One day the leaders of the town of Jericho visited Elisha. “We have a problem, my lord,” they told him. “This town is located in pleasant surroundings, as you can see. But the water is bad, and the land is unproductive.”
20 Elisha said, “Bring me a new bowl with salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the spring that supplied the town with water and threw the salt into it. And he said, “This is what the Lord says: I have purified this water. It will no longer cause death or infertility.[a]” 22 And the water has remained pure ever since, just as Elisha said 2 Kings 2:19-22
Coming into 2014 productivity was one word on my heart, personal productivity precisely. This was one aspect of my life I wanted to improve in 2024 but I did not have a clear strategy on how to go about it. while it was yet in my heart, the Lord sent me this scripture in 2 Kings 2:19-22
In our text for today, the leaders of Jericho told Elisha that their land was unproductive not because of its location, not because their actions of cultivating on the land were incorrect, but because the water reaching the land was bad. When Elisha heard about this issue, he took a bowl of salt and went out to the spring that supplied the town with water. He threw salt into the source of the water and purified it, from that day, the water no longer caused death or infertility. This tells us that as a believer there is a solution to the lack of productivity.
A close examination of this scripture reveals a powerful truth: productivity for a believer is quite different from productivity as defined by our world. In our world, personal productivity refers to how a person consistently and efficiently completes a task or accomplishes a goal; so, the focus is on actions and the completion of the task. But to a spiritual man, productivity does not begin with actions, while actions are important, and the accomplishment of a set goal is clarified, productivity to a believer never begins with an outward action.
If productivity does not begin with external actions, what then powers productivity? An examination of what each element represents would help us understand what powers true productivity.
What does that mean? Water refers to the spirit component that flows into a land. A land can be someone’s life, a business, an organization, etc. Productivity for a believer is first dependent on the spirit component- the water. If the water is bad, regardless of the actions on the outside, that life, business, and organization will remain unproductive
Purifying bad water begins by identifying the source of water in our lives; that source is called our heart. The heart through our words determines the Spirit that flows into our land. The Bible says the power of life and death is in the tongue, this means words trigger the flow of either the Spirit of Life that powers productivity or the spirit of death that powers unproductivity as seen in the case with the land in Jericho. What kind of water flows from your heart? Do your words allow for the flow of life or death?
You need to examine the content of your heart to determine the kind of water that flows for the bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A heart full of worry, anxiety, challenges, discouragement, and fear, will speak words in line with its content. Unfortunately, these words do not allow for the flow of the water of life, therefore regardless of the outward action, a person with such a heart might still have an unproductive life. A heart that is full of the word will speak words consistent with the word, this will allow for the flow of the Spirit of Life, causing that person’s land to be productive.
The process that leads to the deposit of God’s word in our hearts is called meditation. If a believer has not done the work of meditating, you’ll find that that person can honestly fast and pray but still not live a very productive life. Why? If the word is not richly deposited in your heart, something else is in your heart (it could be worry, pain, challenges, the news, etc.) and you will speak from the abundance of whatever is in your heart.
Knowing the word is great, it’s a good start, but transferring that word to my heart in such measure that regardless of the challenge my words will always come from the abundance of the deposit of the word in my heart, this is the goal. It is speaking from such a place of conviction and abundance of the deposit that allows the Spirit of life to flow, causing the actions you take on the outside to yield great results. When you’ve infused your heart with God’s word and speak consistently to it, then you’ve laid the right foundation to now take the necessary actions and steps on the outside that will then lead to a productive life.
Heart filled with The Word + Words spoken from the abundance of the heart+ Release of the Spirit of Life + Action on the outside = Productivity
God demonstrated this principle in the book of Genesis. At creation, the earth was without form and void, we can say it was not yet productive. Nothing growing, it had no life in it. Then God decided it was time to turn this into something productive. How did He begin? God began by speaking. Even though the Spirit of God was hovering over the earth, nothing changed until God spoke. After God spoke in Genesis chapter one, by chapter two God was no longer speaking but now He was forming. Now He was working and we could see the result of His work. But the things He formed in Genesis 2 had first been created with His words in Genesis 1
Never forget this – Your hands will not produce what your words have not created. And by words, I’m not just saying confessions that are not in connection with your heart, it is words that come from the abundance of your heart, that come from a place of conviction, these are the words that create. Your actions on the outside would only manifest what your words have created. Many times, we begin from Genesis 2, we try to take action and get results but we ignore Genesis 1. Doing that will not yield much result.
God’s pattern always works.
Speak life (From the deposit in your heart) + Release the flow of the Spirit of life + Take Action = Productivity.
If your land is unproductive or not producing as you desire, now you have God’s formula on how to change your outcome. Use it!
Love Always
Obebi
