The Price of the Double Portion
Article Index
W hen Jesus spoke concerning His second coming He gave implicit instructions to his followers to "occupy till I come."
The word occupy means to buy and sell.
A price must be paid for everything we want to procure. Nothing is free.
Christians offer: Salvation is free. Yes, it is to them. However, someone, somewhere must pay a price in order to provide the product or service for those desiring the benefits of them.
Salvation cost God His best! It cost Jesus His life: it cost Him everything.
In the parable of the ten virgins, the foolish had to "go to them that sell and buy."
Jesus counsel to the Laodicean church was "buy of me."
A price must be paid. But when we are dealing with God the price is not money. It is something else. That price is hunger.
In His Magnificent Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated, "Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled."
Here, then, is the purchasing power for the things of God.
Proverbs 23:23 Buy the Truth and Sell it Not!
Isaiah 55:1, 2 Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the water; and he who has no silver, come buy grain and eat. Yes, come buy grain, wine and milk without silver and without price.
2 Why do you weigh out silver for that which is not bread, and your labour for what is not to satisfaction? Listening, listen toMe and eat the good; and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
P rayer
The Christian is instructed to ask in faith, doubting nothing. A doubting person will not receive anything from the Lord! A double-souled (minded) man is unstable in all his ways.
What haunting, penetrating words. Nothing. Unstable.
James 1:6–18 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For the one doubting is like a wave of the sea, being driven by wind and being tossed;
7 for do not let that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-souled man, unstable in all his ways.
9 But let the lowly brother rejoice in his exaltation;
10 and the rich one sorrow in his humiliation, because he will pass away like the flower of the grass.
11 or the sun rose with the burning heat and dried up the grass, and its flower fell out, and the beauty of its appearance perished; so also the rich one will fade away in his journeys. Isa. 40:6, 7
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because, becoming approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to the ones loving Him.
13 Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted from God. For God is not temptable by evils, and He tempts no one.
14 But each one is tempted by his own lusts, being drawn out and being enticed by them.
15 Then, having conceived, lust brings forth sin. And sin being fully formed brings forth death.
16 Do not go astray, my beloved brothers,
17 every good gift,and every perfect gift,is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is not any change or shadow of turning.
18 Having purposed, He brought us forth by the Word of truth, for us to be a certain firstfruit of His creatures.
Elijah certainly asked in faith. He doubted nothing. He was not unstable in any of his ways.
And he was the one who appealed to the people to make a decision. He challenged, "How long will you limp over two opinions?"
1 Kings 18:41-46 And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, because of the sound of abundance of rain.
42 And Ahab went up to eat, and to drink; and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he stretched himself out on the earth, and he put his face between his knees;
43 and said to his young man, Now go up, look to the way of the sea. And he went up and looked, and said, There is nothing; and he said, Go back seven times.
44 And it happened at the seventh time, he said, Behold, a little cloud like the palm of a man is coming up out of the sea. And he said, Go up and say to Ahab, Bind up and go down, that the rain may not stop you.
45 And until this and this, it happened that the heavens became black with thick clouds and wind, and the rain was great; and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel;
46 and the hand of Jehovah was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab until you come to Jezreel.
K now What You Want
When Bartimaeus was asked, "What do you want Me to do for you?", he never hesitated: he knew precisely what he wanted and expressed it immediately. "Lord, That I might Receive My Sight!" He never doubted. He was not unstable.
Matthew 7:7, 8 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For each one that asks receives, and the one that seeks finds; and to the one knocking, it will be opened.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I say to you, All things, as many things as you ask, praying, believe that you will receive, and it will be to you.
E ndure, Persist, Stay Close to the Lord
Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of enduring patience, that having done the will of God you may obtain the promise.
Hebrews 6:15 And so, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Hebrews 6:12 that you not become dull, but imitators of the ones who through faith and long-suffering are inheriting the promises.
Greek Word Defintion of Desire
Strong and Thayer are the same:
ask, beg, call for, crave, desire, require
Mark 15:43 Joseph from Arimathea came, an honorable councillor, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. And taking courage, he went in to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus.
