This is a teaching about walking in your mantle. There are others on this website:
In this teaching I want to talk about walking in your mantle.
The first thing I want to say is that your mantle changes over time. The one you start out with is not generally the one you end up with. How and when and how often it changes depends on your ability to walk in it and adapt to what you’re to do while wearing it.
Mantles give you an enablement to do something that the Lord wants you to do. It has a supernatural component to it which means it will be easier for you to carry out a task with ease. If someone else tries to copy the exact same thing, they will find it doesn’t work for them because they don’t have that mantle and don’t have the necessary virtues to walk in it.
Your mantle doesn’t work without Christian Virtues
What are virtues? They are like character traits
Colossians 3:12-14
12 Therefore, as God’s elect, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint against anyone else. Forgive, just as Christ forgave you. 14 And, in addition to all these things, put on love, which ties things together in perfect unity.
Your thought life
Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Your love walk
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
These are virtues and so what you will find is that you will never successfully walk in your mantle until you succeed in whatever virtue the Lord is working on in you at the present.
At times your mantle will change and the color of the mantle will reflect the virtue that you should be walking in in that season. Once the work is completed you will notice that the mantle will change or the color of the mantle will change. It doesn’t mean that you lost that mantle it just means that it is now in a supporting role and God is calling out something else to take on the major role. Even if you don’t feel like you can do what it signifies, you can because while you are wearing it there is a special grace given to you in that area.
Sometimes people can have mantles that they never use.
2 Kings 2:14
14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
If Elisha didn’t use that mantle the water would not have parted. This is a physical manifestation of the mantle in use but the same thing happens spiritually when you have one and you don’t use it.
You can get stuck in a mantle.
A lot of what happens to get you to the “ultimate mantle” God has for your life and purpose is character building and working on Christian virtues.
This means that along the way some of the mantles you receive have to do with Christian virtues.
Love, kindness, goodness, gentleness, forgiveness, purity, holiness, integrity, self-control.
I highly recommend that if you believe you have a particular mantle that you go back and read the story of the person who wore that mantle and pay attention to the virtues that they had to learn along the way. Just imagine Elijah wearing his mantle and he had no self-control, or he had bitterness and unforgiveness brewing in his heart? He would be a very dangerous person. This is why God usually mantles us in Christian virtues so that we learn along the way before we come into the ultimate mantle that He has for us.
Sometimes you can get stuck with one of the virtues because you haven’t submitted yourself to learning that. As soon as you have passed the test on it, your mantle will change to the next thing. This is how it works. If you are not successful in it you will remain at that level until you get it right.
This is generally why people feel stuck. They want to move to the next level and they cannot because there are still some character flaws there that God is working on and they can’t get to the next level until they submit to it.
As an example, if you were to look at Joseph in order for him to walk in what we call “Joseph’s mantle” which was his ultimate calling as the Prime Minister of Egypt, he had to learn stewardship. How else would he know how to manage 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine? Where did he learn that? He learnt it in Potiphar’s house when he had to manage that household.
Genesis 39:2-6
2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
What I believe happened is that as soon as he finishes what he had to learn there, his mantle switched. Now he gets put in jail, where he now has to learn some other things. Like what? Perhaps forgiveness? We don’t know where he really stood with his brothers in his heart at that point, to further add to it is that not only does he have the forgive his 10 brothers but now add Potiphar’s wife to the list. He doesn’t get to leave that cell until he learns it. The next thing he has to learn while he’s in prison is that he can’t “help” God.
If you look at these virtues you will see how they all work with the Joseph mantle. He has to steward the countries resources, he has to know that while God is using him to save a nation he personally is not the one saving the nation. If he didn’t get this “helping” God thing broken out of him he may try to steal God’s glory in the process. He needed to be broken and humbles for that mantle. If he didn’t learn forgiveness then when his brothers came for help he wouldn’t be able to help them.
He was in a literal prison to show that he couldn’t move forward until he learns this but for us it generally manifests as being stuck.
Your mantle is not for you, it’s for others.
It’s not about you.
