Lights in a Dark World Part One

Philippians 2v14-16

14¶Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

15That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

We are to shine as lights in the world as the sons of God. The verse above says in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, we are to hold forth the Word of Life.

How can we do and be what the Word says?

We certainly can't do it in our own strength.

We have no light in or of ourselves but yet the Word of God tells us in Matthew 5v14-16

14¶Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Empty Vessels and the Oil

2 Kings 4v1-7

We find the account of the widow woman, of the wives of the sons of the prophets, who's husband had died and because her family was in debt, the creditor was going to take her two sons as payment. She cries unto the prophet Elisha concerning her circumstances.

Elisha asks her two questions:

1. What do you want me to do for you?

2. What do you have in the house?

We are in an hour when it seems we are surrounded by death i.e. spiritual death. Maybe we fear that which is precious to us is going to be taken away.

Is the spiritual dearth and death causing a desperate cry to arise from the very depths of our souls? Are we in a place where we are so desperate for God's help and intervention? Are we crying out for our sons and daughters, our children in the natural who are facing the darkest days the world has ever known in the not too distant future?

Are we crying out for our sons and daughters in the spiritual realm. Those who are yet to come into the Kingdom but have been chosen for this last hour.

For me the creditor represents the enemy of our souls. He goes about as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour 1 Peter 5v8.

He wants to take our children away from us.

Where is the cry of the spirit in this hour?

Where are the intercessors who will travail and cry out of brokenness and desperation to see God's mighty arm made bare, to see the enemy driven back and our sons and daughters delivered out of his hand?

We need to get desperate before things get really desperate.

We need to once again know what it is to experience the cry of the Spirit within our hearts, driving us to our knees to travail and stand in the gap until we see God answer and move in this last day.

When that true cry comes forth then God will answer and He will ask us the same questions as the prophet asked the widow all those years ago:

1. What do you want me to do?

2. What do you have in the house or maybe it would be better put

Do you realise what you have at your disposal?

Do you realise what you have at your disposal, that can completely and totally change your fear into faith and turn the impossibility and inevitability of your situation around, so that you see My power and grace working a miracle in your life, family, community and even nation!!

Brothers and sisters I know I'm hearing from God and this message has been sent to encourage and strengthen us and give us hope and an earnest expectation, that God will move in this day and generation, if we will just get earnest and call upon Him in truth and with a genuine heartfelt cry.

The woman answers Elisha in v2 by saying , "Thine handmaid hasn't got anything in the house, save a pot of oil".

You see she underestimated what she had at her disposal!!

She had something that was so powerful and life changing but she didn't realise it.

All she could see was the death, the desperation of her situation, the debt and the devastation of losing her sons. She was so focused on all this that she missed the solution. It took a prophetic word, a prophetic intervention, to cause her to see what she had at her disposal that could completely change everything.

Brothers and sisters we are so in need of a true prophetic word right from the heart of God, a rhema word if you like, to cause us to realise that if we have the pot of oil at our disposal, that we have everything we need.

What do you have in the house??

The Oil as a Type of the Holy Spirit

Oil in scripture represents the Holy Ghost.

We see this typology in the tabernacle in the book of Exodus

Exodus 25v6

6Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,

Exodus 27v20&21

20¶And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

21In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

The Priests were responsible for tending the Menorah (candlestick/lamp) morning and at evening to ensure that there was continual light in the Holy Place.

The oil was the only source of light and illumination in the Holy Place speaking of the Holy Spirt as the Spirit of Revelation who alone can reveal the Bread of Life (Jesus as typified in the Shewbread).

There were three items in the Holy Place:

1. The Table of Shewbread

2. The Lampstand

3. The Altar of Incense

You see God has so ordained it that we can only know Christ as the True Bread of Life who came down from heaven by Holy Spirit given revelation John 6v32-51

In 1 Samuel 3v3 we read that the lamp of God, that exclusive source of light in the tabernacle, was about to go out under the apostate, compromising leadership of the High Priest, Eli.

Is not that the state of much of what we call the church today. Apostate leaders, false teachers, hirelings and wolves in sheeps clothing, have infiltrated the church and as a result of the "takeover" by human agencies and efforts, the poor substitute of artificial light (i.e. man's own initiative, wisdom, interpretation of scripture and a total lack of dependence upon the source of all divine revelation and illumination) has brought us to the place whereby the lamp has almost gone out and as a result the Word of God has been made of no effect by man's traditions and there is no holding forth of the Word of Life.

Life giving Spirit has been replaced by dead letter.

In Exodus 30v22-25 we read very specific instructions concerning the making of "the holy anointing oil". It was to made after the art of the perfumer. The tabernacle and all of it's furniture including the ark and the various altars were to be anointed. The Priesthood was also to be anointed.

