The Multiplication Principle for Blessings and Miracles (Faith Requires Action)

Trevor S Ferguson

March 4, 2017

2 Kings 4:1-7 (KJV)
¹Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
²And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
³Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
⁴And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
⁵So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.
⁶And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
⁷Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

John 6:8-11 (KJV)
⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
⁹There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
¹⁰And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
¹¹And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

John 2:3-5 (KJV)
³And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
⁴ Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
⁵His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

INTRODUCTION

Most people desire to experience the miracles and blessings of God, but often times we struggle to find these experiences and instead live our lives with pain, distress and suffering. This problem is somewhat counterintuitive, because not only do we want to receive God’s blessings, but it is God’s desire to bless us abundantly. If we want to be blessed and God wants to bless us, why then is there a disconnect?

The problem is that many persons who are seeking God’s blessings have the wrong mind-set and use a wrong approach. We have been led to believe in a certain type of passive faith. With this kind of faith, we don’t have to do anything to receive our miracles! All that is required is that we just pray and leave it to Jesus, or just ‘name it and claim it’, but beyond that little action is required. A careful study of the scriptures however will reveal that miracles are not usually associated with passive faith. Indeed, most miracles are preceded by, or accompanied by significant action on the part of the recipient. We see this in the Old Testament miracles associated with Elijah and Elisha as well as in the miracles of Jesus himself. 

Today, I want to share with you what I will call ‘The Multiplication Principle for Blessings and Miracles’. The central tenet of this message is that we need to do something in order to experience the miracles of God. Expressed in other terms this is to say – Faith Requires Action!

Let me take a minute to highlight the mathematical properties of multiplication. Now, multiplication is one of the basic mathematical functions, the others being addition, subtraction and division. An important property of multiplication is that any number multiplied by zero is still zero; so for multiplication to work we have to start with something. If we start at zero, regardless how large the multiplier is, we will still remain at zero. Therefore, where the multiplication principle is applied we must start with something before we can get anything or reach anywhere. Most miracles and blessings usually operate on a multiplication principle.

EXPOSITION

Let us look at the text. The lead passage today – 2^nd Kings 4:1-7 – relates the story of the miraculous intervention of God, through the prophet Elisha, in addressing the plight of the widowed wife of a prophet, whose sons were about to be taken away to serve as slaves, to pay off debt left by her husband. She therefore went to Elisha, who was now the head of the school of prophets, to seek his help and advice.

Elisha first asks, what shall I do for thee? The tone of this first question suggest that Elisha did not have an immediate answer. He did not possess the resources to pay the woman’s debt, and had no legal grounds to prevent the creditors from taking her sons. So then, his initial response, like that of the woman’s, was one of bewilderment. Before he could finish that thought however, the Spirit of God began to intervene. He switches tone suddenly and ask a very important question – what do you have in your house? This is a question that every miracle seeker needs to ask today, because the answer to our problems is often sitting right there in our houses!

The woman responded – the only thing I have is a small pot of oil. This was most likely a small bottle of olive oil, to be used for anointing. Elisha’s next response continues the new tone, as his inspiration continues to flow. His unspoken words, were probably Great! That’s enough – I now have something to work with! Something God can multiply! He therefore says to her – go borrow, vessels from thy neighbours, empty vessels, borrow not a few – get as many as you can. When you are done, shut yourself in your house and start pouring into the vessels and put aside the vessels that are full.

Note that up to this point he has not told her how this is going to solve her problems; he has given her some instructions and will only advise her of the next steps when she has faithfully completed these tasks.

The woman and her sons act in obedience; they gathered as many vessels as they could and the began pouring. As they acted in obedience the miracle began to unfold. They poured into one bottle until it was full, but discovered that the source bottle still had the same amount of oil; they filled the second bottle and behold the same thing happened; they poured another, and another and another and the oil kept flowing until they had filled all the bottles they had. Then the oil stopped flowing – our miracles are limited only by the extent of our faith.

Now fully aware that God was at work, the woman went back to the Elisha, who now advises her sell the oil, pay off her debt and live off the rest. God had not only addressed her most pressing needs, but he had also addressed her ongoing needs – ensuring provision for the day to day needs of life.

