You Can't Stop The Oil Of Good From Flowing

INTRODUCTION

There's a story in 2 Kings chapter 4 that will change the way you think about what God can do in your life. A widow comes to the prophet Elisha in desperate circumstances. Her husband has died. The creditors are coming. They're about to take her two sons as slaves to pay off the debt. She has nothing left. No money. No options. No way out.

And Elisha asks her a simple question: "What do you have in your house?"

She says, "Your servant has nothing there at all, except a small jar of olive oil."

Nothing at all. Except for a little oil.

And what happens next is one of the most powerful miracles in all of Scripture. Elisha tells her, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside, shut the door behind you, and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."

So she does it. She gathers the jars. She shuts the door. And she starts pouring. And the oil keeps flowing. One jar. Two jars. Three jars. Ten jars. Twenty jars. The oil doesn't stop. It keeps flowing and flowing and flowing until every jar in that house is full. And only then, only when there are no more jars left to fill, does the oil stop.

Church, I want you to hear me this morning: You can't stop the oil of God from flowing. When God decides to pour out His anointing, His blessing, His provision, His power on your life, nothing can stop it. Not your circumstances. Not your past. Not your failures. Not your limitations. Not even your enemies.

The only thing that limits God's oil in your life is the number of vessels you have ready to receive it.

Let's pray, and then I want to show you what happens when you position yourself for God's supernatural flow.

I. THE OIL FLOWS IN DESPERATE PLACES

Let's be honest about where this woman was. She wasn't in a good place. She wasn't on the mountaintop having a spiritual experience. She was in crisis. She was desperate. She was at the end of herself. Her husband was dead. Her sons were about to be taken as slaves. She had exhausted every option. She had nothing left.

Nothing at all. Except a little oil.

And here's what I need you to understand: God specializes in desperate places. The oil of God flows strongest when you've come to the end of yourself. When you've tried everything and nothing has worked. When you've exhausted your own resources and realized you have nothing left to give.

That's not the place where God gives up on you. That's the place where God shows up for you.

See, when you think you have it all figured out, when you think you can handle it on your own, when you're leaning on your own strength and your own wisdom and your own resources, you don't need God's oil. You're trying to do it yourself. But when you come to that desperate place, when you hit rock bottom, when you realize that without God you have nothing, that's when you're finally positioned to receive what God wants to pour into your life.

The widow came to Elisha with nothing. But she came. She didn't stay home and feel sorry for herself. She didn't give up. She didn't just accept her circumstances as final. She went to the man of God and said, "Help me. I have nothing left."

And Elisha didn't say, "Sorry, you should've planned better." He didn't say, "You should've saved more money." He didn't condemn her. He asked her a question that would change everything: "What do you have in your house?"

What do you have? Not what do you wish you had? Not what you used to have. Not what you think you should have. What do you have right now?

A little jar of oil. That's all. But it was enough. Because when you bring what you have to God, no matter how small it seems, no matter how insignificant it looks, God can multiply it. God can use it. God can make it more than enough.

Some of you are in a desperate place right now. The bills are piling up. The diagnosis came back, and it's not good. The relationship is falling apart. The future looks uncertain. You feel like you have nothing left. But I want to tell you what God told that widow through Elisha: What do you have?

You have a little faith. Bring it to God. You have a little hope. Bring it to God. You have a little strength left. Bring it to God. Because when you bring what you have to God in your desperate place, you're positioning yourself for the oil to flow. And once God's oil starts flowing, you can't stop it.