Scripture reading: 2 Kings 2:9-13
Let us look today at the story of Elijah and Elisha. Elijah had a man named Elisha. It is peculiar that both names are so close. But I will tell you why. It is because one is a type of Christ, and the other is the type of the church with Christ. If you notice, the two names have some relationship. Eli. Elisha. Elijah. If you take the Hebrew, Elisha: “sh” means “shin,” the character “shin” coming where the other character comes in. Elisha is the one that pertains to Christ, because the “sh” or the “shin” is for Jesus. You can see the same “Shin”, for example, in El Shaddai and it pertains to Jesus. The other one is Elijah – “jah,” which in Hebrew is “Yah,” and means God. Eliyah. It means that one ends in God and the other one ends in Christ. So one is a type of Christ [Elijah], and the other one is a type of Christ in the church [Elisha]. God in Christ, and Christ in the church. Now, Elisha asked for a double portion of what Elijah had. Whereas Elijah ran from Jezebel to hide, Elisha took a room in the palace! Amen. He took a room in the palace. His power was so great that when the king wanted to kill him, he said, “That old fox who wants to kill me, one of you guys go bar the door” (II Kings 6:32). He did not even use any spiritual power to turn the man back, he sent a man to bar the door.
Let us look at this story where they came to the place called Carmel, a point now where Elijah is going to give over his power to Elisha. But Elisha must prove himself worthy to receive this power. So Elijah said to him, “What do you want? Why are you following me like this?” Elisha said, “I want a double portion of your power” (II Kings 2:9). I never heard of anybody asking for a thing like that. Elijah said, “That is a hard thing you are asking, but I tell you what, if you see me when I am being taken up from God, you will be worthy to have that double portion” (II Kings 2:10). Here is the great test. They come to this point and there is a disruption, a distraction of great proportion. Out of nowhere appears a chariot with horses of fire (II Kings 2:11). Can you imagine it now? Fire. I mean horses like fire with fire blazing from them, maybe fire coming out of their nostrils, charging down upon the two men standing together. Remember now, the idea is, “If you can see me when I am taken up, then you can receive the double portion of the Spirit.” What happened? I mean, that’s the natural. But Elisha decided not to submit to the natural. If he had submitted to the natural, he would have been a goner; he would not have received the double portion. But while this thing was coming down on him, he was keeping his eye on Elijah.
I am talking about focus, brethren. We are being bombarded with everything that the devil can conceive; a bombardment that is greater than any generation, any nation, any people has ever had to go through. We are being bombarded with distractions. We are even being distracted by our education, by our desire to be something in the world. God is calling to a people at this time, and saying to this people, “Drop everything that you are doing, because you are at a point of time where you MUST keep your eyes on Jesus, stayed on heaven!”
(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 12, 2004)
Thought for today: Drop everything that you are doing, because you are at a point of time where you MUST keep your eyes on Jesus, stayed on heaven!
Sonlight Devotional 
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