Now what can we learn from this encounter? How is this applicable to the church as Alleppo? Firstly, I want to return to the multiplication principle. This is hinged on the question: What do you have in your house? God will take what we have and multiply it supernaturally to meet our needs! This could be anything: it may be a talent – we may be good at art, or singing, or science or math – God can use these inherent talents and turn them into great blessings. We may have a plot of land, or inherited as small house form a parent or grandparent – God can take that and turn it into a source of blessing! We may be good at speaking or selling – God can take that and make it a source of blessings – where we serve as motivational speakers or sales representatives. Whatever we have, regardless of how little it may be – God can apply the multiplication principle and turn it into somethings great. Remember however that zero multiplied by anything is still zero – we cannot just come to God empty handed. Use what you have. God will make it great.

It is important to realize that this is not the only scripture that demonstrates the multiplication principle.  Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand and four thousand also demonstrates the principle. We also see this is the account of the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath in 1^st Kings 17. In the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus took the five barley loaves and two small fishes and multiplied it to feed five thousand, and the disciples picked up twelve baskets of left overs. In the feeding of the four thousand, Jesus took the seven loaves and a few fishes and multiplied it to feed four thousand, and the disciples picked up seven baskets of left overs. In the account of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, Elijah asked the woman to bake him a cake, but the woman had only a handful of meal and a small cruse of oil enough to make only a single meal, but in obedience to the words of Elijah, she baked him the cake first and the morsel of meal and cruse of oil lasted the entire duration of the famine!

The second major principle demonstrated by this miracle is the principle of obedience. In order for us to receive our miracle from God we must be willing to do what he tells us to do! What we are told may not immediately make sense to us, but if we follow in obedience God will bring great things to pass. In the account of the prophet’s widow, she was told to borrow containers from her neighbours and poor oil from a small container. This, on the surface, looks impossible and nonsensical. On top of that he did not explain to her how this exercise would solve her problems. Despite this however she acted in obedience to the word of the prophet and received a mighty miracle from God. The principle of obedience is also highlighted in the other miracles we have looked at so far. In the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand the disciples acted in obedience to Jesus’ words – make the people sit down, begin to distribute the food. The widow of Zarephath had to obey Elijah’s word – bake me a cake first! For her there were clear risks involved. She had only enough for one meal, if she gave first to Elijah and the miracle did not occur she would have nothing left. But she believed the word of the prophet and acted in faith. She received her miracle!

One of the best examples of the principle of obedience however is the miracle at the feast of Cana in Galilee, where Jesus turned water into wine. Note that this was Jesus’ first miracle, so the people had no track record to rely on. It was simply a matter of trusting that something miraculous will happen. The scripture says when the people wanted wine, Mary reported the problem to Jesus. Here again his initial response is not reassuring, but Mary calmly said to the people – whatever he says unto you do it! Jesus then told them to fill the water pots with water and the to draw from the water pots and give to the governor of the feast. Up to this point all we have is obedience. He did not explain that he was going to turn the water into wine! He did not let them taste the water so that they could see that it had turned into wine. We are not even sure if the colour of the water had changed. But when they acted in obedience the miracle happened!

Somebody is looking to God today for a miracle – God is saying to you – Whatever I have said unto you do it! Somebody is seeking God’s blessings – whatever he says unto you do it! Alleppo is seeking God for a refreshing – whatever he says unto you, do it!

Now some may be countering – God has not told me to do anything! Maybe it’s just that you are not listening! My suggestion is start by doing what is written in his word. If we live by the principles in the revealed word of God we will begin to see God’s blessings. As we draw closer to God he will begin to speak to us – through visions, dreams, or inspired ideas. He will speak to us through our pastors, men and women of God, friends, relatives and even strangers. When he begins to speak to us then we must act in faith! Remember that faith requires action and miracles often use the multiplication principle. When we begin to act, God will multiply our efforts and the little that we have and turn it into something great! It is time for a refreshing, it is time to see the hand of God at work, it is time for your miracle, it is time for your blessing!

CONCLUSION

I close by summarizing a basic three steps process for receiving your miracle. (1)  Have faith in God – Believe that God can do it; Believe that he will do it for you! (2)  Obey his word – Act in faith – Do what he tells you to do; do what you can do! (3)  Wait patiently on God – sometimes the answer is delayed, but God will come through in time.

It is time for your miracle, let God multiply your efforts as you act in faith!