Divine Provision

Ready to watch your limiting situations become launching pads for God's multiplication?

The moment that everything looks hopeless, is exactly when God will show up with an abundance that is beyond imagination. Tune into this week's message about how things can turn around for us in the blink of an eye.

“we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”

- 2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Chapters

• 0:00 Elijah and Elisha: The Transfer of Power
• 3:01 Elijah's Ascension in a Whirlwind
• 8:20 The Widow's Desperate Situation
• 12:33 The Miracle of Multiplying Oil
• 17:28 God Answers Prayer in His Time
• 19:42 The Power of Multiplication and Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:13

This beautiful morning, I want to talk to you about a time in the life of a person in the Bible whose name is Elijah, and I want to tell you that Elijah was a powerful man of God and he was somebody who followed Elijah. For those of you who don't know, and just to go back to the events of things and how they actually panned out, I want to tell you that Elisha was actually appointed as a prophet by Elijah, and God told him that Elisha will be a prophet in your place. So Elijah knew that he had to go, that his time was up. And, just to let you know, elijah was the only prophet left on the planet. All the other prophets were put to death and he was the only one left. And when he's running and he's hiding, and, of course, all of that is for a very different time, but in that time he tells him, you will go, you will find Elisha and you will appoint him as prophet in your place. Oh, hallelujah. And let me tell you before this and I'll tell you this is in the book of Kings, hallelujah, it's in the first, first Kings, and before that, elisha is not even mentioned in the Bible. He's not even there in the Bible at all. So he goes and he finds him just as the events go. And I told you, all the other prophets of God have already been put to death and it's only Elijah who's left. And Elijah is told by God very categorically that he is to anoint Elisha as a prophet in his place. And I tell you that he finds Elisha in a field, his father's field, plowing his father's field, and he throws his mantle upon him. The bible says and Elisha leaves his father's home and follows Elijah.

Speaker 1: 1:58

It's in second kings, when the time of Elijah has come to go to heaven. Now I want to tell you that the Bible says that man is born and he dies. But no, that's not what happened to Elijah. The Bible says that God was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven. And you should read it, believe me, it's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 2:21

It's in the second Kings and on that day, basically, elisha knows that he's supposed to go, and Elisha knows that his master is going to go up into heaven. So he tells him and there's this time as I said I'm not getting into the details, but I'm leaving it for you to read there's this time when Elijah tells him stay here, I have to go to X place. And Elisha says no, I will come with you. By God, as my witness, I will come with you. Then again Elijah tells him stay here. I have to go to Y place. And again Elisha says no, by God, as my witness, I will come with you. And then the last one is he says stay here. I need to go to the Jordan and cross over to the other side. And he says no, I will not leave you. By God, as my witness, I will come with you. And he follows him everywhere. Elisha follows elijah everywhere. And this time happens and I'm reading it to you from the book of kings, the second chapter, the ninth verse onwards, and I'm reading it to you when they have crossed, when they had crossed over. Now this is the last place. I told you.

Speaker 1: 3:28

The Bible documents three places that he says this and three places where Elisha says I will follow you. Lord Elijah said to Elisha ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. He said let a double portion of your anointing be upon me, he said, and Elijah turns and he says to him. You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, oh hallelujah. But if you will not, it shall not be so. So he's basically left to that. I I'm not the one who can give this to you, but if you see me while I'm going, it will happen. If you don't see me while I'm going, it will not happen. It's basically god's will, and the bible says that. Well, they were going along.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Immediately after Elijah says this to Elisha, as they're going along, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them, and Elijah was taken into heaven by a whirlwind. And Elisha saw Elijah. No more Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, which means Elisha now has a double portion of Elijah's anointing. Praise God for that. You don't even want to know what stuff Elijah did, but I'll tell you.

Speaker 1: 4:57

So now I'm getting into the life of Elisha and there's this time when he's in this place called Bethel. I don't even know why I'm saying this to you, but I need to share this with you. There's a time when there are these young lads. The bible says they mock him as he's entailing Bethel, and he gets angry and he curses them in the name of the lord. And the bible says two female bears come and maul them. There are 42 of them and two female bears come out of the woods and they maul them. So it probably means that Elisha was also hot-headed and there's a time when there's a certain woman mentioned in the bible and the bible calls her as the wives of the sons of the prophet.

