Preparing for Blessing

When Elisha looked into the widow’s situation, he immediately told the woman about three conditions under which her jar of oil could become her miracle. Today we will look at the first condition.

The first condition was this: Get lots of empty jars. “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few” (2 Kings 4:3).

What are these borrowed vessels? These borrowed vessels represent her capacity to receive from God. The more vessels she had, the more she was going to receive. For, every jar she gathered in faith would be filled—the oil would continue to pour. The moment the widow ran out of empty vessels, the oil stopped flowing.

God blesses you to the capacity that you make yourself available for Him to bless. If you close off areas to Him, your capacity to receive His blessing is stunted. But if you open your life to Him, His blessing can flow freely into every area of your life.

If your heart is filled with a spirit of bitterness and anger, God’s Holy Spirit cannot pour into it. When you are filled with the spirit of control, God’s Spirit cannot fill you. When you are filled with the spirit of greed and covetousness or lust and sexual immorality, there is no room for the Spirit of God to swell in you and bless you with His fruit.

When you fill your vessel with things that are not glorifying to God, you become spiritually as dry as a bone. You must offer God an empty jar, an empty vessel, to receive His spiritual blessings. If you want to experience the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, empty yourself of those things that are not from Him.

Prayer: God, help me to empty myself of anything that is not of You. I want to be an empty vessel that You can freely pour into. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.