In meditating on this scripture, I believe the man of God knew that this widow had something in her house more valuable than what she was looking to receive from him.  The only problem was - she didn't know it! 

Throughout the Bible oil is representative of anointing.  It represents the presence and power of the Holy Spirit upon a person or vessel.  The Bible says that her husband served the man of God and feared the Lord.  This was an anointed man.  For years an anointing rested in their home.  The man of God knew as long as there was anointing in the house everything she needed was likewise in the house.   She was looking for money when God had given her something greater - an anointing.  Money is the least of God's blessings.  As long as our focus is on money we will miss out on what God, through His anointing, can do in our lives.  As a matter of fact, the anointing will cause money to show up when it is activated in a situation.  When we begin to operate in our anointing, we have God's presence and power accompanying our efforts.  With God all things are possible.

 

Every Believer is anointed and carries within them the very same Holy Spirit Jesus Christ (The Anointed One) had upon Him.  Like the jar of oil that sat on the widow's shelf overlooked and underestimated, many of us have done the same thing to the anointing that is present in our lives. We turn to people and other tangible things for answers, when God has already placed the answer within us, in the form of His Holy Spirit. The Bible describes the Holy Spirit as a Comforter, Guide, Teacher and Revealer.  He has the answer to what perplexes us.  In many cases, we don't need more money, or other tangible surrogate, we need revelation of our situation. We need discernment, enlightenment and direction to make a right decision. If we were to give the Holy Spirit free course in our lives, He would show us the abundance that God has already placed within us, but has thus far gone overlooked and underestimated. 

The Holy Spirit wants to give you life in ever respect of the word.  If there is anything dead, unfruitful or dying in our lives, we must give the Holy Spirit access to it, so that He can breathe upon it the breadth of life.  The anointing, representing the presence of the Holy Spirit, was given so that we could experience life to its fullest.  He can out produce anything, anyone or any system anywhere.  However we must trust Him!

Never underestimate your anointing.  It is God's most precious provision for us to prosper in our lives.  It is the anointing that breaks the yoke of bondage and causes us to overcome our situations - whatever our situations may be!

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing" (Isaiah 10:27).

Rev James C. Matthews