How Much Can You Take?

2 Kings 4:1-6

Message No. 0581 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca

There's no doubting the fact that our God is the unlimited God. He created the heavens and the earth! He is not short of resources. He only needs to speak and whatever He wants would be produced. Look at the story of creation in Genesis chapter 1. God basically called to existence whatever He wanted, by issuing the command “Let there be.” Everything He wanted came into existence, no questions asked. For each item created, God sat back, folded His arms and examined the item and declared that it was good. In Jeremiah 32:7, He asked a rhetorical question:

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”

The answer is clear, nothing is, or can ever be, too difficult for our God. Everyone is limited by his or her capacity to receive from Him. The question is: how much can you take?

In 2 Kings 4:1-6, the Bible says that the wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha that her righteous husband had died, and the creditors were threatening to take her two boys as slaves since she was not able to pay what the husband owed. Standing upon the authority of God, Elisha asked what the widow had at home and it turned out that she had one small jar of oil. Go, Elisha said, and borrow vessels from all your neighbors and do not borrow a few. Shut the door of your house behind you and pour the jar of oil into the vessels and as one is full, set it aside and pour to the next. The woman did as Elisha said and when she had filled up the available vessels, she asked for another one, but was told that there was no other.

In Mark 6:30-43, there were thousands of people following Jesus as He preached and taught them. The night was approaching, and the people were hungry. Testing the disciples, Jesus asked them to give the multitude something to eat. Bewildered, the disciples questioned how much they would spend on bread to feed the people. It turned out that someone came prepared, probably to feed five people – five loves and two fish. Make them all sit down in groups, Jesus said, and after blessing the food, He told them to serve the people. Only Jesus Himself could have expected to have 12 baskets of leftovers after 5,000 people had eaten.

I ask again, what is your capacity? How much can you take from the unlimited God? What is your level of faith? The source of our provisions has no challenges, the machines never stop working and they do not require maintenance. However, the machines can only produce what is needed – no excess is allowed. God is not a waster of resources. Production is on demand and faith is the required command.

When wine was finished at the marriage in Cana, Mary told the people to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Though Jesus didn’t want to do anything, Mary had so much faith that He could not resist. He made them to fill empty pots with water while the people thought He was basically deranged, not knowing the difference between water and wine. In the end, the people drank wine of such high quality that they had never drank before.

When God tells you to prepare for a blessing, you should never prepare small, because He can give you so much that no one could have ever envisaged. Solomon asked simply for wisdom. God gave him wisdom and blessed him to the extent that kings and queens visited his kingdom to see the wonders that they could only have imagined. The currency to meet God at the factory is faith. If the widow in our Bible passage ever knew that the oil would continue to flow, she would have filled her entire house with so many vessels that no one would be able to move, but she only tested the hypothesis. Her faith currency could only buy as many vessels as she borrowed. If she knew, she would not only have enough food for her family, she would have become a powerhouse of blessing to others or a bank of some sort.

As God’s children, we are what we believe. If we believe that our God is small, we will have small success. If we believe that our God is a Superpower, we will live in abundance and be a blessing to others. Much more is available where your supplies are coming from, but do you believe that you can take more?

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 If you are yet to give your life to Christ, you do not have a covenant with God and His promises do not apply to you. To come under these promises, please surrender your life to Christ today, by praying this prayer:
 Lord I know that I am a sinner and I am unable to save myself. I am sorry for my sins and I pray that you please forgive me. I am aware that Your Son Jesus died for my sins and I accept Him as my Lord and savior. I surrender my life unto you from this moment. Please take control of my entire being and help me to be obedient to your Word, going forward. Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. I have prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
 If you prayed the foregoing prayer, you have just been born again. Please find a Bible believing church in your area and ask to see the pastor. Let him or her know that you have just given your life to Christ and s/he will guide you on next steps in your journey as a child of God. The Lord bless you!