THE EMPTY WELL

"Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind?"

Job 15:2 NIV

If you were really wise, you would not answer with your worthless personal opinions! A wise man would not be so full of hot air.

TO BE EMPTY IS TO LACK MEANING OR SINCERITY; CONTAINING NOTHING.

The bible says if you fail under pressure, your strength is small. When turbulence comes how do you respond? Turbulence can be family issues, financial issues, loss or hardship. Do you run away from the Lord and back into the world or do you find scripture to speak to that situation? If we have not filled ourselves with the word of God before trials, we can crumble when a situation comes.

There was a point that I had suffered a loss in my family I had no word of truth in me, to the point when 'the Christian fanatics' came around I had even rejected the word. I was offended by the Lord so I could not receive the word. Has that ever happened to you? When my mind got bombarded with negative thoughts I had nothing to fight with, no scripture, no prayer nor a song. There were days I stayed in bed and did not want to move or even live. There is a guy in scripture this has happened to, do you know who that is?

It was Elijah.

When Elijah was faced with a problem he ran away and prayed to die. After he was faced with demonic worshippers, when God worked through him he had faith, physical strength and the ability to help a woman continue living and to find work from what she had. Why did he run? Why was he so afraid? His well was empty. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, you have one trial after the other, or even before you have the chance to get through one situation another one comes? This is what was happening to Elijah. There was someone else that was empty and experienced a spiritual attack and was unable to fight back.

Samson is another example.

Samson had strength beyond human measure. He was sent to defeat the Philistines but fell in love and was deceived to share the instruction God had given him. When Samson was taken captive he cried out for death.

Do you understand what is happening? The enemy comes when people are weak and spiritually low to take them down, to have them use their own words against them. Let me say it like this if you are empty on the day of battle, you can be defeated. The day of battle is every day, all the time, regardless if we want to fight or not. Do you understand that even while in the world we are being attacked? The difference is that when in the world we are not fighting back nor are we noticing the opposing factors that are against us. Some things in the world seem so normal it is when you rep team Jesus that you see how it was all a facade and a trap the enemy created to keep people trapped. I thought there were Jesus fanatics and super Jesus fanatics. The criteria for the super J was to always make everything spiritual, people who not only talked about Jesus a lot but also spoke about the spiritual stuff, made me uncomfortable but that is what it needed to do to get me out of the comfort of being fooled.

How does the well get empty?

When we are not refilled with the word of God. After facing obstacles we are not refuelled. When I think of this in the case of love, when I speak to people that love me, support me and encourage me I am filled with energy and strength that strength is what I term as fuel. When we are faced with battles it is vital to reconnect with people who can build your faith/strength to continue.

A few days ago I had been battling with something that wanted to create weakness or sickness in my body. A sister looked at me and said "this does not look like Mekelle come on it is time to fight." I would like to speak about the sequence of events that led up to this day of weakness. I would usually wake up to worship music but for several days I did not play any worship music at all; music also is a source of strength. My prayer time was shortened due to lack of sleep and then oversleeping. Meditation was limited because I felt I was so busy but what happened was a feeling of sleep and slumber came initially to weaken my defences. If this went on for a week that was enough for the devil to send in the troops. What he did not realize was that I did come in this battle alone I came with back-up. Spiritual parents that were praying for me, sisters and brothers in Christ that noticed and prayed on my behalf. On the day of battle, my physical strength felt low but I refuelled with worship music and within minutes I felt better. Sometimes when these battles come it is sent to steal something, things that we are unaware of like promises the Lord has for us, blessings in our career or business, connecting to the right people. The thing is in many cases a distraction.

Distraction is a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.

Elijah was distracted by the warning he received from Jezebel, and Samson was distracted by the love of a woman. Eli Samuel's mentor was distracted by the love of his kids that he never reprimanded them, he never corrected them even when it affected the church and people within the church. There are many things that can become a distraction in life even when it is a good thing. For example, I spoke to a close friend of mine and as we talked I remembered that there was something years ago that God had placed on her heart to do, she started it but at some point, other things happened that shifted her focus. Everything during that time seemed urgent and more relevant than what we now realize was an assignment or instruction from God.

In 2020 when my grandmother went on to be with the Lord, I didn't think I had anything to give or to share with others; I had even told myself I would discontinue 'Journey in Christ'. I thought my well was empty.

Or in 2021 I decided that I could no longer remain in a relationship that was leading to marriage. I thought my well was empty, how could I go on?

I connected with the people that truly loved me and would pour encouragement and reassurance into me to continue. Everything else was a distraction from the assignment. When the battles come honestly there are times when we forget the actual assignment and want to give up like Elijah. Forgetting to write the blog, create the content, to share something encouraging with a friend or co-worker.

Write the vision and make it clear. Write it on your mirror, as your screen background or even as a reminder on your phone.

What is the assignment?

Your assignment is anything the Lord has given you to do; it can be through a spoken word, perceived or following what the Bible says. When I had just given my life to Christ I did not understand the concept of asking the Lord because I was uncertain of what I was hearing furthermore I felt like I was not hearing anything. If that is you today it may take time to really have surety in hearing from the Lord or you may rely more on a spiritual friend or mentor. When I thought I was not hearing from the Lord I actually was and what they said ended up being confirmations of what I had already perceived, saw, heard or read.

Another thing that will help you as you work toward filling your well so to speak is to be attending the church God has for you. Not every Bible-based church is the church that is for you or will take you into your assignment. Connecting takes faith in believing that when you pray you will receive an answer.

How to know a church is your church? If we think of faith and the word as food, after being served with the word you will be full. I am not talking about being hyped or just feeling good but actually being able to put what you have heard into action.

In closing, fill yourself with scriptures like Jesus when he was tempted, be filled with anointed songs that will bring peace in the midst of the storm and connect to a community or church that is bible-based filling your spirit with the tools you will need for the test.

#emptywell #beingfilled #gettingtheword #beingreadyforthetest