Streams of abundance are at hand, the righteous take hold of them in the land

 

Righteous desires bring good upon your path,
but the hopes of the wicked bring about only wrath.
One gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds what is right, only to become poor.
Those who are generous and always giving,
will find joy as they are really living.

 

In the Book of Kings from the Bible, there is a story of this widow of a prophet.  When he died she was left without anything and forced to sell her children into slavery.  She asks Elisha for help.  He asks her what she has in her home and she mentions a jar of oil.  He tells her to go to all the neighbors and borrow as many jars as she can get her hands on.  Then pour the oil into these jars.  When all the jars were full and there were no more left, then the oil stopped flowing.  With all these jars of oil, Elisha told her, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the remainder.” (2 Kings 4:1-7)

There is much wisdom we can glean from this story.  Here are a few thoughts I had about it:

Own Our Faith
This woman’s husband was a prophet and learned to live by faith.   Through his faith, he had provided for his family.   But when he died, she needed to move out making faith her own for God’s provision.  He had something for her as well and she needed to grab hold of it.  When she became desperate enough, she did.

Provision is Available
Since the beginning, there was a river that flowed out of Eden to water the garden and the dry land.  It broke into four rivers called: Pishon, meaning increase, Gihon, meaning bursting forth, Tigris, meaning rapid expanse, and Euphrates, meaning fruitfulness.  Where these rivers flowed there were rich resources and provisions including gold, bdellium, onyx stone, and rich minerals in the land. 

God does not lack resources and He provides in abundance.   We just need to stand where the river is flowing and we can drink from His rich provision.   When we stand in the purposes of God and invite Him to flow freely, there will be an outflow of His provision and prosperity.

He Adds the Value
God does not anoint what we want to do but if we will use what we have to give in what He is doing, His provision will flow freely to places of need.  We just need to be open and available and He will prosper the work of our hands and anoint it to accomplish His purposes.   He is the ingredient that makes what we have valuable as it fills every open space we invite Him to fill.

He Gives Through Us to Others What is of Value
From the Covenant that God made with Abraham, our father of faith, God promised to bless us.  In other words, He promised to prosper us, make us increase, be fruitful, and burst us forth as overcomers from anything that gets in our way.   But He also includes blessing in this Covenant that “you will be a blessing to others.”  He goes on to promise Abraham, “All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”   (Genesis 12:2-3).  

We see how God has blessed all families on the earth as a result of this Covenant with God.  Because of it, we have salvation through Jesus Christ available to us.  All that to say that our Covenant with God is one that is based upon this blessing not only upon us but through us.   We are blessed to be a blessing to others. 

Whatever we have to give as we look at our lives, it is as we pour it out for others that it becomes an endless flow of provision.  It blesses us and it blesses others.  We give, and in the giving, we receive.   And what we give, as it flows with God’s blessing, has value to others.

So what do we have to give?  And how is God calling us to give it away?  If we bury our talents or just put them on the shelf to keep for ourselves, they will grow old and stale.  It is the giving away what we have, that we gain more to give.  It multiplies in the giving.

Giving by Faith
But it is not only in the giving of our natural abilities but the giving by faith that we find the fullness of God’s provision.  It is not until we step out to give beyond what we have in the jar that we see that the oil flows in supernatural provision.  When we take on something because we feel the nudge of God but just don’t have the resources, as we step out in faith, God meets us.   We begin to give away, not what we have, but beyond what we have.  It is out of His provision that we begin to give away.

God Brings the Blessing and Increase
As Abraham was following God and living by faith in doing what was right, God brought blessings upon his path.  Rather than Abram having to seek out God’s blessing and provision, as he was walking in God’s purposes by faith, God brought them to him.

In Genesis 14:17-20, Abraham had just defeated the king and his army who had taken his nephew Lot captive.   He recovered his nephew and restored all his possessions.  As he returned, he met up with Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Melchizedek brought Abram bread and wine and blessed Abram with the blessings of God.  As Abraham recognized that it was God behind this blessing, he gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he recovered.

