Day 49, 18-Feb-2015, let us continue to meditate and pray the Lord's Prayer today. 

Let us call on the Name of the Lord for a double portion anointing, let us seek Him day and night until we are filled with the anointing of God.

• • "After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come to us as the rain, the latter and former rain unto the earth." Hosea 6: 2-3

 "14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."Galatians 3

Spirit of Elijah: Turning the Hearts of Fathers to the Children (Malachi 4:5-6)
Posted on May 26, 2010 by Rick Arnold
Malachi 4:5-6
I. (Malachi 4:5-6) Explanation of the Spirit of Elijah

Elijah was one of the greatest Old Testament prophets
John the Baptist had the “spirit” or “anointing” of Elijah
The Church will walk in the spirit of Elijah (My theory)
Some say the ultimate fulfillment of Malachi 4:5-6 will be with the two witnesses of Revelation. They say Elijah may be one of the two witnesses, since he never actually died but was taken to heaven in a “fiery chariot.”
II. The spirit of Elijah is a spirit of preparation

Elijah prepared the way for Elisha and Israel to experience revival
John the Baptist prepared the way for the first coming of Christ
We, the Church, as we walk in the “spirit of Elijah” (the anointing of the Holy Spirit) will prepare the way for revival and ultimately the second coming of Christ
III. The spirit of Elijah is a spirit of revival

Elijah called down fire from heaven (Fire = Revival)
Same fire fell at pentecost and the Church was birthed in revival
We need to seek the fire from heaven in our day
IV. The spirit of Elijah is a spirit of repentance

Elijah and John the Baptist both had a strong message of repentance. Repentance is what prepares the way for revival. Revival is a manifestation of God’s presence in a way that we become more keenly aware of him. When his presence comes it brings light and conviction and leads to yet more and deeper repentance. It reminds me of the scripture that says in your light we see light. So true revival begins with repentance and leads to deeper and deeper levels of repentance.
Repentance and revival brings many changes in our thinking and priorities.
(James 1:27) Revival brings us back to true and undefiled religion:
When we are worldly we take advantage of the weak and are usually worried about building our own kingdoms.
When revival comes we forsake selfish ambition and honor and tend to the weaker among us
This of course includes children and one sign of revival is when the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children.
V. The importance of fathers

(Malachi 4:6) Malachi tells us that if the fathers’ hearts are not turned there will be a curse. We could call this the curse of fatherlessness. We have seen the results of a generation without fathers in our nation. One of our greatest needs in the body of Christ is for true fathers to be raised up.
(1 Corinthians 4:15) Paul told the Corinthian Church that they had 10,000 teachers but few fathers. Fathers are teachers but not all teachers are fathers. Being a father or mother in the body of Christ is a whole new level of commitment.
VI. How Elijah’s heart was turned to Elisha (1 Kings 19:4, 19-21; 2 Kings 2:1-15)

1. (1 Kings 19:4) I have a theory that Elijah was pretty unstable, moody, and perhaps grumpy. He may not have been a real “people person” by nature. He was able to call down fire but that doesn’t mean he was real nice. That’s like a lot of us, me included, sometimes we are able to call down fire but are just plain mean. Elijah was moody and unstable as well. Just a short time after the great victory on Mt. Carmel he is saying Lord take my life. Some of us too are unstable, we can call down fire but our lives are a mess. God wants to help us out with our need even as he did Elijah. I believe the Lord looked at Elijah and thought Elijah you have a need. What you need is to get out of yourself, and a son, like Elisha is just the thing that will help you.
You see we all know that Elisha was blessed by Elijah. We often hear sermons of how to be like Elisha and get the double portion of the anointing and that is all well and good. But what I see here is that Elijah needed Elisha every bit as much as Elisha needed him. 

He needed to have his heart turned to a son. He needed a son that he could unselfishly pour himself into. The story continues in 1 Kings 19:19.


2. (1 Kings 19:19-21) So God tells Elijah to go and anoint Elisha as a prophet in his place. Elijah comes upon Elisha and we see no small talk, just down to business as Elijah throws his mantle on Elisha. Elisha asks if he can go and kiss his mother and father and then follow him, and it seems to me that Elijah essentially says, “Do what you want, what do I care”? Now, I might be reading a little into that, but that is how it seems to me. Elijah seems to be a bit unwilling at this point. He is like a lot of fathers, not very encouraging. His heart is hard and needs to be turned for his own sake as well as Elisha’s.
And what of Elisha? In him we see the faithful son. As Elijah comes upon him he is working in his fathers field. When he gets this opportunity and calling, his first thought is the blessing of his mother and father. Yes, he reminds me of Timothy in the New Testament, a true son. And a true son is exactly what Elijah needed to meet the need in his life. This passage goes on to say that Elisha arose and followed Elijah and became his servant. He begins as a servant but ends up a son as we will see.

3. (2 Kings 2:1-15) The time came for Elijah to be taken to heaven and him and Elisha are going from city to city. As they travel he continues to discourage Elisha from going with him. In addition Elisha has many temptations and advice from others to stay behind. Elisha remains faithful and continues to say, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” He remained a faithful son.

(v.9) In verse 9 the Bible tells us they crossed over the Jordan river. There was a natural crossing over, but I wonder if the Bible is hinting at the spiritual “crossing over” in Elijah’s heart. It seems his heart was turned to Elijah as a son at last and he says, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Men tend to be ambitious and think of constant expansion, but there comes a day, hopefully that is, when all men realize there mortality. Knowing that he is about to be taken away, having his heart turned to his son he wants to leave him with something. And then, Elijah hears what every father longs to hear from his son or daughter. Elisha in asking for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit is essentially saying, “Dad, I want to be just like you. I want to carry on the work you begun and take it further.” Elisha was not just asking for power, or an anointing in general, but for a double portion of your spirit.

(v.10) Elijah’s heart must have been thrilled and he tells Elisha, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” What is he saying and what can we glean from this? I am not sure what he literally meant but as I meditated on this verse, here is what came to me. Elisha I am leaving. I will no longer be with you. If you see me when I leave then you will have what you ask. In other words, if the things that I have taught you and modeled for you have gotten down on the inside of you in your inner most being and have become a part of you, true revelation and impartation, then you will have what you ask. You will move in the anointing that I walked in. As fathers our greatest desire is that our teaching would reach the hearts of our children and they would continue on in the things of the Lord even after we are long gone. Elijah is taken up and then in (v.12) verse 12 Elisha cries out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel…” What a touching end to the story as Elisha calls him my father. Elisha began as a servant and ended up as a son, and Elijah began as a grumpy old prophet and ended up as a father.

So it is my prayer that we will move in the spirit of Elijah, and like Elijah we would allow God to transform us to be more than teachers but true fathers and mothers in the faith. That we would raise up sons and daughters who go on to do twice as much as we do and we would be happy that it is so. Their victories will be our pride and joy.
http://1thirstysoul.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/spirit-of-elijah-turning-the-hearts-of-fathers-to-the-children/