THE WIDOW'S OIL (part 2): ' GO SELL SOMETHING'
A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”
So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”
So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”
And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
(2 Kings 4:1-7)
In the above passage, after the woman obtained the miraculous oil, Elisha told her to go sell the oil, to pay her debts and to live on the rest.
In life, there are certain gifts and provisions that are designed to be sold in exchange for money.
Please note that not everything we receive from God should be sold. For example, we cannot sell prophecies or water baptism.Furthermore, there are certain things that we will always have to give away for free due to the fact that there will always be some poor and needy people around us (ref.Matthew 26:11).
However, there will be many talents,gifts and provisions given by God that we can sell. For example, such gifts could include: ‘business acumen, strategic thinking, writing skills,driving skills, hospitality skills, cleaning skills, cooking skills,sporting abilities,crops, properties, and various other talents and God given provisions.’
Many people simply suffer financially because they don’t sell some of the abilities and provisions that God has given them.
And then, notice as well that Elisha told the woman that the proceeds from the sale of oil should be used so that she and her sons could live on it. I place an emphasis on the word ‘live’ because the prophet did not say ‘survive’. In other words, the woman had to make sure that she would set a price point on her oil that would allow her and her sons to live well.
When it is time to sell your God given abilities and provisions, keep in mind to set a price that will guarantee ‘livelihood’ not ‘survival’. The same advice is valid for employment where fair salaries have to be negotiated. If a person decides to work as an employee, he/she is still selling two things: abilities and time. Therefore, it would matter that an employee or prospective employee negotiates a salary that will allow them to live rather than surviving.
Go sell something.
So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”
So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”
And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
(2 Kings 4:1-7)
In the above passage, after the woman obtained the miraculous oil, Elisha told her to go sell the oil, to pay her debts and to live on the rest.
In life, there are certain gifts and provisions that are designed to be sold in exchange for money.
Please note that not everything we receive from God should be sold. For example, we cannot sell prophecies or water baptism.Furthermore, there are certain things that we will always have to give away for free due to the fact that there will always be some poor and needy people around us (ref.Matthew 26:11).
However, there will be many talents,gifts and provisions given by God that we can sell. For example, such gifts could include: ‘business acumen, strategic thinking, writing skills,driving skills, hospitality skills, cleaning skills, cooking skills,sporting abilities,crops, properties, and various other talents and God given provisions.’
Many people simply suffer financially because they don’t sell some of the abilities and provisions that God has given them.
And then, notice as well that Elisha told the woman that the proceeds from the sale of oil should be used so that she and her sons could live on it. I place an emphasis on the word ‘live’ because the prophet did not say ‘survive’. In other words, the woman had to make sure that she would set a price point on her oil that would allow her and her sons to live well.
When it is time to sell your God given abilities and provisions, keep in mind to set a price that will guarantee ‘livelihood’ not ‘survival’. The same advice is valid for employment where fair salaries have to be negotiated. If a person decides to work as an employee, he/she is still selling two things: abilities and time. Therefore, it would matter that an employee or prospective employee negotiates a salary that will allow them to live rather than surviving.
Go sell something.