The Church is the ultimate agency of the Kingdom of God.
In truth, Jesus intended to usher in the Kingdom Age through the Church that He – the Master Builder – would build!
The biblical Greek word for “build” is the word oikodomeō and carries the tacit understanding that building is a process that incorporates architecture, excavation, construction, decoration ultimately leading to habitation!
Essentially building is a synthesis (a weaving and inter-weaving of multiple constituent components) to produce a physical manifestation of what originates as an intangible idea!
Jesus had an idea! Jesus had a thought. Jesus had the blueprint that He articulated in Matt 16 “... and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Today, the spiritual company of apostles and prophets surely agree on the prophetic interpretation that the rock – that the foundation on which Jesus was going to manifest the idea of a spiritual agent of the Kingdom of Heaven called the Church – is the rock of revelation!!
He was surely not building the Church upon Peter himself. The same Peter that would deny Christ not once, not twice but three times. The same Peter whose theology could not permit Gentile believers to inherit the Redemptive work of the One who – by revelation and contrary to the popular opinion of the day, Peter had just prophesied was the Messiah!
No! Jesus never builds His Church on the foundation of a man or ministry. Jesus builds the Church – His Bride – on a sure foundation, on the rock of revelation of which Christ Himself is the chief cornerstone!
This revelatory type Church, the agency of the Kingdom, the Church catholic is the very same agency through which God will ultimately manifest His manifold wisdom – the multicoloured light – to principalities and powers and rulers of darkness in the heavenly places AND…
(There is always an “and” when you are in Jesus! Revelation is always progressive and carries forward impulse)
… the very gates of hell would not prevail against that Church of Jesus Christ!
In order for Jesus to build His Church, much like in the construction of the Tabernacle of Moses, Jesus was going to place His Spirit upon certain men and women so that they would have wisdom and skill to complete the construction to the Master Builder’s satisfaction!
In order to construct and manifest the true image of His design – Jesus gave the blue-print to His apostles and prophets!
” … fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And [you] are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22 (KJV)
The household of God is comprised the Saints of God, and we are actually part of its design and construction! No longer was a tabernacle being erected with badger skins and ram skins and white linen. No longer was the house of God constructed from elements that were merely symbolic but now the household of God, that agency of the Kingdom called the Church, is being synthesised from living stones – called the Saints! That’s you!
But in order for the stones to be cut to size and have the right shape and dimensions – Jesus did something else. He gave gifts to certain ones to help quarry the stones for the building!
“…and gave gifts unto men. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”
Ephesians 4:8-12 (KJV)
Over the centuries (much like the hero’s of the Faith listed in Hebrews 11 who saw the Promise afar off) the Church has seen great mantles of anointing over men and women who have been significantly used to bring the Body of Christ (the Church) to spiritual maturity!
Many of those giants of the Faith have fallen asleep and gone on to the Cloud of Witnesses where they watch and encourage us to continue the race and reach for the prize of the High Call.
Some of these giants of the faith have been taken out and assassinated by the enemy before their rightful time and they too are in the embrace of Jesus.
I’m not talking about those who have fallen away from the faith – like we hear of today!
I read of prominent worship leaders who are making grandiose, somewhat startling and attention seeking announcements over social media that their christian faith is on shaky ground because they want something “real” or supposedly christian thought leaders, influencers and authors that are renouncing their faith in Jesus and embracing secularism!
No! Unto these be the judgement of God who alone dispenses mercy. I’m not talking about those fallen.
Who I am referring to are those giants of the faith who have fallen asleep in this world and translated to another dimension but their anointing remains on the earth for another generation to run with!
This should excite you! I think of the generals of the recent past – men like Kenneth Hagin, Billy Graham, Derek Prince, John Paul Jackson, Myles Munroe, Kim Clement, Oral Roberts, RC Sproul – and those are just the names who have personally impacted me. There are countless other names of men and women we can add to that list!
Names like Smith Wigglesworth, Aimee Semple McPerson, Kathryn Kuhlman, William J. Seymour, Jack Coe, Maria Woodworth-Etter, T.L Osborn and A.A Allen just to name a few from yesteryear!