Speaker 1: 5:32

You need to understand there are no prophets left. Elijah was the last and before elijah was being taken up into heaven, that one prophet, god tells him put your anointing onto the other one and you will go. Prophet, god tells him put your anointing on to the other one and you will go. So there's only one prophet left. It's Elisha, that's it. So all of these, everywhere that you read in the second Kings, it's mentioned as the sons of the Prophet. Because the prophets are dead and only their sons are left and this is one of their wives. And it so happens that Elisha is in that place and the sons the wife of one of the sons of the Prophet cries out to Elisha is in that place and the sons the wife of one of the sons of the Prophet cries out to Elisha as he's passing by, and Elisha, as I said, is probably passing by through this place because the Bible says that she cries out to him, which means he's probably just going along.

Speaker 1: 6:21

And from 2nd Kings, the fourth chapter, the first verse your, my husband, is dead and you know that your servant feared the Lord, and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves. That's a tough one. So I am just going back in time and thinking that, you know, at these times maybe the women didn't work and if he was a prophet, maybe her job was just to take care of the family and just follow wherever the Prophet was led by God. And now the prophets no more. That's been put to death by someone who is stopping god's work just to let you know and I won't get into that, as I said, it's a story for another time and now she's alone and she's got two kids, and I know some of you will relate to this and some of you might not, but there's very, it's very specifically mentioned in in this passage of scripture the creditor is coming to take my two children to be his slaves, which means the creditor was a man and now she has nothing to give him and she's probably trying to negotiate, saying I have nothing to give you. And he said well, then I'll take your two children. That is a tough one.

Speaker 1: 7:41

And then in second kings, the fourth chapter, the second verse onwards, elisha said to her what shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house? And she said your maid servant has nothing except a jar of oil. Wow, you need to think about this. She does not have a husband. The Bible does not mention for how long she did not have a husband. I don't know what she was doing. Maybe she was living hand-to-mouth, maybe she had not had meal, a meal for a few days, maybe her kids did not have a meal for a few days, or maybe just I don't know. But all I can tell you is, according to the Bible, this widow, who has no source of income, has two kids and they don't mention the age of the kids and just has one jar of oil. She has one jar of oil and the man of God who's passing there is asking what shall I do for you? And tell me what do you have in your house, what do you have, what do you have? And she says that's all. I have a jar of oil, that's it.

Speaker 1: 8:46

And then Now that's a really tough situation if you picture this time and what's happening with her and by let me tell you, by no chance is this. As I said, it's not a matter of chance. Let me rephrase that Elisha is happening to be there at that time, and I will come back to this. It's not a matter of chance that Elisha is there Exactly at that time when there is a full stop, there is no place for her to go. The creditor is coming to take her two children, that's it. And I tell you this God knows each of us by name. God knows you by name. He knows your situations inside out and he has written your name on the palm of his hand. The Bible says and I, and he has written your name on the palm of his hand.

Speaker 1: 9:39

The bible says and I want to tell you, he knew the situation of the widow and elisha is there on purpose. And he says what do you have? Then she says that's all I have. I have a jar of oil. And then he says second kings, 4, chapter 3rd verse. Then he said go borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors even empty vessels and do not get a few. So he basically tells her go and borrow vessels. And I want to tell you, elisha operated I started with.

Speaker 1: 10:09

Elisha now has a double portion of Elijah's anointing and Elijah did some wow stuff. He called on fire from heaven when he was the only prophet left and he was standing in front of 800 prophets of Baal and Asherah. He called down fire from heaven. And now let me tell you that Elisha is operating in double anointing. Wow of that anointing, wow. So anyway, he tells her, go and borrow all the vessels you can possible from your neighbors. And she does it. And he says do not get a few. Now I can only picture this because I have a wonderful imagination the two kids, whatever their age might be, and her, maybe one kid is just tagging along with her and the other one is a slightly older boy, because they're both boys, just to let you know.

