Isaiah 61:1-3 – “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners; 2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”  NASB

I have taught and preached on “Double Portion” many times in my fifty plus years of Christian ministry.  It is an interesting and challenging project because of the incredible need for biblical balance.  The Bible has much to say about “Double Portion” and I believe it unfortunate that some believers never grasp this reality and thereby miss much of God’s intended blessing and power in their lives.

Life is not without change. Human history is not simply an ongoing cycle of continuous and often confusing events.  God is involved in history.  He is involved in our daily lives, at every level.  I believe there are going to be some significant and radical changes in the way we do business.  I mean that on every level and in every dimension.  I say that because God is moving and when God moves things change.  That reality makes it imperative that we never become willing to accept the status quo living and try to coast through life. 

Many things are happening in our world and the time has come when we are going to experience dramatic change at a very rapid pace.  I believe that the pace is going to escalate and things that took decades to become the ‘new normal’ will occur in days or weeks.  Therefore, it is time for every believer to ‘Wake Up’ and ask God, “What do you want me to do?”  We need to pray for clarity and the ability to discern the times and learn to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  We have an opportunity, as no other generation, to achieve things for the Kingdom.  We dare not sleep through our window of opportunity and our day of visitation.

That brings me to the subject or focus of this devotional, “Double Portion.”  I believe that double portion will be a strategic part of the Last Days Generation.  Isaiah 61 is a powerful declaration of both the ministry of Jesus and what God intends for His Body in the Last Days.  We are in Him and through Him, we are to pull down strongholds.  We are to do the works that Jesus did and even greater works through the Power of the Holy Spirit.  We have been commissioned and empowered, therefore, it is high time that we begin to expect what He has promised.

I love the wonderful promise of this passage that we can trade ‘ashes’ for ‘beauty.’  We can swap our ‘mourning’ for ‘joy.’  We are called ‘trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD.’  God is glorified in the fruit we bear, therefore if we bear a ‘double portion’ we doubly glorify Him.

In verse 4 of Isaiah 61, we see a truth that is often missed, not discussed, misunderstood, or ignored – Restoration.  He promised to rebuild the waste places.  He promised to raise up the former desolations.  He declared that we would repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.  What has been lost is going to be restored and we are going to reclaim the land for God.  That will happen, the only question is will we be a part of it.  My prayer is Yes!

Something that I have learned and deeply appreciate about God is that when things seem to go bad and are not working out, He Never Loses Hope!  He Never Gives Up!  He Never Quits!  God is not intimidated by the apparent hopelessness of the situation, He is the Sovereign God, the Living God, the Almighty God.  God made it and He can and will fix it.  In God, there is no such thing as Hopeless.  That is comforting!

In Isaiah 61:6 we are called priests of the Lord the ministers of God and the promise is that we will “eat the wealth of the nations.”  In verse 7 in the KJV reads, “For your shame, you shall have double…”  Wow!  That sounds like we will have ‘double shame’ but that is not what the LORD is declaring.  It does not mean, “We’ve had trouble up until now, but cheer up it will get worse and we will have double trouble.”  The last part of the verse informs us that “everlasting joy shall be unto them.”  That tells us what the double portion is.  It is not, shame or trouble but everlasting joy, and that will be the evidence that the double portion is in operation in our lives. 

In verse 8 we see the reference to an “Everlasting Covenant.”  In the Old Testament, the theme of double is tied to the idea of covenant.  Our Covenant, the New Covenant is a better covenant established on better promises and is anchored in the Blood of Jesus.  The reason that ‘double portion’ is connected to covenant is God’s means of reminding us just how committed He is to His children.  He declares to every believer that He is fully committed to us.  Jesus said, “It is My Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” 

We do not live in wishful hope, hoping that someday things will get a little better if we are lucky.  This is something that God has promised with an Everlasting Covenant.  It is a sure thing!  Somebody is going to receive it.  Somebody is going to operate in it and use it for the glory of God.  My question is, “Since God is no respecter of persons and never changes, Why Not Us?”

I want to deal with this more in the next devotional but will pause here and encourage everyone to ‘get your expectation up’.  What God promises He completes. 

God bless you, have a great day in Him!