the unique dimensions of those I have served and am serving.
As a young Christian, I was greatly influenced and mentored by two incredible men of God. Both might be described as world-class prayer warriors; men of faith. Yet one also had a unique anointing for developing strategy; while the other’s distinctive anointing was tied to being a catalyst for revival. Now over forty years later, prayer, developing strategy and revival are still by-words of the way my anointing operates.
The more you impart to apply and give your anointing away, the more it grows. It is a dynamic of the Kingdom.
The Cost and Application
The issue comes down to two factors. The first is the cost of the anointing. The second is in applying the anointing. The anointing of an Elijah or Elisha does not come passively. It is developed and nurtured. It flows with ones gifts and calling.
Every believer has a sphere (2 Cor 10:13), an area of influence of their anointing. Within the boundary of that area of influence is the authority to break asunder what Paul refers to as the bondage of corruption. Presumption in operating outside that sphere is asking for trouble. The bottom line ties to changing the spiritual climate.
Daniel excelled professionally and spiritually in a culture of sorcery to the level that he was described as ten times better than ALL the sorcerers within the king’s realm. From that juncture and standard, there came stages of challenge: the king’s dream; walking in the fire; and the lion’s den. Changing the spiritual climate will not generally go unchallenged. However, there comes a point in prevailing when one’s spiritual authority becomes established.
So it was, later in Daniel’s tenure as advisor to the court. It was in that context that the handwriting on the wall manifested. It was a major shift from the lion’s den and walking in the fire. The handwriting on the wall parallels Joseph’s promotion alongside Pharaoh, when the anointing prevails and has established God’s authority in a domain. When it does, everything changes.
Yet, the mantle bearing the anointing will require a cost. Many years ago, a great man of God I studied under told the story of a young man who came to him and audaciously told him he “wanted” his anointing. Very few in that generation had an anointing to equal the authority this man of God wielded. His response to the young man very simply was: “Are you willing to pay the cost?”
We impart and share the anointing generously. However, to fully embrace the anointing of others, a cost will be paid.
Sometimes the cost already has been paid at the point of impartation and reflects a “next step” for what the Lord has planned. That very much has been the case with the persecuted segment of the church we have been honored to be working with. They have been through and have been purified by fire. Elisha had been prepared by the best and was ready for the double-portion.
Yet for others, the impartation will result in having to face and then walk into the fire. It has never been about man’s glory, but God’s; and His alone. The Word of God tells us that God is a consuming fire. His presence does not “abide” with the soulish. It disrupts and then consumes it.
God’s anointing applied will bring change and the restoration of the order required to establish His purposes. The key for the Elijah-Elisha impact, the “double-portion” in today’s time of turbulence, is to be found in exercising the anointing through community.
We need the authority of Elijah’s anointing to shut up the heavens and bring judgment. We need God’s people to come out of the closet. We need those who are either aligned with or overwhelmed by the world to arise and take their place among the remnant of the faithful, who have been applying their anointings.
It is time for the spiritual climate to be challenged with the explosive power of shared anointings from God’s chosen.
The release of the anointing involves stewardship. Shared anointings ignite one another and bring enlargement. This type of prophetic stewardship requires a consistent priority of spending time with Him so that our perspective is a God-perspective. It means defining our gifts and like Daniel, becoming the best in the sphere we’ve been given. That means operating in the Spirit beyond our human capacities.
Entering this dimension requires focus given to mentoring and cooperative assignments directed by the Spirit that provide opportunity for shared anointings to manifest at the community level. This premise will evoke what will manifest as revival, as the fullness of His presence takes root.
“I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing. Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” Ezek 34:26-27
