The Double Portion Life: A Study of the Life and Ministry of Elisha: God's Locker Room, #2

By Steve Biddison

Have you ever found your spiritual life in the doldrums where your excitement, joy, and zeal for God has waned or you have found yourself in a spiritual depression? That is a very common experience for many Christians. Despite their best intentions and desires, the day to day grind of life

In this book, Steve Biddison examines how his personal study of the life and ministry of the prophet Elisha helped pull him out of a deep spiritual depression.

Whether you are facing depression or you are you find yourself, figuratively speaking, on the bench spiritually and you are ready to get into the game, then this book might just be what you need to learn to experience double portion living in both your life and your ministry.

From the Introduction:
Jesus promised us that He came not only to save the world, but to provide a way for His followers to live a victorious, fulfilled, and abundant life. Out of our victorious and abundant life, He has called us to be a light and a witness to our world. No, let me rephrase that. I believe that He provides that fulfilled life WHEN we minister to our world. I know the times in my life that I have felt the most fulfilled spiritually and emotionally were those times that I was doing something for the kingdom of God. However, those times that I was on the bench while the spiritual game of life was being played around me correspond with the darkest, most unfulfilled times in my life. Might I also admit that those times were times of deep depression.

I went through one of those deep, spiritual depressions when by all appearances others as well as God had completely forgotten about me. I honestly believed I was never going to get out of those spiritual doldrums because those normal things we are all taught to do (read our Bible, pray, go to church, etc), I was doing at a very consistent level. However, those feelings of waste, depression, uselessness, and unworthiness continued to bombard me from every side. It was not until I began to read again the stories of Elisha and his ministry that God began to show me some great truths or life lessons that I began to not only get out of my spiritual doldrums, but my heart began to experience a double portion of gratefulness to God and a double portion of my love for Him.

As a result of my heart experiencing double portion blessing, I want to share with others what God showed me. If you find yourself in a rut spiritually, or suffering from spiritual depression, then this book is definitely for you. However, it is not just for those who are in a spiritual drought. This is also a great resource for everyone who is in some kind of ministry.

Although the life lessons explained in this book is what God used to draw me back into the joy of the Lord, this book is not a story of how God took me out of depression into a more victorious life. It is, however, a book that follows the life and ministry of Elisha, while showing some specific life lessons that every Christian should follow on their path of living for our Lord Jesus.

As you read the pages of this book, whether it is just you as an individual or you are reading it together as a small group, my prayer is that each time you read a chapter, God will surround you with His grace, fill you with His love, and capture your heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sword and Shield Publishing
• Release date: Aug 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781500167271

Book preview

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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I would not be where I am today had I not sat under some great Pastors of the different churches in which I have been fortunate to be a part.  Thanks to the teaching, encouragement, counseling, and example of Dennis Biddison, Robert Emmitt, Robert Ganaway, and Dennis Gallaher, I have sat under some very fine, godly men.  In addition, I want to thank John Valenzuela, a coaching friend of mine, turned church planter and pastor.  He showed me that a basketball coach can also be a preacher.

Introduction

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Jesus promised that He came not only to save the world, but to provide a way for His followers to live a victorious, fulfilled, and abundant life.  Out of our victorious and abundant life, He has called us to be a light and a witness to our world.  No, let me rephrase that.  I believe that He provides that fulfilled life WHEN we minister to our world.  I know the times in my life that I have felt the most fulfilled spiritually and emotionally were those times that I was doing something for the kingdom of God.  However,  those times that I was on the bench while the spiritual game of life was being played around me correspond with the darkest, most unfulfilled times in my life.  Might I also admit that those times were times of depression.

Not too long ago, I went through one of those deep, spiritual depressions when by all appearances others, as well as God, had completely forgotten about me.  I honestly believed I was never going to get out of those spiritual doldrums because those normal things we are all taught to do (read our Bible, pray, go to church, etc.), I was doing at a very consistent level.  However, those feelings of waste, depression, uselessness, and unworthiness continued to bombard me from every side.  It was not until I began to read again the stories of Elisha and his ministry that God began to show me some great truths or life lessons, that I began to not only get out of my spiritual doldrums, but my heart began to experience a double portion of gratefulness to God and a double portion of my love for Him. 

