OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONAL 27TH JANUARY 2025 MONDAY ODB MESSAGE
Our Daily Bread Devotional 27th January 2025, Monday TOPIC: Blessed to Be a Blessing
BIBLE IN YEAR: Exodus 16-18; Matthew 18:1-20
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KEY VERSE: She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. – 2 Kings 4:5
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
2 Kings 4:1-7 (NIV)
1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
Our Daily Bread Devotional 27th January 2025 – Monday Message
During my years as a journalist, I enjoyed telling other people’s stories, but I was trained to not share my own opinions. So years after I had felt God call me out of my journalism career, when I increasingly felt God directing me to write a blog and speak about Him, I was a little nervous about sharing my thoughts, especially about my faith. As I started blogging, I was afraid I’d run out of things to say. But week after week, I found encouraging words and insights to share. The more I wrote, the more ideas flowed. The same is still true now.
I have witnessed in my own life how God has filled me with more joy and inspiration when I’ve poured out my gifts and talents to serve others.
In 2 Kings, we read about a poor widow who went to the prophet Elisha for help. Her late husband’s creditor wanted to seize her two sons. All she had at home was a small jar of olive oil. The prophet instructed her to collect empty jars from her neighbors and to keep pouring oil into the containers. “They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring” (4:5). She kept pouring until all the jars were miraculously filled. She could pay her family’s debts with the extra oil.
God is faithful and always provides. He’s blessed us with gifts and talents and resources to be a blessing to others. Let’s not hide or dismiss our gifts but use them for His glory.
TODAY’S INSIGHT
Elisha was the disciple of the great prophet Elijah during the ninth century bc (853-798). He was plowing when Elijah “threw his cloak around him” (1 Kings 19:19)—a sign that God was calling him to continue Elijah’s ministry. Before Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2), Elisha asked, “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit” (v. 9), a request to be his successor or heir.
God granted Elisha’s request (vv. 10-12), likely because He knew his motive and that he longed to be used by Him. Like Elijah, Elisha prophesied in Israel against the idolatry and injustice of the nation. And like his predecessor, Elisha performed many miracles, including multiplying a widow’s oil (2 Kings 4:1-7), raising a woman’s son from the dead (vv. 8-37), and healing Naaman of leprosy (5:1-14). Elisha faithfully served as a prophet for more than fifty years.
REFLECT: What gifts and talents has God given you? How are you using your gifts to serve others?
PRAY: Dear God, thank You for blessing me and making me a blessing.
Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODB) is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. our daily bread devotional for today audio our daily bread booklet
