Shut the Door and Pour

As each new year rolls around, millions of Americans make New Year's Resolutions on how they want to change their life:  eat healthier, exercise more, save money, make new friends, etc.  But year after year, many find themselves making the same failed resolution as the year before.  What if instead of spending time thinking about a resolution, you spent time developing resolve - a firm determination to do something.  Resolutions sounds good and offer many benefits, but without the resolve to actually follow through on them, they often wind up being empty words.

The concepts in this outline come from a story found in the Bible in 2 Kings 4:1-7.  Go read it, it's not long.  This is the story of the woman who's husband has passed away, debt collectors are coming for her children, and she has almost nothing left to her name.  But she meets a prophet who gives her some guidance and hope.  She follows his suggestion and turns her small bottle of oil into many vessels, enough to sell and pay off all of her debt.  But read the story to get the full picture.  Below, are the steps she went through to achieve her miracle and ones that may help each of us out as well.

1.  What do you want?  While she was explaining her circumstances to the prophet, he asked her, "What shall I do for you?"  Notice the he didn't ask her, 'How do you feel?'  Why?  Because when we truly need a miracle or there's work to be done, our feelings don't matter.  His question was not one of her circumstances though, rather one of her faith.  He was asking what she wanted to come about.  He was trying to shift her focus from the past and her problems to her future and how they could be resolved.  It's a question that many of us would likely struggle to answer truthfully as well.  If God showed up and asked, "What do you want?" how would you reply?  Each of us need a vision for our life.  As one pastor put it, "God never gives PROvision where the is NO vision."

2.  What do you have?  It's vital that you get these two questions in the right order.  God is always going to ask "What do you want?" first and then "What do you have?" second.  But far too many of us look at our resources before determining our vision.  The woman in this story almost missed a miracle because she did what many of us do - she discounted what she had.  She did not see a way that her small jar of oil could help her out of this situation.  But her little bit, the thing she was counting out, was what God was counting on.  We have to remember that little is much when we place it in the Master's hands.  Remember the story of the fish two loaves?  Jesus blessed the small amount of food the boy had and fed thousands of people.  Once you have your vision, take an inventory of what you have to work with - your assets, your networks, your skills, your talents, etc.

3.  Borrow vessels.  The prophet then told the woman to go and borrow vessels from her neighbors.  The first word of verse 3 is important, GO.  Go means that an action is required and that God isn't going to just make good things happen for you, we must do our part as well.  I used to think that everything I shared had to be original to me.  But realizing that I can used borrowed ideas, borrowed thoughts, borrowed methods was freeing.  This sermon outline was borrowed.  My Sunday school lesson each week comes from a book.  And you can borrow vessels in other areas too.  Borrow different ideas, thought processes, and other people's way of doing things.  But remember, you can borrow a vessel, but you have to use your own oil.  Swallow your pride and ask others who are successful in areas you want to strive in how they do it.  Ask for a meeting with them, what they're reading, how they think through problems.  Borrow their vessels and then prepare to pour your own oil because God blesses what we prepare for.  "When you have an expectation without preparation, you get frustration."  Don't stop with wishful thinking, put in work to actually make it happen.

4.  Shut the door and pour.  Many people throughout the years have read the story of this miracle.  But did you notice who actually witnessed it?  The prophet instructed the woman to take the vessels and her small jar of oil into her home and shut the door behind her and her sons.  No one else witnessed the miracle.  No one else poured the oil.  No one else set the vessels aside.  Everyone in your life doesn't have the faith for the miracle that God is working in you.  You can't tell everybody what you're up to because your plans aren't for everybody.  There will always be haters and naysayers trying to tell you why your idea is stupid or why you won't make it.  Block those people out and go to work with your inner circle be it friends, family, or whomever.  Shut the door and pour.

5.  Bring me another vessel.  Imagine this woman's confidence as she begins pouring.  She probably slowly filled the first vessel and then the second.  But as they continued filling up, she kept telling her sons, bring me another, then another.  But often we miss the miracle, or the potential of one because we lack the faith to set the vessels out before God.  The story doesn't tell us how many vessels the woman filled.  If she had to faith to borrow three, God filled three.  If she had the faith to borrow 300, God filled 300.  God will only fill what we are willing to set out before Him.  Or like the story, once all the vessels were full, the oil stopped flowing.  Maybe your first visit to church or the gym feels uncomfortable, maybe that first $10 you save doesn't look like much, maybe that first time turning down a drink or night out feels awkward.  But as those vessels begin to fill, your confidence will grow.  Lay a vessel out before God this year - give Him your marriage, your career, your finances, your health.  Have the faith that if you put that vessel before Him, that He will fill it.

I don't know what everyone went through in 2018 or is going through in 2019.  Heck, I don't know what all I'll go through this year.  But I do know that if I want my next years to be better than my last years, it will require a plan.  It will require action.  And it will require faith.

Determine your vision, take an inventory, borrow some vessels, and shut the door and pour.