Do You Have Oil For Your Lamp?

Recently, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper the words, "kerosene lamp."

Of course, my mind obviously went right away to the parable of the ten virgins (although, He had more to say about it too... I'll get into that first). If you're not familiar with the story, it appears in Matthew 25. And as always, Jesus tells the story to teach us an important lesson through an analogy.

In fact, He even starts the story out with "the Kingdom of Heaven will be like..." and then goes on to tell about ten virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom, five of whom were wise and five who were foolish. The wise ones took plenty of oil to keep their lamps burning, while the foolish ones did not. The groom took a long time in coming, so they all fell asleep. But, when the announcement came that the groom was on his way, the wise ones still had oil to keep their lamps burning, while the foolish ones did not.

They had to go buy more oil and while they were gone, the bridegroom came and they missed him. Instead, they came back to find that the virgins who had been ready had already gone into the wedding banquet with him and the doors were shut, so they couldn't get in. In fact, when they tried to convince him to let them in, he told them he did not know them.

If you aren't a believer, are a new believer or don't have the spiritual understanding yet to understand what's being represented - this story is a symbolic picture of Jesus and His Church - the Body of Christ, Christians, believers. They are the bride and He is the groom. And this story is a warning for believers to stay prepared for His arrival.

So, what does it mean to be prepared and have "oil" for your lamps? Oil comes out of olives when they are CRUSHED. If you want the oil - the good stuff - you have to squeeze the olives until the oil comes out.

So, to have spiritual "oil," it means you lay down your life and your will for His. You let Him consecrate and transform you by "squeezing" all the old stuff out of you and fill you instead with His Spirit, His righteousness and His holiness. And this happens by TRULY surrendering your life to Him, letting Him be the Lord of your life and being in intimate relationship with Him.

In Biblical times, a groom's father would select a bride for his son. She would be given the opportunity to accept or deny and if she did accept, she would become "betrothed" to him.

After being betrothed to her groom (who would pay a "bridal price" for her), the bride would go off separately to be consecrated and cleansed before marriage. While she was being cleansed, the groom would go off to prepare a home for them to live in once they were married. At a time that was determined by the groom's FATHER, the groom would then be "released" to go get his bride. She wouldn't know exactly when he was coming, it was a surprise, so she had to always be ready for him to come at any time. Especially, since the betrothal period could last anywhere from months to even years. But, she knew he was coming because they were already betrothed to one another, so she would keep her lamp burning at night, so she would be ready when she heard him coming.

Jesus uses this analogy to teach us what we - His Church, the Bride - should be doing while we are waiting on His return. He is the groom and we are the bride. The Father has already selected the Bride for His Son. They are the ones He gave to Him as His bride. And you were given the choice to accept or deny Him.

"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” -John 17:6 (NIV)

Jesus (the groom) has already paid the “bridal price” for us - He paid with His life; His sacrifice on the cross bought us for a price (1 Cor. 6:20). So now, we are in the betrothal period - the period of time where the bride is to go away (separate from the world) and be consecrated and cleansed for her groom. While the groom has gone to prepare a home for them to dwell in together. Just as Jesus is doing for us right now.

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” -John 14:3 (NIV)

Traditionally, the bride did not know when her groom would come for her. In fact, the groom did not even know. It was up to his father to decide when the time was right and he would then “release” the groom to go get his bride. Again, this is a prophetic symbol of us - the Church - and Jesus. Even Jesus Himself does not know the time when He will come back for us, His Bride. Only the Father knows.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” -Matthew 24:36

Which is why, just like the bride, we need to be ready for Him to come at any moment. Even if He seems to “tarry” (delay or be late). Again, just like in the parable… the groom took a long time in coming, so all the virgins fell asleep. Did you catch that? All of them! Not just the foolish ones. But, even though the wise virgins were still caught off guard, they were prepared. They had made sure to always have enough oil with them instead of letting themselves become lazy and fall into unpreparedness.

And the same is true for Christ’s Church. It may seem that He is tarrying (after all, the disciples thought He was coming back right away, over 2000 years ago!), but we can’t let time lull us into a slumber because we have to be ready for Him at all times.

“For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.” -1 Thessalonians 5:2 (NLT)

We cannot be caught off guard like the foolish virgins because just like they had to then run off and try to hurriedly get more oil, we won’t be able to try to hurry up and surrender our lives to Him at the last moment. There won’t be time. And if we do, we will see that those who stayed prepared will go with Him into the marriage banquet and we will be left outside with Him saying, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you” (Matthew 25:12).

Just like you wouldn’t expect to wait until the very end of someone’s life to suddenly try to have a relationship with them, we can’t do it with Jesus either. He wants to know us now. He wants us to truly surrender to Him and let Him be the Lord and leader our lives now. He wants to transform us, to heal us and free us! But, it’s up to us to let Him.

We have to seek Him. We have to stay awake and aware. We have to keep our lamps lit and full of oil and be careful not to fall into slumber. Because we have to remember… on our own, in our flesh, without the empowering and leading of His Holy Spirit… we can’t do it. As long as we are in our fallen earthly bodies, our flesh will fight to fail us.

