What has God given you? By Nina Keegan

Never forget what you already have in your hand..?

2 Kings 4:1-10 Elisha and the Widow's Oil 4 Now the wife of one of the sons 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 children to be his slaves.”2 And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” 3 Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few.4 Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing.7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” How many times do we discount what God has already given us..? In this story,  this woman was so fearful that her sons would be taken away to pay her debt… She was already in a panic as you can imagine because she just lost her husband and now was thinking she would also lose her sons.… What’s interesting to me is that Elisha asked two questions in a row… He first asked, “what shall I do for you? “ Followed immediately by, “Tell me what you have in your house?”...He did not even give her a chance to answer the first question when he was on to the next…  My guess is he did not want to hear her complain and proclaim her whole story about what she didn’t have  deepening her fears..but he immediately wanted to switch the focus on what she did have!  The more we proclaim our deficits… The more real they become! But what’s interesting to me, was her reply… She said she had nothing…” Nothing, except a small jar of oil… “  What was about to become a huge blessing in her life she considered to be nothing. God can always work with what we already have when we are grateful for what we already have! How many of us overlook the blessing that is right in our hands? God has not stopped being a God of miracles… Your miracle is in your hands… God can work with what you already have… he’s the one who gave you what you already have in the first place! He just want you to realize what you already have!  It does not always have to be something materialistic.. How many of us discount our abilities..? We declare  the fact that we may not have the qualifications,, The education… The people skills, … Do you think God doesn’t know your resume? God wants us to be blessed, he wants us to see ourselves in the image of his Son! God can and will use what we already have and can bless us mightily when we stop declaring that we have nothing… I was with A  friend the other day that I have not seen in q while… When I asked how she was doing, it seemed like a bevy of complaints rolled out about all of the things that were wrong in her life… I am not discounting the difficult  things that people go through… But I paused after a  while and I said ..”Is anything going right with you?” You are sitting here now..you are healthy… You woke up today…”I told her that everyone goes through difficulties in life but our attitude during these trials will determine how quickly we get through them…  God’s mercies are new every day, but we have to turn around what we are declaring over our own lives. Before long we can become cynical and jaded if we are not careful with our words and declarations… From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks! We never want to have a hardness of heart towards the Lord… Let’s declare our blessings, let’s not listen to the chatter of defeat… Let’s stop looking over the fence at what the neighbors have. Sometimes  We gaze at other peoples lives through social media and think they have the perfect life… We may not get to see the fight that happened right before the beautiful family photo was taken… Are we appropriating the blessings that God has given us… ? God has given us a plan of redemption and has made a way for us to spend eternity with him… He says he will supply all of our needs according to his glorious riches in heaven… We need to stop deeming ourselves unworthy… God loves you! God has a wonderful plan for your life… He ihas given you unique tools, qualifications and assets… Characteristics that no one else in the world has… You were designed for a unique purpose in Him ..Let’s think about what we  do have..? Write down those things about yourself that are good… And trust me when you think about it there is a lot of good… I don’t mean for you to write things down in an arrogant way… Apart from God we can do nothing anyway but think about what is your gift..? Are you a people person?… Do you love children?… Are you good with finances?… Are you a good motivator?… Are you a prayer warrior?… The list could go go on and on!!!  When you have your list, pray over it and ask God to give you wisdom over your next steps to take… Ask him to bless and multiply what you already have!!! What do you have?… God wants to use you powerfully and mightily.. let’s stop declaring we have nothing… Let’s  Let God fill our vessels up with a powerful , overflowing oil which represents the Holy Spirit .. let it overflow until we no longer have the capacity to contain it… God is an abundant God and he will do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or think! Eph 3:20 Let’s Turn our thinking around, let’s let God multiply and bless what he has already given us! Deliverance belongs to you,! I pray God delivers us from a limited mentality that keeps us from moving forward in our call to serve him. I pray for For each and every one  of you right now to be highly favored, to walk transformed in the blessings and callings he has for you… May God highly favor you and order every step you take and give you wisdom and direction , peace and joy! … Declare this is the day that you take steps forward with what God has already given you… We all have our unique something… And God wants to use you!! Love and blessings to you all!!!