It is very important that we learn how to think as God thinks; perhaps not as deep, but after the same patterns and channels of thought. We need the Lord to teach us His ways, to teach us of His love.
I do not know how Adam thought about things, but I do know that many of the men in the Scriptures seemed to think with a whole heart. People today express themselves far less enthusiastically than people did in the Scriptures. In those days they wept at funerals; and if they could not do it all by themselves, they would hire a mourner to weep and wail. (Hired mourners are still commonplace in the East.) When people of old rejoiced, they really rejoiced. When David danced before the Lord, he did it with all his might (II Samuel 6:14).
The first requirement that the Lord gave was that regardless of your capacity, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). People today do not seem to understand this because they move along on a half-human level. Their emotions are frozen; their reactions are frozen. They have deliberately walled off reactions to many things.
The nature of a walk with God is one of intensity. However, the intensity of man has diminished perhaps to fifty percent. Once in a while it comes through at a football game or at an event where people express themselves exuberantly. South Americans will riot over an umpire’s decision at a soccer game, for they feel intensely about it.
We know that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, but we fail to appreciate that fallen man is moving along in fifty percent of his capacity to feel. He moves either by the fallen nature or by a deliberate attempt to block out his environment and his reactions to it. There is nothing intense in the world. When you get right down to it, even people who are living in sin are going at it halfheartedly. If I were going to be a sinner, I would be a better one than most of them. But thank God, I am a saint of God, and I shall be intense about being a child of God and intense about every relationship I have as a child of God.
When God begins to deal with us about our going along at fifty-percent efficiency, we react; for we feel that God deals too drastically with us. The prophet Isaiah says, “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:1–2.
At Pentecost, we talk about a time of a double portion, but do we know how God is looking upon it? When He deals with us, we sometimes feel that He has gone too far, that He has doubled up the penalties on us. We think that when the Lord chastens us, He should quit halfway through! We may say that we have had enough, but He keeps right on going. Our misunderstanding of God’s dealings upon us is directly related to our misunderstanding of the lack of motivation in the human being.
I believe the Kingdom will see days of violence in the human spirit. We still react too much and are embarrassed by others’ intensity. Let someone come up and throw his arms around us and say, “Oh, how glad I am to see you!” and we think, “What is going on?” We do not receive it with the same intensity. Yet those who walk in the Spirit react with greater intensity than they ever have in their lives.
Good Christian people who love the Lord look at our fervor and the way we worship God, and they say: “It is too much. They’re fanatics. They need to quiet down. They are too loud. They go at it too strong.” No, we don’t! The truth of the matter is that we have not even reached up to normal, when it comes to the intensity of dedication, the intensity of joy, and the intensity of reactions. You might as well get used to this violence.
Stop and reflect what it has been like for you in your walk with God. The minute that you came under the blessing of the Lord, you also came under a double dealing every time you got out of line. You paid for it; God dealt with you deeply. Whatever background you came from, no matter how legalistic it was, you learned how to repent when you came into a walk with God. God began to deal with you, and He did not stop. You learned how to repent! He says, “Comfort My people now, for I gave them double for all their sins” (Isaiah 40:1–2).
We read in Jeremiah and other passages in the Old Testament how God dealt with His people and gave double for all their sins. In the New Testament, the book of Revelation speaks of our day, the day in which we are living. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people,” (out of Babylon) “that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she is paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.” Revelation 18:4–6. When God judges Babylon, He is going to deal her double.
I have seen God deal with His people, and I have almost wanted to say, “Please, Lord, stop! Stop!” But He never stops. He deals, and He deals, and He deals. When He gets through, their spirits are broken before Him. When God corrects you, you are corrected. But when God judges Babylon, it will be one of the deepest things you have ever seen.
God deals with you drastically because you are reacting only halfway. He is trying to draw you up to the full measure of what you can be as a child of God. He will discipline you, He will go after you, and give you double. It is not because He does not love you, but because He is not content to have semi-zombies walking as the remnant of God in the earth. They are to be the army of the Lord that will fight a troop and leap a wall (Psalm 18:29); and a bow of steel is broken in their hands (II Samuel 22:35). They are to be the people doing the will of the Lord with a wholeheartedness. They are to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth (Revelation 14:4); and they will love not their lives unto death (Revelation 12:11). There will be a fervor and intensity within them, and it is coming forth.
