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Receiving Your Mantle
How To Receive The Mantle God Has
Destined For You
Helen Calder
As prophetic people, we are often drawn to the story of Elijah’s
mantle.
Elijah’s mantle was more than the regular cloak that he
wore.
It represented his appointment as a Prophet of God. When he
threw it over Elisha it was a prophetic act, declaring that the mantle — and
the office of the Prophet it represented — was destined to be Elisha’s in the
future. (1 Kings 19:19)
What is a Mantle?
A ‘mantle’ is a Scriptural
metaphor (symbol) for a calling, ministry, anointing and — when applicable — office,
given to individuals by God.
How to Receive God’s Destined Mantle for Your Life
Following are some
significant lessons about receiving your God-ordained mantle, from the
stories of Joseph and Elisha:
1. Understand God Determines Your Mantle Ahead of Time
We do not select a mantle; it
is established and destined by God.
Elisha didn’t just receive Elijah’s
mantle because he happened to be at the right place at the right time. It
was already his according to God’s word. (1 Kings 19:16)
Elisha needed to cooperate with the
call of God on his life to receive the mantle that was his by God’s appointing.
Elisha’s hunger and pursuit of Elijah
was a sign of what God had placed in his heart.
Joseph knew at a young age, through
prophetic dreams, that God had called him to rule.
A mantle is not ours for the
choosing, it is determined ahead of time by God.
The desire God places in our
hearts is just one indication, among other confirmations, of the calling that
is ours.
2. Servanthood Positions you for the Mantle God has for you
For a long season, Elisha was a
servant to Elijah, supporting him in a menial capacity and learning at his
feet. (2 Kings 3:11)
Joseph practiced servanthood for
years — first he served his father, then Potiphar, then the prison warden — before
he received the mantle of rulership he was destined for.
It can be tempting to go
directly after a mantle, but just as with Elisha and Joseph, God has
established His timeline for your life.
God positions you with people
and leaders that He wants you to serve now.
Serving with faithfulness and a
teachable heart is a powerful means of being positioned to attain your
God-ordained destiny.
3. Realise you
may Wear a Series of Mantles
Elisha was first a worker in his
father’s fields, and then wore the garb of a servant, before he took up
Elijah’s mantle.
When God took Elijah, Elisha took his
own cloak — the one he had worn as a servant — and tore it in two. There was no
turning back. (2 Kings 2:12-13)
Joseph had a series of physical
mantles along the way.
The ‘coat of many colours’ his father
gave him indicated favour, as well as his position as overseer to his brothers.
Later, he was given a cloak as head
slave in Potiphar’s household.
Ultimately, Joseph was robed in
garments that represented his position as ruler next to Pharoah in Egypt. (Genesis 41:42)
But he didn’t go from being a
youngster with prophetic dreams directly to the palace. He wore a succession of
mantles, being faithful with each, and so it is for us.
4. Wait for Appointment to Establish your Mantle
Elisha was appointed by God as
Prophet and successor to Elijah — but God used Elijah to recognise, prepare and
establish that appointment.
God used Jacob, Potiphar, a prison
warden, and ultimately Pharoah himself, to appoint Joseph to a position in
Egypt that was already his through God’s intention. And it is the same
today.
We do not ‘self appoint’ to a mantle
or ministry. God uses those in oversight and authority to recognise and
establish us in that calling at the right time. (Acts 6:6, Acts 13:1-3)
5. Understand your Calling will be Tested Over Time
As Joseph received the royal
robes over his shoulders, maybe he recalled the earlier mantles that he
wore:
The richly ornamented coat of many
colours his father gave Joseph as a young man became another reason his
brothers hated him.
And when his jealous brothers threw
him in a pit, and sold him to Egyptian slave traders, they wrenched the coat
from him.
That coat became the evidence
the brothers used to ‘prove’ Joseph’s faked death to their father, Jacob.
Later, Joseph became a trusted slave,
promoted and given charge over all his master Potiphar’s estate.
But then Potiphar’s wife approached
Joseph, wanting to seduce him. However, he valued his master’s trust, his
purity and the call of God — and so Joseph ran.
But Potiphar’s wife grabbed his cloak
— and used it to accuse him. Not only was that cloak taken
from him, it was used as evidence against him of a crime he didn’t
commit. And landed him in prison.
Have you had this happen
to you? ‘God, I thought that coat was from you. That mantle had promise.
It was colourful. It represented good things to come. And now it’s been lost,
robbed. That role, that job, that ministry opportunity — why was it taken from
me?’
But Father God is seeing the
big picture, from Heaven’s perspective.
Your Father wants to reveal to
you what He is up to, even if you are feeling today as though you are in
the midst of the trial or long period of waiting in relation to your
calling.
He wants to show you how he is
redeeming those trials, even the failures, and how He is using them for His
purposes.
It is not too late. For
like Joseph, and Elisha, as you stay faithful and committed in the long haul,
you will ultimately receive the mantle God has for you.
And the ministry God has for
you will be above and beyond anything you could ever have dreamed.
It is over 35 years since I
stepped out in front of our church to deliver my first prophetic word.
I was 15 years old.
The theme of that first
prophecy was intercession and revival, and the vision I received from God
at that time is as vivid to me today as it was back then.
During the next two decades, I
received a lot of training and mentoring in prophetic ministry and prayer. My
husband Malcolm (aka ‘The Hunk’) and I went on to serve Jesus in missions
ministry and renewal, itinerating in New Zealand, Australia and Asia.
I did not know that there were
deep cracks in the foundations of my life and ministry until I hit a wall in
1998. My church in New Zealand went through a difficult time and I was caught
up in division. I write about the events that led up to this and the
lessons I learned in the book, ‘Prophetic People In A Changing Church.’
I underwent a period of
repentance and heart-searching, receiving ministry within my church. Taking
time to re-examine and sift through the prophetic mentoring I had received, I
realised that some of this had led me along a pathway of independence from my
local church leadership.
At the close of this period,
the Lord spoke to me from His words to Peter about his failure and restoration
in Luke 22:32:
“And when you have turned
back, strengthen your brothers.”
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