The purpose of the anointing was to:

1. Sanctify the furniture and tabernacle

2. Consecrate (set apart) the Priests so that they could minister in the Priest's office

v32 gives a very clear warning that the precious anointing oil was not to be poured upon human flesh, neither was it to counterfeited or copied.

It was unique, Holy and special.

Note the command to not pour it on human flesh. The Lord had provided priestly garments for the Priesthood and it was upon these garments that the oil was to be poured in order to consecrate and set apart the Priests to conduct their priestly ministry and duties.

This is so significant in that:

1. It typifies Christ as our Great High Priest who has been once again clothed in heavenly splendour and glory having stripped himself of the glory He had with the Father to become our substitute and die for our sins. He was anointed to minister during His earthly ministry Isaiah 61v1, Acts 10v38 and now sits at the Father's right hand, clothed and anointed to make intercession for us as our heavenly High Priest. Hebrews 2v17, 3v1, 4v14-16, 7v24-28.

2. It also speaks to us as a Royal Priesthood of Believers that we cannot be set apart and anointed to minister to God first and then to the people, (the redeemed and the unsaved) unless we are first clothed with the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness Isaiah 61v10.

We must put off the old man (our sinful, fleshly Adamic nature) which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of our mind (souls) and put on the new man which after God is created in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4v22-24.

In Romans 13v14 it tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture makes it clear that if we are walking in and controlled by the flesh then we cannot carry the anointing and be effective ministers of the gospel of Christ.

There must be a putting off of the old, a renewing of the mind and a putting on of the new in order to truly experience sanctification and divine enduement with power from on high.

In Psalm 133, we are told how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity.

It is likened to the precious ointment/oil that was poured upon the head of the High Priest, Aaron, that ran down his beard and continued to flow down to the skirts of his priestly garments.

What a beautiful type and picture. Christ is the Head of His Body, the church or ekkelsia. What this typifies is that the anointing must come from Christ as our Head. As it comes from Him and as we dwell together in unity, then it will flow from Jesus to us, the Body, which is the fulness of Him who fills all things. Ephesians 2v22&23.

We will be set apart and equipped to be lights in a dark world and the sole source of that light will be the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit.

If all we have in this hour, is the power of the Holy Ghost, then we have all we need to shine as lights and reach the lost in this generation.

We have had the gimmicks, the cheap substitutes, the programmes, traditions, man controlled and man inspired initiatives for church growth etc etc but at what cost?

The church, with a few exceptions, is powerless, weak and irrelevant. Jesus said without me you can do nothing. Nothing that is, that will make an eternal difference and bring glory to the Father.

We are guilty of settling for the cheap counterfeit at the expense of the real and genuine.

However, there is hope.

Empty Vessels not a Few

God has so ordained it that the oil must have a vessel, a receptacle,  something to carry the oil.

In short, God has ordained it that we must be carriers of His power and glory and like in the account in 2 Kings 4  there is a need for EMPTY VESSELS THAT THE OIL CAN BE POURED INTO!!

Go borrow thee vessels from your neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few (scant not).

In other words don't limit God, take all limits off and increase your expectation and capacity to believe that all things are possible!

Borrow as many empty vessels as you can find and shut the door upon you and your sons and start pouring out the wee pot of oil into the vessels and wait to you see what happens.

Shut the door.

I believe this means that we must spend time in the secret place of prayer if we are to see an outpouring of God's Spirit in our lives and in the lives of others.

Matthew 6v6

6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Prayer and spending time in God's presence is vital and key to experiencing the oil being poured into our lives and then into the lives of our families, communities, nation and the world.

It says the woman did what the prophet said - in other words she obeyed and aligned her life with the prophetic word - and "she poured out" to the point were the empty vessels were full and because there were no more available vessels the oil stopped.

I believe the oil would have kept pouring while there were available vessels.

There is an infinite and inexhaustible supply of oil at our disposal.

In other words the Holy Spirit is limitless but He is limited by the availability of empty vessels. Hallelujah!

Elisha then instructed the woman to go sell the oil and pay off the debt.

You see when we are infilled by the inexhaustible and limitless supply of the anointing, we will have something to offer, we will have something of great value that will meet the need of not just us but those who we come into contact with.

When Peter and John encountered  the cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, Peter said to him

Look on us,

Silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I unto you, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. He went walking and leaping and praising God.

Acts 3v1-11.

What confidence Peter had, not in himself or his own ability but in the supernatural, miracle working power of God.

You see, God is wanting to bring us to a place, were we will have such confidence and assurance, that we know that we know, that we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us! 1 Corinthians 4v7

I believe we are on the verge of the greatest outpouring of God's spirit this world has ever known, the former and the latter rain. Joel 2v23,28-32, James 5v7&8.

We like the early church will move in such a dimension and realm of the Spirit that the dead will be raised, the cripple will walk and the blind will see and those who are in chains of bondage and captivity will be wondrously set free!

What a hope, what a vision, what a future!