I heard an awesome sermon last week at The Foundry. There was a guest speaker, Mark Winslett, who shared from II Kings 4. In this chapter a woman had lost her husband and the creditors were coming after her sons. She asked the prophet for help.

Since all she had was a jar of oil, he instructed her to borrow all the vessels she could find and bring them into her house and pour the oil into the vessels. After she had filled all the vessels, the oil ceased. She sold the oil and paid the debt.

The prophet didn’t tell the woman how many vessels to bring. The oil ran until the vessels were all filled. Reverend Winslett pointed out that the woman received according to the effort she put in. If she had gathered only three vessels, she would have received only that much oil. But since she found many vessels, she received much oil.

It is the same with us in life. While God’s resources are limitless, he expects us to put forth the effort to do what we can and then He does what we cannot do. We should not expect to sit idly by and wait for God to just pour out His extreme blessings. He would love to do that, but as our Heavenly Father, He knows that would not be good for us. We must do all we can do first. When we do our best, God will do the rest.

How much effort are you putting into your life? I challenge you to put more effort into yourself so you can begin today to live . . . your life to the fullest.