A little oil left in my lamp

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out(complained) to Elisha "Your servant my husband is dead and you know he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have (of value) in your house?" " Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil" Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't just ask for a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each one is filled, put it to one side." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." The the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left." 2 Kings 4:1-7

I’m going to come at this verse from a different angle than most today.

Often, when this verse is broken down people refer to the oil as finances, love, faith, or some physical need.

I read something this morning about the Holy Spirit being referred to as “oil” and 2 Kings 4 came to mind, as well as an old school oil lamp!

When we are tired, weak, worn out & we don’t have the energy to do what God is asking us to do, that’s when we have but “a little oil left in our lamp” & it’s on the verge of burning out.

I know from experience that when I get to that point, I can just about drag myself out of bed in the morning, let alone have the brain power to sit and read Gods word…and to be quite honest, I just want to lay in bed for a little longer, rather than spending time with God. But He showed me this past weekend when I hit a breaking point that I need to stop, look inside myself and give Him what I do have.

In 2 Kings 4 Elisha asks the lady what she has… “a little oil” she replies… He tells her to go & collect jars (To GET UP & DO something) & then take what she has (A small amount of “oil” = The Holy Spirit) and pour what she has into what she went out to get.

When you take a small step to show God you are willing, He will increase what you do have to where it is overflowing.

The light of my spirit was just about snuffed out, but when I stopped my complaining & whining about being tired, got up & pushed myself beyond what I felt like doing & took that first step to show God that I am willing, He gave me immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine (Eph 3:20)

If you are feeling burned out today & haven’t spent time with God in a while… force yourself to carve out a small amount of time in your day that you can give to Him…so that He can increase your strength & you can press on to what God has call you to do! & as Paul says in Philippians

Phil 3:14  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

What you don't see.

Last night I got out of my car and saw all this dust/pollen flying In front of my lights. I didn’t see it any other time, just when my headlights were shining. It reminded me of Elisha & his servant, when they were surrounded by an army & about to get attacked. His servant was freaking out but Elisha was not scared, because he had been in Gods presence & saw what his servant didn’t see…

“And Elisha prayed, 'O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." - 2 Kings 6:17

 We can use that in our own life. When I’m in a dark situation or so focused on a certain thing that I think I should have, deserve, want etc… I can’t see anything. I get confused, disoriented, frustrated, irritated, tired, overwhelmed, and tend to focus on all the wrong things, because usually I have taken my eyes off of Jesus, and put them on my circumstance.

But when I come into God’s presence & He shines His light on me, I see what I need to see; I see things from His perspective, I see the things in myself that need to change, I see areas of my life that have improved, I see myself the way He sees me and all of a sudden a weight is lifted. I have no need to worry, I have no need to wonder or stress over what is going to happen, because He has already gone before me & taken care of it.

Psalms 139:5 says:

“You have gone before me and you follow me, I place my hand of blessing on your head”

Don’t get so focused on what YOU want that you miss God’s purpose…don’t miss what Jesus is trying to bring into your life because your perspective isn’t right. Get under His light, let Him show you what He wants you to see and then rest in His presence.

I HAVE PRESIDED

One weekend Pastor Steven preached on making a choice before you come up against the situation. He said "There is power in pre decision...PRE-decide in the light of day, otherwise you won't have the strength to decide in the darkness" I decided to write a few things that I am “presiding”

I have pre decided:

That I will respect my future husband

That I will revolve every situation around Jesus

That I will honor my body with the food that I eat

That I will love others, even when I think they don’t deserve it

That I will honor God with my money

That I will be pure

That I will love the one God gives me & only him (& Jesus) 

That I will not put myself in situations that would cause my future spouse to wonder or doubt

That I will keep moving along with SOUL 139 no matter how hard it gets

That I will face my fears

That I will give my best

That I will be ME no matter of another person’s response

That I will forgive others

That when I don’t feel like doing what I should, that I would do what I should to get back what I had

That I will praise God in the hard times

That I will thank God in the good times

That when I’m struggling with disbelief that I would remember what Jesus did in my life.

That I will be a good mum

That I will be an encourager

That I will be all that God made me to be.

