Anointed to overflow - The Hindrences
John 7:37-38
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ’From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ "
2 Kings 3:16-17 16 He said, "Thus says the LORD, ’Make this valley full of trenches.’ 17 "For thus says the LORD, ’You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, both you and your cattle and your beasts.
Zechariah 4:2-2 He said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; 3 also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side."
2 Kings 2:9 9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you." And Elisha said, "Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me."
This is a great move of God and we can not allow any of the hinderences stop us from having this bless us. there are many hindrences in our life from receiving this blessing in us.
4. Hindrances for filling the vessels.
1.Dryness – When you use a clay jar first time you need to soak it other wise it will break. You need to be soaked by the water; the container must be soaked by it first before it can be filled. When you pour water to a dry ditch the earth will absorb it. Are you socked with the word of God (water). Are you socked with presence of God, are you socked with prayer, are you socked with Godliness.
2.Leakage – the container must be fixed for its cracks. The water going inside will go leak out and will not be able to fill if there is any crack in you, sin, worldliness, pride, desire of flesh, greed, selfishness, lack of prayer, old sin, friendship, and the list goes on. Let us fix any leakage in out life so out life will be filled with the glory of God and we will b able to pour out to the people.
3.connected t wrong sources – Jeremiah 2:13 13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water. The pot cannot be filled if we are connected to the wrong sources. Some time we thing we are connected to the right connections, but check it out today, there are dead churches, dead ministries, spiritually dead people, spiritually backslide people, they have the form of Godliness, they sound like religious, but it’s time for us to check the sources we are connected to. Are you connected to the trees (God himself)
In ancient Palestine if you wanted to live there was one important thing you needed – WATER. Most of the places that ended up being inhabited by people were places that water was available. If you needed water there were 2 ways to get it – have a spring or a well in which you could get water – or somehow store large amounts of water that fell only occasionally in the arid conditions of the Holy Land. If you wanted to store the water you’d typically dig a cistern, which was a large bell-shaped hole dug out of rock in the ground, which would hold large amounts of water.
Here in Jeremiah we’ve got the prophet speaking for God when he says his people have sinned in that they have forsaken him, as a spring of living water, and have chosen instead to try and fend for themselves and collect what their spirits need in cisterns they have dug for themselves.
What are the cisterns we build in our lives to try and supply our own needs?
• Stuff.
• Large sums of money.
• Drive to succeed in a career.
• Having people think you’re “good”.
Here’s an example from my own life. As a pastor I have the choice to feed my thirsty soul from the living water of the Holy Spirit’s work in me or I can choose to dig my own cistern and fill it with the praise of people. If I start feeling a bit low, I’ll just go to that cistern and pull out the memory of some nice thing someone said to me, or a time when it seemed like I really did something right, or even a time when someone told me that something I did helped them.
The problem is, when I keep going to that cistern to find meaning and power to keep serving Him and living for Him – I find that cistern just doesn’t hold water like it should. And I end up still thirsty for answers and spiritual strength to keep living for Christ.
What I’ve got to learn, and what each of us needs to learn, is that Jesus has promised us a spring of living spiritual water to nourish our souls if we’ll just come to him.
Not in the right ankle – If the pot is not in the right ankle the water pour in you will not able to stay. How is our walk with God? Is it straight? Is it right? When we are not straight with God we can be filled or fully filled and can not be used by God to over flowing experience.
5. Before you pour into the vessel you must shut the door behind you: 2 Kings 4:5
5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not one vessel more." And the oil stopped.
There are many distractions from pouring the oil to the jars. The oil is available and need to be poured to the other vessels. Only fill up to your desire and commitment.
A. Shut the door behind you. But before you pour, you need to close the door and start to pray. So the oil can pour in to the empty vessels. What ever is taking the concentration away for God need to be shut. What ever hinders you from pouring the oil to the vessels need to be shut.
Let us remove these hindrences and bring this great blessing to our life