What Are You Following

In the olden days, prophets had disciples. In Elijah’s time, there were schools of prophets. One of his disciples was Elisha. Elisha had a heart to heart connection with Elijah. 

2 Kings 2:9-15
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.” As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two. 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. The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

Elisha knew that Elijah would be taken up, and he was with him at all times. So Elijah asked Elisha what he wanted. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Elisha could have asked for anything else but he chose to ask for a double portion of his anointing. He had asked for a difficult thing but Elijah said if he saw him being taken up, he would receive it. What Elisha did was he fixed his eyes on Elijah at all times. And one day, suddenly, a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind. Elisha saw Elijah no more. He picked up Elijah’s mantle and continued his ministry with double the anointing.

Now let us look at another disciple.

2 Kings 5:26-27
But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.

Naaman came to Elisha to be healed and Elisha told him to dip himself seven times in the river Jordan; he did so and was healed. He offered gifts to Elisha but he refused to take them. When they were on their way back, Gehazi stopped them and said that Elisha had changed his mind about not wanting the gifts and Gehazi took the gifts for himself. After this when he went and stood in front of Elisha, Elisha said to him, was not my spirit with you. He was watching all this in his spirit. Elisha told Gehazi that he and his descendants forever would be inflicted with Naaman’s leprosy. And as Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence, he was leprous.

We see two disciples here. One was Elisha, who went after spiritual prosperity and the other was Gehazi who went after material prosperity and was struck with leprosy. But Elisha who desired spiritual prosperity, received everything else along with it. This is why we must first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We must not go after material prosperity. Our goal must be spiritual blessings. When we do that, material blessings will follow. His goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. When does that happen? When the Lord is my shepherd. If we look at Psalm 23 from a spiritual perspective, green pastures denotes the Word of God, quiet waters denotes the Holy Spirit. When we give importance to that which is spiritual and stay close to the shepherd, we will receive goodness and mercy and dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Forever is eternity. So it doesn't end here but we receive eternal life.

We must first correct our spiritual life, then prosperity flows in.

2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

This verse picturizes what real prosperity is.

The reason God causes His grace to abound on us is so that we can abound in every good work. We must grow in good works. Real prosperity is that we grow in being a blessing to others. This is why God blesses us. Real prosperity is defined by how much we give away, not how much we keep for ourselves.

Money with a mission. God entrusts us with resources to do specific things. We will look into this further in the coming days.

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About The Author:

Dr. Damien Antony
Born and brought up in a Christian family, Dr. Damien Antony possessed an unquenching quest for truth right from his boyhood days and eventually his relentless search led him to the Bible. He is a Revival Preacher, Bible Teacher, Leadership Trainer, Author and a Life Coach. He moves under the anointing for Prophetic, Healing, Deliverance, Inner Healing and Financial Breakthrough. God has also blessed him with an Apostolic Mandate to take the Universal Body of Christ to the next level of revelation and anointing.