All this to say that God will bring what we need across our path when we are living faithfully and by faith.  We will not have to seek it out and chase it down but the provision will be there for us.  Where our focus needs to be is not on the provision but on the provider.  As we listen to Him and step out in obedience, God will meet us every step of the way.

Involving Others
In the story of the widow and the jars of oil, she needed to borrow the jars from the neighbors.  Without this help from those around her, she would have never been able to see God pour out such provision.  All that to say we do not operate in ministry in a vacuum.   We need others.   We depend upon others.  It is with their help that we have more to give.

As we look to others to help us along our path, we will find the will of God making room not only for us but for them.  There are places in our journey where we just will not accomplish it without the help and care of others.

We Need The Oil
The oil represents the Holy Spirit.  He was the substance of the prosperity and miracle power in the story of the widow.  The Holy Spirit was operating through Elisha giving him wisdom, faith, and favor.  It was Him at work in multiplying the oil.  The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.  Some folks feel uncomfortable around Him and want to shut Him out.  But to do so also shuts out His power for the incredible miracles in our lives.  For myself, I have to admit, He certainly makes my life uncomfortable at times.  But, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  More than anything (outside of Jesus and my Father), I love His presence in my life and try to make room for it at every turn.  

He also makes room for me.  About three years ago, my boss walked by my office after someone in a significant role in our organization left for a competitor.  I ended up talking to him about starting a leadership development program that would not only retain staff but prepare them for up-and-coming leadership roles.   

My boss let me run with it and the Holy Spirit just downloaded the plans for it.   The whole program was put together in a matter of a few weeks.   While I worked hard on it in my free time, God just parted the waters and made room.  He gave me endless energy that I only needed a few hours of sleep a night.  It was amazing.  His river was flowing.  And as a prayer person, it put me in perfect position to pray for our leaders at my work.

The rivers that flow God’s abundance, prosperity, breakthrough, and fruitfulness are all pictures of the Holy Spirit.   Without His flow in our lives, everything becomes dry ground.   There is no gold, no beauty, no garden, and no transformation.   All that to say, let’s not shut Him out but invite Him in!

Clean Jars
When the widow poured the oil into these jars, they were clean.   If they had been dirty or broken at the time, they would not be able to hold the precious value of the oil to pass on to others.  Jesus tells the religious folks in Matthew 23:26 that washing the outside just didn’t matter if the inside of the cup was dirty.

Dirt and grime from taking on the world make us, as vessels to be used by Christ unsavory.   Then as we go and share Christ with others, they just don’t want what we have.   Ever notice this?  Some people are opposed to religion because they have experienced the pain from it.  

My son’s girl is like this. She went to a Catholic school growing up and the nuns were often harsh, hitting the students with a ruler.  When she finished school, she hated anything that might represent this.  At the same time, she holds to some religious principles and rules that lack the power or presence of God in them.  It leaves her not having a genuine experience of faith.

If we are choosing to follow Christ, we need to come out of compromise, stop hesitating between two opinions and live for Him. Proverbs 11:22 says it well,

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout,
is a beautiful woman when perversity she touts.
The more you walk with honor and discretion,
you will find your life is a blessing.

The answer Jesus gave was to first clean the inside of the cup.   We need to care about holiness.  If we fail to walk in holiness, we will not be able to share the oil God provides to us with others—it will just have no value to them.  We grow in holiness by leaning into the Spirit of God and surrendering control to Him.   It is where the power of God is found— in our weakness and dependence upon Him.

And this is where holiness is found.  It is not by our might or strength, not by our wit or abilities, but by His Spirit.   As we surrender control to Him and trust what He is doing, we find that we are filled with all we need to be what He has called us to be. 

Where to start?

What has God given to us that is of value?  How would God have us use it?  Where does the natural extend beyond to the supernatural with what He provides for us?   Who has God put around us that we can invite in to what He is doing?  When we step out in faith to freely give what He has provided to us, we will find that there is a continuous supernatural outflow from it. 

Lord Jesus, help us to see where we can step into your purpose and provision.  Help us to make greater room for you.