Treasures Within Reach Part 2 – What Do You Have In The House?

2 Kings 4:1-7 – “1 One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.” 2 “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THE HOUSE?” “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied. 3 And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. 4 Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.” 5 So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. 6 Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. 7 When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”” (NLT)

The man of God knows what the widow needs. But he asked her anyway because he wanted to know if the widow understood her situation and what she specifically wanted. Many times, we need help but do not know what kind of help we seek. A verse in Luke 18:41 when Jesus asked a blind beggar, ““What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!” (NLT).” It was obvious to everyone what he wanted, but Jesus wanted to know what he specifically wanted. People exert much effort addressing the SYMPTOMS of their problem, but they are ignoring the ROOT cause of their trouble.

THE WORTH OF THE WORTHLESS THINGS AT HOME

The widow’s “small jar of olive oil” must have been so small in volume that the poor widow did not even think much of it. We have a tendency to equate VALUE with VOLUME. Jesus fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish (Matthew 14; Mark 6; Luke 9; John 6). While Moses sent 12 spies to the land of the enemy (Numbers 13), Joshua only sent 2 spies (Joshua 2). But it was Joshua who lead God’s people to the Promised Land. Gideon only had 300 men with him when they attacked the Midianites and they were successful (Judges 7:7). The SUPERNATURAL does not need much. God just need a VEHICLE for the supernatural power to flow through!

David was a nobody at home. His dad and siblings don’t look up to him neither do they respect him. He was not taken seriously by King Saul when he said he could defeat Goliath. Sometimes young age is more of a liability than something to be celebrated. I want you to believe today that you can do great things for God regardless of your age. You just have to willing to be used by God as His VESSEL.

STEWARDSHIP STARTS AT HOME

When we are tense, we tend to miss out on the OPPORTUNITIES around us. The widow mentioned in 2 Kings 4 that she was so preoccupied with her lack of money to  pay off the creditor in order to keep her two sons from becoming slaves. She overlooked the vehicle through which God would use to pour blessings upon her life. Her HOUSE was the last place she thought of looking for a solution to her problem. We live in a society where people usually go somewhere in search of the solution to their problems.

2 Kings 4:2a – ““What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” “Nothing at all… (NLT).” The poor widow belittled the small jar of olive oil. She was expecting her salvation to come from afar. When we go through our house, do we notice what we do not have and only see what the store has? Bear this in mind, we need to GO THROUGH OUR HOUSE to see what we have. God is not asking us to see how much we have at home, but WHAT DO WE HAVE. In faith, QUANTITY or VOLUME is irrelevant. Faith is looking for a vehicle so that little becomes much when God is involved. We may look for QUANTITY but God looks for AVAILABILITY. God doesn’t look how much you know about the Bible. But He’s looking if you are willing to be a vehicle in sharing His word to people. God is not looking if you have influence in your community, but He’s looking if you are willing to influence others for the Good News.

If we cannot find any reason to be thankful in our current situation, chances are we will never see the solution we need for our problems even if it is right there in front of us. We often complain that our prayers are not being answered, but we assess ourselves if we are looking or listening intently or not.

THE HOME RECIPE FOR BREAKTHROUGH

The recipe is composed of two major parts: 1) Ingredients; and 2) The process and sequence of steps to prepare and cook the dish. More advanced recipes require certain water or fire temperature. Some need certain charcoal. Some need certain brand of ingredient. Some people don’t really pay attention to the process so it doesn’t taste the same even if the ingredients are all the same. This is the same with life. Many people don’t succeed in their Christian life even if they have all the ingredients because they don’t follow the process/sequence properly.

Mark 11:23-24 – “23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you BELIEVE that you’ve RECEIVED it, it will be yours (NLT).” I

For those who did not reap as they expected, the problem is not the Word. Paul says, “You will always harvest what you planted.” Most people who fail to harvest are those who hope to harvest before they plant. Sowing and reaping are the ingredients, but the sequence cannot be interchangeable. If you don’t plant, you don’t harvest. It is as simple as that.