WHAT YOU DO HAVE
2 Kings 4:1-7
No one has everything they need. This applies to both the natural and spiritual realms. No one is perfect yet. We all have problems and experience lack in some way.
Everyone has areas of weakness. But if we focus on our insufficiencies, we won’t recognize and appreciate what we do have.
When some people encounter stressful situations, they never look at what they have because they panic and eventually look to outside resources to supply their need.
They say things like “I don’t have enough,” or “I can’t help so-and-so with money because I don’t have any.” They don’t realize that doing this only keeps them right where they are—still in lack.
Dr Dan Cheatham said, “Until LACK becomes despicable to you and until you view LACK as a wicked evil thing from the pit of hell, you will continue to tolerate it. One must view Lack & Poverty as a dirty thing, the same way they view sin. Ask anyone living in a third world underdeveloped country if there is one good thing they can say about poverty and lack. Lack causes starvation, bankruptcy, failure, and only brings stress! Lack robs human dignity and creativity.”
Look at your neighbor and tell them: " Its time to break the back of lack"
When you break the back of something you do something in order to make it weaker so that it is destroyed after a time. i.e. its getting over something that seems to be the most difficult part of a task.
Many of us have been conditioned to be "lack minded" or "broke minded" without even realizing it. This propensity (inclination or natural tendency to behave in a particular way) toward being overpowered by the thought of not having, is a hard habit to break.
To be broke minded, or to have a broke mindset, means to live your life with the constant fear and acknowledgement that you don't have enough, or will run out of something.
What Do You Have?
The woman mentioned here in the 2 Kings 4:1-4 story was more than a little stressed out. Her husband, who was in debt, had died and left her to face the creditors. In those days, if a person couldn’t pay what was owed, his children could be taken as slaves to work off the debt. This widow had two sons, and she wasn’t about to see them forced to pay what their deceased father owed. Since her husband had been part of the school of prophets led by Elisha, she poured out her situation to him. She certainly went to the right person. Elisha’s name means “God is my salvation.” Although she didn’t specifically ask for help, Elisha immediately responded, "I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Nothing," she said. "Well, I do have a little oil."
That sounds like God our Salvation, doesn’t it? Except He knows our needs before we even ask, and He’s ready to step into the middle of our serious circumstances.
The distraught woman only focused on her lack. The little oil that she had. But the first thing Elisha asked her was, “What do you have?” (v. 2 NKJV).
Notice, her immediate response was that she had “nothing at all.” Then she added that she had a little oil. If the woman had oil, then she also had a container to keep it in.
It’s interesting what we miss when all we can see is impossibility. When God our Salvation encourages you to take another look, don’t look for nothing. Look for the little bit of oil and see the container that holds it. That could be the beginning of hope that brings you out of desperation.
Years prior to this event, Elijah, Elisha’s mentor, had had an encounter with another widow during a time of drought and famine. She was down to her last drop of oil. The Lord intervened and miraculously kept the flow of oil going until the famine ended.
Why would God perform a one-handed miracle for one widow but make another one work so hard by borrowing vessels and selling the oil? Possibly because the first widow was a victim of circumstances completely out of her control—an area-wide famine and drought. The second widow was obligated to pay off a debt her husband had incurred.
The Lord wants us to assume responsibility for situations we create. He’s more than willing to work on our behalf if we’re willing to work with Him. Participation creates appreciation.
Elisha instructed the widow to borrow vessels from her neighbors, indicating her situation would be temporary, not permanent. She was to borrow—not beg to keep. He wanted her to rise above a possible “woe-is-me” drama and act with the expectation that her need would be met.
Imagine the response of the neighbors when the widow and her sons asked to borrow jars. News probably buzzed throughout that town, including the school of the prophets.
Everyone would have a part in this miracle by giving jars, offering the encouragement, and eventually, by purchasing the miraculous oil. If I had loaned a jar to this widow, I’d later display it on a shelf and tell my kids, their kids, and their kids’ kids, “This vessel was part of a great miracle performed by God.
Let me tell you the story . . . “
If we will avoid the “woe-is-me” mentality and instead face difficult times with the expectation that God will intervene for us, He will receive glory, those around us will experience an increase in their faith level, and we can all rejoice together.
After she and her sons collected all they could, Elisha told her to “go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons.”
Who were they shutting out?
Scripture gives a few other examples of miracles behind closed doors. Here are two:
2 Kings 4:8-37 records the story of the death of the young son of a well-to-do woman. When Elisha entered the room where the boy’s body lay, he shut the door on his servant and the distressed mother.
In Matthew 9:18-26 we read how, when Jesus raised the young girl from the dead, He first closed the door on the skeptical crowd.
In the first example, Elisha didn’t want the distress of the boy’s mother to distract him from getting hold of God. In the second example, Jesus shut out the noisy, mocking crowd.
In our story of the widow, even though she found a lot of support from the neighbors who loaned her vessels, there may have been a few who were skeptical. Elisha may have wanted them shut out so the woman and her sons could experience the miracle without disbelief. Furthermore, the creditor was on his way (see 2 Kings 4:1). If he showed up sooner than expected and saw the free-flowing oil filling the vessels, he might have grabbed it all, leaving her with nothing.
Sometimes we need to shut others out so we can be more open to a miracle from God. People who are skeptical, disrespectful, or who question our spiritual sanity will not encourage our faith. It’s good to meet with God behind closed doors. Then we can emerge with a greater sense of Who He is and how He will meet us next time we face a difficult situation.
After Elisha instructed the widow to sell the oil and pay her debts, he told her, “You and your sons can live on what is left.” Oil was an important commodity in those days. Besides daily consumption, it was used when offering sacrifices, it fueled lamps, and it served as a lubricant and a medication. This mother and her sons would have no problem selling the oil. And when they depleted their inventory, the profit from the sales would keep them going for years to come.
Jesus said he came to give life in abundance—life to the full.
A closer look at the word “abundance” in Greek means believers would continuously have life. So, John 10:10 could read, “I came in order that they [believers] might continuously have life, even that they may continuously have it all-around.”
Elisha—God my salvation—did more than help the widow and her sons pay their debt. He gave provision for a lifetime.
Abundant living.
Ephesians 3:20,21
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
What she already had in her house was enough to supply her need.
This forthcoming miracle was not a public demonstration, but a private provision. God can meet you at the point of your need.
Ask Abraham when he was going up the mountain on one side to offer Issac as a sacrifice but God was sending provision on the backside of the mountain.
God always provides a ram in the thicket.
The widow obeyed the prophet’s instructions and paid her debts.
In Acts chapter 3, Peter and John were at the gate called “Beautiful.” Every day a lame man sat at the gate begging. When he asked Peter and John for money, they didn’t focus on what they didn’t have. Their lack of money never crossed their minds. They immediately used what they had—the Name of Jesus!
Peter said to the beggar, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6 NKJV). When the two apostles used what they already possessed, the power of God was extended to heal the man.
Adjust Your Focus
People can focus so much on the talent or abilities they don’t have, it makes them ineffective. Eventually, it produces a lifestyle of inactivity, which results in an inability to believe and receive. There may be areas we don’t excel in the way others do, but that doesn’t make us any less valuable.
The Body of Christ needs the talents of every believer. When we work together, the Church is complete. We each have a part to play. Everyone’s gifting is unique and needed. We all have abilities that are a part of who we are.
Someone may say, “God asked me to do such-and-such, and He knows I can’t do it.” God knows who you are! Your Heavenly Father made you. He knows what you can and can’t do. He knows what you have and don’t have. If God didn’t believe you could do what He asked, He wouldn’t have chosen you for the task!
If God didn’t believe you could do what he asked, He wouldn’t have chosen you for the task!
Use What God Has Given You
Some people believe it’s wrong to show off their talents or abilities. They quote Romans 12:3, which tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we should. It’s true; we shouldn’t be conceited. But we also shouldn’t ignore what we have, who we are, and what we can do! It’s essential for us to understand who we are.
God expects us to use what He has given us as illustrated in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14–30). He’s not looking at how much we do, but what we do with what He gave us. So let’s quit focusing on what we don’t have. Instead, let’s appreciate what God has given us, and use it. When we do, we’ll see that we can accomplish a lot.
“What do you have in your house?” Elisha asks the widow in 2 Kings 4.
Since hearing a talk on this passage many years ago, I have not forgotten its power.
Elisha could have offered any number of solutions to this woman’s predicament (God used him to bring the dead to life). Instead, he calmly asks her to look in her house.
The widow is facing terrible circumstances, isn’t she? She has no husband, lots of debt, and no money. She’s certain her sons will be taken from her, too.
Yet God chooses to save her, her family, her reputation, and her future through his prophet Elisha and some common household goods.
I love this passage for its simplistic picture of God’s extraordinary power in the “ordinariness” of life. I love what the passage teaches me about my need and how my God can and will meet it.
Look in your house.
There you’ll find:
Your priority.
Your passion.
Your provision.
God comes to us in the very ordinary, every single day, in the most basic ways.
What do you need?
Look in your house.
She wanted the prophet to do something for her, to help her out of her dilemma, some kind of blessing to help her out of her mess.
What the Man of God really said to her was: It’s already in the house
I know it’s a little hard to believe right now, but your healing is already in the house, your financial breakthrough, your prosperity, your new car, your new anointing, the salvation of your children.
It’s already in the house.
This woman was desperate she was looking for a blessing, a way out of her problem, but she needed more than just a blessing, she needed more than a few dollars, she needed a life style change, she needed a turn around.
If there is one thing that I know about God it is that he is in the business of turning things around.
She reached the place of desperation and cried unto the prophet.
There comes a point where you don’t have time to be cute anymore, and you don’t care who sees you cry,
Desperation has a way of getting rid of foolish pride.
When Jairus got desperate for his daughter to be healed, he didn’t care who saw him with Jesus, his reputation as a religious leader didn’t mean anything compared to the life of his daughter.
Sometimes desperation is a good thing.
Desperation pushes you to do things you wouldn’t normally do.
Desperation pushes you past your comfort zone.
When you get desperate for a miracle, you don’t worry if someone likes the way you shout or not, you don’t care if they roll their eyes at you.
Desperate people do desperate things.
Desperation is the breeding ground for miracles.
It was her desperation that brought her to the prophet.
The prophet represents the Word Of God.
What you need is a word from God, one word from God can completely change your world, get you out of your mess and transform your life.
The prophet didn’t give her anything except a Word.
What do you have in the House?
What do you have already?
She underestimated what she had in the house:
She said (nothing except a pot of oil)
Don’t underestimate the anointing; everything you need is in the anointing.
Your miracle is in the anointing, Your joy is in the anointing, Your prosperity is in the anointing.
Your deliverance is in the anointing. Your promotion is in the anointing.
David said: Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
