“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24
Let’s look at three servants who served great Prophets in the bible. All had the same opportunity to be blessed, all were on the same playing field but only one received the prize. It’s very interesting to note what they did and why only one got the double portion with the other ones missing out.
Let us look at the Prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 17:1.
“Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” 1 Kings 17:1
Elijah the Prophet was a loner, yet we are told that he had a servant in 1 Kings 18. Elijah called for a drought on the land because of the sins of King Ahab and when the drought took hold he disappeared for 3 and a half years. During this time, he was fed by ravens at the Brook Cherith and later by a poor widow who had a miraculous provision of bread and oil. When the drought was about to end he called all the Prophets of Baal together on Mount Carmel and brought fire down from heaven before all the people which sparked revival in the land. He then slew the Prophets of Baal and went up the mountain to pray for the rains to come.
“And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” 1 Kings 18:41-44
We are first introduced to his servant (who we will call servant A) when he assisted Elijah by going to the top of the mountain 7 times to see if there was anything happening. If you follow the story you will see that Elijah then fled from Queen Jezebel and went far away to the Mount of God. Servant A could have been in line for Elijah’s mantel but he made the wrong choice. As a servant he watched all that Elijah did first hand and was obviously his likely successor. When Elijah fled from Jezebel he told Servant A – “Stay here at Beersheba.” Nothing wrong in that - right? An obedient servant. There was no argument, just an OK. This shows that servant A didn’t really want the blessing and had a passive attitude. It’s the last we hear of servant A. The trouble is he had no passion for the anointing that Elijah possessed. He could have been in line for the prize but he missed it. This was the last we heard of this Servant.
“Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness.” 1 Kings 19:1-4
Then we read of Elisha who was Elijah’s next servant after servant A. This man had a different spirit. He served Elijah for possibly 6 years and did all the menial work for him and it says that he washed his hands. Elisha also saw the miracles of his master Elijah and the attitude that he had towards God and all the evil of those days. Elisha had forsaken everything to follow the man of God and slew all his oxen before he left his father’s farm. This shows that Elisha was not going back, he burnt all his bridges for he wanted what Elijah had no matter what.
“So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.” 1 Kings 19:21
When Elijah was about to depart from this life, Elijah said to Elisha, stay here at Gilgal. Elisha’s response was completely different to that of Servant A. “NO way.” Why? He wanted what Elijah had and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Three times he was told to stay behind but he said no. They finally crossed the Jordan and on the other side he was asked by Elijah, “What do you want?” “You can have whatever you ask for.” His immediate response was “A double portion of your prophetic power.” Elijah replied that he was asking a hard thing, but through his perseverance he eventually got what he wanted. He received a double portion of Elijah’s prophetic power and ended up doing twice as many recorded miracles.
“When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.”
This determination happened again and again with Elisha saying each time that he would not leave him.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. “ 2 Kings 2: 1-13
Elisha was different to servant A in that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. His mind was already made up and he couldn’t be moved. What I see from this is that God loves tenacity and we see it turning up time and again in scripture, with great rewards.
Look at the story of the importunate widow who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8
Then there’s the friend at midnight
“Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” Luke 11:5-8
There’s also the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus who insisted that Jesus come into their house when he was planning to go further. There is also the story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel who asked him to stop, but he said that he wouldn’t let him go unless he was blessed. What about blind Bartimaeus who was told to stop crying out to Jesus, but he cried all the more and was healed of blindness.
Now we come to another servant. This servant was Gehazi whom I will call servant C. He was Elisha’s servant and would have also been next in line for the mantel of Elijah. He too had seen all the miracles and would have known how Elisha received his mantel from Elijah. He was being groomed for the blessing but missed it for he didn’t have the same spirit as Elisha. We see this in 2 Kings when he gave up so quickly, while Elisha persevered.
“Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.” When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.” 2 Kings 4:31-35
Namaan the Syrian was Gehazi’s eventual downfall exposing the condition of his heart. Gehazi wanted this world’s riches more than the blessings of heaven. He was like Esau who chose a portion of meat over the firstborn’s birthright.
Elisha turned down the riches offered to him by Namaan for healing him of leprosy. Gehazi however couldn’t stand letting this opportunity pass him by, so he came to Namaan afterwards and lied so that he might get the riches that had been offered to Elisha.
“Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered. “My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’ ” By all means, take two talents,” said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.” 2 Kings 5:22-27
Gehazi did get his double portion, but it was a double portion of the world instead of a double portion of the Spirit. Notice all the ‘two’s.’ He had his chance to be like his master but blew it, and went away leprous. As you can see in my opening scripture we are all in a race and need to stay focused on the prize. There have been many who have lost the blessings as we see in this next verse.
“for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.”
2 Timothy 4:10
Do you really want the blessing of God? Are you prepared to go all the way? Are you not taking ‘no’ for an answer like Elisha? Look at another story about Elisha and the need for passion in our ministries.
“Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. 19The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” 2 Kings 13:15-18
King Jehoash could have been blessed by the Prophet if he had persevered, but he didn’t have passion like Elisha. We need to ask ourselves the hard questions.
First we need to ask, “is what I desire from God?” If it is, then am I prepared to go all the way like Elisha, or am I going to be put off by apparent denials? Do I really want the blessing?
Jacob told the Angel that he wouldn’t let him go until he was blessed and because of this he was changed through wrestling from Jacob the ‘Cheater’ to Israel the ‘Prince with God.’
The process that we have to go through as we wrestle with God and all the waiting brings changes that enable us to handle what we are asking for in the first place.
“That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, e because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” Genesis 32:22:30