Pastor E. A. Adeboye
Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Text: 2 Kings 2:6-12

What is Double Portion? Normally, it is the inheritance that the father gives to the firstborn. If you read Deuteronomy chapter 21:15-17, it is the commandment of the Lord; that when a father is distributing his inheritance, the firstborn must get a double portion. Of course, when you go through the scriptures, not all the firstborns got it. E.g., Esau didn’t get the double portion. Another situation is Genesis 48:8-20 when God decided to transfer the double portion to the younger brother instead of the first born – the story of Ephraim and Manasseh.

The first question that comes to our minds is, can I get the double portion since I’m not the firstborn of my parents? Well, according to Romans 8:29, Jesus Christ is the firstborn of our Father and He got it. In Romans 8:16-17, Bible made it clear that if you are a child of God, then you are a joint heir with Jesus Christ. That means whatever Jesus got, you can get it also.

Now, what do you need a double portion for? What does it do for you? And what are the things that will be the results?

The first thing that double portion will do for you is that it will activate your potentials. All the things that God has deposited in you that have been waiting for manifestation, the moment you get the double portion, even you will be amazed as you begin to see these things manifest. In 1 Kings 19:19-21, Elijah was passing by and he cast his mantle on Elisha but he took it back. The moment the mantle touched Elisha, that day it was settled that this fellow will be the next prophet; but Elisha waited for more than three years before he finally got the mantle.

The second thing that will happen as soon as you get the double portion is, like Elisha, you will soon begin to see the invisible. God will begin to open your eyes, and you’ll begin to see marvellous things. The Bible says in Proverbs 20:12 that the hearing ear and the seeing eyes are created by God. That means there are eyes that cannot see, not that they are blind, but they can’t see spiritual things. There are also ears that cannot hear spiritual things and I’m believing God for you that as a result of this Congress, you will begin to see the invisible and you will begin to hear the inaudible.

The next thing that will happen when you get the double portion is seen from 2 kings 2:13-15. The Bible tells us that Elisha took the mantle that fell from Elijah and went back to Jordan. He rolled the cloth like his father did and smote the river and suddenly, the river parted. There are so many things here, Elisha had received mighty power but he was on the wrong side of Jordan. Where his ministry is supposed to be is on the other side of Jordan. After he got that double portion, the number one obstacle to enter into his destiny was Jordan and he parted it that same day. 

In my case, I thought God wanted me to be a vice chancellor, that’s what I thought. I wanted to be the youngest vice chancellor in Africa but that wasn’t my destiny; my destiny is to stand before you to preach the gospel. Several things have happened in my life that would never have happened if I remained on the other side of Jordan. I visited a nation and I wanted to see the Head of State and they told me the maximum time allowed is 15 minutes. I said that’s enough, I just want to pray for him. After 2 hours of being with him, I had to beg him to let me go, reminding him that his people were waiting. He said, “let them wait. I have heard of you, they have people they can talk to, I don’t have, and I don’t know when you are coming back. Now that you are here, you must give me answers to my questions.” After another one hour, finally I went out.  On our way to the car, I said to my wife, “who am I but for Jesus Christ, that the president will say ‘no, no, you can’t go’.”

When Elisha had crossed River Jordan, suddenly, he joined a certain club of the high and mighty. He joined the club of Moses who crossed the Red Sea, he joined the club of Joshua who crossed River Jordan, he joined the club of Elijah who has also crossed River Jordan. Whether you believe or not, before very long, you will be dinning with the high and mighty. When I say high and mighty, I’m not talking about those in political party, I’m talking about the high and mighty spiritually. There is somebody here today, my God will say to you, you will never know shame again.

Elisha joined the club of the high and mighty and then as he crossed the river, those who were his peers before, the sons of the prophets who were teasing him, came and bowed. That is what is called supernatural accelerated promotion.

