For some of our young people, what do you want?  If you could get anything from God, right now, what do you want?  I would say you could not go too far wrong by saying, “I want a double portion of what this man just said in Second Timothy, ‘I have finished the race.’  Praise God!  I want a double portion of what Paul had.  I want a double portion.”  I remember what a very Godly woman told me one day.  She said, “I’m praying that my mantle would fall upon you.”  But you know, it’s not ours to give.  God chooses.  But what’s your heart’s desire?  A double portion of a Ralph Riggs.  A double portion of a Kenny Schmidt.  I could go on and name great men of God.  Over the decades, I’ve sat at their feet and marveled at their commitment to the kingdom of God.  Generational.  I went up to the hospital, last night, and as I looked at my granddaughter and the new little baby, my mind immediately went back to my wife’s mother’s mother.  In my new great grandchild, it’s already manifested.  They were some of the first in this nation, back in the day, to experience the outpouring by Parham in Kansas, down into Oklahoma and Arkansas which is where they were from.  Some of the first families to be Spirit-filled in this country.  Seven generations.  That’s a marvelous thing.  Unbroken.  Faithful to God.  Generation after generation that turns and says, “I finished the race, keep the faith.”

Where is our hunger?  Where is our desire to finish this race stronger than we began?  Is it our heart’s cry as in Elisha?  The irony is that Elisha wasn’t asking for twice as much as what Elijah had.  He was asking for twice as much as anybody else in his generation would have.  That’s what the first-born got, the double portion.  The other kids got their inheritance, but the oldest son got twice as much as the rest of them.  I don’t know about you, but I want twice as much as what anybody else in this generation has, as we finish this course, praise God.  I’ve looked at it many times, but I questioned myself as a brand-new convert with that burning in my heart.  I asked myself, “Is that just your natural pride because you want to be better than everybody at everything?”  I’ve dealt with that over the years and asked that question on numerous occasions.

Any voice that’s speaking in you that would enable you to bring more glory to God is the Spirit, not the flesh.  Where are we today, as this course is set before us?  Are we content to be one of the crowd?  Or do we want to be one of David’s mighty men?  It’s for the taking.  The question is this, “Who will go for me?”  And we will all make our own specific individual decisions.  “Here am I, Lord.  Send me,” or “I’ve done enough.  I’m doing as good or better than most.”  Amen?  I have finished the course.  I’ve experienced all these trials, all these adversities, but I’ve finished this course.  You know the mighty men of David, what great exploits they did.  Killing 800 men, single handedly.  Killing a lion in that snowy pit.  In that battle where 800 were killed, it says that he couldn’t even open his grip on the sword after all those hours.

Maybe it would be good if we became one with the Sword of the Spirit, and never ceased to beat down the enemy that’s before us, and fight until the victory’s won, praise God!  At our own peril.  Men so sensitive to the heart of God that when David even just whispered, “Oh, I would love to have a drink from the well in Bethlehem,” these three men, at the peril of their own lives, went back into the enemy territory and brought the king that glass of water.  Oh, they loved David, but they weren’t bringing that to David, they were bringing it to God.  And David knew it was God.  That’s why he didn’t drink of it; he poured it out as an offering to God’s goodness and faithfulness.  Shouldn’t God just have to whisper a desire, and we go after it?