Have you ever faced economic pressure that almost paralyzed you? You were in such desperate straights that you did not know what to do next? In 2001, I faced a major life transition when I started PurposeQuest International. The pressure was so great that there were days I did nothing but lie on the couch. We had no money, I had no business, and I wasn't always sure what to do next or if we would make it.
I was experiencing what I have come to call 'economic terrorism,' and I was going through it to test my resolve. Was I all-in on my purpose or would I run back in fear to what I had been doing, to what I knew? Would I keep writing and creating when there was no one around to buy or even pay attention to what I was doing?
If you're facing something like this or have faced it, then perhaps you can relate. If you haven't you may want to read on and then file this away for future use, just in case you need it—and chances are in your quest for purpose you'll face this kind of pressure at one time or another.
MORE JARS
In 2 Kings 4, the prophet Elisha met a widow who was also in desperate times. She was so heavily in debt that she feared losing her sons to her creditors. Elisha didn't pray for her or loan her money. Instead, he gave her some strange advice. He told her to go collect as many jars and receptacles as possible. Once she had done that, she was then to go home, close the door, and start pouring the oil she had into those jars. Here is what happened next:
She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left" (2 Kings 4:5-7).
Do you think the women wished at that point that she had gathered more jars to hold oil? The point I'm making is that you must still operate in faith even when times are desperate. What's more, you must do things that are consistent not with where you are now, but with where you will be when your breakthrough comes.
MY JARS
When I went through my desperate time, I could barely function, but I had to get up off the couch and write. I had to prepare seminars and teachings for no one in particular even though I had no clients. I had to make financial decisions for the future when I had no money on that particular day. What's more, I felt directed to give away things to others when my own needs were critical.
It was during this season that I began writing this Monday Memo and giving it away (I started in 2001 and notice this entry is number 1,200). Shortly thereafter, I began to send out my weekly Bible studies free of charge to anyone who wanted it. I designed a website and committed money to its development, money I didn't have with no promise of any return. I made a trip to Africa just to declare to principalities and powers, and probably also to myself, that if God wanted me there, I was going to find a way to be there.
Now when I look back, I did what this woman did many centuries ago: I kept pouring what little I had and God kept providing more. Today I'm teaching what I developed in those dark, confusing, and uncertain times. I address thousands of people every year all over the world, and I counsel them with things I read about and studied when my pressure almost rendered me helpless and without hope. I have written almost 100 books that are now in multiple languages. There is a school, library, and youth center that bear my name in Kenya.
YOUR JARS
So what about you? Is it time to despair and give up, or is it time to gather some more jars and start pouring? Your situation may be critical, but I urge you to think and act this week like it isn't. I'm asking you to do what only God can help you do: act today like your breakthrough is already here, even though the evidence says otherwise.
If you can do this, then when your breakthrough comes—and it will come—you'll have enough jars (whatever that represents for you) to hold the blessings that are in store for every purposeful servant of God. If I made it through my dark time, you will too. When it's all over, you will be glad you had enough jars and didn't stop pouring. Have a great week!
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