What is the Point?: Discovering Life's Deeper Meaning and Purpose by Misty Edwards Page B
Authors: Misty Edwards
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slept; the problem was five of them had no oil, and they didn’t realize it until it was too late.
These five had been so preoccupied with their lamps and running around networking, building, and being busy that they neglected their relationship with God Himself. They had become like the church of Ephesus who left their first love (Rev. 2:4). They became preoccupied with their impact instead of being preoccupied with Jesus Himself, and they did not have oil. The oil speaks of the heart connection with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Some assume that once they have it, they always have it, and they take for granted their lives of prayer and their ability to connect with Jesus.
Little by little, if you lose hold of this, before you know it, you rarely talk to Him, though you talk about Him, and you rarely are with Him, though you are working hard for Him. Jesus calls this foolishness (Matt. 25:3). It is foolish because we were designed by Him to be with Him. How foolish it is to only talk about Him but to neglect taking the time to be close to Him? What are we persuading men into if we ourselves are not in vibrant relationship with Jesus? Christianity isn’t a “do-good club.” It is a relationship with a real person, and when we are beckoning people to come to Him, we are not asking them to join a club and do good deeds; we are asking them to come to a person because of His great love for them. We cannot bring others where we do not go.
When the midnight cry went out, these foolish ones had the shock of their lives. They had a name that they were alive, but they were dead on the inside (Rev. 3:1). They had a reputation of knowing God, but they did not have a current, living relationship with Him. I believe they were saved but had no oil in their lamps. Lamps represent ministries.
In the generation that the Lord returns, I believe we will see many who once had ministries that will then be burned out and no longer effective. They will have gotten so caught up in the busyness of ministry that they forgot to stay connected to the vine; therefore they will no longer have oil. This is a frightening reality to me, and one that I take very personally. Not only is it about public ministry, but it is also about life purpose. Many lose sight of their life purpose in connecting with God and get busy with whatever is in front of them.
Maybe your ministry assignment is in the marketplace, with your family, or your neighborhood. Whatever the sphere, once you become more preoccupied with doing the work of Jesus than connecting with Jesus, you become foolish. Yes, we must do the work, but it must be because of an overflow of encountering Jesus at the heart level. He will often shake our lives in order to get our attention and draw us back to Himself. He wants our hearts, and He wants relationship with us.
Dream about getting oil (Matt. 25:4)
The five who were wise had oil. They had stayed connected to the vine in an authentic way. They had a current life in God, not just the memory of it. Oh, how this pains me at times! I remember a few years into my time at the International House of Prayer, I had been leading worship, building the house of prayer, and serving in the ministry here. I had started off with the intention of going deep in God and had consecrated myself to live in undistracted devotion, but my heart was growing dull and distracted. I remember it so vividly. It was late at night, and I was on my knees asking the Lord what was wrong and why I could not sense His presence. My ministry was growing, IHOP-KC was growing, but I felt farther away from Jesus than I had in years.
It was alerting to me. I didn’t feel His presence when I read the Bible. When I sang, I often felt empty. I didn’t wake up thinking about Him or go to bed talking to Him. I was living in a frenzy of activity, becoming a slave of the urgent and doing it all in the name of service. I thought I was doing what was right, but my heart was getting more and
These five had been so preoccupied with their lamps and running around networking, building, and being busy that they neglected their relationship with God Himself. They had become like the church of Ephesus who left their first love (Rev. 2:4). They became preoccupied with their impact instead of being preoccupied with Jesus Himself, and they did not have oil. The oil speaks of the heart connection with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Some assume that once they have it, they always have it, and they take for granted their lives of prayer and their ability to connect with Jesus.
Little by little, if you lose hold of this, before you know it, you rarely talk to Him, though you talk about Him, and you rarely are with Him, though you are working hard for Him. Jesus calls this foolishness (Matt. 25:3). It is foolish because we were designed by Him to be with Him. How foolish it is to only talk about Him but to neglect taking the time to be close to Him? What are we persuading men into if we ourselves are not in vibrant relationship with Jesus? Christianity isn’t a “do-good club.” It is a relationship with a real person, and when we are beckoning people to come to Him, we are not asking them to join a club and do good deeds; we are asking them to come to a person because of His great love for them. We cannot bring others where we do not go.
When the midnight cry went out, these foolish ones had the shock of their lives. They had a name that they were alive, but they were dead on the inside (Rev. 3:1). They had a reputation of knowing God, but they did not have a current, living relationship with Him. I believe they were saved but had no oil in their lamps. Lamps represent ministries.
In the generation that the Lord returns, I believe we will see many who once had ministries that will then be burned out and no longer effective. They will have gotten so caught up in the busyness of ministry that they forgot to stay connected to the vine; therefore they will no longer have oil. This is a frightening reality to me, and one that I take very personally. Not only is it about public ministry, but it is also about life purpose. Many lose sight of their life purpose in connecting with God and get busy with whatever is in front of them.
Maybe your ministry assignment is in the marketplace, with your family, or your neighborhood. Whatever the sphere, once you become more preoccupied with doing the work of Jesus than connecting with Jesus, you become foolish. Yes, we must do the work, but it must be because of an overflow of encountering Jesus at the heart level. He will often shake our lives in order to get our attention and draw us back to Himself. He wants our hearts, and He wants relationship with us.
Dream about getting oil (Matt. 25:4)
The five who were wise had oil. They had stayed connected to the vine in an authentic way. They had a current life in God, not just the memory of it. Oh, how this pains me at times! I remember a few years into my time at the International House of Prayer, I had been leading worship, building the house of prayer, and serving in the ministry here. I had started off with the intention of going deep in God and had consecrated myself to live in undistracted devotion, but my heart was growing dull and distracted. I remember it so vividly. It was late at night, and I was on my knees asking the Lord what was wrong and why I could not sense His presence. My ministry was growing, IHOP-KC was growing, but I felt farther away from Jesus than I had in years.
It was alerting to me. I didn’t feel His presence when I read the Bible. When I sang, I often felt empty. I didn’t wake up thinking about Him or go to bed talking to Him. I was living in a frenzy of activity, becoming a slave of the urgent and doing it all in the name of service. I thought I was doing what was right, but my heart was getting more and
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