The one message He is bringing to us is that Jesus Christ is Lord—but He is not Lord over a bunch of zombies; He is Lord over a people who are learning how to walk with Him with all their hearts, with all their souls, and with all their minds. We are to enter into discipleship, not laying all at His feet reluctantly, but eagerly laying our very lives at His feet, as we do His will with everything that is within us.
Instead of shame, God has dealt with us in a double measure. In place of being humiliated by the discipline of the Lord, we are going to shout for joy. In Isaiah 61:7 we read, Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, everlasting joy will be theirs.
This passage of Scripture from Isaiah 61 is the chapter that Jesus quoted when He began His ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth, directly after the temptation in the wilderness. And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.
And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, (and He read from Isaiah 61) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:13–19. The next verse in Isaiah 61 reads …and the day of vengeance of our God.
Jesus was not in that synagogue to preach vengeance to them. He came the first time to give Himself as a ransom for sin (Mark 10:45), to spill His blood as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Vengeance and judgment were not in His heart then.
And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:20, 21. They wondered at the gracious words that came forth from Him; but before that day was over, they tried to push Him off a precipice.
Let us contrast that time with this present time. He is coming now to bring the day of vengeance of our God, a double portion to deal Babylon double for all of her sins. The cup she has mixed, we will mix double for her. There is going to be a day of destruction, but it will also be a day of a double portion of the Spirit of the Lord. What can Babylon do to us? She will try to do the same thing that Babylon has done all through the centuries: persecute the remnant, the true people of God. But for the first time, because God is winding it all up, it will not be as it was at the beginning; it will be a day of vengeance of our God. God is coming to bring double trouble to the apostates. Double trouble! Whatever they have done to defile the way of God, He will do double unto them! Come out of her. Do not be a partaker of her sins. One hour, and the smoke of her torment will go up forever and ever (Revelation 18:4–19).
…To comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the former devastations, and they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Isaiah 61:2–4.
Mankind has not progressed as far as we may think. Man is eternally egotistical about who he is or what he has done. Cornea transplants were being done by Egyptian physicians three thousand years before Christ. We are not as bright as we think we are. From generation to generation, we have accumulated technical knowledge, but we have yet to be able to control things even as fallen men did in an earlier age. Our instincts are gone and our senses are dulled. We have polluted our lives, and we wander about, really without the capacity for living. We are only half alive. We are merely existing when we should be living with vigor; and yet we think we are normal.
The Lord is presenting another picture in Isaiah 61. The devastations, the desolations of many years will change. I am not talking about longevity (though that is coming); of eternal life (that is coming); of glorified bodies (that is coming); of the manifestation of the sons of God (that is definitely in the Scriptures and is coming). I am talking about what will happen to you in the natural course of events even as a prelude to those things. The desolations and devastations of many years are past; now it will be different. I intend to break into every manifestation of divine health. Every lie of Satan comes with one purpose: to destroy, in your thinking, a word from God that is absolutely true. Believe God’s promise with all your heart! Do not look at what seems to be failure, for God is able to raise it up out of ashes. He is going to give a garland instead of ashes (Isaiah 61:3). In former days, a garland was given to a conqueror. When everything seems to be burned and destroyed, the Lord is able to make you a conqueror. He will give you that oil of gladness instead of mourning.
Instead of shame… Isaiah 61:7. What is this shame? It is the shame of being a minister who is preaching the Word, knowing in his heart that it is true, but seeing that the anointing is not great enough for it to be real or practical in people’s lives. In shame and a humiliation, we are walking and looking to God, loving Him and worshiping Him; but we know that we are just coming out of Babylon. A remnant is beginning to come out of that falling away, yet many are going deeper into it.
It has not been too many hundred years since the “born again experience” was restored and preached again, after having been lost for a millennium. At the turn of the century, divine healing and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit were just being reintroduced. I saw a lot of it from the time I was a small boy. Those in the Charismatic movement may think that they discovered it, but they did not. After rejecting God’s moving for almost two generations, a small percentage of the Christian world is finally entering into it.
Make a survey; look in a world almanac at the statistics on the Christian population. Have you ever wondered about the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic adherents? Have you ever wondered how many of those people have had a born-again experience? how many have experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit? how many have a walk with God? A great percentage of them walk in penance, a doctrine that the Scriptures do not teach at all.
