The Bible contains the Word of Grace and Faith. From the Word of Grace and Faith, the truth of God’s Word is imparted to us and teaches us about prayer and following the leading of the Holy Spirit. It reveals the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the needs of the five-fold ministry.
The church’s five foundations are laid from the Word of Grace and Faith. They are also the five channels through which the grace and power of God are released upon the church for its covering. We build the local church’s ministries upon these five foundations or channels to build the believer’s spiritual life.
God’s grace is unlimited, and His power is unlimited. However, the natural can limit His grace and power upon us.
A prophet died and left behind his debts. His widow had to pay his debt because the creditors were coming to take her two sons away. So she turned to Elisha, who instructed her to borrow as many empty jars as possible and pour the one flask of olive oil she had into those jars.
The one flask of olive oil was multiplied by two gifts of the Holy Spirit; special faith and the working of miracles.
When these two gifts of the Holy Spirit were in manifestation, grace and the power of God came upon her. Her one flask of olive oil never ran dry.
God’s grace was limited by how many jars she could borrow. The limiting factors were:
• How many friends and neighbours she had? If she was proud and made no friends and her neighbours were all her enemies, she could borrow no jars.
• How many jars did the friends and neighbours have to lend her?
• How persuasive was she to borrow those jars?
• How many jars could she keep in her house?
• How able was she to sell those jars of olive oil?
• Was there a market for olive oil?
• What was the ability of the people to buy the oil from her in that town?
These natural limiting factors limited God’s grace and power from continuously pouring out on the widow.
The first instruction from God through Elisha was to borrow as many jars and pour her one jar of olive oil into those jars and set them aside when they were filled. She could have stumbled upon this instruction. But how could she pour one jar of olive oil into so many jars? If she did not submit to the instruction, she would never have the grace and power of God poured upon her.
The second instruction was to sell the oil after she obeyed the first instruction. Often, if not always, this is how God will lead us. However, if we do not follow His first instruction or take the first step, we will never know what is next.
God will use what we have and pour His grace and power upon us. However, our abilities and other natural factors can limit God’s grace and power from being poured upon us for a miracle.
God told the widow to borrow as many. Therefore, do not limit God in this situation because He did not set a limit.
We see that God can make all grace abound towards her, that she had enough to pay her debts and even had left over for herself and her sons.
There was a supernatural cancellation of debts, but not without doing something natural.