One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, "My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves." (2) "What can I do to help you?" Elisha asked. "Tell me, what do you have in the house?" "Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil," she replied. (3) And Elisha said, "Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. (4) Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled." (5) So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. (6) Soon every container was full to the brim! "Bring me another jar," she said to one of her sons. "There aren't any more!" he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. (2 Kings 4:1-6-NLT).
Here in 2 Kings 4 , Elisha through working of miracles multiplies oil for a needy lady. As long as she brought pots, oil kept coming from a jar to fill each one. However, as soon as she brought the last jar, the oil ceased.
The idea here is that as long as we have capacity, the Lord gives to us from His rich resources. Our receiving from the Lord is directly related to our capacity to receive. And our capacity to receive is directly related to our soul; that is, our mind, emotions, and will that has been influenced by family life in our young years.
We receive our beliefs and values for all of life from our family of origin by observation, association, and influence. We become what we learn at home! Our capacity in life is directly related to the values we have received from our family atmosphere.
Our outside life is a mirror image of our inside world. The only way to permanently alter our outward behavior is to alter the internal thoughts and motivations that cause it!
That’s where mind renewal comes into the picture. By looking into the perfect law of liberty and by associating with other believers who can speak truth to us we can see where our belief system needs changing. And we change by identifying, challenging, and acting contrary to wrong beliefs.
We all come from flawed families and it’s so important to renew our minds with truth every day! The process of change is a lifelong adventure in walking out the will of God.
The renewed mind will see God’s truth that I am a new creature in Christ, old things have passed away and all is new deep within the real me, the spirit nature. The renewed mind will see that Jesus became my sin for me so that I could become the righteousness of God in Him. The renewed mind sees inferiority, guilt, and sin consciousness as having been done away with by what Jesus did for me when He died and was raised from the dead. When He died, the old me died. When He was raised from the dead, the new me came alive! The renewed mind sees me a seated with Jesus in a place of love and privilege as a son of God. There, I am loved, favored, blessed, forgiven, healed, redeemed, and seated in a place far above all of Satan’s kingdom. I have authority in Christ!
I could go on and on here. But the point is that I must choose daily to replace wrong thinking that inhibits God’s best for me, and I must be willing by faith to accept what God says about me and act as though it is true even when feelings tell me otherwise!
Just like the widow bringing pots to fill with miraculously supplied oil, I am expanding my capacity to receive from God by clearing wrong thinking from my head and choosing to act as though what God about me is true!
Commit today to receiving God’s best by challenging wrong beliefs and by acting to overcome them. It’s a one step at a time, one day at a time deal. And if you’re doing it right, the farther and longer you go, the freer you become. It really is change from glory to glory!
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