Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha to prophesy that he would become one of his inheritors, operate by shared spiritual experience in his anointing, and begin preparation for leadership. The double portion was a guaranteed thing at that point.
When the mantle fell upon Elisha, the young prophet-in-process experienced something of Elijah’s spirit and power. Elisha knew his purpose and caught a glimpse of his life’s work.
In this way, prophetic intimidation diminished. He could prophesy with and beside Elijah without feeling inadequate. Shared spiritual experience did not diminish Elijah: he didn’t suddenly have less. Elisha was not sapping something away from Elijah because the spirit and power of Elijah join generations.
To rear inheritors as prophets, you must remove the barrier of prophetic intimidation so the emerging prophets can function. However, it would be best if you did this in a way that keeps them from false equality: “I’m a prophet as well as you, father, so we are equals. I can hear God for myself, so you can keep your opinions to yourself.”
Having a mantle around you so you can share spiritual experiences is carrying that mantle upon your shoulders. Still, it does provide you a sense of adequacy, faith in God’s call, and trust in a fathering leader that you can do more than observe Elijah in action.
Training prophets by intimidation is counterproductive, tends toward wolf behavior, and leaves people with the experience that you needed them as an audience to boost your ego more than training them to do what you do better than you.
With some prophets, your best experience is to watch them perform. Then, with prophetic intimidation, you set them up for a moment when your amazing rabbit from the hat shows them how it’s really supposed to be done.
Prophets-in-process will have moments of exceptional clarity. That is heady stuff. They will tend to jump to conclusions–all prophets do–and assume that one amazing “I can read your mail and tell you your phone number by word of knowledge” means Elijah needs to stand back for the next generation.
In training prophets, allow them the moment of comfort that comes when they have something to offer the company. Expect some to exaggerate to overcompensate for feelings of inadequacy. That means they have some inner need to be stroked with praise. Kill that. But, recognize validation is needed. They should feel adequate.
First, they will experience adequacy in your anointing. Then, they will develop a prophetic voice of their own that you mature without separating them from the security of your mantle. They are still drawing on your anointing at this point. Then, they will want to escape that sense of shared spiritual experience, seeking their own mantle.
That is scary stuff for all parties involved. It’s like having teenagers in your house who are your children. Eeek! One moment you are baffled by their maturity. They next you wonder if they are still in kindergarten. Of course, they are as baffled as you, but the desire to do it myself overrides that insecurity.
If they feel adequate at every step on the journey, they are more likely to stop that fence testing and insecurity compensation behavior.
Prophets do not all get a special dressing room with a big star and their name hanging on it. Many prophets who are not Elijah or Elisha serve prophetically in the kingdom. The need to become famous paves the road to false prophet status.
Inadequacy is the enemy you address to stop insecurity.