When I hear people say they want Elijah’s mantle I wonder to myself if they even know what they are asking for. Why do you want that mantle? People generally see the power side of it, the supernatural works, but they don’t pay attention to the other side of it. The loneliness and isolation, the fact that the spirit of Jezebel will always have a target on your back trying to kill you. God forbid you slip up, then she actually succeeds i.e. John the Baptist who actually wore Elijah’s mantle. Just read the story of both men and you’ll see it.
There’s a whole group of women on YouTube who completely romanticize Esther’s mantle. Oh, she marries a king…..the king was brute with a drinking problem.
Oh, she was picked off the streets and lived in a castle….she was an orphan who only had one person, her uncle and was then completely isolated from him and had to pretend to be someone else in her marriage.
Oh, she went through a year of beauty treatments….that’s cause her husband didn’t care about who she was on the inside, he just cared about what she looked like on the outside. He was shallow and superficial.
Esther’s mantle wasn’t about her. It was about her saving a nation from annihilation. She was also up for annihilation herself, so this is a self-sacrificial type of mantle.
If you ever want the picture of what loneliness in marriage looks like, this would be it.
Her life would probably make some really good Instagram photos. The “glow up”, the closet, her skin care regiment, her perfume collection, her shoe collection, oh the fabulous gowns, all those staff members catering to her… It looks great from the outside in photos but what was really happening in that palace? Woowee, you probably wouldn’t want to know. It is not what it appears to be on the surface.
The thing that would be an afront to this mantle is idolatry. And the romanticizing of the mantle is idolatry in itself. Idolizing of self to walk in a self-sacrificing mantle. Selah. I don’t think that would ever work.
And in the end after all of that she still had the brutish husband. Did she even have children? This is not the mantle to romanticize. Uh uh. At least in the end she got her uncle back in her life and she no longer needed to pretend.
Our gifts, anointing and mantles are not there for us, they are to be used in service of others.
1 Peter 4:10
God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
It’s not about you being right.
This one is hard because if something was done to you, there are times when God will correct it and you get the vindication. Other times, He doesn’t. Why? There is something you need to learn that is bigger than you being right.
Sigh.
Think of Joseph, what was done to him by his brothers was terrible. He was right. It didn’t matter. Then here comes Potiphar’s wife and what she did to him was terrible. He was right. It didn’t matter. Then now he’s in prison and he gets abandoned by again which is terrible. He was right. It didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter because God was working on his ability to forgive others and that more important that him being right. This is a very painful process.
Have you ever had something done to you and you spend months, possibly years still trying to figure out why it happened, how it happened, wanting to get your vindication, wanting them to finally admit they were wrong…but they never did?
It was never about you being right. God allowed that thing happen to you so that He could pull something out of you that couldn’t come out unless you went through that.
This is where a lot of people get stuck not realizing until they learn how to get up, forgive it, walk in love, they can never move into their mantle. You’re gonna have to let it go.
There was something BIGGER that God wanted you to learn and it is far greater than you being right.
It is in the furnace of affliction and persecution where we learn these things.
Isaiah 48:10
I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.
Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.
Yes, He will put you through it until you can say it and mean it “though He slay me yet will I trust Him“.
There are some that never get past the hurt and pain to get to the place that God intended for them and so they stay stuck in that place. You cannot afford for that to happen to you! I would venture to say the more painful the scourging the bigger the spiritual responsibility you have to carry with your mantle and that is why you are having to go through that.
Ask the Lord to give you the grace to get past it.
Integrity is what you do when nobody is watching you. This one usually gets worked on when it’s just you and God. Nobody can see you and no one else knows about it and the Lord just looks to see if you’ll consistently make the right choices.
You know when you go to the supermarket and you are short on cash and you’re praying you have enough money to pay for the items you picked up. Then you check out and breathe a sigh of relief because you ended up with $0.50 after you paid your bill. Except when you went to put the groceries in your car you realized that you forgot something in the cart, it was stuck in the corner and now you have a decision to make, do you take it since you’re already out of the store and no one can see you, or return it because it is $2.50 and all you have is $0.50. So what are you gonna do?
