I sucked in a deep breath as I surveyed the stacks of boxes and tubs lining the entire perimeter of my grandma’s storage building. Every nook, every cranny – even the rafters – was crammed full of stuff. 

Since time was not on our side to move her from this home to her new one, I felt we had to start somewhere so I grabbed a box. I realized immediately the daunting task before me as she slowly and carefully examined each and every item she removed.  

Well, I better hang onto this because I might need that one day. Oh, and my friend gave me that so I can’t get rid of it.

Completely drained after hours of work and only putting a few small things in a donate pile, I drove the hour home wondering how could someone collect so much. Overwhelmed, my mind didn’t feel too much different than my grandma’s building. 

Living in this world makes it effortless to cram our minds full of all the stuff we don’t really need. 

All the fears and worries of the what-ifs of life hang along the corridors of our minds. 

The box labeled, “God, why me?”, sits smack dab in the middle. And another box labeled, “God, why not me?”, stacks right on top.

Boxes of unforgiveness, resentment, anger, and bitterness are shoved up against one wall.  

While tubs of doubt, pessimism, criticism, and negativity are kicked against another wall. 

And we can’t forget the mirrors of comparison hanging from the rafters of our minds where we’re constantly tempted to look and say… Mirror mirror on the wall, let social media tell me my flaws.

So how do we declutter our mind from all this stuff?

While studying the widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7, God brought out an interesting revelation to me.

Here we find this desperate widow at the mercy of the Prophet Elisha. Not only had she lost her husband, but she was frantic with the thought of losing her two sons to slavery to cover the debts she owed, which was customary at the time. 

Elisha asked her what she had at home which was simply one flask of olive oil. The prophet’s instructions were for her to gather as many empty vessels as she could from her neighbors, shut the door behind her and her sons, and start pouring the oil from her flask to fill all they collected.

After filling every single empty vessel, Elisha then instructed her… “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” (2 Kings 4:7)

The richness of this story is beautiful in so many ways— the widow’s faith, her obedience, Elisha making this a behind-the-doors-matter instead of a public scene, God using ordinary oil in a miraculous way, but what God really opened my eyes to were two little words in this story: empty vessels.

God wants to fill empty vessels for His miracles in this life on earth, but so often as God’s jars of clay, we crowd Him out with all the stuff stacked up in our minds. 

And what does He want to fill us with? The deeper message God reveals in this story is the oil. So often throughout Scripture the Holy Spirit is symbolized by oil. Simply put, God is looking to fill us as empty vessels with His Holy Spirit each and every day. But it’s hard for God to fill us, if we’re full of the world and our fleshly nature.

We serve a God who is a Giver.
He loves us so much that He gave us Jesus on the cross.
He gives us mercy and grace.
He gives us inner peace.
He longs to give us life here on earth and joy to go along with it.
But it's hard to find the joy of the abundant life when we're bogged down with a collection of junk in our head that we're insisting on holding tight to.

So today I want to share this simple little prayer I added to my daily prayers after studying this out:

Dear Heavenly Father,
Empty me of my flesh and the world around me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit to my brim and beyond. Pour into me, so I can pour out for You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

As I empty myself before the Lord each day, I free myself up for the Spirit to pour into me. This is how I daily choose Jesus over the world, how I fight my battles, how I pull off the mask of what the enemy calls good, it’s how I rise again when I fall, and it’s how I chase after a life of joy and peace amid the chaos of this dark world.

Friend, I pray you’ll add this small, yet powerful prayer to your own daily prayers. And I pray God empties your mind of everything bogging you down today so you can fill to the brim with the Spirit and lead a life of joyful abundance in Him.

Love,
Traci