

1 “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, 4 but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. 5 When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ 7 “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ 9 “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’10 “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. 11 Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ 12 “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’
Verse 4 talks about how the bridesmaids that were wise took along “extra oil” with them. I need for someone reading this blog to understand that it is through your preparation for the unknown where God will produce your “extra oil”. Your “extra oil” is the anointing that you don’t know you are going to need along the way, it is the favor that you don’t expect to receive. What I love about this parable is that if you keep reading on to the last verse, verse 13, it says, “So always be ready. You don’t know the day or the time when the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 25:13 ERV).

Preparing for the unknown can only happen when there is total surrenderance to God due to recognition that He is omniscient. This means that He is all knowing and therefore has complete knowledge and infinite awareness about what our future holds. “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite” (Psalms 147:5 NKJV). This means that His understanding is beyond our comprehension so He knows the work we need to put in before the blessings arrive and the doors begin to open. He knows the fine-tuning and refinement needed in the dark or hidden areas of our lives that we cannot see. He knows how to shift our paradigm to stretch us past thinking too small-scale. He knows the practice and self-discipline that we are going to need before we get there. He knows where we need to be sharpened and He knows how sharp we need to be. He knows the type of “extra oil” that we will need before we know that we have need of it.
This month, God needs you to get on your grind with preparing for the unknown. He needs you to trust Him like never before to equip you with what only He knows you will have need of. He needs you to do this because He wants to see you win. He needs you to do this because He knows that you will have to be in position when the unknown time arrives for your blessing. He needs you to do this because He can’t get the glory out of you if you are not ready to be stretched to your utmost best.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
We thank you for choosing us. We thank you for being able to look right through our inadequacies to bless us with sufficiency. We thank you for being our Father and our friend. We thank you for being someone who we know we have to always depend. We give you glory, honor and praise today God for doing what you do and simply being you. There is no one like you and we love you. Hallelujah for the fact that you have foreknown insight into our future! Hallelujah for the fact that you withhold the power to equip us with what it is you know we will need! God we boldly come before you today and ask that you help us to reach our peak. Guide and direct us throughout this season in our lives so that we are properly prepared for our unknown. Provide us with the prerequisites that you know we will need to flourish. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Scriptures to Feed Yourself & Reflect On:
Matthew 25:1-12 NLT
Matthew 25:13 ERV
Psalm 147:5 NKJV
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV