My children have heard me make this statement so many times they’re probably sick of it by now. But if we’ll take this statement and turn it into a practice, we’ll see God show up and we’ll see Him provide in ways we never imagined!
There are a lot of resources and talents that I do not have. If I wanted to make a list, it would be unending because of all the resources and all the talents that exist in this world. Many of us make these mental lists (of what we don’t have and why we can’t do what we’d like to do because we don’t have what we’d like to have) instead of taking advantage of what God HAS made available to us. Remember, He owns all of what we do possess and all of what we do not possess as well. And we will go a lot further and get there a lot faster when we stop focusing on what we don’t have and begin to make the best with what we do have.
I invite you to read this passage from 2 Kings:
One day the wife of a man from the guild of prophets called out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead. You well know what a good man he was, devoted to GOD. And now the man to whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by taking my two children as slaves." 2 Elisha said, "I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Nothing," she said. "Well, I do have a little oil." 3-4 "Here's what you do," said Elisha. "Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside." 5-6 She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, "Another jug, please." He said, "That's it. There are no more jugs." Then the oil stopped. 7 She went and told the story to the man of God. He said, "Go sell the oil and make good on your debts. Live, both you and your sons, on what's left."
2 Kings 4:1-7 (MSG)
This is a pretty powerful story, wouldn’t you agree? It shows us the compassion of God and the power of His provision. With this in mind, let’s see what God is saying to us. If I’m going to take advantage of what God has made available to me; If I’m going to rely on HIS resources, rather than worry about those I do not have, I need to implement these three practices:
1. Identify my resources: Notice that when first asked about what she had, the widow first replied, "nothing." Why do you think this is? Why do we tend to concentrate most on what we don't have rather than what we do have? We have to learn to combat the pull to complain and concentrate on what we don’t have, and instead pay close attention to all that we DO have and then make the most of these resources and talents.
~ What resources do you have? You might want to write these down somewhere before moving onto the next point.
2. Devote who I am and what I have to GOD: “Little is much when God is in it.” Remember the story of the little boy with the five loaves and two fishes? It was enough for his own personal lunch that day. Perhaps he could have split it up two ways to share with a friend. That’s what he could do with what he had. In the story above, the widow only had a little oil. She offered what she had—which wasn’t much. But when these two different people, in different centuries, in different parts of the world, with different resources placed their small offerings into the Master’s Hands…miracles!!
~What would it look like for you to devote yourself and what you have to your Heavenly Father?
3. Believe God for big things and Watch Him work!
“9For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.”
II Chronicles 16 (ESV)
The little boy with the fish and the bread, this widow, the shepherd boy David, and countless others have taken a chance on trusting God with what little they had to offer. Most of us have been given far more than what these had to begin with. God is not as concerned about what we have or don’t have; He’s far more concerned about what we choose to do (or not do) with what we have. All of it belongs to Him anyways, remember?
~What would it look like in 5 years if you began trusting God for big things today?
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(The video messages are on the Media Page under the "Wild and Free" Series titles and the written study guides are made available there as well once the videos are posted.)
