TRAINING FOR REIGNING SERIES: TURNING OUR LIABILITIES INTO ASSETS Pt 4: HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR OIL
download here……..Turning Your Liabilities to Assets Part 4 Sun 26.5.19
INTRODUCTION:
God has given everyone a gift, a ministry or an activity to do which represents an expression of God’s power through us. Your ministry is your unique selling point that will make the world buy into you which will act as a door to your prosperity.
To discover your oil, you must focus on what you have and not on what is missing, acknowledge the possibilities by injecting a dose of possibility into your situation and providing an entry point that will create access for the God of possibility to manifest himself through you. Also, look within you because many times your oil is not readily visible or apparent, and you may have to “look within” to discover them.
a. THE JAR IS THE VESSEL THAT HOUSES YOUR OIL.
When people look at your physical body, it is the jar that they see and not your real content or oil deposited by God. The real you is a spirit that is within you and cannot be seen or touched. Your jar includes attitudes, personalities and character, self-esteem and the ways in which you carry, label and define yourself.
b. YOUR JAR IS WHAT SHAPES AND DEFINE YOUR OIL/GIFTS
This is what determines whether your oil is appealing or not. Your jar is what gives expression to your oil, it is what gives either life or death to your oil and it is also what gives the aroma that your oil oozes out to your world.
To explore the full giftings and potential deposited by God you must ask yourself these salient questions:
- Where am I keeping my gifts and ideas?
- How am I labelling my talents?
- Is your jar limiting your oil via your belief system?
- Your communication styles. Have you kept your big gift in a small jar?
- Is your jar too small for your gift? Is small mindedness and a narrow mindset disturbing the expression of your oil to the world?
If you are an arrogant or proud individual with no respect for any individual, your attitude can put off a helper of destiny and kill your gift. Your character is what determines if your oil will be accepted or not.
4) CONSIDER YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCES
Everything you have gone through in life is not wasted but part of your destiny. All the good, bad and ugly experiences of your life are part of the grand design of God to make you the total man or woman that he designed you to be. Your life experiences must be considered if your jar of oil is to be fully utilized, as you give your life to Christ, all your experiences are part of the grand plan and design of God to make you the best.
JOSEPH: Gen 39-46
Joseph’s liability was his ability to dream. His asset was the ability to interpret dreams and proffer solutions/advice to implement those dreams. In an attempt to frustrate his dreams and get rid of him because of jealousy, Joseph was sold by his brothers to slavery and was considered or feigned dead by them. The hurts and pains experienced by his father (who almost never recovered from the heartbreaking news), the idea to kill his dreams by his brethren and the disappointment in himself and his brothers, etc. were all part of the pot pourri and ingredients for greatness in the fulfillment of purpose for Joseph.
God never puts His children in senseless situations. Behind the hurts, disappointments and potential confusions of your situations are the lessons and gems, ingredients, resources and recipes of greatness that God has packaged for you to be the best in life.
Ps 105: 16-22
16 He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food;
17 and he sent a man before them—Joseph, sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons,
19 till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.
20 The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free.
21 He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed,
22 to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.
God can cause a famine in the land so that the plan, technology or business idea He has birthed in your spirit can be relevant to the situation at hand in order to promote you and announce you to the world. Joseph was sent ahead of the famine so that the purpose of God can be fulfilled at the appointed time – He fulfilled destiny in an unpleasant condition disguised as slavery. All of Abraham’s wealth dried up because God wanted Isaac to develop his faith muscles and dependence on Him (God) so as to be able to stand on his own as a man different from the path created by His father Abraham. GEN 45:4-8
Gen 50: 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Whatever you are going through is not meant to destroy you and it cannot destroy you. It is a flight ticket to the desired level God has planned for you. Sometimes, the magnitude of your dream will call for the magnitude of your problems, it is all part of God’s curriculum for your greatness in life.
LESSONS FROM JEPHTHAH ON HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR OIL:
Judges 10:15-18, 11:1-11
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.
2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.
6 Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”
7 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”
8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”
10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.
A. WHAT WERE THE LIABILITIES /CHALLENGES CONFRONTING JEPHTHAH?
a. Circumstances of his birth: This was one of the challenges that Jephthah had. He was born by a harlot to his father, Gilead. His mother was not a very responsible mother, being a harlot. She chose her trade and survival over and above her son and didn’t sacrifice or pay the price his reputation or possible damage to his self-esteem in the future.
b. Homelessness: Jephthah didn’t have a home. When his father’s other sons, his step brothers (the legitimate sons) grew up, they drove him out of his own father’s house to the mercy of the world outside and unpleasant environmental conditions.
c. He was suffering from rejection
i. Already rejected by his mother by default, since she was a harlot. She loved her trade more than her son, who will spoil business for her.
ii. Rejection by his father, his father didn’t stand up for him when it mattered most.
- iii. Rejection by his step brothers, whom they had played ball and games together as little lads in their father’s house.
- iv. Rejection by his step mother, the only mother he grew up to know but now also turned her back on him.
d. He was cut off from his future:
2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”
As a result of homelessness, Jephthah started sleeping under the bridge and associating with rebels and society cast out despite the fact that his father was an important man in the land. He was rejected by all the people that mattered to him, sent away and almost denied of his inheritance until the table was turned. These are more than enough of an emotional trauma to grapple with for a lifetime. He reclaimed the lost territories by negotiating his future diligently and he turned his liabilities into assets.
To be continued*….