Speaker 1: 10:53

And now she's running from neighbor to neighbor collecting jars. Do you have empty jars? Yes, how many do you have? Five, thank you. She's going to the next house. Do you have empty jars? Yes, how many do you have? Three of them are full. I have two to give you, thank you. And she goes on and on and on and on right. This is just my imagination, it's not mentioned in the Bible.

Speaker 1: 11:14

And then Elisha tells the widow go into your home, shut the door behind you and your sons and pour out the oil from your jar into the empty jars and set aside the ones that get full. And the Bible says. The Bible says she did as she was told. She shut the door behind her sons and she began to pour the oil from her jar into the empty jars. Her sons brought the vessels and she poured. And when the vessel was full she set it aside and went on to the next vessel. And I want to tell you every vessel, a vessel was full with oil until there were no more vessels left. Oh, hallelujah. And her son said to her and I'm quoting in the Bible there is not one vessel more and the oil stopped. Hallelujah, 2 Kings 4.7 says.

Speaker 1: 12:14

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, there you go, the sons can live on the rest. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. So God took the widow and the prophet of God is there at the same time and he says go get those empty vessels from your neighbors, collect as many as you can, don't let them be less or short and then pour them. Shut the door behind your sons and start pouring out the oil into the jars. And the Bible says that after each and every jar was full, the oil in her small little jar stopped and her son says there are no more jars left. And then she goes to the man of God and says she came out. The Bible says and I'm quoting from 2 Kings 4, 7. She came out and told the man of God and he said go sell the oil, pay your debt. That means when the creditor comes, slap it onto his face and then you and your sons can live on the rest. That means there was so much that she and her sons could live off it. Live off the rest, which means for the rest of your lives you can live off it. Oh, hallelujah, how much oil was there, hallelujah, that she and her entire households could live off it, hallelujah.

Speaker 1: 13:36

But today I want to leave you with two things, two very important things. Number one, which has never come across in this, in this passage of scripture or this story, but this is my take on it and that's prayer. Do you think this widow would have not prayed to God? I think she would have. When she lost her husband and she had two sons and probably no source of income, she would have turned to God. Does she know to turn to anyone else? No, she was a prophet's wife. She would have turned to god and I can tell you this that she would have prayed and she would have prayed and she would have prayed. She would have probably knelt down. The bible doesn't even say how many meals she hadn't had or when was the last time she was. She was actually, um, as I said, with anything besides a jar of oil. Hallelujah, and 2nd Corinthians.

Speaker 1: 14:39

2nd Corinthians, the 4th chapter, the 7th verse. And I want to tell you some of you don't know this, but every time you pray, there is already a passage of scripture that says shut the door. There is a link to this here, when Elisha tells the widow shut the door and what you do in secret, god will open you, reward you openly. Shut that door and what you do in secret, what you pray in secret, what you pray in secret, what you ask in secret, what you go on your knees or go flat on the ground and stretch forth your arms and ask. He will reward you openly. And elijah told you to shut that door and I want to tell you that when you pray, I want to tell you they start. They are stored in jars and it's a secret and I will share it with you.

Speaker 1: 15:24

From the second Corinthians, the fourth chapter. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of his power will be of God and not for ourselves. Your prayer does nothing, but your prayer is stored and God will answer it at the time, which is right. So you shut that door and you pray. And I want to tell you, just as the widow where she had no place to go on, probably the last bit of oil, maybe she was thinking I'll sell this and I still can't pay off my credit, or so what am I going to do?

Speaker 1: 16:01

From the very same chapter 2 corinthians, the fourth chapter, the eighth verse onwards, it says we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, you are more than a conqueror, because he will come through. That's what you need to understand this morning. Your prayer will be answered. It might not be answered in your time.

Speaker 1: 16:30

The bible does not say how long she was a widow. The bible does not say how long she did not have a meal. The bible does not say how long her kids were hungry or what they were doing, were they living on the streets. The bible says nothing. But I can tell you this that she would have prayed and prayed and prayed and she would have said lord, where is my answer? I have it's. Now the creditor is coming to take my kids. But you know what he did answer he does answer, he will answer always. Remember scripture, and I'm telling you this 2 Corinthians 4.7. But we have this treasure on earth and vessels. Your prayers are stored with God. He has not forgotten your prayers. Shut that door, pray and he will answer it, but he will not answer it in his time. Hallelujah. He will not answer it in your time. He will answer it in his time. Hallelujah.