But here is what God is showing me today through prophetic perception:
Those same anointings are available for those in a generation that will pick up the mantles and run with a double portion!
God abhors a vacuum! God never leaves a void. These giants have stepped through the trans-dimensional gateway left a vacuum to fill. They are no longer with us in person – but much like Paul taught – with us in spirit.
It means this: their anointing, the mantles that they wore is available in a double portion measure for another generation – because God desires to fill the void!
Solomon built the Temple. But it was King David to whom God gave the blue-print. It was King David who built the foundation called Zion for Solomon his son and successor to build the Temple for the Name of God to dwell therein!
Let us recognise then those that came before us though they are no longer physically with us! Their anointings, their mantles are available in a double portion measure to us!
Do you realise that the Elisha generation – the double portion generation – is a generation that essentially carries twice the measure of the anointing of Elijah! That is what this is about!
God is raising up in this season men and women upon whom the mantle of those who have fallen asleep will rest in a double measure! That could be you!
But How?
Firstly, we must honour them who have gone before us and blazed a trail, and pioneered as they laboured to bring us to maturity.
I’m not talking about conferring sainthood or something silly like building a monument to them. No – I’m talking about honouring them by living out the truth of what they taught us in bringing us to maturity
I am probably the first to stick my hand up and cry out “progressive revelation! progressive revelation!”
Yes we must have greater understanding! Yes we must see more and do greater works and receive deeper insights! I’m all for it.
But how can you have deeper if you don’t know what the standard of depth is? How can we go higher if we don’t know or have the required foundation?
You can only build as high as the depth of your foundation allows! If you are wanting to soar in the heights of heavenly revelation, mysteries and spiritual things accompanied by signs and wonders and the supernatural expression – then the foundation for that life must be to the level of the bedrock of Truth!
Hold fast to the truth friends!! Fanciful teachings and catchy phrases, and hyped up alliteration cannot get you to it.
The scriptures are quite open about it: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NIV)
Strong and deep foundations in scriptural truth as evidenced in the lives of spiritual giants that have impacted the Church will keep us grounded even as we begin to soar in the stratosphere of spiritual things!
Secondly we must be prepared to pay a price for it! This is something that a modern generation really don’t want to hear! We live in a misguided, deluded age in the Church where we believe everything comes for nothing and any talk contrary to this philosophy is one of legalism or a “works mentality”.
But we are not talking here about salvation! And even salvation comes with the price tag of your soul. We are talking about anointing. Anointing is costly because anointing is precious! And the greater the anointing you desire – the greater the price required!
I wrote a journal entry on this very topic some time back. Check it out here.
So Where To From Here??
When Elisha wanted a double portion – there was a condition that Elijah implemented to him receiving it.
Actually Elijah said that what his young protege was asking for and desirous of having was a hard thing to get. Nevertheless, if (conditional) Elisha saw him when he was taken from the earth – then it would be so!
In prophetic terms it means this: If you perceive that the mantle of the giants that came before us is available right now, and if you perceive that God wants to give it to a generation that is willing to pay a price for it – then you can receive it!
It behoves me as a prophet to warn that what God is saying about honouring those that went before us and their mantles being available to us in this generation as a double portion measure has absolutely nothing to do with the abhorrent and evil practice come to be known ‘grave soaking” or “grave sucking” or whatever other junk term it is known by today!
That’s a lot of rubbish and anyone doing that is one step away from the sin of necromancy where the dead speak to us!
Saul never understood the ways of God and went to the witch of Endor to summon the spirit of Samuel from the grave! Anyone practicing this is defiling themselves and all those to whom they minister. It is a form of divination which attracts a curse.
Receiving the mantle of those that have gone before and allowing that anointing to come upon is is a work of the Holy Spirit at the prerogative of Jesus! Remember that it is Jesus’ right to give gifts and anointings unto men. (Eph4)
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth… He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine [to give] and reveal it to you!
John 16:13-14 NKJV – emphasis added
Lord Jesus wants to gift us a double portion anointing! He will give us the new wine (current truth) built on the bedrock of foundational truth and the latter – you – will do greater than the former – the ones who went before us!
The best is yet to come dear Warriors! Get ready to put on a double portion mantle!
