Increase DAY 17

Now the wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves. Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you [of sale value] in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said, Go around and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels - and not a few. And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons. Then pour out [the oil you have] into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full. So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons, who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil. When the vessels were all full, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not a one left. Then the oil stopped multiplying. Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.

2 Kings 4:1-7  AMP

• The prophet, his wife, & their sons must have been good neighbors.  They borrowed lots of vessels!

It's always good to stay in good standing with all those around you (that is to the best of your ability) because you never know when you may be in need of something they have.

• Now think about it.  What would have been your first thought if you were this widow, you said to Elisha that all you had in the house was a jar of oil, and he told you to borrow lots of vessels and pour out the 1 jar of oil you have into all those vessels you borrowed?  Haha!

Sometimes, many times, the things the Lord asks of you don't make sense, are not really practical, and actually seem pretty stupid.  Will you be willing to set aside your common sense, your practicality, and your fear of being put to shame and heed the voice of the Lord?  The miraculous is rarely common!

• This is very important - she was to fill one vessel at a time, set it aside, and then take another vessel to fill.  She was not to put all of the vessels out and add a little at a time to each vessel, splitting the oil from her jar "equally" into each vessel.  There is quite a level of faith required to do this, as well as an immediate manifestation of the miraculous provision of God.  Imagine what awe she must have felt when she began to pour her oil into the first vessel, it became full, and her jar was still full!  Not only did she have faith to do this, but how her faith must have grown with each vessel she filled, all the while her vessel never emptying!

It's very, very, very, very important that we follow EVERY DETAIL of the Lord's direction, instruction, and commandment in our lives.  Of course, it's always important to be obedient, and definitely immediately obedient to the Lord.  It's, however, also always beneficial to us to be obedient and immediately obedient to the Lord!  I've found that His direction and instruction, although not always easy to follow or completely understandable, are always simple and have benefits for us that we would never have thought of or even imagined.  He knows exactly what we need and knows what will increase our faith and help us to see our miracle through!

To be continued...