Dean Mitchum: "In 2019, Ask for Double! Place a Demand on Your Mantle!"

2019 is a year to place a demand on your mantle. It is a time to walk in the anointing of those you have served under—coupled with the anointing that God has placed on your life. This is a season to choose to believe in the mantle of God on your life. A time to place a demand on that mantle and risk the results of that decision.

The Double Portion

Elisha faced such a moment. The Bible tells us, "He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan" (2 Kings 2:13 NKJV). As he stood facing the Jordan river, after Elijah had been taken up in a whirlwind, he realized that the mantle was now his. He was now positioned to receive everything he had pursued up to that moment: a double portion of the Spirit of Elijah.

Elisha was bold and confident. He did not have to beg God for the mantle. He stepped into it, making a covenant with Elisha for a double portion. Elisha believed that he would receive that double portion and he did receive it. He chose to believe and received.

It is time for you to put a demand on the double portion: wisdom, anointing, understanding, finances; strategy, leadership and confidence. Don't settle for what you've had. It doesn't matter how good it was or how wonderful it was. It's not enough! Go on to the next level.

It's your bold moment! We're about to go back and face people who have heard our prophetic words. They have heard you say what we believe God wants us to do. We will face naysayers. Take up your mantle. Elisha was not just handed the mantle of Elijah, even though it was promised to him. The Bible says it fell from Elijah and Elisha picked it up. My wife, Lisa, says that Elijah no longer needed that mantle, but the mantle needed to stay on the earth. The double portion that Elisha had asked for was lying on the ground waiting to be picked up.

Transition is Required

This is a time for you to pursue the result of your servant-hood and ask for the double portion. The pursuit of your mantle will carry you through certain transitions. Following the source of your mantle will require your determination. Placing a demand on your mantle requires a transition. A transition is more than going through something. It is who you become while going through it. Recognize that God is about to bring some changes in your life. Some of us are going to grow up. Grow, up! Transition to place a demand on your mantle.

In 2 Kings 2 (NKJV), we read about Elijah's ascent to Heaven: "And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into Heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. Then Elijah said to Elisha, 'Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.' But Elisha said, 'As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!' So they went down to Bethel."

Everybody knows God has something for you to do—that you have a mantle. Why are they watching? They are watching with an expectation. They are watching for your transition.

What Transition Has Taught Us

God visited Jacob and gave him a prophetic word. Jacob called that location Bethel, the house of God, for surely the Lord was in this place. This was a promise. Jacob's transition was a prophetic word that he believed for the rest of this life. God listened to him at Bethel and changed his name. His transition was from who he had been to who he would become. Elisha was also asked to follow the voice of the prophet at Bethel.

God speaks to us all the time and in various places. But sometimes we don't stop long enough to name the place where God speaks to us. It's just a memory and not an altar. It remains a rock on the ground and not a city developed. When we take the time to remember what God is doing, it takes us through transition.

2 Kings 2:4 says, "Then Elijah said to him, 'Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.' But he said, 'As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!' So, they came to Jericho." Jericho is known in history as the place where the walls fell. The significance is that transition is not just about going somewhere but becoming someone. Jericho was also known as the city of Benjamin because it was in the tribe and territory of Benjamin. Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob. As his mother died giving him birth, she named him Benoni, "son of my sorrow." But Jacob intervened and called him Benjamin, meaning "son of my right hand."

There is a transition that must take place from shame, guilt and sorrow to believing in the value that God has placed on you. In past seasons, some have transferred their sorrow and sadness upon you, and that has caused you to live in the limitation of their understanding. God the Father is transitioning you to His understanding and His name for you. Even if your birth caused anguish, your life will cause blessing. No baby is ever at fault for being born. The transition to place a demand on your mantle is important. You must have the confidence to place a demand on the mantle. We must believe what God has said over us.

2 Kings 2:6, "Then Elijah said to him, 'Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.' But he said, 'As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!' So the two of them went on." The Jordan river means to draw from two springs. Transition sometimes has you cross both ways. You go over as one person, but you come back as another. You come back with a new authority. You come back with a new mantle. You come back with a new commissioning. You come back from seeing things you hadn't seen before.

Ask for Double!

Do not be content with the current status or level. Ask for double! We have a tendency to suffer loss and ask God to only restore what we had. God says that was never the plan. The plan is for you to have more than you had. When you have a chance to ask, ask for more than you had. The responsibility to do more is our reason to ask for more. Everything you have served for and asked for is now before you. You have a new responsibility.

Elisha crossed with Elijah but came back alone. Sometimes transition is not about you going, but about coming back as a new person. Transition is more about who you become than where you go.

It is:

• Releasing your mantle.
• Challenging your own beliefs in your mantle.
• Having patience with those who must grow tired of searching for the old.
• Awakening your mantle to miracles for others.

It is not pride to place a demand on your mantle. It is called obedience. It is not wrong to place a demand upon the gifts God has given you. It is not wrong to speak boldly and with authority when God has given you the mantle that you have asked for. There is a demand on your mantle. If we believe we have a mantle, we will act like we have a mantle.

Place a Demand on Your Mantle!

In 2019, God is telling us to place a demand on the mantle. That mantle is all the teachings, all the anointings, all the blessings that you have ever served in and those poured out upon you. Coupled with the calling God has on your life, it is a mantle of the gifting and grace God has given to you. That mantle is the desire or burning that God has put in your heart. It is how you affect this world for His Kingdom's sake.

Elisha had a confidence in the covenant he made with Elijah and the God of Elijah. When Elijah was gone, God still was! Sometimes we put too much emphasis on the people we know and not the God we know. He wants to give you twice what you had, the double portion.

We should not go back looking to recapture what was. The problem is is that we want God to move like He did before. So we'll search for days to find what He used to do, wasting time, energy and resources instead of recognizing that the transition has occurred. Look to God, the double portion of the Word of the Lord.

We now look for the new transition. We strike the water with a confidence that we have a double portion because we have seen the transition. We're not going to look for what we used to have. We're not going to hold on to what we used to have. We're going to grab a hold of what God wants for us and move forward into a new, double-portion dimension.

What is your mantle? It means to walk in the anointing of those who we have served under, coupled with the anointing that God has placed on our lives. God is taking the things you no longer need up to the heavens in order to give you the things you do need. Take up your mantle and strike the Jordan; let it part the waters. Cross over into the new mantle. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)

Dean Mitchum, Worship Leader
Vision Church at Christian International
Email: dean@deanmitchum.com
Website: www.deanmitchum.com

Dean Mitchum serves as the director of Worship Ministries for Bishop Bill Hamon of Christian International and as the worship pastor for Apostles Tom and Jane Hamon of Vision Church at CI. He is a powerful, prophetic psalmist specializing in writing for the current moves of God, playing prophetically, and leading worship that changes the atmosphere. Dean is the author of Apostolic Kingdom Praise, The Tabernacle of God, and along with his wife Lisa, is the co-writer of more than 100 worship songs. Dean and his wife Lisa have been married 32 years and have five children and four grandchildren. They make their home near the beautiful emerald coast on the Florida panhandle.

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