"You have received the mantle of the writing sword."
I found this written in the notes section of my phone just after I was invited to write for the Elijah List by Steve Shultz and just before I received an inquiry from Chosen Books Publishers to write a book for them. I did sign an agreement with them and then rewrote my first book
The Intercessors Handbook,
and then my second and third books,
Seeing The Supernatural
and
Glory Carriers
.
I don't know how this note got on my phone. Let's just credit the Holy Spirit. The fact is that I don't just write books. I create weapons and equip an army.
What is a mantle?
The concept of a mantle in the bible can have various meanings, but most often it refers to a cloak, a covering, or some other type of clothing. Prophets were apt to wear a mantle as a sign of their calling from God. We see how Elijah passed his mantle on to Elisha as a prophetic sign of his anointing and ministry coming upon his spiritual son. When Elisha picked up the mantle, he essentially picked up his calling and the miracles began to flow as well.
Can I have someone's mantle?
I really believe we need to hear God on this and not be presumptive about such things. A mantle means heavy duty responsibility. You lose your life, in a sense, to serving that mantle in partnership with the Holy Spirit.
I remember one woman asking me to give her my mantle. I told her "no." It's my mantle. Not hers. And she couldn't carry it anyway. She really didn't know what she was asking for.
Book writing was a desire in my life, but as a pastor's wife and mother of two, I never found the grace to write. That is until a woman had a dream that I had written a book on prayer and that it was some kind of handbook. When she shared the dream, I received an anointing to write. Notice that I said "anointing" and not a "mantle." It wasn't until after I wrote the first edition of
The Intercessors Handbook
that I received a mantle. Sometimes we have to spend some time just being a good steward of an anointing before we are ever entrusted with a mantle.
I believe the Lord wants to release more mantles and swords, but are you ready to lose your life to serve it? If so, let's pray:
Heavenly Father, many are called but few are chosen. I ask today that this writing put a seed into Your chosen ones. A seed of stewardship that will become a mantling tomorrow. In Jesus name. ~ Amen.