Example:
Mark 15:43
Strong: boldness; the idea of extreme conduct; to venture; to be courageous
Thayer: not to dread or shun through fear; to bear, endure; to bring one’s self to; to be bold; to bear one’s self boldly, deal boldly
Know the Time of the Double Portion is NOW!
Buy a Double Portion of the Word NOW!
Buy a Double Portion of Oil NOW!
Expand Your Internal Cry Increase Your Desire For God
E ndurance:
The Ability to Hold On When Everything Around You is Crashing to the Ground
Latin: indurare, to make hard, from in in and durus, hard
To bear, to suffer with patience, to last
When You Come to the End of the Rope, Tie a Knot in it and HOLD ON!
Jude 3 Beloved ones, making all diligence to write to you about the common salvation, I had need to write to you to exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith once given over to the saints.
Jehovah’s Witness Translation:
To put up a hard fight for: Lit. to be struggling upon
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and confessed the good confession before many witnesses,
Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, No one putting his hand on the plow, and looking at the things behind, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Hebrews 10:38, 39 “But the just shall live by faith;” “and if he draws back,” “My soul is not well-pleased in him.” Hab. 2:4; Zeph. 1:6; Mal. 1:10
39 But we are not of a drawing back to destruction, but of faith, to the preservation of the soul.
D etermine to Overcome Every Obstacle and Hindrance
Philosophy: O O [Overcoming Obstacles]
D on’t Despise Your Spiritual Birthright
The encounter between Jacob and Esau is quite remarkable. It contains several major aspects that the pursuer of spiritual truth would do well to emulate.
A distinction needs to be made between the blessing and the birthright.
Concerning the birthright there is no doubt. It belonged (by birth) to the firstborn, Esau. He sold it to his brother for a bowl of soup! This is a legal business transaction. The price is immaterial. A purchase was made: a price was paid and a product or service was obtained. An exchange had been made.
But the blessing is another matter.
Genesis 27:30-41 And it happened that when Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, even it came about that Jacob had hardly gone out from the face of his father Isaac, and his brother Esau came in from his hunting.
31 And he also made delicious things and came to his father. And he said to his father, Let my father rise and eat from the game of his son, so that your soul may bless me.
32 And his father Isaac said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your first-born, Esau.
33 And Isaac was terrified with a very great anxiety. And he said, Who then was the one who hunted game and came to me; and I ate from it all before you came; and I blessed him? Yea, he shall be blessed.
34 When Esau heard the words of his father he cried out a great and very bitter cry. And he said to his father, Bless me, me also, my father.
35 And he said, Your brother came with deceit and took your blessing.
36 And he said, Is that why his name is called Jacob and has supplanted me these two times? He took me by the heel; he took my birthright and, behold, now he has taken my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me?
37 And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have set him over you as a ruler, and I have given him all his brothers for servants; I have girded him with grain and wine. And what then can I do for you, my son?
38 And Esau said to his father, Is one blessing left to you, my father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
39 And his father Isaac answered and said to him, Behold, your dwelling shall be from the fat of the earth and from the dew of the heavens above;
40 and you shall live by your sword, and you shall serve your brother; and when it shall be that you are restless, you shall break his yoke from your neck.
41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.
In Conclusion: One of the Most Pitiful Passages in the Bible:
Hebrews 12:14 -17 Eagerly pursue peace and holiness with all, without which no one will see the Lord,
15 watching diligently that not any lack from the grace of God, that “no root of bitterness growing up” may crowd “in on you,” and through this many be defiled; Deut. 29:18
16 that not any fornicator, or profane one, as Esau, who for one eating gave up his birthright;
17 for you know also that afterwards desiring to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, although seeking it out with tears. Gen. 27:36-39
Romans 9:11-13 for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of the One calling,
12 it was said to her, “The greater shall serve the lesser”; Gen. 25:23
13 even as it has been written, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.” Mal. 1:2, 3
Why Did God Love Jacob and Hate Esau? Before the Boys Were Ever Born!
Jacob Had aDESIRE for Spiritual Truth!