Nobody knows, except God. Those Walmart self-checkouts are about to promote or demote some of you in the realm of the spirit! #word Nobody knows, except God.
The enemy tempts you and then God watches to see what you will do…
Psalm 41:11-12
By this I know that You delight in me, Because my enemy makes no shout in triumph over me. As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And You make me stand firm in Your presence forever.
All of these little decisions switches out your mantle to something else because God knows what you did.
Changing mantles is not something you can “fake it till you make it”, no. You either pass the test or you didn’t. No man can change your mantle, God is the one who does it.
Same mantle different person
The same mantle can look very different depending on the personality of the person and their life experiences.
This is why we must never compare ourselves to others. The things that one person has to go through may be completely different from another person. God may have to do more work in one area of one person than another.
As mantles get passed they can also look or manifest different and that has to do with the times and what is happening.
If you look at how Moses passed to Joshua, it is in essence the same mantle (leadership over the Israelites) but how the two men operated was completely different. Moses had a staff/rod as his “symbol” of his mantle. Shepherds use rods and staffs so this shows that he was walking in a pastoral kind of role as a leader. When Joshua took over he had a spear (Joshua 8:18; 8:26), this denotes warrior and it makes sense because a lot of battles were fought during Joshua’s time. As a matter of fact, the first time we are introduced to Joshua in Exodus 17, Moses was standing on the mountain with Aaron and Hur holding his hand up in prayer while Joshua was down below fighting the Amalekites. These are two different types of leaders and the Israelites needed a different type of leader because what they had to do in the wilderness was not the same in the promised land. This is another reason why Aaron, Moses’ brother, couldn’t inherit that mantle because Aaron was a priest and in the promised land the Israelites needed a warrior as a leader.
We don’t actually get to choose our mantles, only God knows what comes next and the personality type, character and virtues that are needed to walk in it.
Same with David, he was a warrior king but when he passed his mantle to Solomon the purpose was different for that leader. Solomon was destined to build, not to fight.
You can see the same thing in your own life, you may start out as a prophet but along the line you switched into the teacher, the prophet is still there it’s just taken a supporting role now, then you become the pastor, but you’re still the teacher and the prophet they are just both in a supporting role right now.
All of these things you will realize in the end are a part of the ultimate mantle that you will be walking in. The progression and the speed at which you progress through each of these mantles/virtues has to do with how well you walk in each of them. You have to be pliable, and teachable. The Potter should be able to mold you easily. Stubbornness and hard headedness won’t work. You can’t have pride or be too easily offended (another form of pride) or that will set you back. Once you have successfully walked through one, you move to the next. If you are still struggling in some areas God will keep you there a little longer until you get it. All of this is a part of your process. The great news is this is why your mantle and/or your crown cannot be stolen because the thief would need to have the Christian virtues in order to use it. Which you already know they will never have because they are a thief.
God will wait until you are ready before He releases a higher level of spiritual responsibility or authority on you because you need to be mature enough to handle it. And this has nothing to do with your age. Otherwise, you will be a danger to yourself and to others.
Hope this has helped you.
Blessings.
Thank you Nicole this changes everything for me.
This has been a blessing to me! I just noticed recently that my duties in church had shifted. I used to sing solos in the youth choir but I noticed I mostly backup now, while I began to interpret for my pastor although once in a while. Is this a mantle shift?
Maybe yes, maybe no. Ask the Lord. You changed your role doesn’t mean you changed your mantle. You are now using a spiritual gift you never used before which is the interpretation and this is really good because you are now growing in another area, of this you can be sure. Blessings
Thank you, Nicole, It is not always about me being right. God allows things to happen so that He could pull something out of me that couldn’t come out unless l went through demotion, rejection, and shame. Well though painful and the only way God wants it to be revealed we must not give up in prayer. I’m now at peace with how God deals with situations in my life. The great news is my mantle and/or your crown cannot be stolen, What a Deep Powerful Word. Thank you Holy Spirit for speaking to us.
