Day 11—God Doesn’t Force, He Fills

“The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a little oil.” Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.””
(2 Kings 4:1–7, NIV84)

All the great life changing revivals in history have one thing in common—there were people in and around the revival who completely missed out on it. And the reason can be found in Psalm 37:4—“…He will give you the desires of your heart.” God is eager to fill you with his Spirit, but he will never force his Spirit upon you. God is not a forcer, he is a filler. 

For God to send revival into your life and Revive All in your life, you must desire him to. Even better is to be desperate for him to, as the woman in passage above was.

Elisha encouraged the woman to borrow as many empty jars as she could, because he was well aware of this about God—that he will fill the empty places in our lives that we surrender to him. In the end it was the woman, not God, who determined the amount of blessing she received. When she had no more empty jars, the oil stopped flowing. Had she been a little more desperate, a little more determined to do as the prophet said and gather more empty jars, her blessing would have been greater.

God will fill the empty places we bring to him with the oil of his Holy Spirit and power. The problem often is that our lives are too filled. We’re too full to be desperate for him to fill us. And consider this—if you’re not hungry, what is filling you up?

“…for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”(Psalm 107:9, NIV84)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6, NIV84)

Whatever you’re willing to empty, God is waiting to fill. That’s the principle at work when you hear people say that they’ve learned that “they can’t out-give God.”

Don’t be afraid to empty yourself before God—he loves to fill empty places.