Speaker 1: 17:28

Whatever your situation is, pray to god and go with thanksgiving. First, thank him for what you have, thank him for what you have, whatever you have, just thank him for it. And then the bible says, with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving hallelujah, hallelujah. As I said the widow had nowhere to go and I'm sure she would have prayed hard. She would have prayed hard. She had two kids to take care of and a source of income is not there. She would have prayed hard. And you know what I said. He answered. He answered to the one prophet that was available on the planet. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine? I told you elisha did not pass there by chance. He answered and Elisha, the only prophet of God who's alive on the planet, happens to be there. Oh, come on. Hallelujah, god will answer a line to the scripture of Corinthians.

Speaker 1: 18:15

And the second point I want to bring to you is multiplication. God works in multiplication. He does not work. In addition, he does not work in subtraction. Believe me, he does not. He fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. He fed the 4,000 with X and Y, and you know about it. But I want to tell you this morning that he works in multiplication. And he is telling you this morning open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Oh, amen, open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Go, bring that empty jar and I will fill it. What do you have? You bring that empty jar and I will fill it with what you have. He will multiply whatever you have and he will bring you into a whole new place.

Speaker 1: 18:56

The Bible says stretch forth your cords, stretch forth your cords. How much can you stretch your cords? Go, stretch it and then. Then the same scriptures is open your mouth wide and I will fill it. He will fill it, he will fill it. You give him the jar, he will fill it.

Speaker 1: 19:15

And I'm telling you and this, there's nothing more that I can say about this the Prophet, the wife's prophet, and I'm telling you this, and if you go and read this, if you read the bible, you know the wives of the prophets didn't do anything. They served the prophet, that's it. So you can be rest assured. She had no job, she had no source of income, she had nothing left, but all she had was a little bit of oil and God took that oil and multiplied it. And just, I'm telling you, just for the measure of showing that he is God, he made Elisha happen to be there. He can do it for anyone.

Speaker 1: 19:53

Anyways, what do you think he needs? Somebody standing there? No, he doesn't. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Remember this this morning open your mouth wide and he will fill it. Stretch your tent cords. Stretch them and he will fill it. And, believe me, when you pray, shut that door and what you ask for in private, god will reward you openly in front of the whole world, because he wants the world to know that you are his. Oh, he's not a debtor to no man. The Bible says the cattle is his, the gold is his, everything is his. The gold is his, everything is his. You think he needs anything from anyone? He needs nothing. He just needs you to have a relationship with him. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Let's close our eyes, let's pray.

Speaker 1: 20:36

Dear Lord, I thank you for this beautiful time. O Lord, lord, I thank you, I thank you for your double-edged sword that does not go back until it has achieved what it has been set out for. Lord, and I thank you, lord, this beautiful morning. Lord, just as you have released the story of the widow, the story of the widow, lord, we give you our empty vessels, lord, we bring them and keep them at your feet. And for all those years, lord, that we have prayed, lord, we've shut that door and prayed, lord, we've gotten on our knees and we've fallen flat and we've prayed to you, we've reached out to you, lord. I thank you, lord. Your word says ask in my name and it will be given, lord, and I thank you, lord, for all the prayers that have been answered and I yay and amen in your name and in your timing, lord, lord, I thank you, lord, for everything that you've done for us. Lord, I thank you for your beautiful presence, lord, that people can feel. I thank you, lord, for always being faithful and watching over your word to perform it. I thank you, lord.

Speaker 1: 21:37

This, this beautiful day, wonderful breakthroughs happening, wonderful multiplication is happening in people's lives and they're opening their mouth wide and they are, and you are filling it for them, lord, because they are your children, lord, and you are their father. You have their name written on the palm of your hand, lord, and you know every situation that is for them. Their walls are continually before you, lord. Thank you, lord, the wonderful, wonderful breakthroughs that are happening. Thank you, lord, for what you have given us. Your word says with thanksgiving, and this beautiful morning we start with thanksgiving. Thank you, lord, for everything that you've given us and we thank you, lord, for what you're taking and multiplying into our lives and into everyone's lives this morning. Thank you, lord. In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen.