Empty Yourself! Part 3

Now, we have many jars in our possession. For many of us, most of the jars are filled with worldly cares, leaving only a few or even none for God to pour His anointing oil into. Imagine, if the widow hadn’t poured away the soup in the jar, she could have totally missed it. Do you want to miss the anointing oil that God is going to pour out?

Don’t you think that it’s time for us to empty all our jars, even if that will cause us to have lack in some areas of our lives? Don’t you think that we have to start gathering more empty jars so that God can pour more of His anointing oil, so that we will not say, “If only I had gotten more in the beginning…”?

Let’s start emptying the many jars of worldly cares in our lives. Let’s come before the throne of God full of emptiness, and let Him fill us with His everything, so that our lives will be all about Him, and not us. We have eaten too much from the world; our stomach is full of it. Let’s starve ourselves for the food from the heavenly Kingdom, which we will never get sick and tired of, which we will always hunger for more and more because it is just so good. Let’s determine in our hearts that from this day onwards, that before we ask Jesus to fill our cup, we first empty our cup so that we will not miss the anointing that He wants to give us. Forget about the world; come into what God has for us. The world can fail us, but God will never fail us, nor will He disappoint us.

Empty Yourself! Part 2

2 Kings 4:1-7
1 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 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.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars, Don’t ask for just a few.
4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
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.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

2 Kings 4:1-7 talks about the Widow’s Oil. This particular widow was in heavy debts and the creditor was coming to take her sons as slaves. She was desperate and did not know what to do. Then came Elisha, who told her to look for empty jars, not just a few, but more than that. Now, let’s look at this situation from the widow’s perspective. She was so poor that she had nothing in her house, and now Elisha came to ask her to look for more empty jars? The widow’s house was already full of emptiness and now the prophet of God wanted her to find more emptiness? To make matter worst, Elisha wanted her to find more than just a few! What could the widow do with so many empty jars? She must have thought that Elisha was mad!

Being desperate, she listened to Elisha and went around looking for empty jars. She came to this particular neighbor’s house and she knocked. The neighbor opened and she asked him for an empty jar. Knowing of the widow’s situation, he thought, “O poor thing, she had nothing left in her house. She must be starving now.” So he brought a jar filled with soup for her. When the widow saw it, she said, “No! No! No! What I want is an empty jar; I do not want the soup in the jar.” The neighbor thought that the widow was too shy to take it so he insisted, “Take it, you must be very hungry now. You need to feed your sons too.” Left without a choice, the widow took it. Immediately after the neighbor closed the door, the widow poured the soup away and kept the empty jar.

She went home and did as instructed. She began pouring that little oil that she had left into a jar. To her amazement, the jar was filled. She filled another, and another, and another, and another, until all the jars had been filled. She asked her son to pass her another jar, but there was none. She told him to ask from the neighbor for an empty jar. He went and came back with it after a while. She wanted to pour oil into that jar, but there was no more oil. She thought, “If only I had gotten more in the beginning…”

Elisha told her to sell the many jars of oil she had. She did and not only can she pay all her debts, she still had money left to support her sons!

Next: Empty Yourself! Part 3

Empty Yourself! Part 1

It is of human nature that we like things to be full rather than empty. Ask yourself, who in the right state of mind will want an empty house, an empty bank account, or even an empty stomach? More often than not, we are so caught up with filling every part of our lives full that we forgot about filling ourselves with our very own Creator. And by the time we realized that, we are too full to be filled any further. Isn’t it an irony that people go to church to ask God to fill their cup when their cup is already filled to the brim by worldly cares? That’s the problem with many Christians. They go to church with heavy hearts, with thoughts about tomorrow, with plans for after-church activities, with so many things that there’s no place for God in their hearts. How can God fill your cup when it is already full?

Yes, God wants your life to be full, but do you know that God also wants your life to be empty, especially in His presence? The emptier you are, the more He can fill you. It simpler terms, God wants you to be hungry for Him, so hungry that you want more and more of Him every single day, so hungry that you will never be satisfied with His filling - You just want more! That’s how God wants us to live our lives! Not just hunger for Him on Sundays, on days when we had a fall, on days when we feel that God ain’t there anymore, but hunger for Him on Mondays, Tuesdays, every single day of our lives, on days when things are good, on days when we feel blessed, on days when you are satisfied. That should be our relationship with God – always wanting more of Him because He is all that we ever need!

Next: Empty Yourself! Part 2

Delight in My Weaknesses

Have you ever felt so useless, so weak, that there is nothing that is good about you? Or have you ever been faced with constant failures that made you ponder over your purpose in life? Do you frequently bombard yourself with questions like "What on earth am I here for?", "What can I do? I have no strengths!", "Why can't I just do things right? Am I that useless?"?

Often, we dwell too much on our weaknesses and incapabilities. The circumstance may not be as bad but because of our inability to get up when we fall, these negative thoughts will take control over our minds. Sometimes, even a small mistake/failure can cause you to feel completely useless and weak. We cried out to God to help us with our weaknesses but nothing seemed to have changed - We remained as weak as before. As a result, we begin to question and doubt God.

Let's see what the bible has to say about this:

2 Corinthians 12:9
But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weaknesses." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:10
That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It is because you are weak that Christ is strong. It is because you are weak that when you accomplished something you think you cannot do, it will be very obvious that it is not by your own strength, but by God's. It is because you are weak that the world will see God's power in you. It is because you are weak that God can use you as a testimony to His presence, His love, His everything. It is because you are weak that God can come in a mighty way to bless your life more abundantly.

Yes, you can be the most useless guy in the eyes of this world, but in God's eyes, you are the most useful guy because God can use you to show the world what He can do to a guy they think is useless. Jesus can use your weakness to reach out to the lost souls. That through you, Jesus is glorified!

Therefore, instead of allowing the devil to use those negative thoughts to draw you away from God, you should delight in your weaknesses because Christ's power will rest on you. Nobody says that your weaknesses will go away. Jesus knows that it is difficult to delight when all this while you have been hurt by your incapabilities, but Jesus said He will make a way for you.

Have faith in God; He keeps His promises!