We are not saying that we all ought to be Protestants. The bulk of Protestantism is far behind the Roman Catholic Church, which at least still preaches that Jesus is the Son of God and that the blood atones for sin. Most of the Protestant denominations have backed away from that. They do not even believe that He is to be the divine sacrifice for sin or the Resurrection. They do not believe in the Virgin birth or in the merit of the blood to wash away sin. The degeneration of the Protestant movement is far greater than the apostasy of the Roman Catholics. You can condemn the Roman Catholics and the Greek Orthodox for openly bringing in the idolatry of Babylon in the worship of saints and all of their ritualism. That they brought in idolatry cannot be denied, for you can see the idols standing in every one of their churches. But what about the secret idolatry of Babylon that is practiced in church after church in the Protestant world?
The restoration will not take place in the whole Christian world, but only in a remnant. It does not matter what the Catholics walk in or do not walk in, or how many sacred pools they have that people can jump in and be healed now and then. We should not be concerned if the Greek Orthodox Church says that they have one of the great toenails of Saint Thomas. Their relics and mysteries and treasures should not bother the remnant, nor the fact that millions of dollars are controlled by the Catholic and Protestant denominations in many major corporations. Only one thing should bother us: a promise of a double portion! They can have all those other things; our concern is being able to break through, and instead of that shame, receiving a double portion.
The remnant’s cause is not to rise up and throw rocks at Babylon. Our cause can never be a negative approach. Our cause must be to …contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude 3. There is more that we are to walk in; it is to be a double portion of the Holy Spirit. God is pouring out His Spirit. He takes away the mourning, and He will give gladness. He is taking away the ashes of something that was. It is gone, destroyed; there is nothing left. And in place of ashes, He is bringing the garland of a conqueror.
As we build up the old ruins, the devastations and the desolations of many generations will disappear. The people will walk in the glory of God, with a double portion of the Spirit of the Lord. We will see signs and wonders and do exploits, because we know God and we walk with Him (Daniel 11:32).
Jesus said, “Even greater works than these shall ye do” (John 14:12). The anointing that was upon our blessed Lord will be doubled and multiplied in some uncanny way that we cannot understand. A double portion is to come! It was the Lord who identified what this meant when He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me” (Luke 4:18). Messiah, in Hebrew, means “anointed one.” Christos, in Greek means the “anointed one.” Christians are those who have the Christos, the Anointed, and they are literally the anointed ones. “You shall be witnesses unto Me when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8). Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me” (Luke 4:18). He was saying in effect, “I am the Christ, the Anointed One.” And He is saying to you, “I will give you a double portion, because you are to be God’s anointed ones in the earth—those with a double portion of the Spirit of the Lord.”
The term Christian has fallen into disrepute, but one day it will mean something again. Christians will be the anointed ones! People will look at them and say, “The glory of the Lord has returned. Behold, how the Lord anoints them. Behold, they walk before His face with a double portion.”
But you will be called the priests of the Lord; you will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Instead of your shame, you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, everlasting joy will be theirs. Isaiah 61:6–7.
We need to open our hearts to the Lord, saying, “Lord, I want a double portion!” It is scriptural, and it is going to come.
Perhaps you are saying, “I have nothing. Look at the ashes of my life, how I have failed.”
That is all right.
“I am mourning.”
Who isn’t? You may have troubles; you may feel inadequate. You may have been a big bluff, moving along but not having anything real. Perhaps you have put up a front; maybe you are a phony. You may never admit to it, but you feel it. You know that many believers have more than you do. Yet you are hungering for more. You want the oil of gladness for mourning and a garland instead of ashes. Instead of shame you want a double portion. You want everlasting joy instead of the humiliation. You want a double portion!
Come on, you lame and halt and blind; you are invited to sit with the King! You, the offscouring of the earth, the poor of this world, the despised, the rejected ones—upon you rests the anointing of the Lord. Not just a little anointing, but a double portion! It will fall upon you until you cannot contain it. It will just be too much. Little cups, rejoice! You are going to run over!
In order to build your faith, remember one thing: you are not begging for something that is not to be. If these verses have a fulfillment, if the Lord is rebuilding the ancient ruins, if He is raising up the former devastations and desolations of many generations, if God’s people are coming back into a walk with anointing and gifts and ministries, if the Body of Christ is coming together, then the promises belong to this time. If the promises belong to this time, we need not seek something belonging to another dispensation or another time.
