Elijah had won the greatest victory of his storied career! He had just whooped on 400 prophets of Baal and now he’s holed up in a cave totally depressed! “How did I end up here?” (have you ever said that to yourself?). God said to the prophet, “What are you doing in this stinky old cave, Elijah”? “Gloom, despair, and misery on me! I’m the only one doing anything around here, God, and now they (is he talking about his congregation?) want to kill me!” (You can read this in 1Kings 19 and 20).
So God, in His infinite wisdom, gives Elijah the key to the next chapter of his life. “Elijah, I am the Alpha and the Omega, I am the letter A and the letter Z, and since I am the Word made flesh, I am the one who writes the chapters of your life. Now you can either stay here in this nasty cave, or you can let me write an adventure story for the last chapters of your life.” “What do you want me to do, Lord?” And the Lord speaks to the aging prophet and says, “Go! Get out of this cave, go down off this mountain, and start raising up EMERGING LEADERS!” I want you to anoint:
- Hazael (I think God meant, Hazel. God loves to put girls into ministry)
- Jehu (He was the guy that trampled old Jezebel with his horse)
- Elisha (That farm boy got really good at healing people)
So Elijah started throwing his mantle on the back of younger people who then followed him and watched how Elijah did ministry. Needless to say, Elijah kissed the blues goodbye, started a ministry school for young people, and passed double portions of the anointing to young people who were watching how he did what he did.
Shortly thereafter, an enemy comes to the King of Israel and says, “Ahab, I am fixing to destroy your country, take all of the women and the children, and ruin your families”. (Kinda sounds familiar doesn’t it). Now instead of doing something about it, Ahab just gives in. That is, until Elijah and his band of young people show up and then God shows up, “Thus says the Lord. Ahab, I want to give you a great victory over the enemy who is out to destroy the family.” Ahab says, “How are you gonna do that, Lord?” God says, “By these young leaders of the provinces, and you older guys are going to set the battle in order.”
And so it was that God gave a means to victory:
- Send an enemy that jeopardizes your nation (church, we are in some deep you know what)
- Alert the baby boomers and the great generation about a CRISIS moment
- Pass along the mantle of anointing to a Joshua generation in their prime
- Muster young leaders through the wisdom and resources (financial and spiritual) of the Moses generation
Open Bible East has committed to intentionally passing the anointing of God and the mantle of ministry from the Elijahs to the Elishas. The Great Generation and Baby Boomer members must finish well by mustering the next generation of leaders who will carry the news of Jesus and His love throughout the world.