As a result of my heart experiencing double portion blessing, I want to share with others what God showed me.  If you find yourself in a rut spiritually, or suffering from spiritual depression, then this book is definitely for you.  However, it is not just for those who are in a spiritual drought.  This is also a great resource for everyone who is in some kind of ministry. 

Although the life lessons explained in this book is what God used to draw me back into the joy of the Lord, this book is not a story of how God took me out of depression into a more victorious life.  It is, however, a book that follows the life and ministry of Elisha, while showing some specific life lessons that every Christian should follow on their path of living for our Lord Jesus.

As you read the pages of this book, whether it is just you as an individual or you are reading it together as a small group, my prayer is that each time you read a chapter, God will surround you with His love, fill you with His grace, and capture your heart.

It’s not a resolution,

it’s a new beginning

1 Kings 19:19-21

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At the beginning of every new year, many people participate in an almost useless ritual that they call New Year’s Resolutions.  It is often a time that we decide it is out with the old and in with the new.  Every year we make New Year’s resolutions – like exercising more, eating less, spending more time with our family, being more regular in our quiet time with God, and so on.  Those are great things.  I am sure that any other New Year’s Resolution you make is a great idea as well.  There is nothing wrong with making New Year’s Resolutions.  Quite frankly, I hope you keep them past the first week of January.  Unfortunately, most  of us just aren’t able to do that. 

Hopefully, after reading and learning from the life and ministry of Elisha, you can make a paradigm shift in your life and instead of making a resolution to do something or not do something, you see your life completely changed by God to be something greater than you have ever dreamed or imagined.

As I studied the life and ministry of Elisha, I began to be excited about what God was showing me and before long I began to see my whole outlook on life change as I moved out of the spiritual depression that had engulfed me for over eight months and began to experience what I now call Double Portion Living.  In this book, we are going to examine the life and ministry of

Elisha, not to be confused with Elijah, the one many feel was the greatest prophet in the Bible.  Elisha was Elijah’s protégé and believe me when I tell you, this man had a fantastic life and ministry.  As great as his mentor Elijah was, it is said that Elisha performed twice as many miracles and great works as Elijah did. 

Who does not want to see God work through you  at least twice as often as He has done before?  I am by no means implying that God is going to use you to perform the miracles that Elisha did.  I am not saying that you will raise the dead, command the elements, heal the sick, or make a heavy axe head float to the surface – but you might.  What I am saying is that if you submit yourself to God the same way Elisha did, then the sky is the limit as far as what God might do through you. 

The great evangelist D.L. Moody once heard the words, The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.

As the story goes, Moody responded to those words by saying, By God’s grace, I will be that man.  Moody went on to change his world for Christ like only a few great saints of history have.

Now as we embark on this journey, that same challenge rings in our hearts, Your world that you live in has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in you if your life is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.  As you read this book, my prayer is that you will take that challenge, or using the words we will hear in the life of Elisha, take the mantle of God and let God go with it to new heights of greatness.  Don’t be afraid because I believe you will see your life and ministry transformed in ways that you wouldn’t believe.  Are you ready to see God move in your life?

So here we go.  Let’s join the journey of Elisha as we embark together on a mission.  We pick up the life of Elisha in 1 Kings 19:19 after God tells the great prophet Elijah to pick his replacement. 

So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you! 

1 Kings 19:19-20 (NLT)

Elisha was about to face a new beginning that turned out far greater than just a new year’s resolution.  It was going to drastically change his life.  However, do you know how easy it could have been for him to miss it?  How easy it would have been for him to not even be in the place where Elijah found him?

Like so many of us, Elisha was just an ordinary person.  There was nothing special about him.  He wasn’t among the Who’s Who in the ancient world.  He was basically a farmer out plowing his field.  Every day he would wake up, eat