“So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him,”   1 Kings 19:19.

In this passage, Elijah had just been instructed by the LORD to anoint Elisha to continue his work.

He was also instructed to anoint Jehu as king over Israel and Hazael as the king of Syria.  When Elijah departed, he went to Elisha and cast his mantle upon him before he left.

As we know in the later chapters of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, Elisha received a similar anointing to Elijah, but of greater power.

He was able to become a more anointed vessel of the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Spirit giving him power to do even greater miracles than Elijah did.

In a way, that is similar to this phenomenon: many in the prophetic community have used the word mantle to describe the inheritance of power and calling of a prophet it is associated with.

Elisha inherited Elijah’s mantle.  With God’s own mysterious but direct power, He can call any of His saints to inherit this power and in a way that is however He pleases.

To some people God gave instantaneous power, and for others it is more gradual and requires meditation and spending time in prayer and fasting.  This is when we need to humble ourselves and revere God as One Who is the Most High.

God can also give the saints as many mantles as He pleases and in the extent of each mantle that He pleases.

For example, if you notice that you’ve been experiencing a prophetic download and it is something controversial, but you feel your bones aching and your heart wrenching from not publishing or writing or telling this prophetic download to the people God intends you to convey to, then you have been given the mantle of Jeremiah.

If you have been given the ability to see dreams and visions and/or interpret it then you have been given the mantle of Daniel.

If you happen to lead a lot of people out of a spiritual or financial slavery into the direction of the promise land of some sort, you may have been given the mantle of Moses.

If you happen to be at a place where there are walls hindering you to the next level of your calling or promise land, and then you just show up, and the walls break down, you have been given the mantle of Joshua.

If you happen to have been exiled on a secluded place and you start to see Heaven or the End Times in a vision you have been gifted with the mantle of John the Apostle.

If you happen to live by the river and baptizing people, and you wear really simple clothes and eating food from nature like locust and honey, then you have been given the mantle of John the Baptist.

If you have been a farm boy, cowherd, shepherd, or pet sitter as a kid, and singing and making music in your youth and God made you a pastor, director or CEO of a large organization such as a church or a company, then you have been given the mantle of David and so on.

These are just examples.  Most often then, not a lot of saints are given a little bit of everyone’s mantles.

Some get one or two mantles with even more power or resemblance and some will get the mantle of one prophet and will be used by The Holy Spirit as vessels to manifest great anointing and power.

But no two ministries will look the same.  No one who has been given David’s mantle would have the same exact life events and anointing as David himself.

If you look closely at the ministries of Elijah and Elisha you’d see that both were entrusted with great power and anointing but their ministries were not exactly the same.  However they are both similar and different in some ways.

The good news is, when you get a mantle you are given the opportunity to live and glorify God in the same or similar calling that these children of God had.

If you are given the mantle of David, you have been given the opportunity to worship and steward great godly leadership on the people of God and on the people yet to belong to Jesus.

However, the not so good news is that the Bible wants to forewarn us — the saints — that with greatness comes responsibility.  That with the mantles the saints are given, many will fail in one way or another.

For example, those who are given the mantles of David, should be careful about the ‘Bathsheba moment’, that they should be careful to not place themselves in a place where they could fail their calling.

At the time of this moment of weakness, David’s own soldiers were at war, and the kings were at war.  The Bible made a point to state this to indicate that David’s job was supposed to be fighting for his people in the war, but he did not.

He stayed behind, and then what happened?  He failed and failed miserably.  Not only did he committed adultery or rape with Bathsheba, he also made a point to kill Bathsheba’s husband and was then guilty of both sins.

So those with the mantles and anointing of David must be careful not only in the area of sexual purity, but also in their obedience or sense of duty to the people God has entrusted them to oversee and protect.

If such a person fail to obey God or to fulfill his duty as ‘king’/ leader/ pastor/ shepherd/ CEO then he may fall into sexual sin and other sins.

In the same way, those who are given mantles of other prophets should look closely into the prophets they inherited their mantles from and see the common blunders or the mistakes of these prophets in their lives.

