There’s a potent passage in today’s One-Year Bible reading that emphasizes our need to trust God more.
It’s the story of Elisha when he met the widow of another Old Testament pastor who had run out of money on which she and her sons could live.
She pleaded for help because she was at the point of seeing her sons hauled away as slaves because she couldn’t pay off her debts.
All she had was a bit of oil in a large jar.
The Holy Spirit spoke to Elisha about how the problem would be solved — she would receive an oversupply of what she needed and could sell it to pay her family’s living expenses.
She just had to trust God more than she ever had.
And she had to do so in a way that coincidentally would lead to a great testimony of God’s power pouring into the lives of those she knew.
“Elisha said, ‘Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.'” (2 Kings 4:3)
Many jars were collected from neighbors and, after Elisha’s prayers, each was miraculously filled with olive oil. The abundance was so rich that the oil’s sale paid off all the woman’s debts and left enough for the family to live on.
As exciting as this must have been for the widow and her sons, there must have also been a powerful testimony given to the neighbors.
You see, the woman’s expansion of faith led to a growth in trust toward God and that led to neighbors seeing a powerful testimony of God’s provision and grace.
Listen, we can “ask for empty jars” from our neighbors whenever we ask them what they’d like us to pray for in their behalf.
When our faithful prayers and God’s purposeful grace lead to one of those prayers being answered, we need to celebrate “the filled jar” with that neighbor.
James, the brother of Jesus who wrote a letter of the New Testament, wrote about the need for more prayer in more ways — “ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2).
Hmmmm….. I want to encourage you to start praying to God more often in search of important spiritual and physical needs in your life and the lives of others.
We’ve all failed occasionally in seeking God’s intercession with job stress, with health problems, with parental frustration, with cantankerous church members and with all sorts of other needs. And so we’ve struggled and stressed in these areas because we’ve been leaning on our own understanding rather than acknowledging God in all our ways.
As Proverbs 3:5-6 teach us, God wants to direct our paths — resulting in our blessing — but we’ve trusted our own wisdom too much.
It’s time that we trust God more by praying more to Him. And not just for ourselves.
Let’s ask others if we can pray for empty areas in their lives. When God blesses, everybody will be encouraged and God will be glorified.
I need to do this and I’m working to improve. I pray that you are, too.
As always, I love you
Martin
Pray for me to get money and buy a land and build a house, pray for to get school fee for my three children up to the University.
Lord, please reveal your will to Murisa regarding these requests. Whatever will help Murisa to serve You better and point more people toward Your glory and Your grace, that’s what I pray will come forth from Your hand. Thanks in advance for answering in a powerful and purposeful way. Amen.