Title: What's in Your House
Contents
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bsp; Today's text contains the story of a poor seminary widow. This widow was a woman who lost her husband early and was living with her two young children, who were going to be ministers of God. This woman came to Elisha, her husband's teacher, and complained about her difficult situation. It was an appeal to solve the problem because if the debtor came to pay the debt when he was in debt for a difficult household, he would take two children and make him his servant. Elisha gives some instructions to the desperately crying woman.
bsp; 1. yes
The first thing Elisha said to this woman was, 'Tell me if you have love.' It would be nice if God could just say, ‘There is this, that there is,’ with all-powerful power, but God does not do that. “What do you have?” he asks.
bsp; He asked the same question when he raised and wrote Moses. God gave Moses great power to defeat Pharaoh at once and lead the people of Israel, but God's first question was, "What is in your hand?" It was a meager staff with grime on his hands, which he always carried when shepherding sheep. But God made it into a serpent with what he had, parted the Red Sea, and caused water to come out. When Jesus was feeding the 5,000 with two fish and five loaves, he asked, “How many loaves do you have?” (Mark 6:38). And he performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with the two fish and five loaves they brought. That is God's way of working that is consistently revealed in the Bible.
bsp; Then, the unchanging God will ask us the same question today.
‘What do you have?’
It's not just belief. Sometimes we don't see what we have and we look at what we don't have with dissatisfaction. There are times when I do not see the blessings given to me, but only the things that others have. I am not grateful for what I have, and sometimes I am not happy compared to what others have. It's not just materials. So is time. It is the same as living in regret while thinking only about the beautiful and good times in the past and making the present unhappy, or thinking about the mistakes and pains of the past. While you spend time like that, you are losing the time called ‘today’. I need to be able to see what I have. Even if it is small, God blesses those who value it as something greater.
bsp; God always starts with what we have. People with knowledge do God's work through knowledge, and those with talent work through their talents. Those who have material things work through them. Even if it is a small thing, when you value it and know how to use it, God's blessing will be with you. When I find precious things in me and use them happily, miracles are already beginning.
are you? You ask. There is no miracle for anyone who thinks or answers that way, ‘I have nothing. ‘I have a bottle of oil.’ Such pride will save you. ‘I have two fish and five barley loaves.’ Okay, let’s start with that little thing. This is the word of the Lord.
bsp; So guys, find out what you have. And be loyal to it. Thank you for that. Please use it with pleasure. Then there will be a miracle. Faith is always born anew in grace. It is always discovering a new self in faith. He said, “If it is possible, what do you mean? Nothing is impossible for those who believe” (Mark 9:23). It is the power of faith to do great things with small things.
bsp; What do you have? Are you dissatisfied with what you don't have? Find what you have and thank you. Then God, who gives more to those who have, will enrich it even more.
bsp; 2. Borrow a bowl.
This poor woman had only one bottle of oil. It was insignificant. Elisha tells the woman. borrow a bowl Don't borrow a little, borrow as much as you can. He told them not only to collect all the bottles in the house, but also to borrow as many bottles as possible from the neighbors. It is unknown how many vessels this woman prepared, but it must have been the measure of her faith and the scope of her blessing.
bsp; That's how people live their lives. A person who lives alone with what is mine has no choice but to live a very narrow and fragile life. Even the slightest wind blowing outside can only cause you to shake and fall. Communication and strong relationships with people make life rich and strong. It seems that Google, which was doing well these days, is shaking a little. As for the cause, it is said that communication is not smooth because it is made up of only one type of people due to excessive elitism. Communication and relationships are so very important. By sharing and sharing each other's experiences, life becomes richer, more generous, and richer. Faith is also beautiful, so it is beautiful to have faith together.
bsp; Elisha said to the woman. ‘Rent a vessel.’ It is not only the four small vessels, but also the words to make the vessels large even if they are borrowed. The reason we do not receive blessings and grace is not because God has not blessed us, but because we have not prepared the vessels to receive blessings. Therefore, it is said to borrow a lot of empty vessels. If it's not mine, borrow someone else's. Reading the Bible and borrowing the vessels of those who are blessed in it, borrowing the ancestors of faith in the church, and borrowing the vessels of those who have received grace. What kind of life did they lead? How were they blessed? How did you receive grace? How were you loyal? It is to borrow their vessels and faith and prepare them.
bsp; Saints, what kind of vessel do you have? What vessel do you use to hold blessings before God? It doesn't matter what I have. How about a bottle of oil and a barley loaf? God will enrich you with anything. But the bowl must be. May you have a bowl of blessing. Please make a bowl to hold good fortune.
bsp; 3. Pour oil into the bowl.
Although this woman had only one bottle of oil, the oil did not run out while she poured it into the vessel prepared for the measure of faith. When the vessel was finished, the oil of the blessing ended. The woman had only a little oil, but when she obeyed and poured it into the vessel she had prepared with faith, it multiplied to infinite blessings. I was able to contain as much faith as I had prepared.
bsp; Some people give and pour. Says: But when you pour, you give. If you give me a blessing, I will give it to God. Says: But if you give, you will be blessed. Thank you for giving me something good. Says: But the one who gives thanks gives better things. If you give me the ability, I will be loyal. It says so. But if you pour out with faith, you will be filled. If you give, you will be blessed. When you give thanks, things to be grateful for happen. Loyalty gives you power. When you pour, it fills. That is the law of grace, that more is given to those who have. It is not the principle of God's blessing to be faithful if you give it. The principle of God's blessing is to fill it if you are faithful.
bsp; Dear brothers and sisters, please see the principle of God's grace here. If you are faithful, it becomes a vessel and God puts blessings in it. If you make a dedication, it is wrong, and God puts blessings in it. If you give it, it becomes a vessel and God puts blessings in it.
The material of the world gets smaller the more you use it, and the more you give it, the more it disappears, but God's blessing increases the more you use it, and the more you share it, the richer it gets. Therefore, I ask you to put what I have in the vessel of loyalty, in the vessel of thanksgiving, in the vessel of obedience. I believe that God's miracles are there.
bsp; Today, I saw the principle of God's blessing through the appearance of a poor woman. Are you shy in your house? That's where God begins miracles. When we enlarge the vessel of faith, God puts blessings in that vessel. I bless you in the name of the Lord that you will become saints who have abundant blessings in the great vessel of faith.