The widow's oil

This wonderful message was shared by Philip Mantofa at the recent Jubilee prayers at CCC. He said that he just received it on the spot whilst worshiping with us.

2 Kings 4:1-8

"A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

² So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

³ Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. ⁴ And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. ⁶ Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”

And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. ⁷ Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

Sometimes the church is just like the "widow". The church sees its lack and inability to overcome the enemy - "the creditor" who is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom it may devour.

The church does not realize that it has the potential to defeat the "creditor" even if all it has is a "little oil"!

Like the widow, we should go out to our "neighbors", those around us in our sphere of influence, our contacts, our family members and loved ones to borrow their "vessels" to pour the oil  even if our oil is very little. In going out we have to knock on doors and to make contact and connection with them. In going out to share with our neighbors, we will begin to stop focusing on our lack but start focusing on others.

Like the widow we need to pour our little oil into these vessels to fill them up. We pour out the Holy Spirit who is in our heart into these vessels that we are reaching out to and whom we are touching with the love of God.

When we do that the little oil will continue to flow and begin to increase and overflow in our lives and fill up many empty jars even till the very last jar!