Jars of Oil

Earthen Vessels

oil pastel on canvas painting by Jun Jamosmos

photo source

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,

And the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn,

To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the LORD,

that He may be glorified.

- Isaiah 61:2-3

And the manna was as coriander seed, 

and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. 

And the people went about, and gathered it, 

and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, 

and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: 

and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.

- Numbers 11: 7, 8 (KJV)

Then the LORD will be zealous for His land,
And pity His people.
The LORD will answer
and say to His people
"Behold, I will send you grain
and new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied by them;
I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
- Joel 2:18, 19


 
O pour on me Your holy oil
The Spirit of the Living God
Fill my cup Lord I lift it up
Until I overflow
(lines from the song A Resting Place by Paul Wilbur)

I arrived in Manila on August 17. It was good to spend seven weeks in my home city of Bacolod, but now I am enjoying being with my only daughter again.

Over the past weeks God gave me many opportunities to experience His love and goodness, and now it's time for another end of month writeup.

But before sharing some of the lessons I learned for the month just ended, let me put the events of the past weeks in their proper context.

A year ago, I entitled my end of August post When the Cloud Moves.  One day before August 2011 ended, I had to go on an unplanned flight back to Manila to help mediate in a relational situation between my daughter and my sister.  Of course my heart was heavy, but I held on to my Father's hands, and He gave me peace.

Always, in everything, whenever possible, my desire is to be an ambassador of peace.

And on that post I had written these words:

What an unexpected ending to this month! And yet, I had no doubt that things were happening for a purpose. I knew God has my life and my timetable in His hands. There was no inner struggle, only an ongoing prayer for Him to help me be a messenger of His peace... 

My choices define who I am...

Like the Israelites who moved when the cloud moved, I once again make the decision as this month ends that I would rather be guided by the cloud of God's presence more than anything else in this world.

Clouds in the Bible often stood for many beautiful things... protection, favor, guidance.

Above all, clouds stood for God's glory. Whenever Moses communed with God in the Tent of Meeting, the cloud of God's presence covered it.

The pillar of cloud always went ahead of the people to make sure that they knew which way to go.

And now, God's cloud is once again moving in my life... and there are important decisions that need to be made. read more...

On the last day of August, one year ago, I was on my knees asking God for clear guidance. I was standing on a crossroads marked by pain and uncertainty, and I needed God to give me the assurance that my heart longed for. I didn't want to lose my way.

His answer to my prayer was unexpected, but clear.

"You are entering your Lidia season," the Lord said. "No longer will you be known as Lidj - you will now be called by your given name, the name I have personally chosen for you."

It was such a defining moment for me when my heavenly Father clearly spoke these words - You are Lidia, a worshiper of God.

Earlier that morning I had felt like I was entering one of the saddest seasons of my life - when it seemed like yet another thing I had held dear in my life was being stripped away from me.

Yet the words God spoke had such a resonance in my heart... in fact, my heart surged with delight when I heard them.

God spoke those words to me exactly a year ago. On August 31, 2011, I entered what I called my Lidia Season, and worship and praise became the default settings of my life.

Yes, twelve months ago, I made the choice to live up to my name, a worshiper of God.

These were words written in one of my September 2011 posts, entitled   A New Season, A New Name:

I am taking up my position of worship... and definitely, I do not want to worship God from an empty water bottle, a cracked cistern that can hold no water... I want to worship God from a bottomless well!

Where am I today, twelve months after that personal encounter with God?

Many of you who have been following this blog know that in September of last year, my daughter Obedient One and I had to leave my father's house in Manila and look for another place to stay. In a couple of weeks, God led us to a tiny studio, not too far from where we used to live, and that was where I received the beautiful promise from God of my very own Rehoboth.

This word is a very special word for me. In Genesis 26 is found the story of Isaac redigging the wells that his father Abraham had dug.  The first two wells, met with strife and contention by the herdsmen of Gerar, were aptly named Esek meaning "dispute", and Sitnah, which stands for "contention."

