Can I Believe for a Double Portion of the Anointing?
I don’t see any New Testament Scripture that gives you the right to believe for a “double portion” of the anointing.
I am fully aware that Elisha asked for and received a double portion of Elijah’s anointing in the Old Testament. He went on to do twice as many miracles as Elijah. (He did twice as many less one during his lifetime. But one more miracle followed after he was dead when someone was raised from the dead after making contact with his bones.) However, under the New Covenant, all believers can receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that you would receive power after the Holy Spirit came upon you (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit has infinite power. He is available to flow through you into others who need His power. I don’t see how you could later receive DOUBLY infinite power. From whom would you get it? What would be as powerful as the Holy Spirit?
1 John 2:27 talks about “the” anointing that abides in you. There is no hint that you need more anointing or that you could get a “better” or “double” anointing compared to what you now have.
Even in the one case in the Old Testament where a “double portion” is mentioned between Elijah an Elisha, it is noteworthy that it was not transmitted by the laying on of hands!
2 Kings 2:9-10:
And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.
The condition for Elisha was keeping his eyes on Elijah, not having Elijah pray over him.
No one in the New Testament ever conducted a special “double portion service” where you could come and get a “double portion” of the anointing. Thus, I have to conclude that any such services today are 100% hype and 0% substance.
The only sense in which you could have a “double portion” would be to be used twice as much in the gifts of the Spirit. We should all desire to be used in Holy Spirit manifestations, so wanting to be used more (or twice as much) is a valid craving. However, there is still no Scripture that gives you the right to “believe and receive” being used in certain gifts twice as much. We are all used as the Holy Spirit wills when it comes to special manifestations. If there were some prayer you could pray to MAKE the Holy Spirit use you twice as much in the gifts of healings, working of miracles or the gift of faith, I would have prayed it a long time ago and written it here for you to pray. He may not use you at all in such special manifestations; He may want you to prophesy or speak words of knowledge instead. You have to leave such things up to Him.
You don’t need some kind of “impartation” to have a special healing ministry if you’re not going to have a special healing ministry! It doesn’t make sense for a healing minister to lay hands on you to receive “his” anointing if you aren’t going to travel doing healing ministry as he is doing. And besides, the idea of getting an “impartation” of another minister’s anointing can be shown to be absent from New Testament. (See Are Impartations and Impartation Services Biblical? for a thorough discussion of this interesting topic.)
There is a lot of fuss over who “got” So-and-So’s mantle when So-and-So passed away. I don’t want So-and-So’s mantle because I’m not called to have So-and-So’s ministry. I want MY mantle to flow in MY ministry. No two ministries are ever the same any more than any two people are ever the same. Besides, LIFESTYLE is a bigger determiner of how well you can flow in the anointing than who laid hands on you. If you live a fleshly life, you will have a hard time getting results no matter who laid hands on you. If you’ll believe the Word and fellowship with the Lord, you will find that you don’t need to receive someone else’s special anointing because you’ll find that God has given you the equipment that you need to fulfill your specific calling.
Someone may get involved and lay hands on you, becoming the conduit through which God imparts a necessary gifting to you. However, you’re really getting that gifting from God, not from that person, and you should see it that way. The only possible examples of this are in 1 Timothy 4:14 and 2 Timothy 1:6, where in the second case you might instead conclude instead that Paul was talking about the gift of the Holy Spirit rather than a special ministry gift.
There IS such a thing as a new grace coming upon you for a new ministry phase. My wife and I were absolutely sure that we would never pastor again after we left Maine. We had zero desire for it. We were perfectly happy just traveling, which I did for years before pastoring. Years later, the Lord told us to start a church in Mountain City, Tennessee. After we got over our initial extreme shock, we sensed total peace about it and knew it was the Lord speaking to us. The very moment that I said “yes” to His new assignment, I sensed a new grace to pastor come on me. Before that moment, I would have said, “I don’t want anything to do with all the dog work involved in planting another church.” After that moment, I said, “This is an honor and I will be happy to do whatever dog work is needed to make this church work because I know that the Lord is in it and it is extremely needed in Mountain City.”
But couldn’t God double the special anointing on a particular ministry (as opposed to the general anointing that we all have)? I don’t see why not, but that would be His choice, not something you “believe for” or “claim” in some special “double portion” service.
Perhaps you’ve been to a “double portion service” because instead of merely having the Spirit poured out on you, you want Him to be poured out on you abundantly. I have some good news for you. He HAS been poured out on you abundantly (Titus 3:5-6)! Now go act accordingly.
See also: