Give it(Empty)- Take it (Full)

I am now moving on to 2 Kings 4.A lot has happened since Micaiah prophesied the truth. He had prophesied that Ahab would die in the battle and he did. Ahaziah (Ahab's son) dies on Elijah's warning, as he went out to consult baal-ekron regarding his fall from the lattice. After the completion of Elijah task on earth, he gets caught up into the heavens in a chariot of fire and Elisha receives a double portion of Elijah's anointing.

Right now I have something to share with you from Elisha's encounter with a widow. [ The Widow's Oil ] The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."2 Kings 4:1-3 This lady is in deep distress, she is the wife of one of the prophets who served with Elisha. Elisha gives her some instructions on collecting as many empty vessels as she can and blesses her with oil that doesnt end until the last jar is completely filled.

Here are the lessons I learnt from another widow's life

1. God can help us with what we already have (v2)-" 2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."The widow at Zarephath shared her flour and oil with Elijah and they had enough for them and for Elijah throughout the famine. The little boy with fish and bread had enough lunch for himself, but when he shared with Jesus it became enough to feed a crowd of thousands of people. Even with this widow, she said she had nothing, oil is all she had. Well to think of it from her point of view, what can man do with a little oil. What could a big crowd do with just few loaves of bread and some fish? What could Moses do with just the staff, wondering before the burning bush? What could David do with 5 stones, compared to the giant standing before him? You know in our lives we have some things we think are not enough or are of no value,well this woman too didnt know, how could just some oil be of any help to her and her child. But then it doesn't matter "what" you have but that you have and you are giving. Everything we have is for a purpose, if we know to account it all a blessing. What can you do with just 2 $, not much in the world, but that can bring great results in God's economy, because God's child was willing to share it with God, God's children know, they've got God backing them up like David did.
2. When you give to God what little you have, get ready to take and be filled from God-It was amazing for me to notice again, that with the little that belonged to the woman for her and her family, with that little fish and bread the little boy had for himself, with that oil and flour the widow in Zarephath had for her and her son. That little that they had every time, was turned into plenty. The minimum gear that David used brought deliverance to all the Israelites. If you've got the ability to prayer and thats all you can do, lets give it to God, it will be made a cause for revivals. If you've got the ability to sing, sing aloud for the Lord and we know from the Word of God the Spirit of God is welcomed and brings about God's plan for people. If there be anything you've got and it has been just enough for you, give it to God and see God use it to bless you and multiply it to bless all. Whatever little you've got, just give it to God and see how God is able to help you share it with the World around you.
3. The level of our filling depends on the level of our emptiness- "6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing" Our emptiness for life, can only be filled by God and above that, God will fill us only till the point of our emptiness. How many empty jars can we bring to God? God is able to fill them all. There is another lesson through this too. This lady was asked to bring jars from her neighbours!!!! "3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few" What was she doing filling up other people's jars with oil??? But you know, oil is a symbol of anointing. When God has placed some anointing on you (for healing, for preaching, for teaching, for writing, for singing, for exhorting in worship, for children's church caring....etc...) it will flow from you when its flowing into the lives of others. The anointing with which God has anointed us will multiply and grow, not when we've been trying to save it for ourselves. Let's go use the gift and the anointing God has given us so that it may multiply. If you feel that you've not grown an inch (spiritually) since you came to know Jesus, then we better look at our lives, have we been sitting at home with our anointing and hiding it and waiting for a better opportunity to come. Well even from home, God can use us, in the most powerful weapon of all. The anointing of Prayer.
4. Separate yourself from everything and let the river of God flow-"4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." Elisha asked the widow to close the door behind her. The work of the Holy Spirit keeps happening on the inside, the anointing keeps multiplying on the inside and the neighbours(people around us) will see the result of what God has done, when they see the many jars of oil filled. When we've given God our little gift that we have, God will be multiplying it when we meet with him personally inside, and the jars will be filled as we pour out what little we have. Thats what happens with God's people I guess, most of their anointing gets multiplied when they're spending time alone pouring out what little they have before God, its getting increased, separated from the outside, separated from whats going on around, but closer with God. And the thing is, people outside will know something special happened when the child of God went inside to meet with God, when the child of God poured out what little they had before God. Let the power of God flow through your life. Get into His Presence and pour it out before the Lord.

Conclusion: The power and anointing of God rests with all His children. Most of us have let our anointing sit in one corner and, its been so long, that it just sits there and in some cases we;ve even forgotten we were special people of God. Let's get into God's presence and close all doors which take away our attention from God and the little that we have, for God would like us to use that little, so He can multiply it so it would bless us and bless all who are around us.

The Word of God says
20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 1:20-22

Remove the doubt and confusion

Reading through 1Kings 18, I am impressed at something Elijah says. In verse 21 we read "21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

This statement follows up with a clear demonstration of how the people should have responded. In other words, Elijah not only posed the question, but even laid out a demonstration of what is the right choice. I wonder if we could ever dare ask someone this question. I don't think we can can we??? What if we asked someone and then didnt have any live demo to follow up with it? How come Elijah did the live demo?? Well I grazed the texts from Elijah's life that I had read so far and found that this man was trained by God Himself.

Elijah had this confidence for the following reasons

1. Elijah was in need of food and shelter (as his story unfolds in 1 Kings 17)- He learnt God to be his provider
2. Elijah needed directions for his life- He was in a situation where he was so caught up with the Spirit of God that he really really needed God to direct him else he'd just be doing many things and getting nothing done. He learnt God to be his Guide.
3. Elijah had heard from God, and that was his confidence-Each time Elijah had to take action it was based on something God had told him to do. Now Elijah had heard from God and that was what gave him such confidence to boldly proclaim God's power before 450 people who didn't even worship his God.

How could Elijah go and dare someone not even of his own faith? Nowadays pastors have hard time convincing people from Christian homes that Jesus is Lord.

We have not experienced dire need, so we don't know divine provision. We have not walked in obedience so we don't know the triumph over test. We don't have listening ears, only hearing aids, no wonder we haven't heard from God. We're too busy with our own worlds.

I ask myself, How will others know of the power of our Living God, unless they see it from our lives. (Live demonstration). More than that, how will we know our God can provide unless we are in need. Its like unless we fall sick, we will never know God our Jehovah Rapha. Unless we are so poor that we can't say where our next meal is coming from, we'll not know Jehovah Jireh.

People around us are confused on whether they should follow the "Christian's God" or their own gods or no gods at all, because we who believe in God don't have anything stark difference in our lives to show them what's different about our God.

Elijah had the entire session of sacrifice to differentiate between their god and his. He knew his was real. How convincingly do we know our God, so we can demo through our lives too? If we don't our God is an impartial God and is willing to meet with you and me to help us learn more about him. (Deuteronomy 10:16-18). This training from God is for the willing and obedient, it doesn't matter how well qualified you are, but whether you are willing and obedient to go by the Word of God. If we do, we will learn and be living examples like Elijah and all who "knew" Jesus our Lord, whether they knew Him in flesh (when He was alive) or in faith like we are.