What are you going to preside? (pre-decide) Leave your comments below!

Do you chase demons or do they chase you?

The other day I wrote a blog…my dad read it and sent me this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKe-btbUSBI Said my blog reminded him of it…not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing :)

 “When I’m not chasing Demons, there’s demons chasing me.”

When you’re bowing down to other idols (demons) in life…money, food, drugs, sex, alcohol, love, approval etc…(before I go any further, obviously food, money, sex, alcohol, love & approval are not bad in the right context) you don’t have  “demons” on your back because you’re going the same direction as them…but you feel stuck in the same circle of chasing these things…because nothing is ever filling that need, nothing is ever enough. You get a little bit, you want more, you get more and it doesn’t fulfill you the way you thought it would. It’s an empty well as Jesus refers to in John 4:13, 14: “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks water, from this well, will need more water later. Whoever drinks my water will never need more. My water will be like a stream that gives *eternal life’.”

When you’re following Jesus, and doing anything of eternal worth for Him, you have a target on your back! …  or as the song says ‘Demons chasing you’ to trip you up.

Something that trips me up is insecurity … I always wonder what it would be like to see me from another persons view. Not that it would matter because everyone’s perception of me is different.

It’s good to have certain people in your life that you can go to and ask, “Who do you see me as?” “How am I doing?” “What can I work on?” “What are my strengths?” & they respect & love you enough to give you honest feedback with no agenda.

But that’s not the only place you need to go & ask, “How am I doing?”  & “Who do you see me as?” because it COULD be an empty well. You could walk into that conversation with the wrong intention expecting the other person to build you up, expecting the other person to give you approval and a confidence boost.

Lately God has been showing me that in my past, I would allow peoples comments to dictate who I was, good or bad. I thought that another person could have a better view of who I really was and that what they said, must be true.

If someone said I was fat, I’d take that comment & bury it in my heart as a part of who I was. If someone said I was smart, I’d do the same. But if you asked just anybody what your flaws or strengths were, you probably wouldn’t get an honest answer, because they would hold back to an extent & when you are feeling insecure about yourself, the person to ask isn’t your best friend or your pastor…there is a time & a place for that, but usually not when you are feeling insecure.

When you’re feeling the demon of insecurity chasing you down & you find yourself looking for approval, the person to ask is Jesus. “Jesus…HOW DO YOU SEE ME?!” What does Your word say about me?

I’ve written a few verses below…

Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

   your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Jeremiah 31:3 “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

1 Corinthians 6:20 “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

If He gave His son for you & you were bought at a price, don’t you think you are worthy?

Romans 8:16 “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

Isaiah 44:22 “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away--look, what is new has come”

1 John 4:4 “Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world.”

John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.”

Ephesians 1:13 “And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)--when you believed in Christ--you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit”

Isaiah 43:4 “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you”

Ephesians 5:8 “For you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light”

Colossians 2:10 “You have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority”

Thessalonians 1:4 “We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you”

Galatians 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery”

He loves you, He chose you, He says you are valuable; He says you are worthy & wonderful.

The way you view yourself matters, because the way you view yourself dictates the way you live your life.

So what do you do?

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”

You stand & fight. You renew your mind with what HE says about you. It’s the same for insecurity, as it is for doubt, discouragement & even when you’re faced with temptation to go back to your old ways.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says:

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

2 Corinthians 12:9, 10 say:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” & “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I’d rather be FREE & have demons chasing me because I have a BIG God who will fight for me, than constantly be chasing the “demons” of approval, love, money, sex and drugs etc that hold me in chains and dictate how I live my life.

Don’t allow other people or demons to dictate who you are.

You are who God says you are, stand on His truth & He will fight the fight for you.

Being still is where god fills my soul…

God is fuel to my soul. If I'm always running, my tank is eventually going to be on empty, unless I stop, spend time with Him and allow Jesus to refresh my soul as Psalm 23 says that He will.

Psalm 23:1-3 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, 
he leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

It’s taken me some time to realize that the more I am on the run, the more that my tank gets empty, (obvious, you would think!) and then comes the exhaustion, cravings and emptiness… and the more I crave, the more I try to fill those holes with other things that do nothing to satiate that desire... It sometimes takes me to get to the point of exhaustion, where I have no choice but to STOP and realize that nothing but HIM can quench that thirst, fill that void, and give me complete fulfillment.

