The Costly Oil
Back in May, I was in a season of fasting and prayer before the LORD. One night right around midnight as I was reading in the book of Psalms, a deluge of words and pictures began to come from the LORD, one after another, for a total of nine. As soon as I would write one down, another would come, and then another, and another. Some came with picture images and some did not, but all were very clear to me in their meanings.
The first word that I received was so profound to me and I was so excited by what the LORD was speaking. It was confirming in nature and reassuring to me. My first thought was, “This is SO good!!! I need to share this!” As soon as I picked up my phone to share what the LORD had given me, I immediately heard Him say, “No!” I was honestly puzzled. I thought, “This is so good. I don’t understand.” The next words to follow stopped me in my tracks and really opened for me a new level of understanding, a moment of “Rhema” if you will.
As I questioned this in my heart, I heard the LORD speak again and He said, “Do not give away for free those things which you have paid a price for.” Admittedly, I really had to spend some time with that word, whether it was truly the LORD. I felt in my heart that it was Him because His voice just has a way about it that when He speaks, there is no question that it’s Him. There is an authority present in His words. But there was also something in me that wanted to know if what I had just heard was Biblical. We must measure everything we hear and see by His written Word!
As I pondered these things, my mind went to the Parable Jesus shared from Matthew 25:
“Then the Kingdom of Heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the Bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the Bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; go out to meet Him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding; and the door was shut.”
There it was! The LORD spoke to me again and He said, “Pursuit is a paid price.” In other words, He was saying, “You were willing to pay the price seeking Me, in prayer, in fasting, in studying My Word. Don’t give away for free everything you receive to those who are unwilling to also pay that same price.”
Some might argue the verse from Matthew 10:8 that says, “Freely you have received, freely give.” In this context, Jesus was telling His disciples to go and “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…” saying, “freely you have received, freely give.” He was telling them not to charge sums of money in the working of these healings and miracles. Fifteen chapters later in Matthew, He shares the Parable of the Ten Virgins.
After the LORD spoke these things to me, I really began to wonder if we have entered into a very specific time now where there will be a much higher requirement of us to make sure our lamps are filled. Have we perhaps entered a time when we will no longer be able to make due on what someone else has hoping they can carry us through?
Salvation is a free gift to those who are willing to receive it by faith in Jesus Christ. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is also a gift from the Father, but the oil that flows perpetually from the Holy Spirit into our lives, is costly. To keep our lamps full requires that we spend time with Him, pursuing Him, inquiring of His heart and mind. It is the deep in us, calling out to the deep of Him, seeking to know Him, to hear Him. We do that by really reading His Word. We pause, asking questions as we go, seeking answers, listening for a response from Him. We read a verse and it reminds of something else, perhaps another verse we read somewhere before and we jump over there and read it, sort of like a bread crumb trail. We search the meanings of the words we read, in the Greek and Hebrew, as it would have meant to those who first heard them. We go to Him in prayer, regularly. We designate times of meeting where everything else gets placed aside, as though it were an appointment with a King. We fast. We push away the plate and say, “LORD, I need to hear from You right now, and it means more than anything else!” It’s a pressing through all of our barriers, hungering after GOD, determined to meet Him, fully expectant for His response! It’s the most desperate and vulnerable way we can approach Him, like a child, saying, “LORD, I have to hear from You!!!” Those times bring some of the most powerful encounters we’ll have in our lives, again and again, as we pursue Him. That’s where the oil comes from. But we don’t just seek His hand. We seek His heart.
Some might ask, “How do I know if my oil lamp is empty or full?” I would measure it but what’s going on inside of you. If your lamp is full of oil, there will be such a fire burning inside of you. When you open your mouth, Jesus will gush forth. It’s like the Bible says, “Rivers will flow from your innermost being.” When you speak, His presence will invade not only your conversation but the entire atmosphere will be filled with Him. You can tell when someone spends a great deal of time with the LORD. It’s evident the moment they open their mouths. Likewise, if your oil lamp is running on fumes, the fire will be dim or be but a faint flicker. It can also go out altogether. Your conversation will be filled with hopelessness, doubt, and unfruitfulness. Your words will feel empty, vacant or powerless. You will feel drawn further and further away from the LORD and you will feel unprepared. That’s why we need to stay close to the LORD and draw from His strength, His oil. It is Him Who replenishes us.
We all go through periods of time when we need a refilling. It was not uncommon for Jesus to remove Himself from everyone and everything and draw alone to the Father. He also needed refreshing. If it seems like the desire has vanished, pray. Ask the LORD to draw you back to Him by His Holy Spirit and to fill you. When that drawing begins to happen, make it a point to pursue. Go after Him!
He has good things He wants to impart to me and to you.