Finishing Well, part 5

Notice how Elijah connected Elisha’s fulfillment of his dream with the will of God. When he said, “If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” In other words, if the Lord thinks you are worthy of a double portion of my anointing that will be determined by whether or not you witness me being taken up. If you are where I want you to be then the blessing of God is yours, but if you are not, then you miss the blessing. 

Elijah makes no claim of having the power to fulfill Elisha’s request; instead he leaves it entirely to God and basically tells Elisha that the blessing will be his because he refused to leave Elijah’s side. Do you remember how Elijah challenged him three different times, saying, “Stay here.”  But each time, Elisha responded, “No way! I want to be where the power of God is. I want to witness this marvelous thing that is about to happen!”
 

I think finishing well has to do with our passion and pursuit of Jesus. Do you long to be where HE is? When you hear about special spiritual events, whether that’s an Evangelist coming to our church, or us conducting a Solemn Assembly, or a week of prayer and fasting - is there anything within you that says, “I’m going to be there. I do not want to miss what God might do”? 

Keep in mind how Elijah said to Elisha in essence, If you are there when it happens you will receive the blessing; but if not, you won’t receive. I believe it would be entirely possible to miss out on what God has for you if you don’t have a seeking heart. Without a seeking heart, you might not finish in the way you would like to. Would there be any more blessed words to ever have spoken over us than the Lord saying, “Well done thou good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will make you a ruler over many things.” That’s how I want to finish this race. 

I don’t want any of us to come to the end and say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors.” Look with me at the words Paul wrote to Timothy, as his life was coming to an end. 2 Timothy 4:6-7 “You take over. I’m about to die, my life an offering on God’s altar. This is the only race worth running. I’ve run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that’s left now is the shouting.” Paul finished well. Will you? END