Friday Flashback #4: Preparation

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

This one is dated June 26,2001:
...I happened upon a note in my Bible that states 'The widow's blessing was in proportion to her preparation.' It was a note I'd made about the widow who had the miraculous flow of oil that paid off her debts (2 Kings 4:1-7) Something registered with me -- the woman made her preparation out of obedience and faith; she made her preparation when no oil was flowing; once the oil started flowing, there could be no more preparation.

Ok, every commentator agrees that the oil represents the Holy Spirit. What I get out of this is that my time of preparation is NOW: when the oil (anointing power) of the Holy Ghost starts flowing, the measure I receive/use is going to be determined by the capacity I have built up during the time when it looks like nothing is going to happen.

So - how do I 'increase my capacity?' I don't think it's a matter of studying so much as it is a matter of how much I'm willing to believe God for. But, 'faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,' so study IS necessary. The key is that the objective of study is not increased knowledge, but increased faith.

As a current note about increased faith, DS #1 is currently on a ministry trip to Mexico with a church from Nashville (that's a long story; I'll just say that the connection was made in Master's Commission; he's one of the chaperones for the group of 9 - 12 year old kids). Yesterday was their last actual ministry day; I asked him (via text messaging) how the day went. The conversation went something like this:

Him: Good. It was long. Prolly the biggest eye opener. We did some ministry at the dump.

Me: At the dump? Eye-opening for sure.

Him: Yeah. We had a blind guy healed.

!!!!
Ok, that'll increase some faith! God is amazing...