I fully believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit has been restored as an experience to God’s people. Many have spoken in tongues and have come into gifts of the Holy Spirit. I do not think we have even the full measure of a single portion, and now we have a double portion to consider. I think we are to believe for it right now. We must believe the Lord God to give it in this day of Pentecost. I believe it is ours to claim.
The warfare against the people of the Lord will not mean a thing. The enemy has been unable to slow us down. We have been accelerating in spite of the great assaults. Satan is doing everything he can to create some sort of an illusion of defeat in our minds. He is trying to make us refuse to accept ourselves as candidates for the blessings and the grace of God. He urges us to accept the lie that a man is too weak, too foolish, and that he has failed too much to be worthy of God’s blessing. But it never was based upon us; it is always based upon Him. “You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). It is a gift; and God is moving upon His people to receive it. God is pouring out a double portion upon us, a gift of the Holy Spirit.
God deals with us very deeply. We come into a walk with God, and He begins to work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). We cannot even say that we are responsible for the aspirations we have. He puts in us the intense desire to do His will. You may never have wanted to do the will of God at all. We cannot say, “Well, I want to do His will; that’s why I’m here.” Half of us were caught up in a walk with God before God began to give us a revelation of what a walk is. He started to work us over, and soon we began to hunger and thirst after the Lord more than we ever had before.
What did you do with the little hunger you had before you began walking with God? You wandered around in cold churches, or you never did anything about it. You played around with it, but you are no longer playing. You have a consuming hunger, suddenly put there by God. He is working you over, and you are cooperating with Him. He makes you cry a lot and do many things you never did before.
The everlasting joy will be a great blessing to many who have had a lot of tears and a lot of mourning. We are waiting for the oil of gladness instead of mourning. Lord, pour the oil of gladness upon us with blessing; we want to glow with it. It is time for all of the remnant to say, “I am a candidate for this. I am going to receive it.” Anyone to whom God has revealed this end-time walk will have to say, “I am within the realm of those to whom these things can happen.” Every true believer is a candidate right now for the fullness and the double portion.
Start anticipating; go after this; wait on the Lord and say, “Yes, this is the day of my double portion.” Make it become a reality. The Holy Spirit and the promise is for you and for your children and for all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord, our God, shall call (Acts 2:39). Do you believe this? It is for you. Start seeking it.
This double portion is not for the whole world; it is for the remnant. If the truth were preached to the whole Christian world, ninety-five percent would not believe it. To begin with, most of them do not honestly believe the Bible. At best, they give assent that it is filled with truths and that God had a way of revealing things to people. The Christian world largely believes the Bible to be two or three degrees above Shakespeare. This remnant is going to receive blessing because it believes the Word.
Once the Word is preached and is established with apostolic authority, you can move into it and have it because it is for you. When the word of God, an apostolic word anointed by the Holy Spirit, is spoken, it is restored! From that moment, it becomes open territory that you can get into. The Word is not the preaching of sermons; it is a declaration of that which God has for His people, and you are to reach into it.
The plane of revelation that is coming now is doubling. God promised His remnant a double portion, and that promise is working. Everything will begin to double. The churches will double; Christians and their walk with God will double. Their experiences will expand to fill their whole lives. It is the time for it, and it will be beautiful.
No one should stand back and demand that one man who is in the place of leadership be the first fruits. The leaders should press in as much as they can, saying like Paul, “I haven’t arrived, but I am pressing on” (Philippians 3:12). But at the same time, as many as are mature, let them be like-minded. Let everyone push in wholeheartedly. This is our day to believe and to claim a double portion. By faith, let it please the Lord that the greater bulk of this Body of Christ break into a real living experience as pursuers after the double portion. We should not grunt, groan, and beg; but we should earnestly seek the face of the Lord. We are in the phase of restoration to the extent that we can claim the double portion. Let’s claim it!
The truth of the matter is that we do not know all that a double portion means. Right now we have no concept of how great a single portion is, let alone a double portion. But we are daring to believe. We believe beyond our knowledge, beyond our experience. This is beyond restoration. When we have gone the full scale of restoration, we will have one portion, the same portion that the early Church had. What about a double portion? There is nothing in the Scriptures that tells us what a double portion really is. Elisha walked in a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, but that is not the same thing. We are talking about a great anointing of the Lord that is to come. It has never happened yet, but it can happen now. And it can happen to anyone who believes.