Pour Out For Breakthrough!!! Many are in desperate situations and need a breakthrough. Some need a natural breakthrough — finances, relationships, jobs, family, etc. Others need a spiritual breakthrough — direction and purpose, destiny, divine connections, creative ideas, giftings, development of talents, etc. Some need a combination of both in order to experience breakthrough. 2 Kings 4:1-7 is an awesome testimony of the Lord bringing breakthough in a desperate situation. Through this passage, the Lord is speaking to us of His creativity in meeting our needs, both naturally and spiritually. 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." (2 Kings 4:1) This woman was in a desperate situation. Not only had her husband (her companion, her protector and her provider) died, her sons, whom she loved and on whom she would depend, were about to be taken away and faced a dismal future. According to Mosaic law, debtors and their children could be enslaved to work off their debts. Most of us cringe at the thought of our children facing hardship, much less being enslaved to make restitution on our behalf. This woman's response wasn't to worry or act out of desperation. She sought the Lord (Elisha was the Lord's spokesman.). Many reading this are in equally desperate situations. In every situation, especially desperate situations, we must seek the Lord. As this woman sought the Lord's counsel, she didn't boast that her husband was a mighty man of God or that he had an awesome ministry (although he was part of a company of prophets). She boasted that her husband feared the Lord. Because this man feared the Lord, he knew the Lord's ways. He was a servant because he feared the Lord. The Lord desires that we serve, not be served (see Matthew 20:28). When we truly fear the Lord, we will walk in His ways ... serving Him as well as others, seeking to bring Him glory rather than receiving recognition, and responding with radical obedience to all that we hear and see from Him. 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." (2 Kings 4:2) The symbolism in this passage is quite interesting. Oil is symbolic of anointing. Each of us is anointed for God's holy purpose. Whether you feel anointed is beside the point. If you have a relationship with our Father through His Son and are sealed with His Holy Spirit, then YOU ARE ANOINTED. Jesus, the Christ, was the Anointed One and His Holy Spirit dwells within us. We are the temple, or house, of His Holy Spirit. The Lord desires that we recognize and identify what it is we have in our house. He desires that we recognize that the Anointed One has made a deposit in each of us. We have an "anointed Holy Spirit" residing within each of us. The same Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus to demonstrate compassion, heal the sick, raise the dead, teach with power, resist the devil, and walk in complete obedience resides in our house! What has the Lord anointed you to do? What does He enable you to do? What talents, gifts and abilities has He placed within you? Recognize these and thank Him for them! Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors — empty vessels; do no 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." (2 Kings 4:3-4) We are a vessel filled with Holy Spirit. We are to find empty vessels and pour into them. We are to pour into the lives of others behind closed doors. In other words, this is to be done as a lifestyle ... and not as an act of "ministry." It's about building and nurturing relationships ... simply because we care and not because we get something (fulfillment, status, recognition) out of it. Freely we have received of Him, freely we are to give of Him (see Matthew 10:8). Consider David. God gave him special abilities to shoot a slingshot and play a harp. Both of these talents would be used in significant ways by the Lord. David didn't mope around feeling insignificant because he wasn't the national slingshot champion or first chair in the Israeli Harp Ensemble. He didn't even aspire for these things. He also didn't begrudge these seemingly simple talents. David honed these skills on the back side of the desert as He was faithful in the ministries to which he was presently entrusted (tending sheep and ministering to the Lord). In fact, his only audience and recognition came from the Lord ... and a herd of wooly sheep. David poured his best out to the Lord. We are to do likewise. Whatever talents, abilities, or skills the Lord has given us, we are to offer them back to Him. We do this by responding obediently to Him in using them ... even if it means pouring them out to Him behind closed doors. 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. (2 Kings 4:5-6) This woman demonstrated a quality that the Lord desires — obedience. She responded exactly as she had been instructed. She didn't rationalize concerning what she'd been instructed to do, nor did she try to "help" by adding something to what had been spoken. We demonstrate our love and trust of the Lord by our obedience (see John 14:21) — doing what He says, when He says it, and exactly as He instructs. If the Lord has given you a special talent as a musician, don't despair that you may not be a recording artist or a worship leader; give your talent back to Him by playing/singing unto Him (in true worship) behind closed doors. If the Lord has given you a desire to write, don't despair that you may not be an best-selling author; give your talent back to Him by writing letters to Him and others. If the Lord has given you prophetic gifting, don't despair that you may not be a recognized prophetic voice in your generation; give the talent back to Him by speaking forth His words of life as you hear them from Him ... either in intercession behind closed doors or to an unknown friendly grocery store employee. If the Lord has given you a desire to teach/preach, don't despair that you may not have a national audience; give your talent back to Him by teaching/preaching to an audience of one ... and then two ... and then three. Whatever your gift or talent, give it back to the Lord by responding to His leading. As we obediently pour out of our anointing behind closed doors, the Lord will multiply and bless. 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 4:7) As this woman responded obediently to the Lord, He met her need extravagantly. Not only was her debt paid, she and her sons had money on which to live. We serve an awesome God who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think (see Ephesians 3:20). Not only does He desire to meet all our needs, He desires to bless us abundantly. He will bless us and we'll experience breakthough ... when we respond obediently to Him ... and pour out our oil into empty vessels.