What was Elijah’s mistake?  Fear of Jezebel.

What was Abraham’s mistake?  He had a cowardly attitude by lying to the Pharaoh about his wife and he could not trust God but made an Ishmael instead of waiting for his promised Isaac.

What was Peter’s mistake?  He was a hypocrite according to Paul and so on.

But what if you don’t recognize a mantle in your life?  Is that bad news?

Absolutely not.

This gift of ‘no mantles’ is also a good thing because God is doing a new thing in your life.  A new thing that is good and pure, and also an opportunity for godly stewardship of your passions, skills, gifts, knowledge and resources for God’s glory in a new way.

And this does not just mean pastors, leaders and ministers, but also the everyday moms and dads, wives and husbands.

God is so amazingly creative that He created each one of us to be so unique and special (yes, snowflake generation) but yet so much alike. In our uniqueness He has given us a unique calling and it is up to us to seek Him and partner with Him to live that calling into reality and to bring in the glory of the Father in Jesus’ Name.

Just like Paul had said in Colossians 3:23:  “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the LORD and not to men.”

Paul is very clear in Ephesians 4:11-16 and 1 Corinthians 12 that all of us in the Body of Christ are called to do different things and gifted differently.

Some are given the calling to evangelize and they are so effective in doing that.  Others are given the ability to disciple great numbers and are very good at it.  And yet others are called to prophesy and God gift them the ability to become His vessel in such a way.

If you think about it, in every generation of Christians there are evangelists, apostles, pastors, ministers, prophets and others, and no matter how much others persecute them or try to stop them, God raise them up anyway.

And that has been going on more than 2000 years for God’s Word, and 2000 years for the Second Coming of Jesus.

Remember Noah had to prophesy for a very long time before the Flood happened and note this – nobody but his family was saved.

Just like in the days of Noah:  Does building arks count?

Christians have been preaching about the Second Coming for 2000 years, we pray and hope it is not only us and our families are saved from the Coming Wrath, but that the whole world would know Jesus Christ is Lord now so as many as possible will be saved.

Therefore, whoever you and whoever you are called to be, receive your mantles in your humility and in your seeking with God.

Remember that if you belong to Jesus, and you are saved, you have given and surrendered your life to Jesus and you have confessed Him as LORD and believe it in your heart according to Romans 10:9, then no matter how far you feel (this is where you need to not lean on your own understanding as prescribed Proverbs 3:5-6) God is from you, He is actually closer to you when you call on Him, no matter how you feel about Him as described in Psalm 145:18.

Finally, look at where The LORD is leading you.

Read the real life accounts of the Biblical prophets and men and women of God that God has chosen to include in His Word, and see the resemblance for yourself and pray about it.

Seek Him to open doors.  If you have been praying for God to open doors like I do for a long time, go humbly into the presence of the LORD Jesus Christ, recognizing Him as the Son of God, Lamb of God and High Priest and humbly ask Him to intercede on your behalf to the Father.

A lot of what we do is not easy, if it is easy, we would be in Heaven not here on this earth marred with sin, evil and suffering. Let’s not force a ‘microwave popcorn’ approach to God’s will for our lives, we need to be patient as He is patient with us.

We need to revere Him as LORD for He is the One Who Lives Forever and Ever and the One Who Reigns Forever and Ever.

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;  that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,  but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ —  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love,”    Ephesians 4:11-16.

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved,”   Romans 10:9.

“Trust in The LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall [a]direct your paths,”   Proverbs 3:5-6.

“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth,”   Psalm 145:18.

 

Your Sister in Christ,
~  Julia A.

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Julia A. is a prophetic author, who was saved 2011.  She has written six prophetic messages to a church in Kansas and publicly shares on her website, Warrior Princess of God, her testimony about the faithfulness of God in the persecution she has faced.  She realizes that God’s call for her is to recognize His heart for the world for the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ.  For any questions, please reach Julia at Julia.A.A.B.Ministries@gmail.com

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