Double Portion – #18 More food than they need. Sound familiar? Here we see Elisha in a story that foreshadows Jesus feeding a large group of people with a small amount of food. Read 2 Kings 4:42-44 Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat.” His attendant said, “What, will I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the Lord , ‘They shall…

Double Portion – #17 There’s death in the pot. Such an interesting statement, especially since the scripture doesn’t record anything about anyone dying. Elisha shares the next of many amazing miracles that he performs. Read 2 Kings 4:38-41. When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” Then one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into…

Double Portion – #16 Praising God comes first. We see the conclusion of the story with the woman and her son in 2 Kings 4:29-37. Then he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad’s face.” The mother of the lad said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her. Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad’s…

Double Portion – #15 Unfulfilled hope. There are very few things that are as disheartening and disappointing as hope that has gone unfulfilled. Read 2 Kings 4:24-28. Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.” So she went and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite. Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it…

Double Portion – #14 Faith and trust. The woman didn’t even bother telling her husband that their son had died. She just headed out to the Man of God. Read 2 Kings 4:18-23. When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers. He said to his father, “My head, my head.” And he said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door…

Double Portion – #13 What do you look for in return for doing what is right? This woman has been kind to Elisha and now he wants to find a way to repay her. Read 2 Kings 4:11-17. One day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber and rested. Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” And when he had called her, she stood before him. He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of…

Double Portion – #12 When we pass by, how do others perceive us? Here’s what one woman saw about Elisha. Read 2 Kings 4:8-10. Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat food. She said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God passing by us continually. Please, let us make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair…

Double Portion – #11 How much do you expect from God? As we look at the next step in Elisha’s journey, we see him addressing a widow with a credit problem. Read 2 Kings 4:1-7. Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord ; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the…

Double Portion – #10 God fulfills his promises. Read 2 Kings 3:19-24. Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.'” It happened in the morning about the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. Now all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. And all who were able to put on armor and older were summoned and stood on the border. They rose early in the morning,…

Double Portion – #9 Oh, that’s nothing. Often when we are asking God for things, we completely underestimate all that he is capable of doing in every situation. Read 2 Kings 3:13-18. Now Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do I have to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” And the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the Lord has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.” Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat…