Use Your Oil | Fuel for the Weekend

God told me to share my faith on Fridays and call it Fuel for the Weekend. It's my desire that the posts I put up on Fridays will give you something to think about, ponder, consider, and reflect on throughout the weekend. If it leads to discussions with your family and friends, even better!

Today I want to talk about a woman in the Bible who had a God-fearing husband, and two sons. Her husband was one of the sons of a prophet and he went into debt. Many of us can relate to that. Most Americans have a car payment, a house payment/rent, student loans, credit card debt, or medical bills. The Bible does not tell us how much was owed or to whom, but it was time to pay the debt and the widow had no means to do so. The creditor decided to take her sons in order to pay off the debt. She was distraught after losing her husband, her provider, the father of her children, her companion; and now her only two sons were to be taken from her as well. She would be alone and destitute. Her heart simply could not stand the loss of all the men in her life at once.

2 KINGS 4:1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.

Elisha is a respected man of God, a prophet, and since the widow here could not go to God directly, she had to turn to the prophet for answers. He asks the widow what he could do for her. He wants to know what she has in her home. He is not asking for an inventory. He simply wants to know what is something of value she has in her home. She tells him she has nothing except for a pot of oil.

It makes me wonder, had she already sold everything of value and it was just not enough to cover the debt? Did she feel like she had squeezed every penny and was simply out of options? She could not just go get a job to earn money. Surely she thought I have oil but what good is one pot of oil? She says, "I have nothing." Have you ever been there? I know I have.

2 KINGS 4:2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil.

The answer may seem strange, but God was telling Elisha how to solve this woman's problem. He told her to go to her neighbors and borrow a lot of empty vessels. Can you imagine what went through this woman's head? What good are empty vessels? Why should I bother my neighbors? I don't want others to know how bad things are. Why can't God just cause the creditors to write off my debt? Why can't God just give me the money I owe? But God has a plan and the widow was desperate. She was willing to obey.

2 KINGS 4:3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

He gives her strict instructions. When she enters her home after gathering all the vessels she can, shut the door, and pour into all those vessels, and set aside the ones that are full. Why close the door? This is pertinent because it keeps the doubt out and the faith in. It is up to her to believe the prophet and trust God to do everything she had been told, or to doubt this would work and let fear and dread overtake her. We have a choice to obey God even when it doesn't make sense, or to sit in the comfort of our fear and dread. Fear can be comfortable. Obeying God can be uncomfortable. But God does not seek to make us comfortable. God is building our faith with every trial and every struggle.

2 KINGS 4:5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.

The faith is in the house. The woman is acting in faith. She has faith with works. Faith without works is dead, according to James 2:20. In faith she gathered the vessels. Now she closes the door. This is a private miracle because if she had left the door open, others may interrupt her. "How long will you have my vessel?" or "What are you doing with all these vessels?" The door is shut to keep faith in and doubt out. Sometimes we have to close ourselves in away from prying eyes and doubting words so God can move on our behalf.

The act of pouring into these vessels is an exercise of faith. She has one pot of oil: just one! She takes what she has and begins to fill up the first vessel. One son carefully takes it away as the other son brings an empty vessel. One by one the vessels are filled. Can you feel her excitement as she watches each vessel fill up? Can you imagine the boys eyes widened with wonder as they watch their mother fill vessel after vessel after vessel? 

2 KINGS 4:6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel, And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed (ceased).

The oil did not stop flowing until there was nothing left to fill. That alone is a miracle! But, now what? She did what she was told to do. The debt was not paid. The only thing she could see that was different was that her empty house was now full of pots of oil. It looks like her oil multiplied but that was all. The instructions she had been given were followed to the letter and now she stood there with her sons and all these jars of oil.

If the widow had stopped here, she would have missed the blessing. If she would have said, "Gosh I am really tired. I poured out all of this oil. I cannot explain how that happened, but I did the work. I did what I was supposed to do. Where is God? The creditor wants his money." She did not do that. She did not give up. She did not become weary in doing well. Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Now is not the time to stop or give up. She knew what she had to do. She needed to talk with the man of God for more instructions. God does not give us all the details at once. He gives us steps to take and when we have taken those steps, we can go back to Him and ask, "What will You have me do next?" God is going to do something wonderful in her life but she has to go back to the man of God and find out what that is. Today, you and I are able to go boldly to the throne and ask God ourselves. Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

2 KINGS 4:7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

The widow wanted God to help her pay her debt. God did that and so much more. She not only had enough oil to sell and pay off her debts.; she was able to live with her sons on the rest of what the oil sold for. God made her an entrepreneur for a season so He could set her up to be debt-free and not rely on anyone else for help to feed her family and herself. Isn't God awesome like that? We don't always know how God is going to do it, but He promises to meet our needs. Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

I do not know what needs you have, but take them before the LORD. Lay your hands on your stack of bills, or on your empty wallet. Ask God to meet your needs. He may send money to you unexpectedly. The debt may be canceled and cleared from your name. He may give you a job, a promotion, or make you an entrepreneur for a season. Whatever He is asking you to do, just do it in faith and watch God do the miraculous. He will do it again! He will do it for you!

I hope this gives you something to think about this weekend, something to share with your family and friends. Hopefully it inspires you to pray with faith to God to ask Him to meet your needs. Whatever He puts in your heart to do, do it with joy and watch Him do the rest. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Legacy | Fuel For The Weekend

God told me to share my faith on Fridays and call it Fuel For The Weekend. It's my desire that the posts I put up on Fridays will give you something to think about, ponder, consider, and reflect on throughout the weekend.

Happy New Year! It is the year 2021. God has blessed us to see another year begin. We have no idea what all this year will bring, but we can trust in God to order our steps and help us through whatever comes our way. Amen?

I want to share something with you. It's two verses in the Old Testament and yet it is powerful. It would be easy to overlook the incredible account, because it's sandwiched in the middle of verses about kings and disobedience and so forth, but there is something I think we need to take from these verses and apply it to our lives in 2021.

Without sharing too much, God has spoken to me about specific deaths that will happen in 2021. I do not want to go into detail and I have not been released by God to talk about it, other than to say, none of us are promised to live beyond this moment. Sure, we live like we will never die. We plan ahead and save money and book the trips, plan the events, do the things because we do not anticipate dying any time soon, if we are honest. Tragedy strikes and for a brief time we talk about how short life is and we may even become intentional about living life on purpose but when enough times has passed we simply go back to living for tomorrow.

I don't want to talk about death, but I do want to talk about legacy. What impact will your life have on those who are left behind long after you have gone on? My grandfather instilled God's Word deep in my heart. I am ashamed to say it, but I tried to run from it. I didn't fully understand it. I didn't think it was for me, necessarily. I needed to find God on my terms. I am so thankful He is a loving and merciful God that will allow us to explore who He is. My grandfather died when I was 17 years old, in the middle of my senior year. My grandfather was my hero. I highly esteemed him and now that I am 42 years old I can promise you those lessons were not lost on me. His legacy still impacts me today.

Do you think it's possible to live your life so devoted to God that you can have a direct impact on others even after you are dead and buried? I am here to tell you that it's not only possible, it happens! And in today's text we see the resurrecting power at work long after the prophet has been dead and buried!

2 KINGS 13:20-21 (20)And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. (21)And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

Can you believe that is all that it says about this incident? It was like this huge miracle takes place and someone adds it in the middle of this chapter and I'm like, "WAIT! I want to hear more! What did the man do when he came back to life?" This is phenomenal! I knew from reading about Elisha that he was a man of God. God gave him great power and might to do many exploits for Him but this seems like it needs it's own chapter, right?

So Elisha died and they buried him. That's good. I would expect that. And then the Moabites come along to carry on the annual tradition each spring of invading the land. Unfortunately another man has died and is being buried and just as they are lowering him into the ground, they see the raiders coming at full speed. They know how awful the Moabites are and so they basically throw him on top of Elisha! There is still so much power on that man of God that this corpse comes back to life, and stands on his own two feet, and walks right out of the grave! Wow!!

Do you know the things Elisha has done? Have you read the stories of how God gave him a double portion of Elijah's anointing? He was a brave, courageous man of valor. He had times of being scared and fearing for his life... but he was human after all. He was an incredible prophet! God used him mightily! There was so much anointing on his physical body that even after his spirit went back to God who gave it, there was resurrection power all over him that he caused a dead man to live again!

Wouldn't that be an awesome legacy? I hope that when my time comes to be with Jesus, that my life will be remembered as one devoted to God. I know I stumble. God says, Go! and I ask for specific details. But my heart is absolutely His! I want to serve Him. I want to run well. I want to win the crown of life He has laid up for me. I want to see His face and hug Him so tight! I want to kiss His nail-scarred hands and nail-scarred feet. I want to touch the side that was wounded for Me. I want to bow before my King and honor Him. I want to thank Him for everything He brought me through, every trial, every moment of fear, every time I was tormented.

I want others that knew me to be touched by the Master through me. I want to live my life so that it would please Him and bring Him honor. I want to glorify Him in the words I speak and the thoughts I think and the way I behave. I hope when it's all said and done that I lived a life that would please Him. I don't want anyone to remember the trips I took, the things I bought, the stuff I had. I don't want them to think about the clothes I wore, the vehicle I drove, or the career I had. I want them to look at my life and only see one thing: JESUS! I want them to see His hands that sustained me, His love that kept me, His blood that redeemed me, His grace that was sufficient. I want them to know that He is there for them too and that they don't have to wait to get to Heaven to experience His love, His mercy, His grace, His healing, and His forgiveness now. I want my legacy to be one of faithfulness to my Jesus!

God bless you all!

~Bridgett Owens