Opening Questions and Prayer
When you are stressed and running on fumes, what fills you up?
What are some things the world turns to in order to fill themselves up?
How does God want us to fill ourselves, and find fulfillment in Him?
Pray for the Lord’s guidance as you study His Word together.
Read 2 Kings 4:1
2 Kings 4:1 (All verses are NLT unless otherwise noted)
1 One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”
What crisis is this woman in the middle of?
Why does she come to Elisha?
When faced with a crisis, who do you turn to?
What are some ways you can turn to the Lord first in crisis, then the community of believers?
Read 2 Kings 4:2
2 Kings 4:2
2 “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
How did Elisha respond to her request?
What did the widow have to offer?
In a crisis, how can you look for what the Lord has given you instead of looking at what you don’t have?
What do you have in your life right now that is a gift from the Lord, but it may seem insignificant to others?
Read 2 Kings 4:3-6
2 Kings 4:3-6
3 And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. 4 Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”
5 So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. 6 Soon every container was full to the brim!
“Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.
“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
What does Elisha tell the widow to do, and how does she respond?
Why didn’t the Lord just give her a pile of money or receive an inheritance from a rich uncle?
In what ways does the Lord bring us into the process when He works in our lives?
What action is the Lord calling you to take in your circumstances right now?
What is holding you back?
Read 2 Kings 4:7
2 Kings 4:7
7 When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”
How did the Lord miraculously provide for the widow?
What happened as a result of the widow’s trust and obedience to the word of the Lord?
What problem are you trying to solve on your own right now?
What person has the Lord put in your path to help you out?
Who is the Lord calling you to help in the midst of their crisis?
Read Matthew 14:15-21
Matthew 14:15-21
15 That evening the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”
17 “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they answered.
18 “Bring them here,” he said. 19 Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. 20 They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. 21 About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!
How is Jesus calling His disciples to a deeper level of trust?
How does Jesus use the disciples to carry out His miracle?
What was the result of their obedience?
Why does the Lord want to work through you instead of doing the work for you?
What is one specific thing you can do this week to help the person the Lord is calling you to help?
How can you rely on the Lord’s resources and not your own to accomplish this task?
Memorize it!
2 Kings 4:2
2 “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
Closing thoughts and prayer
In both the widow’s story and the feeding of the five thousand, after trusting and obeying the Lord, there are leftovers. This means there was more at the end than there was at the beginning! The Lord takes the things we see as valuable, asks us to give those things to Him, so that He can take them and work a miracle. This takes faith and obedience on our part, and often this is not easy. But as we pour out, it is God who fills us. Be obedient to Him this week!
Spend some time praying that the Lord would increase your faith this week. Pray that He would show you those areas where you need to pour out the things you’re trusting in so that you can trust Him more. Then pray that the Lord would give you an opportunity to pour into someone else’s life this week. God calls us into community with others, so ask Him who you can reach to join you in this community of believers.
Finally end your time praying for our nation, world, government, and church leaders. Pray that the Lord would call people into a deeper relationship with Him and use us to impact the world.
Further Study
2 Kings 4:1
What reasons did the widow give to Elisha as to why he should help her?
What are some things we say to appeal to God as to why He might owe us a favor?
How should we approach the Lord when we pray?
Why is it sometimes easy to forget the Lord is for us?
How can you pray this week relying on the Lord’s grace and not your own merit?
2 Kings 4:2
What does Elisha’s question, “What do you have in the house?” help the widow to focus on?
In the midst of a crisis, what is your typical response?
How could our seeming lack of resources help us trust in the Lord more?
How is the Lord calling you to trust Him on a deeper level in your life right now?
2 Kings 4:3-6
Why did the Lord ask the widow to pour out her most valuable possession?
What are some ways the Lord removes the earthly things in our lives to make us trust Him more?
When we pour out the things we see as valuable, how does the Lord fill us up?
What area of your life do you need the Lord to step in and fill up?
What is the Lord asking you to pour out of your life so He can fill you up?
2 Kings 4:7
How did the Lord use the widow’s community to help her?
How does God use the community of believers around you to help you?
Who in your community needs help?
What does the Lord want you to do about it?
Matthew 14:15-21
Even though the disciples were doing the distributing (pouring), how was the Lord doing the filling?
What is the Lord calling you to pour out this week?
How does He want to fill you up in that area?
What were the disciples focused on in this story?
What was Jesus focused on?
How did Jesus change the disciples' focus?
What is the Lord wanting you to focus on this week?
Who will help you with that?