The Empty Principle

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 4:13-14 NIV

 Empty.  The word pretty much sums it up doesn’t it?  When your doctor says your daughter has leukemia, when you lose your job unexpectedly, when you find out the joy of having a child has now been tainted with “special needs”, when your spouse for decades suddenly decides the marriage is over, when financial losses have shattered far too many dreams and driven you into deep despair, when your spouse is living life out of control through addictions, or when death strikes and there are no answers.  In these times there seems to be no words, but “empty” is as close as you’ll ever get to describing how you feel.

Yet it doesn’t even begin to explain the condition of the depths of our soul when we’re “empty.”  But if we are walking by faith, believing His promises and trusting Him fully then He is going to REQUIRE that we’re empty, so He can fill us up to overflow.  The emptier we are the more we can be filled.  But that still doesn’t make much sense.  We think this through and can’t help but reason that if we’re “empty” we have nothing left…right? Wrong.

Let’s look at 2 Kings 4 to look at the EMPTY PRINCIPLE. A widow with two children had creditors calling her threatening to take her children for payment. Can you imagine? So Elisha, the prophet, told her to gather every empty jar she can find in her neighborhood and fill them with the little bit of oil she had.  She was instructed to keep pouring until all containers  were full then sell the jars of oil to pay her debt and live on the left overs.  She did what the prophet told her.  The jars were empty but the potential was there to be filled with precious oil of hope.

The widow began to pour the small amount of oil she owned into one of the pots she gathered. She kept pouring and the pot became full.  As a matter of fact, every jar she collected was filled to the brim with oil that she sold and paid off debt.  Afterward, there was more than enough product to sell to support her family.  The widow was desperate, hopeless and needed a miracle. God showed up with his miracle working power.

I was completely devoid when I endured destitute times in my life.  Empty.  Nothing left. Just like those dry clay pots the widow gathered.  Little did I realize that I needed to be emptied.  I was filled with a mixture of God and myself.  When self was poured out completely God began to fill me up with His Spirit, that precious anointing oil that gives hope in the midst of turmoil. 

The Empty Principle is when you feel there is nothing left inside then God can work His miracle and fill you to overflowing with eternal life.

Fill me up, God, to overflow!

 

Fill Me Up by Jesus Culture