You’re Praying for More but Ignoring What You Already Have. Here’s Why It Matters

How often are you saying to yourself that something isn't enough in your life?

There's not enough income, not enough skills, not enough connections, not enough time?

In other words, how often are we waiting on or asking God for more, but we don't see what's already right in front of us and how he wants to use it?

Today's episode is all about 2 Kings 4:2 in the story of the woman with with the jar of oil.

Can't wait to share it because I think it's going to be eye opening and it's going to just set you free in ways that God wants to use what you already have to bless you with.

More welcome to Faith Fueled Living, the podcast that equips you to live well spiritually, emotionally, physically and purposefully.

Each week we'll dive into conversations and biblical truths to help you strengthen your faith, pursue meaningful work, hear for your whole self, and live in line with what matters most.

All right, before I jump into what I want to talk about today and share with you, I do want to say something from the episode I shared last episode, for those of you that listened, that was about being distracted in spiritual warfare.

And it's this.

When I started sharing again my solo content, when I started getting in God's Word more, and when I started reading more of the Christian books that I used to read daily, you know, like I filled myself up with more of understanding the Bible, understanding who God is, it lit something in me again.

And I'm just going to tell you that if something used to work for you, and maybe you're not doing it anymore, or maybe you've never felt that, try something new.

Add in something that's going to fill your spirit with God's word.

Fill your spirit with God's stories and pray and fill your story.

I mean, fill your spirit with testimony.

Because that is when my belief grows.

It's when I have interviewed people or I've read books by authors, or I've spoken to people that their belief changed their life.

And I don't mean like you believe in God.

I mean their belief for believing that God will do what he promises in their lives.

It changes everything.

So I just wanted to share that with you and just encourage you if you, if you have been struggling with feeling worn out or unmotivated or unfocused or whatever it is you're walking through.

That is what helped me get back to, I think, how God wants me to be showing up in the world in doing it without feeling uncertain or doing it without feeling like what will someone think?

But just getting back on mission, fixing my focus on Jesus and saying, let's go take the step one day at a time.

All right, so today we're really going to talk about what is it that we have that's right in front of us that God wants to use to bless us?

God wants to use to bless other people because it's so easy to get caught up in our culture and the idea that we don't have enough or maybe we aren't.

We don't have a resource or a thing that we can create more with, but often it's because we're overlooking it.

And I love what Bob Lotic says.

He basically has created a book about, like, biblical finances, and then he also shares content online about it.

But he says what you call ordinary God might be calling an asset.

And he reminds us that we've been taught to look for what's missing.

In other words, we think, I don't have enough income, I don't have enough skills, I'm not qualified.

I don't have enough connections.

I don't even have a skill that I can make or monetize on.

We say and repeat things like, I only make such and such.

I only have something little.

Or this isn't.

This isn't really anything that I can monetize or I can bless others with.

So we keep using language that actually is keeping us stuck and not letting us step into the vision opportunity that God is trying to show us for what's right in front of us that we can use to bless others and that will also bless us.

This is maybe one of the most important things that Bob shared in this one post that I was reading of his.

And it's this.

Jesus never started with what's missing.

He always started with what was already there, what did we have?

Right?

And so it's the boy with five loaves of bread, two small fish, but that it fed the crowds, it kept on becoming more.

When we handed it over to serve others, when we took action to do something with what we had, even if it didn't seem enough, it became abundantly enough for serving other people, which then blesses us.

So the main scripture I want to talk about today is 2 Kings 4:2, which is basically where the widow there is a woman who's been.

Her husband has passed and she has debt collectors coming after her.

And she doesn't know how she's going to pay the bills.

She doesn't know how she's going to support her family.

And so she Goes to the prophet Elisha and says, what?

I'm sorry.

And this is what is said.

Alicia asks her, what can I do for you?

Tell me, what do you have in the house?

And basically, what ensues?

He then actually cuts her off and says, what?

I'm sorry.

Before he even lets her answer the question, what can I do for you?

He says, what do you have in the house?

And then here is where.

Here's kind of the point.

What resources are already available to you?

And I just started a new devotional by Priscilla Schreier called Awaken.

And actually on day two of the devotional, she's talking about this same scripture, and she's talking about, what do you have?

So same concept, but just some other things that she points out.

But one of them, again, is how easily we point out our lack, like I said, or what's missing.

And the thing, though, is this.

She asked some really important questions, which is we had the thing all along, right?

We had something that God can use, that he wants us to use in the world.

And she says the foundation for a miracle was right under her nose, that she's talking about the woman with the jar of oil.

And she says if only she would take the time and energy required to go and look.

If only she would become as invested in expecting God's answers as she'd been invested in lodging her complaints.

What do you have in the house?

In your house?

She's asking us this within your reach.

Sometimes we wait patiently on God when He is patiently waiting on us, waiting for us to recognize what he's already given as part of the answer to our problem.

What little pot of oil have you neglected to notice?

What little shred of possibility have you chosen to ignore?

What little patch of time have you disparaged?

What little hints of blessing have you criticized as insufficient?

What little humble beginnings have you shoved to the back shelf, considering them unworthy of being the basis for God's miraculous intentions?

Maybe the answer you've been praying for is already there, plain as day.

Response from God to your plea, immediately ready to be applied to the situation.

I mean, imagine that.

And back to what Bob was sharing, it's that the little boy didn't bring a miracle, he just brought what he had.

And that's what God is asking us to do.

Bring what you have and let's see your accept, he says, might look like this.