God is like food to my soul, if I don't spend time with him everyday then I start to get hungry…If I tried to only eat on Monday and wonder why I was tired, had no energy and was hungry by Friday... You would think I was crazy... Same thing goes for God... We can't eat our share of spiritual meat on Sunday and expect it to last the whole week... You will get spiritually hungry.

The two “evil friends” crave and desire (which are not so evil when put in their rightful places) will creep up on you and by the end of the week you're feeling far away from God and trying anything else (but Him) to quench that thirst you have! Lysa TerKeurst says it best in her book Made To Crave

“God gave us the desire to crave Him…and only He can fill it”

Stop running and be still…all the volunteering, nice gestures, good works, people or food will never fill that hole… The cravings you have, were put in you BY God… FOR God…You will continue to run in the same crazy circle until you realize your need for Him. Only then will you stop and allow His presence to be enough. 

It's your choice

I've been off work almost a month due to my foot surgery...I thought I'd be going crazy coz I'm not a ‘sit still’ kind of girl.

But I'm actually enjoying it. It's nice getting to spend time with my mum & dad. It’s been nice to rest and really just spend time getting to know Jesus in a different way...where I can't allow being busy to get in the way. I have to seek Him in the silence...in the stillness and that's new for me. I like it. It gives me more time to think & really grasp the fact that Jesus died for ME...

God made us and sin corrupted us, instead of destroying us, God came to earth as a little bit of himself, His son, Jesus, and showed us how to live life the way He intended...& because God can’t be near sin, it prevented us from having a relationship with Him, which is why there was religion, laws, rules, and sacrifices all to try to get close to God. BUT…God sent Jesus to break all that. He sacrificed and took all our sin, pain and shame on the cross so that we could have a relationship with Him once again... that's how much He loves us...how much He loves you and me! He didn't have to take that pain, but He suffered so that we can be free.

When I think about that, REALLY think about that, it makes me have a deeper appreciation for Jesus, it's not just surface level "I believe in Jesus" It's...I believe in Jesus and I am SO grateful that He died so that I may have life. He died so that I may know the Lord. 

If Jesus never came & died, we would all still be trying to fulfill the law, trying to follow rules & regulations...Religion... That's what Jesus came to break!

Jesus didn't like religion, the people he sought after were uneducated, prostitutes, the most unlikely, the poor, those left out, those that didn't live the way that they should. NOT the rule followers, not the religious, & not those that thought they were high & mighty and thought they had no need for Him. You don't get to heaven by what you do, by following this rule and that rule... let me say that again, you don't get to heaven by what you do…

We don't have to do works for Him to love us... We don't have to achieve His love; all we need to do is receive it. When you know Him and love Him...you tend to grow to be more like Him. You WANT to serve, you WANT to give, you WANT do things for others, and you WANT to be pure, all out of a response of your love for Him. When you know & love Jesus you don't want to do that which is sinful. I know just from my experience that I want to know HIM more; I want to experience His deep love & fulfillment. And because I am human & cannot live a life completely free from sin it breaks my heart when I do fall short, as we all will, but I repent and ask for forgiveness... the same as I would do in a human relationship.

God doesn't love us because of what we do...we are sinful humans, all of us...He loves us unconditionally and He created heaven for ALL of us who WANT to be with Him eternally.  What we DO does not determine our future, what we CHOOSE will.

The same way heaven is real, so is hell…but God created hell for satan & his angels who rebelled against Him...God DID NOT create hell as a place for US to go.

We choose to go there when we reject Him. 


Marc Driscoll smartly put it this way, prison was created FOR criminals, and we don't have to go there unless we chose to. Prison was created to PROTECT us from criminals...the same way hell was created to protect us from the enemy or people that reject God. Will you turn your heart towards the one that loves you so much that he died to save you from going to the place he didn't design for you? Will you love Him, or will you love the world?

When we love the world, this life is the closest we will ever get to heaven, if we love Jesus; this life is the closest we will ever get to hell...because what's waiting for us is so much better.