Isaac decides to leave the vicinity, in search of another spot to dig a well. In moving away from dispute, contention, and strife, this man displayed nobility of character, wisdom and maturity.

I chose to do the same. I told myself, "Strife is not my portion, contention is not the land where I want to dwell."

Isaac re-digs a third well, and the result is peace. He names it Rehoboth... a beautiful word which literally means "broad places."

Rehoboth also means "room enough."

Isaac makes this declaration: "At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."

It was in February 2008, while Ernie and I were still living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, that God first spoke this word to me.  "I am bringing you into a broad, spacious land, " a promise laid so gently on my heart by my heavenly Father.

And ever since, that Rehoboth chapter in my sacred journey has never been forgotten.

 

I embraced that new season of my life - my Lidia season, my Rehoboth season. In the midst of painful circumstances, I sang my songs of worship... and I never doubted that there was indeed a Rehoboth waiting for me.

Rehoboth. A place that was abundant, life-giving, and where there was room enough for love, mercy, grace, compassion, and kindness to flourish.



The painful relational issue I mentioned above has been resolved and the healing oil of forgiveness, acceptance, and understanding has been poured into our hearts.

My daughter and I returned to our family home before February ended this year, under new arrangements.

But I am still looking forward to my Rehoboth. Because deep within my heart, I understood that Rehoboth is not a theoretical, mystical place. I received it as a literal word with a physical fulfillment.

When God gives a clear word, His desire is for it to be followed through with obedience. When there is a promise of fruitfulness and abundance, God is looking for the right kind of soil on which to plant the seeds of His promise.

Obedience is never given as an imposition, it is offered as an invitation.

However, obedience in God's kingdom is mandatory, that much I know. For one who desires to truly live as a kingdom person, obedience is not optional. Many are called, but few are chosen. We allow ourselves to be among the chosen when we obey.

Indeed the servant who always obeys is the one considered trustworthy!

The heart that loves is the heart that obeys.

When we love God, we do what He wants, not out of a sense of duty, but with a sense of delight.

It is so easy to take God's promises for granted, because He never imposes obedience on us. Rather, He extends it as an invitation. We are free to make the choice.

I never want to miss out on the blessings that God so freely gives; it is always my desire to be found obedient.

I share these lessons not as someone who has passed the test with flying colors, but as someone still in the process of learning to overcome. To be honest, it has not been easy. There are distractions, and of course, a hundred and one different things call out to me all throughout the day.

What reins me back in is the gentle invitation of the Father to draw near. To re-focus. To remember the priorities I have set.

When the year 2011 was about to end, I received a prophetic word from a fellow intercessor, Juan Coromina. After a time of prayer a few days after Christmas, Juan told me that he senses God telling him to tell me that the oil in my house will never run dry.

This brought tears to my eyes because the truth is that as a widow, my financial standing, by this world's standards, is not very secure. There are a number of reasons for me to be weighed down by uncertainty and a sense of lack. Yet I have always chosen to live each day with a joyful and thankful heart, and with a sense of God's riches and abundant provision, never from fear of lack.

But for Juan to release those prophetic words to me just as the year is ending meant so much to me.

About a year after my husband went home to heaven, I received an email from an African pastor, one of Ernie's friends at the Haggai Leadership Institute. His email was brief and direct to the point: he wrote that the teaching in their church that morning was on 2 Kings 4:1-7, and that God had clearly impressed on his heart that it was God's word for me as well.

 
Elisha and the Widow's Oil (2 Kings 4:1-7)
 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”

So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”

And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
 

I took that message to heart, and I have held on to this Scripture passage all these years.

On August 16, the night before my scheduled flight to Manila, I attended the weekly Bible study at my sister in law's house. The Scripture passage being studied was 2 Kings 4:1-7.  God's word never comes to us accidentally. God's word is always on time, and is sent for a specific purpose.