That thing you're always helping a friend with, that lesson you learned the hard way, the weird skill you just do without thinking doesn't have to be impressive.

And actually I would, I would add to that it probably isn't impressive, or at least not to you, because it's either natural or it's a season you walk through, or it's a testimony that you're yet to share.

It may be something that is right in front of you, but you've never noticed it as something that can be used to serve others, that it can be used to help your current circumstance.

But the key to all this is one, it's that we notice what's already there.

The what do we already have?

But it's also then to take action, take the next step.

And what do I mean by that?

It's to offer it so we can't just realize we have something.

Let's say that you break, you bake beautiful sourdough bread, but you've never.

You've shared it, maybe with a neighbor, but you've never seen it as a potential way that you can serve others with the heart you put into baking that healthy, nourishing, loving bread.

But yet it could be just the thing that if you offered it to people, that you offered in commerce, you sold it, it would bless your family more, but it would also serve the people around you because it is fresh, nourishing bread and is bread that you would likely bless with God's promises, with God's prayers.

And so we have to offer the thing that we realize is something that we can use.

And he goes on, bob says, if you want to know if it's the accept is something that you can do something with it.

If it's your seed, he says, ask questions like what keeps on keeps someone up at 2am that my gift could solve.

And it's not just for your income, but to answer someone's prayers.

In other words, the widow, he says, didn't hoard the oil, she sold it.

That wasn't selfish, that was obedience.

And he says something else that's super important.

Multiplication isn't for storage.

It's for service.

Someone needs what you've been dismissing.

And he says, God multiplies what you already have.

Stop waiting for more.

Start offering what's already in your hands.

It's so beautiful.

And that is the thing about God.

His economy is a multiplication economy.

He wants to bless you and he also wants you to be of service to others.

And he wants you to be the answer to someone else's prayers.

So once again, the question you need to ask yourself is what is right in front of you?

What is the resource, the skill, the ability or Something you've walked through that you can help someone else with.

Remember, this can be anything.

It can be that you're a parent and you have figured out how to get your kid to sleep.

It can be that you're a parent and you've figured out a schedule that works, and every friend of yours that's tried to apply it, it works for them.

The chaos has left their home.

It can be that you know how to copyright and you have tips on how other people can become good copywriters.

You see, it can be anything.

God will use whatever resource or skill or tiny bit of oil that you have and you are able to to offer to someone else.

So today I encourage you.

What is it we're overlooking?

Where is it that we're speaking?

Lack into our lives and into our resources.

Because we need to shift that script.

We need to start speaking God's promises and blessings over our life.

We need to thank God now before the abundance and blessing comes.

Because we know it's coming, we know it's here, and we want to pray and ask God, show us what I'm missing.

Show me what is right in front of me that you want to use for the good of your kingdom.

Because when we do this, everything will shift.

And if you want to take this idea, this biblical idea to the next level, besides praying and asking God to reveal to you what is your jar of oil, what is your fish and loaves that you can use to bless others, to serve others, and to also change your life, you can also write down and start a list of what are the things that you what are the resources, what are the things or the skills that you have right now that might be exactly what God has put in front of you that can be used, right, that you can offer out into the world.

And also the second part of that is ask some close friends what is a skill or a gift or an ability or something that I do that I could offer to the world that would bless other people?

What is something that just seems to come easy to you, that they think, yeah, we keep wondering why you're not making this into something more.

We keep wondering why you don't offer this to more people.

Because people keep asking you, but you just dismiss it.

So that would be my exercise or item that I would share with you today is grab a note, a piece of paper, a notebook, or grab your notes on your phone and start a list, pray over that list, add to that list, and then just, you know, once again, add it to your prayers.

Lord, I want to be used by you.

I want to be part of answered prayers for other people.

And I also want to use my resources to further the kingdom.

So that is what I'd say is how you can further use this, this episode to help you on, in this path of understanding.

What do you have that can be used for the king?

And I'm going to be honest with you, this is something that I've been working on and walking through as well.

Because while I've done plenty of things and I've done workshops for lots of things over the last 25 years, I've done lots of workbooks and I have the podcasts, but I still sometimes struggle with where are additional revenue streams or how can I grow a revenue stream.

But more importantly, right, because in God's kingdom, it isn't about the money.

It's about how can I be of utmost service to others, how can I serve people better?

And when we focus on that, it will be blessed.

And so I have to remind myself sometimes, don't focus on the income or the outcome.

Focus on giving glory to God.

Focus on serving others.

Right?

Focus on being an answer to their prayers.

How can we help the people around us?

It can be in business, it can be something related to our household.

It can be something we make or create.

It can be the art we doodle, it can be the cards we love making for friends.

It can be anything, and it's probably right in front of us.

But we have to be willing to offer it, offer it to the world and let it bring glory to God.

Let it answer someone's prayer and then it will multiply that blessing of abundance in our own lives.

So I hope this episode encouraged you and helped you just change your perspective on maybe what's right in front of you, to stop looking at what's missing or what you're lacking and look at what has the potential when you offer it to.

To become more, to be multiplied in the world.

Because that's how God changes the world.

He uses us to serve others.

He uses us to bless others.

And he uses us that when we take action, he shows up.

Miracles happen.

When we take action, miracles happen.

We say, lord, send me.

Let me be the one to go and offer this service, this thing that I make, this concept that I've figured out, this framework, whatever it is, just go up, go into the world and you will see how God will change it through and in you.

And I promise things will shift.

So until next time, I hope you have a beautiful and blessed day.

And I will see you back here in a couple days.

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