My Journey to the Double Portion

As a member of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden, the theme for the year is “Moving Forward with a Double Portion” .  We are using the mentorship of Elisha and Elijah as our foundation. 

A few Sundays ago Pastor John K. Jenkins preached about the “Journey to a Double Portion.”  In short he said to get to the double portion or the Promised Land there are a few places we must go….Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho and Jordan.  He went on to explain the significance of each place.

That sermon has been with me for weeks, as I examined where I am in my journey to the double portion.  There are times when I really feel like I am wondering around in the wilderness and I will never make it to my Promised Land nor receive the double portion.  Other times I believe I am well on my way and in the will of God. 

Anyho, here is my journey thus far.

Gilgal was described as a place of circumcision, where we lose something; we are separated from our past.  As I have blogged about on many occasions, I lost a lot in 2011.  My fiancé and I broke up; I lost my home (he resides there), my dog and my purpose.  At that time I was soooo wrapped up me and what I wanted and the way I thought things should go that God got my attention by separating me from the person I thought I was going to be with for the rest of my life.  He removed me from what I am guessing to be a bad situation (there were several issues in the relationship) before I actually took that walk down the aisle.  At some point, I let it go…I moved out of our shared house and started moving forward.  It was hard, but I had no choice.  

My next stop was Bethel.  Bethel is described as a place where we have an encounter with God.  We fall to our knees and communicate with him.  After the break-up and my deep bout with depression, I got into the Word of God.  I joined a prayer group, started fasting, studying…..doing everything I could to communicate with God and tell Him the matters of my heart as well as listen for His voice.   There was a time when I was fasting from a different thing each week.  I just really wanted to be as close to God as possible as I tried to heal my heart and start life again.  I started walking toward my Jericho.

Jericho is the place where as a believer I am to walk by faith and follow God’s commands, even when I don’t want too.  In the Bible, God told Joshua to tell the people to march around the city each day, for six days.  On the seventh day they were to walk around the city seven times and shout after the priest had blown the horn.  This is where I am….I’m walking by faith and not by sight.  There are some things that don’t look like they are turning out in my favor; however, I have to believe God is working out those things.  I am doing my march around the city.  Once the walls of Jericho come crashing down, I’m going to burn everything down and move on to Jordan!

In Jordan, this is where we enter the Promised Land, follow God and leave people/things behind.  Oh Lord, please get me there.  I cannot wait!

Where are you on your journey?

Check out this awesome drawing of Pastor’s sermon by @seeincolors.