He woke up in the morning a son of a prophet, by night, he was a big prophet; all his peers came bowing down in less than 24 hours. It takes God just a brief moment to cause you to excel far beyond the rest of your colleagues. I say as a result of today’s meeting, many prophets will arise among you.

And then not long after that, something happened. After he had crossed over to the other side of the Jordan, in 2 Kings 2:23-24, the Bible says Elisha was going on to Bethel when some children began to mock him because he was bald headed. They were saying bald headed man go away from here. Then he turned and issued a decree; he placed a curse on them. As soon as he finished speaking, two she-bears came out of nowhere and silenced the mockers. 

When he silenced the mockers, we see in action the proclamation of God in Psalm 105:14-15 where God said, “touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm”. God demonstrated there that when you see someone under heavy anointing, you should be careful how you deal with them because they carry power like high tension electricity wire. After today, if any evil force tries to touch you, it will be fried.

And then, even more importantly, the double portion is double because portion 1 is to take care of your problems and portion 2 is to turn you into a blessing. You will become what they call a go-to person for help. In 2 Kings 3:9-20, some kings had a problem and they came to Elisha. One of them said, is there no prophet in the land?

There is a story, we were having a program in Ebute Metta and the word of God came that there was a lady in the congregation who her mother is the one behind her not getting married and God said if the mother didn’t change within a week, that she would die. The following day, I was in my office and one lady came in with her mother. The mother was furious and said, “Are you the pastor?”

I said, “Yes, ma, I’m the one.”

“You are the one that said I will die?”

I said I didn’t say anything like that. She said that’s what my daughter said. I now asked the lady, “did I mention anybody’s name?” she said, “no.” So, what did I say, the girl repeated the word of God.

I said, “Mama, I didn’t mention anybody’s name.” She said in that case her daughter should go out. Then she turned to me and said, “Is it true?”

I said, “Mama, it’s not you, but as God lives, any mother standing in the way of her daughter’s marriage will die within a week.”

At that point she said that her daughter is the one looking after her and that if she marries now who will take care of her. What kind of mama is this? You married before you can give birth to her and you want to stop her from having her own family. Anyway, she released her and did whatever she needed to do and the lady got married within the next six months.

Now, the reason God wants me to tell that story is that as God lives, if there is anybody standing in the way of my daughters, not allowing them to be married, that fellow will not see the New Year.

I didn’t plan to tell stories today but Daddy is speaking. Some of you will remember this story. A young man who was always doing very well in his place of work but when it’s time for promotion, they will forget him. And then the word of God came when we were in the very first auditorium. I said, “there’s someone here, somebody close to you is about to die. Don’t sorrow because he has to be moved out of the way for you to make progress”. The following week, the father of the young man died and thereafter, the boy got rapid promotions.

I decree now, in the name that’s above every other name, anyone hindering your progress, because of the double portion of the anointing, that fellow will not see the New Year.

The second part of double portion: Portion 1 is to take care of your problem; the second portion is to make you a blessing because you will suddenly become a yoke destroyer. In 2 Kings 2:19-22, the people of Jericho came to Elisha and they told him, “Sorry sir, we have a problem in our city”. You know the rest of the story, in less than one hour, the problem of the city was over.

In 2 Kings 4:1-7, there was a widow that was destitute but by the anointing of the double portion that was on Elisha, the yoke of poverty was destroyed.  Maybe you have heard this one before, a woman came to us completely destitute. We prayed for her and when she was going back, she said, “Man of God, I know I’m the one who’s supposed to bring you a gift but I don’t even have money to transport myself back. So, I took the little I had and made a pronouncement. I said, this money will never finish. That was June or thereabout. By August, she came here bringing a big cow for the convention. 

The double portion anointing you have that makes you a yoke destroyer can destroy the yoke of barrenness. In 2 Kings 4:8-17, you know the story of the Shunammite woman. The anointing on Elisha destroyed the yoke of barrenness in the life of the Shunammite woman. In 2 Kings 5:1-14, the double portion on Elisha destroyed the yoke of reproach in the life of Naaman.