Wow! Awesome, it’s been a while I’ve read your teaching article, and I remember when I was trying to find the section/panel area on the website I had difficulty finding it. But I was able to study this “Walking in My Mantle.” through the broadcast email link. Thanks for the sound, indepth, enlightened teaching. Also, for pointing out that little things in honesty and integrity matters. But I thought they are different?. Also, my question is, what’s the difference between Mantles and Spiritual Gifts of the spirit. Is Mantle more like my calling or my occupation. I know crown to be a sign or symbol of an area or field where God has given us an authority. Thanks for being a blessing.
Hi Ibrahim! There is a post called mantles and anointing you need to read that one. There is also videos that you can look at which will answer these questions. Here they are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2JCbpto3oo and also this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80eg-KsZ0D8 and this one too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjqIkbe6Qys.
Also, the example I gave is both honesty and integrity. Sometimes they can be the same and other times different. You can be dishonest with someone; however, integrity is generally showing up when no one knows about it. It cannot be seen or proven. A lot of Christians get tripped up with this because they believe if no one is there to witness it, it doesn’t matter. If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? LOL I think it does because it’s integrous. Blessings
I also wanted to mention that the song “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)”) by Matt Maher seems to sum up this post nicely for the purpose of mantles and how to use and glorify God. The excerpt of the song, “the kingdom, the power, the glory…” says it all! The examples you used in this post are things that I’ve experienced and I could comment but will refrain from doing so as I assure you it will transform into a book, lol! Thank you for such a timely post and many blessings on MOP and team. I do thank God for you.
Shalom!
Thank you for this excellent post, MOP! It is very sobering and true. Guess what song I woke up with today on my heart and head? The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours”) by Matt Maher. Guess what part was highlighted to me? Forgiveness! It wasn’t news but confirmation and an encouragement that God knows my struggles given a journey that I’ve been on like my favourite Old Testament character, Joseph. Waking up with a song on my heart/lips/mind is another new way the Lord has been speaking to me, waking up with a line of a song that I’m not sure of and have to Google it. I do believe that I know my mantles Joseph/Nazarite and another that I wouldn’t mention quite yet. I had a dream recently that I caught a hooded thief (never did see the face) trying to steal a guest book/list and I had him in a headlock (or is it arm lock? whatever the expression is). This was very unusual as no one seemed to listen or come to my call for help in spite of additional sirens. Finally, someone said “just check her out, just in case…” I reflected on this dream as I have never arm/head locked anyone in my life (that I can recall, can’t speak for my childhood “activities” with my brothers, lol!) and the scripture that came to me was Proverbs 6:31 and reading the excerpt in this post of my how my mantle/crown cannot be stolen. Just a few comments about some points in the post. Mordecai was actually Esther’s cousin. I also listened to a message about the spirit of Jezebel and the speaker stated that it is actually a misnomer as it should be the spirit of Baal, which ruled Jezebel. This was actually a paradigm shift. The point the speaker made was that we should be casting out Baal not the spirit of Jezebel, given that Jezebel was a person. Thoughts?
Hi F.E., all of us have something God is working on. Otherwise we would be in heaven. Unforgiveness gets worked on as part of the love mantle because it keeps no record of wrong.
I had to look up the Mordecai it says she’s his uncle’s daughter, I’m wondering why they didn’t just say cousin? LOL Because the word uncle is what sticks out to me.
As far as Jezebel is concerned, I don’t know. I’ve never written about it as there are many books out there on the subject. I do know when you cast out demons you have to call it by name otherwise it doesn’t leave so I’m not sure how that would work. I guess it depends on the context & purpose of the teaching? And, Baal is ruled by satan so there’s that. Blessings
Thanks again, Nicole, for the timely input that connects all the dots for me. I know I have the Joseph calling, and although I have been “right” in most circumstances, things did not go that way often and with hard prejudice. I recognize the importance of forgiveness in this mantle, as I needed to grow where I readily forgive in most circumstances, despite whether I am “right” or not. Second, it makes sense that our mantle would change over time, but I never thought of it that way before. Like Dee, I appear to have moved into less prophecy and more teaching. This has confused me, and I tried to “hold onto” the prophecy mantel. I have now repented and released myself into my Master’s hands to be molded in the way for which He is preparing me.
