In a vision, I saw a laborer working in a field who was barefoot and wearing dirty, tattered clothes. All of the sudden there came a groaning sound from the ground which became louder and more powerful as everything began to shake. Then a light illuminated the person working in the field, and I heard the voice of the Lord declare, "It is time for My Children to lay hold of the ‘double portion’ I have for them!" With that the worker was transformed. There were sandals on his feet, a royal robe around him, and a signet ring on his finger.

The Meaning Of The Clothes
To understand this vision, we must first understand what the clothes represent. The change in clothing reflects the story of the Prodigal Son. These three things are exactly what we are told about in this story. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet’” (Luke 15:21-22).

In the era of this story, slaves did not normally wear sandals but sons did. The laborer receiving sandals represents restored sonship. When the prodigal son’s father instructed his servant to put sandals on his son's feet, he was saying, “No, I won’t receive you back as a servant. I’ll receive you as my son.” There is a cry of the Spirit in our day calling many believers out from being servants into being sons. Many who are in the church are nonetheless slaves of this world. While they believe in Jesus, they are servants to the ambitions and aspirations of the world. Others are servants, not of the world, but of manmade kingdoms within the church. God doesn’t want us enslaved by the world or serving manmade kingdoms. Jesus died so we could become sons and daughters of the Most High God. That is your destiny, being the child of the King of kings! God wants to set us free from pursuing man’s agenda, to discover what are the purposes of Heaven and produce those works.

In the vision the laborer was given a new robe. In the Prodigal Son, the son was given “the best robe.” The best robe in the house would have belonged to the father himself. And our Father in Heaven wants to clothe us in His robe. Giving the father's robe to the son represents dominion. God is calling us from simply occupying till He comes to taking dominion. We are not merely to hang on by our fingernails until the Lord comes and rescues us. We are called to take dominion of this world. As believers, we must not settle for being merely sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. We are called to be sons and daughters of the Most High God! We are called into the “family business” which is taking dominion of this earth.

To really walk forward taking dominion we will need the ring upon our finger, for the ring would have been the family signet ring, which represents authority. God wants to take us from being rebellious against authority or merely being under authority to having His authority. When you have the signet ring of the king, you can put his seal on any document and it is just as if the king signed it. God wants to give us not merely authority in title, but authority which carries the seal and signature of heaven! The true “ring of power” is the signet ring of heaven, which the Lord is desiring to place upon the fingers of those who will come into their spiritual inheritance. God wants this, not for one or two superstars, but for a whole nation of priests.

In the vision there was a groaning sound which came forth from the ground. The groaning was the sound of creation. Romans 8:19 tells us, “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” The Phillip’s translation puts it like this “Creation stands on its tiptoes!” Like a little child standing on her tiptoes peaking out the window to see when Daddy is coming home, creation eagerly longs for the sons of God to be revealed. Creation is not standing on its tiptoes looking for believers to be revealed. Neither is creation groaning, longing for disciples to be revealed. Creation is groaning, asking “When are these sons of God going to be revealed on the earth.”

The Double Portion
The voice of the Lord said that it is time to lay hold of the “double portion.” This speaks of the double portion that Elisha asked of Elijah. This passage of Scripture has been sorely misunderstood and misrepresented. Most of us have heard others speak of wanting the “double anointing.” That sounds like something wonderful — “two scoops” — but nowhere is it mentioned in Scripture. Let us look at what this verse is really saying. “And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?’ Elisha said, ‘Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.’ So he said, ‘You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.’ Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, ‘My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!’” (2 Kings 2:9-12).

What Elisha was asking for was to be the son of inheritance among the prophets; to be the “firstborn” of all the prophetic company. If you look at the Jewish law, the oldest son, as his birthright, would get a double inheritance, a double portion. What Elisha was saying was “I don’t want to be just one of the sons of the prophet, I want to be the one who inherits the double portion, who takes your place, who receive that birthright of the firstborn son.”

The strange part of the story is that Elisha had already been given this promise in 1 Kings 19:15-19. “Then the Lord said to him: ‘Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.’ … So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.”

Though Elisha already had the promise of inheriting Elijah's position, when asked what he wanted, he cried out for the promise to come to completion. That is what we need to do with the great and precious promises God has given to us. When the Lord asks “What do you want,” we need to lay hold of those promises and lift them up before the Lord. This is an appointed year for the releasing of promises related to being sons of inheritance. It is time to inherit the promises God has promised.

