Get Your Own Oil!

So, you’ve spent a little time trying to approach God. You feel like you know Him and maybe you do. You feel like He’s telling or leading you to do something in your life: start a business, get a degree, get a job, or whatever it is you feel like He’s leading you to do. You’ve told everyone that God has told you to do this thing. You’ve boasted about how awesome the idea is to as many people as you could.

There’s just one problem: it’s been years since He’s told you to do this thing. What’s worse is you haven’t even started doing anything about this idea, maybe at the most you’ve started a facebook page for it. And to make things even worse you procrastinated so long you no longer have time to do this idea or thought God gave you. So, what do you do? You try to get other people to do it for you–and for free too. If you’re doing something like this you need to ask yourself: Why would God give you something just so you could try to force it on someone else’s shoulders?

“Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.”

Matthew 25:7-10(NASB)

Stop trying to have others do what God told you to do. He told you not them to do this thing. Just like the ten virgins God wants us to get our own oil! He wants us to put in our own efforts in this walk with Him. This doesn’t mean you cannot get help from others, especially if they offer it for free, but if we are truly invested in a God inspired idea, we will go after it on our own because God will be the one that has planted that passion and fire inside of us to get stuff done. Just think about it though, if a gardener had seeds to make a garden–the greatest garden that ever existed–but never actually planted them for years, what would you think? What if this gardener boasted about this beautiful garden he would receive if he did this, yet still didn’t plant the seeds. Most people would think this man was a fool. So, why would any gardener who does this think that other gardeners tending larger gardens or struggling maintaining their own gardens would come out and help them–for free?

“Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.“

Proverbs 10:4(NASB)

Granted, it can be tough or just time consuming to start and maintain a garden, ministry, business, or whatever God told you to do, so eventually you might need help. However, even the wise virgins told the foolish ones to get their own fuel–their own drive to keep going on their journey with Jesus. And guess what happened when the bridegroom came? The door was shut for those who did not put forth the effort, the work needed(getting the oil) to go with the bridegroom or in this example: to accomplish the good works, our walk with God, prepared long ago. It’s important to remember when trying to pursue different ideas we need to not only question our motives, but also question if we really are invested in this idea at all. Sometimes we need to remember to pace ourselves when approaching doing these ideas. Following God’s leading instead of our own will do just that.

When I first was trying to learn and study the scriptures so that I could understand them, I would always say to God:

Baby steps.

Bit by Bit.

Faith to faith.

Be led by Him.

Trust that if that idea is from Him for you, He will equip you to walk it out.

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God bless!