Heaven is made to spend eternal life WITH Jesus & if you don't love & believe in Jesus...why would you want to be there?  

And if you don’t believe in God & Jesus…what is heaven?

Jesus is the most humble, loving, caring, selfless man that ever lived...and He loves you so much, that He was willing to DIE a brutal death, he was willing to take beating after beating, he was willing to take nails through His hands & feet, He was willing to be humiliated BECAUSE He loves you & wants you to know & love HIM...

There is a HUGE difference in KNOWING & KNOWING ABOUT somebody...usually when you "know about" bob down the st... so & so that's friends with your other friend...you don't KNOW them, so you can't love them, you can't fully grasp their full character.

When you "know" someone...a good friend, a spouse etc...you can grow to love them, you trust them, you know you can depend on them, you wouldn’t want to spend life without them & you are truly sorry when you hurt their feelings or disappoint them.

Some of you don't know Jesus that way...you're missing out.

Some of you search for fulfillment in worldly things thinking it's going to fill the hunger that your soul is aching for. No money, job, alcohol, sex, men, women, drugs, or approval is ever going to fulfill that void. It never will… that soul hunger was put there BY God & can only be fulfilled BY God, through a relationship with Jesus.

You don't believe me?...try it ...

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Matthew 7:7

"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Psalm 34:4

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears

Romans 10:9-10

 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

It's your choice...come to know Him and experience His Love, His Grace, His Mercy, His Forgiveness, and Provision.  Place your life in His hands because He IS trustworthy.

Jesus is not forceful, He wants you to come to Him on your own terms. God gave us free will to freely love who we want to love... It's your choice...And Jesus is...

(I'm going to steal a line from my friend...)

Jesus is the best decision you HAVEN'T made...

Apart from Me, you can do nothing

In the middle of reading “Made to crave” By Lysa TerKeurst something occurred to me. I was reading a line from a scripture I know well “John 15” I have it tattooed on my arm.

It was John 15:9-12

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

As I read it reminded me of my favorite verse in John 15:5

  5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Remain in Me, and I in you…apart from Me, you can do nothing.

I initially got the tattoo to remind me of where God brought me from.

The day I gave my life to Christ this scripture was what my Pastor based the sermon on. It changed my perspective on my situation. It was the way my Pastor put that certain scripture, that God used in my life so greatly that caused me to hang on to that. He said:

“Have you ever felt like you have been cut off from God?... like He’s forgotten about you & all these bad things keep happening? …He’s pruning you, so that you can become more fruitful…He’s taking the old “dead” things & allowing room for better things.”

From that point on, I decided to give my life to Christ & my life has never been the same…I ended up getting “John 15” on my wrist to remind me that whenever I feel as though God is removing things from my life, it’s because He is pruning me so that I am able to become more fruitful…today, I discovered it had a different meaning…something new for where I am in my walk now.

When I read the lines “Remain in me, & I in you…apart from me you can do nothing” I thought of all the times I tried to do things in my own strength & how I got tired, (exhausted in fact) I felt weighed down & defeated, weak & darn right reckless, because every choice from that point on, was not a good one. I had no strength in me to make a good choice & I wasn’t “Remaining IN HIM” to let Him take over for me…I had been so busy trying to DO, rather than trying to BE that I had left God behind.

This happens often to me & slowly God reels me back in to remind me that apart from Him, I can do nothing. I CAN do something, but it doesn’t mean anything…it has no eternal value & it doesn’t fulfill me.

When I spend time with God, in His presence & be still…He renews my strength. Just like He tells us in Psalm 103:5 & Isaiah 40:31

Psalm 103:5

Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's

Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

So why oh why do I continue to think I can always do it in my own strength!? When I know & have experienced His to rely on.

I guess for me its time, that’s always my excuse… (and I say “Excuse” because that’s what it is) I don’t have time, or I don’t feel like it because I’m too busy DOING as I said earlier…or exhausted from doing!

Friend, there is nothing wrong with having a servants heart, but we need to keep a balance. Serve, but also spend time with Him. Even if it is only 15 minutes in the morning when we make time to be still in His presence.

We make time for what’s important…Is He important to you?