Steven Furtick - A Prayer For Those Feeling Insignificant
This is an excerpt from: Frozen Oil and Chosen Vessels
You gotta have this sense in your life, servant of God, that "I'm not doing it for them," because sometimes you will pour into people and they won't say a word, but they're not your source. I might be pouring into people, but I'm pouring for the Lord. So I can keep pouring if you appreciate me. I can keep pouring if you don't. I can keep pouring if you stay. I can keep pouring if you walk out. I'm so grateful God kept pouring into me when I seemed unprofitable. I have to keep pouring. It said she kept pouring. I wonder how stupid she felt when she first started pouring. Once it started working it was probably kind of fun. I will point out one thing I thought was kind of funny.
Elisha told her in verse 3, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars". In verse 5 it says, "She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her…" She made her kids go to the neighbors. "You heard what the man said". She did one more thing I want to point out, and it's what enabled her to pour. She shut the doors. That's such an important detail in this text, because it is what you pour out in private when no one is looking. A lot of us are so busy praying for more oil, more opportunity, more, more, more, more, more, and God says, "Pour, pour, pour, pour, pour".
The more you pour, the more it flows. You're never going to pour out what you have while you're so busy consulting what everybody else has. You be like the woman who came in and poured out that expensive fragrance on the feet of Jesus. All of the men around called it a waste, and she called it worship. You're always going to feel like it's not enough, and even if you feel like it is enough you feel like it doesn't matter. Have you had a day like that in the last seven where you felt like, "This doesn't even matter"? Shut the door and keep pouring.
In fact, sometimes the best thing to do is shut your mouth and keep pouring, because the oil only became more when it was in motion and the oil only flowed when the vessels were ready. I don't think this message is really about the oil at all; I think it's about the vessels. When Elisha told her to go around to her neighbors, he gave her a very specific type of vessel to request. He said, "Make sure they're empty". God can't fill what's already full. That's why it's so important that you pour out your pride. That's why it's so important that we pour out our own opinions and come before the Lord empty. When the vessels are ready, the oil will flow. There's something strange about these vessels we only learn with a New Testament revelation.
This is 2 Kings 4, but if you jump a couple of centuries over to 2 Corinthians 4 you get the full message. Paul says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels". Why would God put something so special in such a cracked vessel? What keeps you from showing up is your cracks and your conflicts, but that is the very place the blessing flows through. Paul said, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be from God, not from us". One season in our church that I was feeling particularly overwhelmed, I said to Holly, "I just don't feel like I'm the pastor they need".
The reason I said it is the need was so great and my experience was so small. At this particular point, I had just turned 30 and the church was already about the same size as the town I grew up in. That'll make you stop and pause. That'll make you feel like not enough. If you've ever felt like not enough, wave at me. I don't like to do this alone. It's a very vulnerable feeling. I said, "I don't feel like I'm the pastor they need". She looked back at me cold-blooded and said, "You're the one we've got". Y'all are clapping at me, but I'm saying it to you. You're the mom they've got. You're the dad they've got. You're the son they've got. You're the daughter they've got. You're the one God chose. You are his chosen vessel, and he chose you not in spite of your cracks but because of them.
That ensures that people will not compliment the vessel; they will value the oil. It is what God put inside of you, but you have to pour it out. I want to pray for you today. Stand to your feet, because I want to pray for you in this moment. If you've been in a deficit emotionally, spiritually, relationally, financially… Deficits come in many different varieties. If you are that empty vessel today and you've come to the end of yourself, I have good news for you. That's the starting place for God's supply to be poured out in your life. "And my God shall supply all of your needs according to his…" Not according to your quantity of oil but according to his glorious riches.
I have preached this message today with the hopes that in this moment you would see yourself as a vessel God is ready to fill. When the vessels are ready, the oil will flow. It's good when you feel empty. It's good when you feel like you're not enough. It's good when you know your need, because then you remember your source. Right now in this moment I want to ask that everybody who needs a touch from God today in an area of your life where you've been feeling deficient…
I want to ask that you'd just close your eyes, lift your hands to heaven, and forget about all of the people around you. Let's shut the door for a moment. Let's come before God in honesty and sincerity, like this woman did with the prophet. She knew where to go first. She took her needs to the man of God. She didn't run around from neighbor to neighbor to neighbor, like we tend to do sometimes. She went to God first. If we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be added to us, but if we run around, if we don't open our hearts before him, we will die for the lack of what he has already provided. There is oil in your house. There is a reason to be grateful. There is a strength in this season of your life.
Father, today, with our hands lifted up and our hearts open and our minds renewed, we thank you for the oil we have. Somebody say, "Thank you, Lord, for my oil". God, we're sorry for complaining about the oil we lost. We're sorry for comparing our oil supply to others. We come to you today in humility of spirit declaring that what you have given is all you require. We thank you for the gift of your grace in our lives. We thank you for your mercy in this moment. We thank you for your enabling power, your anointing for this season of our lives, that where we are is where we're supposed to be. It's by design.
God, we determine in our hearts in this moment not to become bitter about what we've poured out that we didn't receive a return on. We declare that you are the source of our strength and you are the strength of our lives. We lift our eyes to the hills. Our help comes from you. Our joy comes from you, and you are more than enough to meet every need. Father, we lift our eyes to heaven today. Would you fill our cups to the top? We thank you that goodness and mercy flow over. Our cup overflows. You are with us in this moment. We declare that your presence is more than enough. Your Word is more than enough. Spirit of God, fall fresh on your people now, a fresh outpouring, a fresh anointing. May they receive it in the power of your great name, Jesus.
God, we determine in our hearts in this moment not to become bitter about what we've poured out that we didn't receive a return on. We declare that you are the source of our strength and you are the strength of our lives. We lift our eyes to the hills. Our help comes from you. Our joy comes from you, and you are more than enough to meet every need. Father, we lift our eyes to heaven today. Would you fill our cups to the top? We thank you that goodness and mercy flow over. Our cup overflows. You are with us in this moment. We declare that your presence is more than enough. Your Word is more than enough. Spirit of God, fall fresh on your people now, a fresh outpouring, a fresh anointing. May they receive it in the power of your great name, Jesus.