The Miracle in a Word... Pour

​It's so unique how God talks to us all differently. I have learned that if God has put something on my heart I need to write it down. It always seems to come up later. It may be while talking to my children but it always comes up. I even had one thing come up years later and use it in a lady's Bible study.

Every year about this time I start focusing on my word for the year. As the  year was closing, I didn't think I had my new word. Then I realized as soon as I mentioned it to my mother that I did have it. My word was something God had been putting on my heart for a while but I thought it was going to be used in a different way. So funny how He does that sometimes.

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​I was almost afraid at first to find out what my word was. The last couple years had been hard years and God didn't use my word like I thought He would. The year 2020 my word was rest. That year I caught every bug and sickness you could think of but didn't catch COVID until November. The word for 2022 was intentional. I was still struggling with COVID's lingering effects at the beginning of that year. I was looking forward to summer with my kids when I went into the hospital with three bulging discs in my lower back. That is a whole testimony for another time as I went from using a walker to now walking free. I had to be intentional with what little bit I could do. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what my word was for this year. For a minute or two I thought about skipping this year. Maybe it would be better if I didn't know. All the while God had been giving me my word in subtle thoughts for weeks.  My word for the year this year is pour.

And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.  Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.  And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare [it].   When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,  And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: [but] thou hast kept the good wine until now. - John 2:6-10 KJV

Six empty stone pots. They had already served their purpose for the night. They simply held water to wash guest’s feet. They were put to the side till they could be stored away. But Jesus had a greater purpose for them. Though they were empty, He had them filled. It was simple ordinary water, but when they poured it out, it was wine. Not just any wine but the best wine.

Numbers are symbolic in the Bible. Here John specified that there were six pots. Six is the number of humanity because man was made on the sixth day. We can feel like empty set aside pots. Maybe we feel like we have already served our purpose. Amazingly Jesus uses things and people that have been set aside. Once we were empty, but Jesus filled us with His Spirit. 
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I think the beauty of this miracle is that it wasn’t until they poured the water out that it became wine. Sometimes even if we are full, we still feel plain, ordinary and of no use. The beauty is when Jesus asks us to pour into others and we listen, even when we feel plain, ordinary and forgotten, it turns into wine. What we feel is a small thing can bless someone. It doesn’t happen though until we pour out what we have been filled with. 
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Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
2 Kings 4:1‭-‬7 KJV

The widow didn't know what else to do. She had been faithful but she still had a problem. She had nothing else, but what did the prophet tell her to do? Borrow other peoples' emptiness and then pour into them. When she poured what she thought was a small thing, God multiplied it. Not only was their emptiness filled but her problem was fixed.

The amazing thing is first the widow had to collect empty vessels. Not her empty vessels but her neighbors. She brought them into her home and poured into them. She wasn’t overflowing with oil. She didn’t have an abundance, giving her extra. Her miracle didn't come until after she poured out what little she had.

We all can get to the place where we don’t know what else to do. We may be full but that feels like all we have. Maybe we need to collect some empty vessels, bring them into our homes and share the oil inside of us. Not only will they be filled, but that thing that was a problem will be provided.

A few years ago while preparing for a ladies’ Bible study, God gave me this poem. It is so unique how He brings it back now; I did say He always brings it back up.

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A Teapot
I want to be the teapot not the cup or the saucer. 
I want to be filled up to pour out and filled again.
I don't want to be the cup only one person drinks from or the saucer that catches the overflow. 
Lord make me the teapot. 

Not the shiny one on the shelf, but the everyday pot. 
Not as shiny, maybe dented maybe stained from continual use. 
Clean and full already to be used. 
Used to pour into empty cups. 

Cups that warm hands and comfort hearts. Cups that are dry and needing to be filled. 
Cups that need what you pour into me. 
Little or small, it doesn't matter. 
Lord, make me a teapot, full and ready to pour.

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