But probably the most significant thing that happened which I can’t dodge, is that the double portion anointing can outlast you. In 2 kings 13:14-21, Elisha was sick, yet even when he was on his deathbed, he was decreeing what will happen to a Nation. His anointing lasted, he didn’t become an ex-prophet, his character was not soiled, and his good name was maintained. Even after he died, his bones still raised the dead.

Now comes the question, who can get the double portion of anointing?

Pastor & Pastor (Mrs.) E. A. Adeboye

Who can get it?

It has to be somebody who is faithful to the end, faithful to his Father to the end.

People have asked me again and again. Someone said to me, ‘I like your sermons but what I don’t like about you is when you begin to say there is someone here and you are always saying good things. For example, you said there is someone here who will never weep again’. I always say what God wants me to say. I can only say what God has asked me to say. I told him you go ahead and be prophesying about death and destruction; I can only say the one God gave me.

But almost more than anything else, the one who’s going to get the double portion must be focused. Elisha knew what he wanted and did whatever it takes to get it. I visited a country not too long ago and there was a group of people who were in a panel to discuss and they were saying young people are no longer coming to church in their own country. They said the young people love the message but they don’t like the messengers. I said I see. Those people don’t have purpose? Do they come to church because of pastors? And they said, you know, some of the pastors are old fashioned. I said, but God is old fashioned. His name is Ancient of days. They said they like to go to new generation churches. I said that’s okay, as long as they will get to heaven. I said that’s good but there’s only one language that I know that God speaks and that’s the language of the Holy Spirit. The language of power and I know when it comes to tongues, it doesn’t matter whether you are old or young. They said the younger ones are radicals. I said you don’t even know what is called radical. Ask about me, they will tell you when I wanted to start modern parishes in Lagos, I started using hotels. When I ran out of hotels, I started using night clubs and my friends started saying I’m backsliding. How can you be holding churches in night club? I said night clubs are always empty on Sunday morning; those who come to drink would be sleeping at home at the time of service. But they said what about the smell of alcohol. I said another name for alcohol is spirits and with God there in the morning, the Holy Spirit chased out the other spirits and souls were getting saved. I told those who were beginning to put pressure on me that I have not reached where I’m going; that I’m going to be looking for imams who will agree with me that they can use my church on Friday and allow me to use their mosque on Sunday. Don’t tell me you know the meaning of radicalism.

Let me make it clear to some people who say ‘I can sit down at home watching every sermon on television’. It means you don’t know where you are going, you are not focused at all. God commanded it that you must not forsake the assembly of the brethren, that’s one. Two, He says iron sharpens iron. Third, the bigger the fire, the hotter it is. When we gather together and shout hallelujah, the noise is so much that the devil is frightened. When you sit down at home watching and you are asked to shout hallelujah, but you’re drinking tea, before you know, you’ll begin to grow cold little by little. By the time the word of God that has to do with you comes, at the time you want to say “Amen”, there is tea in your mouth so instead of “Amen”, you’re going to say “hmm”. Maybe when God Almighty wants to send His word directly to you, you have gone to the toilet and before you will know it, little by little, you have become cold. When the devil wants to bring down a big man of God, he doesn’t do it suddenly, he will leak your tank one drop at a time.

In conclusion, the one who wants a double portion must be ready for a new beginning, brand new beginning. When Elisha woke up that morning, he didn’t know that his life was about to change forever but he was ready. If you want a brand-new beginning, it has to start with salvation. I mean genuine one, not the kind of salvation you are coming for and you are laughing, not the salvation you are coming for and you take the picture of the G.O. I’m talking of the kind of salvation that even before you get to the altar, you have already said “bye, bye” to all those who are your mates because things will never be the same again. 

Swollen liver healed

Last year August, I came with my friend because she invited me. She said ‘when you set your feet on Redemption Camp, whatever challenge you

Read More »
Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *