Increase My Capacity Part 2: Empty vessels
“A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.””
II Kings 4:1-7 NKJV
No space for God
II Kings 4:3 NKJV
- God works best with empty vessels
- If we are already full He can’t pour into our lives
- One of the way you must increase your capacity this year is to empty your vessels
- Sometimes the things filling our storage are things we never need to use in our lives
- We sometimes even buy storage and use our garages as storage for things we don’t need
- This is the same in the spiritual world, we are not empty enough for God to do a perfect work in us
- The price we pay for storage of useless things in our heart is not worth it
I Peter 2:1-3 NKJV
Busy Schedule
- We pride ourselves of being busy
- “I don’t have time my schedule for you”, is a statement that makes people feel important and valuable
Matthew 6:6 NKJV
- Jesus encourages us to spend time with God in prayer
Psalms 63:1 NKJV
- We need to thirst for Gods presence in our daily lives
Luke 6:12 NKJV
- Jesus went to the mountain to pray all night
- We are comfortable living our lives without making time for God and we blame it on the busy schedule
- Jesus did so much in 3 years and yet spent enough time in the presence of God
John 21:25 NKJV
- Our busy schedule denies us time with family
- We are sometimes even absent in the dining table busy with social media during family time
- The relationships we have with our family is affected when our vessels are full
I know it all attitude
- There is nothing as frustrating as teaching a person who won’t give you a chance to because they know everything
- God wants to deposit wealth of information in you but you already have everything figured out without his counsel
- The church today wants to lead the Holy Spirit because we know better
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Romans 8:14 NKJV
- The temptation of leading God is always there and we need to overcome it
- Not our will but His will be done
Conclusion:
John 2:6-9 NKJV
- Now that we are empty, Jesus must be the only one who fills us
- When we are open and empty, Jesus will fill us up
- The content He puts in us is always valuable
- Water turned to wine that is the increase in quality and value
- We do the simple and He does the impossible
- We pray and He convert our words into a miracle
- We read His Word and he convert it into success in our lives
- We give our lives to Him and He convert it to eternal life
- Life with Jesus is just so much better
Amen 🙏🏾