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." -Matthew 26:41 (NIV)

Which is exactly why Jesus tells us to watch and pray. He already knows we can’t do it! We’re the ones that are under the false assumption that we can do anything on our own without His power. Even when we think we are doing something in our ability, we’re not! Like Paul explains in Galatians 5:16-17:

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

Our flesh, our natural inclination as humans, is to do what is evil (Don’t believe me? Do you have to teach a baby to be bad? Or to be good?). So, our nature in our flesh is to want to do what is against the spirit. It’s why we shouldn’t even try to be strong, faithful, trusting, powerful, bold, etc. in our own strength because we will always fail at it! (Again, don’t believe me? Ask Peter about denying Jesus…)

This is actually the whole reason Jesus came! God’s people thought they could keep themselves right with Him by keeping the law. Or what we would call “being good.” So, He went along with it and gave them the law to SHOW them that they couldn’t do it. No matter how much they wanted to or thought they could. They couldn’t do it. And God knew it. He just needed the people to recognize it and admit it.

“Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised.” -Galatians 3:19 (NLT)

Again, THIS is why Jesus came! So, we don’t have to try to be right with Him in our own strength anymore! But unfortunately, like I’ve said in so many other posts, this pure message of the Gospel has gotten “muddled” over the centuries and we’ve found ourselves now immersed in a man-made, flesh-based doctrine in the Church. No wonder why everyone is so worn out. We’ve all been trying to do it in our own strength and we were never meant to!

It’s like the Holy Spirit told me simply once… “Being a follower of Jesus isn’t about trying to become like Him.” Let’s just stop and think about that for a second - isn’t that exactly what the Church teaches us today?? That we’re supposed to try to be like Him? But, the rest of His statement was this - “It’s about surrendering and letting Him work through you.”

Well, that puts a whole new spin on things, doesn’t it?

But, I digress. Back to the oil and the lamps.

So, how does all this tie together? Because when we don’t consistently and diligently (consciously, on purpose) surrender ourselves to Him and let Him be in charge, we will fall asleep. Just like the disciples did in the Garden while Jesus prayed. Just like the virgins did while waiting for the groom to come.

On our own, we will fall asleep. It’s our natural inclination. No matter how much we love Him and how passionate we are about Him. (Again… just ask Peter.) On our own, we will become lazy. We will drift away. We will put other things before Him. Or let our flesh take the lead. Or become mixed in with the world.

We’ll slack. We’ll fall into a slumber. We won’t be ready.

But, when we know this and we do what Jesus told us - watch and pray - His Spirit will help us. The Holy Spirit will help us stay awake and alert. He will give us discernment and protect us from falling away. He will convict us and transform us and keep us ready for Jesus’ return.

And that is what keeping your lamps lit looks like. That’s keeping enough oil ready - it’s consciously choosing to deny your flesh and surrender to the Spirit. It’s admitting that you can’t do it on your own and surrendering to His grace and power instead. Every day of your life because you never know when He’s coming back and you don’t want to be caught not ready.

(By the way, if you think that sounds “hard,” it’s not. That’s just a lie of the enemy. Laying your flesh down and letting the Spirit lead your life is actually easier than trying to live in your flesh. That’s the whole point!)

So now, the other thing the Holy Spirit said about “kerosene lamp.”

As He usually does (and I so enjoy), He had me go on a little treasure hunt to learn more about them. And as it turns out… there are 3 kinds of kerosene lanterns (the portable kind): dead-flame, hot-blast and cold-blast. Now, some of you might already know where He’s going with this…

But, that’s basically another analogy for the state of His Church today. There are some whose flame is dead. They have fallen into such a slumber that the flame in them isn’t even burning. They may consider themselves a “Christian” by identification, but there is no Holy Spirit fire in them. And unfortunately, many of them may not even be aware that they’ve fallen asleep. In fact, they may have even fallen into such deception that they may actually be offended by the workings of the Holy Spirit and not recognize Him. (If you read my post about the dream I had with the zombies at the wedding - this is them.)

Then, there are the “cold-blast” believers - those who know the Holy Spirit, but aren’t actively walking in His power. They have fallen asleep too - most likely by compromising and mixing with the world, man, idols, their flesh and false doctrine. They may also be unaware that they’ve fallen asleep, but God (in all His love and mercy) is sounding the alarm now (before Jesus comes) to wake them up! Their flame has run cold (or “lukewarm”) and it’s time for them to turn back to Him and reignite their fire!

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” -Revelation 3:15-16

And then, there are the hot-blasts. The believers who are completely surrendered to Jesus, are walking in His Spirit not their flesh and have their “lamps” full of oil. They are the end-times remnant and they are the ones who are ushering in this next and last great revival of the Church. As this is what He is calling all of His Church back at this time.

Right now, the Lord is waking everyone up and giving them time to get ready out of His great love for them. He doesn’t want anyone to be found unready when He comes back. He is giving everyone extra time to get ready now, to wake up and come running back to Him with surrendered hearts and have their spirits reignited!

It is time for His Church to be set apart from the world as it was always supposed to be. It is time for His Church to walk in the power and authority it was always meant to walk in.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” -John 14:12 (NLT)

It is time for His Church to wake up, to light their lamps and to arise and shine for the glory of the Lord is upon them!

It is time.