Hi James, you’re on the right track & you still have prophecy it’s just on the backseat for now. Don’t be surprised if after awhile He moves you from teaching into something else. What this will do is allow God to use you in many different scenarios, not just prophecy. We can’t get caught up in titles because this is how we limit ourselves. The apostles/disciples in the Bible did not have titles and they did everything under the power of the Holy Spirit. Blessings
Thank you! I am a dream interpreter (for myself right now) and had a dream of me wearing the most beautiful red coat and spike red heels. I just had a red hat a clerk was putting on me in a very expensive store. I felt like a queen but had no idea God was doing this for me! I can now search more into it and my past dreams. I just never felt worthy enough for God to choose me!
How do you know what your mantle is ?
Is it my gifting ??
I play piano,
I do beautiful needlework,
I do artistic baking
I love encouraging thru card writing
I love giving to those who have needs
I love reading
Hi Annelie, as I said in the post ask the Lord.
Hello!!
My question is, does everyone have a mantle? I read your post about Joseph vs Solomon and wonder if there are more? My 2nd question is, if you have been given the office of one of Jesus’ 5 ministry callings, is this office (ie. office of prophet) the same thing as a mantle? Grateful.
Hi Andrea, yes from BIRTH you have a mantle or as He said to Jeremiah from before I even formed you in your mother’s womb. It is for us to discover what it is. If you don’t know what yours is then you need to ask the Lord. Not everyone has an office. Joseph and Solomon are just 2 examples of mantles, there are many. I spoke about Moses and Joshua and Aaron and there are many more. It starts with the virtues, once you start to walk well in those, you’ll become more aware of your mantle. It is for everyone but not everyone wants to walk in the virtues to then become aware of their mantle. Therefore, there are many who have mantles that are not walking in them. We need to discipline ourselves and crucify our flesh and we don’t get to choose what we get. Even if you ask for Elijah’s mantle and you get it not everyone is disciplined enough to master the virtues therefore they never get to see a manifestation of Elijah’s mantle. They stop short. Discipline and crucifying your flesh is key.
I am forever grateful to God for connecting me with Missionaries of Prayer.
Thank you so much, I could identify my own reason of being stuck.
My word of the year is Learn. I didn’t count how many times you said Learn in this timely word, but it was a lot. God is expecting us to Learn the Lessons He is trying to teach in this season–very important. Loved this message.
God’s testing me in my faith right now. He’s seeing how I’m going to handle this situation I’m currently dealing with. I’m so thankful I can step out of it and see what’s going on. Before, I would be in pure panic. Now, I’m at peace with however God deals with this situation.
This is such a GOOD WORD!!! This goes right a long with your REBUILD word. God is helping us to thrive in mantles.
I do believe my mantle has changed. It’s funny you mentioned prophet and then that prophet becomes a teacher. I’ve always been a “seer” but I’ve been teaching a lot as of late (coming from the background)…
“Mantles give you an enablement to do something that the Lord wants you to do. It has a supernatural component to it which means it will be easier for you to carry out a task with ease. If someone else tries to copy the exact same thing”
I love this!! I feel like I have the ministry of helps. It’s hard work to serve but it’s something that I feel called to do, especially for the leaders in my life. I think it’s because of this that I am able also to handle a lot more responsibility (with God’s help of course! Others would be pulling their hair out and in panic!) God is good and I thank Him for His mercy and grace!!
Blessings to you!! Love this ministry!!
You blessed me with this! Thank you. Feeling stuck, under attack. Holy Spirit has what I felt left but I believe God is doing something new and needs me to dig deeper. Alot of things at work happening trying to get me upset or down. Praise Jesus! I pray God gives me the grace I need to fullfil these trails to the next mantle.
Thanking missionaries of prayer ,I believe mantles are a huge responsibility an people that end up with them never ever asked for them , God indeed changes people like a 360 degree , from who we once were to who we becoming an it’s responsibility responsibility responsibility