Elisha asks the widow what she has.

"Nothing... but a jar of oil," she replies.

All the widow has of substance is a jar of olive oil. She doesn't think it's much, but in God's scheme of things, it's enough.

The widow was being set up for a miracle, but she had to do something. She had to go out and borrow many empty jars from her neighbors, go back inside her house, shut the door, and start filling the jars with oil.

And the widow's jar of oil did not stop flowing until the last vessel was filled.

I know that I am that widow in the story. And I have often asked God what my jar of oil is.

But the instruction was specific. Go into the house and shut the door behind you.

The principle of the shut door is the principle of praying in secret. I may not know what my jar of oil is... but if I understand one part of the equation, that is a good starting point.

When I first heard this word spoken to me by that African pastor, I focused on the oil. That night, at the Bible study with Lyndon, my eyes were opened to the principle of the shut door.

God was giving me a direction: "shut the door behind you and start filling the jars with oil."

Let the oil of intercession flow. Wham! The realization hit me full force.

It had been a struggle the past weeks. I could sense that there was a block, a hindrance... almost as if a physical wall was in front of me, keeping me from any effective intercession, even though I knew it was my calling, and my assignment.

But I am determined to obey, and the promise is sure: the supernatural supply of oil will never end until the last vessel is filled.

Oil has had a beautiful significance for me these past years. It's been four years since Ernie passed away. And really, I have moved on. The grief has been processed and I have come to terms with the reality of his death. But I guess there is still a sense in which the grieving never ends. There are still some nights, or even during the day, when I become aware of an ache, a longing for my dear husband, especially because he was such a sweet, gentle, and kind man, and we had a beautiful relationship. I really miss Ernie, even after four years.

I'm not even asking for comfort at this point. God's already taken care of that.  It just feels good to express what's on my heart.

How can I best describe what I feel? I feel like I have no sense of belonging. That's how it feels. My children love me, but I do not belong to my children. My friends care for me, but I do not belong to my friends.

Only a husband who is committed to me in covenant love can give me that sense of belonging.

But God sees my need. He knows and understands how I feel.

He cares.

And He has been faithful to pour into my heart the oil of joy instead of mourning all these years. That steady supply of joy has given me the strength I need to move on.


Oil also speaks of provision. God promises to send new wine, the oil, and the grain...


God has spoken to me time and again through the circumstances of my life, through a prophetic word, through a passage in Scripture. So many beautiful promises.  And God is faithful and true to His promises. I never have any reason to doubt Him.


The month of August speaks to me of obedience and provision.

With God, I am sure of this: a promise given is a promise kept.

My name for the amazing month of August is ... Jars of Oil.

I end this post with a beautiful video about the five wise and the five foolish virgins in Matthew 25, part of the bridal entourage waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. Five were ready with an extra supply of oil, but the other five were not. Paul Wilbur's narration and singing is anointed and powerful. I invite you to take time to listen to it.

The Watchman
by Paul Wilbur

God has placed a watchman on your walls
oh Jerusalem
They will not be silent day or night
Of the Lord they make constant mention
They will give no sleep to their eyes
Until God establishes grace
There will be no peace in their nights
Until the Lord makes Jerusalem a praise
He has sworn it by His strength

If you lift up your voices and call on the Lord
He will come
And the nations will see that salvation comes
from Zion
Oh no more waiting the anointing of God
has begun
Oh blind eye will see as the captives go free
If you lift up your voices He’ll come

Behold the Lord has proclaimed this to
ends of the earth
And though there’s fear in your
streets tonight
Something’s already birthed
Tabernacle is rising right now
In the hearts of those who believe
There’s the sound of a freedom shout
Rising up from under your feet

If you lift up your voices and call on the Lord
He will come
And the nations will see that salvation comes
from Zion

Oh no more waiting the anointing of God
has begun
Oh blind eye will see as the captives go free
If you lift up your voices He’ll come