"However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves. We are hedged in (pressed) on every side [troubled and oppressed in every way], but not cramped or crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair; We are pursued (persecuted and hard driven), but not deserted [to stand alone]; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed; Always carrying about in the body the liability and exposure to the same putting to death that the Lord Jesus suffered, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown forth by and in our bodies." -The Apostle Paul
Something must die for Christ to live.
The circumstance that is present in your life today is a thief of the treasure that is inside of you.
In other words:
- Poverty is a thief
- Bitterness is a thief
- Anger is a thief
- Unforgiveness, pride, carnality, fear, anxiety, sickness and unemployment is a thief.
But regardless of how things look on the outside, we possess a "precious treasure" that cannot compare to the sufferings of this present time or life. In fact, they are not even worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to, in and for us.
Champions always get tested by the brook.
To illustrate this, in 874 B.C., without introduction, bold and uncompromisingly, a prophet named Elijah appears on the scene. His lineage is not known and he leaves no posterity. He is passionate, simple, and radically obedient and performs eight miracles; then he disappears as suddenly as he appears.
He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. During the famine, the Lord leads him to the Brook Cherith. Here, he is fed by ravens and water, but eventually his brook dries up because there is no rain in the land.
In other words, what he relied upon to sustain himself eventually dries up after a season of being used but not replenished. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever started with a nest egg in your savings account and in a bad stretch of unemployment, low quarter gains, bad decisions or recession end up spending every single dime in it? That's what happened to Elijah because of the famine.
But when the brook dries up, we still possess a precious treasure in this earthen vessel.
The WORD OF THE LORD then comes to Elijah in the midst of a famine:
"Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die." (I Kings 17:9-12)
Notice that everything the widow woman had and ever needed was in a vessel or container. Likewise, EVERYTHING YOU AND I HAVE AND NEED IS IN THIS EARTHEN VESSEL. If you will stretch your imagination, enlarge your tents and tap into the treasure inside of you, you will defeat the recession no matter how dry your brook is.
There is a city waiting for you arrive; a mountain of culture waiting for you to conquer, so supernatural increase can flow.
Imagine the scene: Elijah, on a mission to survive, arrives at Zarephath (which means a place where the Goldsmith refines, tests and tries us to produce precious metals, i.e., GOLD.) Zarephath is his destination or destiny, yet he is a little hesitant. This is the place of INCREASE, Gold or treasure, where God said He would sustain and prepare him for the battle on Mount Carmel, but all that is present is a little suicidal widow woman with two sticks.
Surely God would have sent him to a rich, not a poor widow to sustain him. But alas, this is it. His savings is gone and she is on her last meal, preparing it to eat and die. And he says, fetch me a little water and she goes, (because water is free) but as she goes, he gets a little bolder and says "While you are at it, bring me a morsel of bread" (which will cost her something.)
In other words, "I know you are in a famine and don't have much, but God sent me to this city with a Word and told me that if you would sustain MY ANOINTING, God will sustain your dream and you will live and not die."
If Elijah doesn't show up, she and her son dies. But the moment he arrives, because there is now purpose for her seed, God multiplies it. You see, when you step on the platform, level or place God has called you to, God will give purpose to your seed (efforts, ideas, creativity, giving, etc.) and increase it to sustain your house and those you are called to.
Too many of us never get to this place of Zarephath because we stay at old perspectives, old ideas, old brooks and ways of making a living. Some people will die doing customer service, sales or some trade for years yet never run the department, buy the company or teach the principle. Elijah didn't stay at the Brook rebuking it; he left it. He was more concerned about His prophetic gift or promise than his pride or comfort zone.
Elijah told the woman: "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah." (1 Kings 17:13-16.)
That's the kind of treasure that is inside of you.
WHATEVER YOU GIVE TO GOD, HE WILL ALWAYS GIVE IT BACK WITH MIRACLE INCREASE INSIDE.
Don't be weary in well doing. If you will give God what you have, no matter how small or insignificant it seems, God will use it and give you ten times more than you gave Him.
But you cannot get to Zarapheth blaming seasons or others for where you are. Blame is a thief of the treasure in you. In Mark Eppler's book "Management Messups" he writes a few blame-placing negatives down:
· Blame never affirms, it assaults
· Blame never restores, it wounds
· Blame never solves, it complicates
· Blame never unites, it separates
· Blame never smiles (genuinely), it frowns
· Blame never forgives, it rejects
· Blame never builds it destroys.
Today, God has commanded something or someone you least expected to sustain you.
He is getting ready to bless you with something you never suspected, dreamed or imagined. Your eyes have not seen it; your ears have not heard it; it hasn't even entered into your mind, what God has prepared and planned for you if you dare leave the brook in your life that has dried up.
