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 neighbours 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 Ki 4:1-7 NIV)

This Scripture can help us to understand how anointing can be multiplied in our lives. Let's have a look in three principles to be learnt here:

The first one is obvious, and it is to recognize that we have nothing, or very little oil. God works just with empty jars. He resists the proud, but is close to the brokenhearted. If you have been feeling empty or just with a little oil, and in your congregation there are other ‘empty jars', this is the scenario where God wants to perform a miracle.

The second one is that we need the empty jars together. We have to gather them, to bring them to the same place, so the oil can be poured out. If you were the widow, this is what you were going to do, isn't it? You would bring the empty jars together on the floor, or on the table, and then fill them up. Psalm 133 says that this togetherness and unity is where the Lord pours out his oil. He does not bless our division, but He delights to see His children together enjoying His love as we love one another.

The third principle is that we have to bring the empty jars of our neighbours. This is very important, because it teaches of how we can have the oil flowing without stopping.

This is a new measure of anointing, and it goes beyond our capacity of receiving. Therefore to have it, you have to go to your neighbours. Ask the Lord to help you to identify the empty jars on your neighbourhood, in your town. You will find those who are in despair, those who are poor and brokenhearted, those who are mourning. They need oil of gladness, and Jesus came for them. Jesus gave you anointing to fill these empty jars, not just the ones in your house.

The oil in this Scripture stopped flowing, but it did not have to. The oil in you house don't have to stop. Before it happens, you can go to your neighbours. IF YOU DON'T GO, THE OIL WILL STOP. But this is not the end. You can go to the whole town, and to other towns, and if you keep going, the oil will never stops, until Jesus is back.

Elisha gave to this widow a vision that went beyond her own house. Jesus gave us a vision that goes to the whole world. He did not say just: ‘Go to your neighbours' and full stop. He speaks about Jerusalem (your Jerusalem is your city), Judea, Samaria, until the ends of the earth. If you keep going, the anointing will never stop. Don't stop!

(Marcos Barros)