God is wanting to move us from the church of the “born-again” to the church of the “firstborn.” Hebrews 12:22-23 says that “You have come to … the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.” We are called to be Christians, which means “little Christs,” and Jesus was the firstborn of creation … firstborn from among the dead … firstborn of many brothers. We are to be like Him — a firstborn son! God is looking for mature sons and daughters so that He can bring them into greater dimensions of His kingdom.

Resistance Of The Enemy
One of the ways the enemy is thwarting the sons of God being revealed on the earth is by a “prodigal identity.” If ever you want to fill an altar, all you have to do is call for the prodigals to come and return to the Lord. There is something so wonderful about coming back to the Lord and receiving His embrace of acceptance that some of the Church spend all their life being prodigal sons. The word "prodigal" means “wasteful one; the one who wastes his inheritance.” The reason some believers embrace this prodigal identity is that it gives them a “freedom” to pursue the worldly things they want, but it is at the cost of receiving the inheritance Christ died for us to gain. God has a heart to restore every prodigal, but He has a heart to move us beyond being prodigals. God did not die so that we could be prodigals. He died so that even if we are a prodigal He could receive us back, and then help us come into the double portion inheritance Jesus died for us to have.

Another difficulty of becoming sons and daughters of inheritance is “Older Brother Syndrome.” The Lord told me that “older brother syndrome is rampant in the Church.” The older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son had jealousy of his brother, and so he remained outside the house and would not go in. One of the signs of older brother syndrome is that we tend to be disconnected from the church and have problems “plugging in.” Another symptom is difficulty rejoicing when God blesses others in the Church, or constantly comparing ourselves to others.

A third tactic of the enemy is the “spirit of Esau.” No believer wants to be like Esau, for God said, “Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated” (Malachi 1:2-3). The book of Hebrews describes Esau as "… a profane person." What did Esau do to receive such disdain from the Lord? He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. “Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.’ Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright as of this day.’ And Esau said, `Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?’ Then Jacob said, ‘Swear to me as of this day.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:29-34).

As Americans, we don’t really understand what this birthright that Esau sold for a bowl of stew fully entails. The birthright was not only a double portion of the father’s inheritance, it also involved authority and leadership of the family. The birthright included a special blessing from the father, and meant he would be the spiritual head, the priest, of the family. All this Esau sold for one meal! That was one of the most expensive meals ever! Esau cared little about his birthright in comparison to the present gratification of his appetite. “Feed my flesh; feed my desires.”

Does the bride of Christ truly have a birthright? Yes, for Jesus birthed the Church. “But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19:33-34). Although it wasn’t fully manifest until the upper room, that is when the Church was birthed. Like all births it was painful and messy. When they pierced Jesus’ side, there was a bloody show, and the water was broken, just like in most births. If we will open our spiritual eyes, we will see that Christ, the new Adam, got His bride the same way the first Adam did. What happened with the first Adam? He was put to sleep, and then Eve was taken from His side. And Jesus, through the crucifixion, was put to sleep, a spear pierced His side, and then His bride was birthed out from Him. We need to understand that the Church has truly been birthed by God. We have a birthright! Our birthright is not to be prodigals. It is not to be older brothers. It is not to be like Esau. It is to lay hold of the birthright for which Jesus Christ gave birth to us — to be firstborn sons of God!

How are we as the Church doing with our birthright? Are we selling our birthright as firstborn children of the most high God to satisfy our appetites in order to have the things of this world? Are we so busy with the things of the world that we are selling out our calling as a kingdom of priests and failing to receive the special blessing from our heavenly Father and coming into His authority?

The Lord spoke to me that “this is a year of going from Porridge to Parchment.” This is a year of going from feeding our flesh to attaining God’s authority. It is time to stop feasting on the things of this world and lay hold of being a son or daughter of God.

Call Waiting
In another vision, I saw a phone ringing. Then I heard the Lord and this is what He said, “I have called you. I have placed My calling upon you and set you apart for My service. And yet you have also heard another call, for the world has also called your name. With its calling it has promised pleasures — both simple pleasure and sweet delights. You have not rejected My call, you have merely placed it on hold while you ‘examine’ the other. How long will you waiver between two points, doubly minded and neither hot nor cold? Choose this day to pick up the call that I have given. Your call is waiting!”

Our calling to be sons and daughters of inheritance is waiting. All of Creation groans, eager to see true firstborn sons of God revealed across the face of the earth. God has thrown open a door in Heaven that no one can close. Will we be the ones who walk through it?