Pouring Out The Oil
Key Scripture
“Then Mary took a pound of very expensive perfume of pure nard, and she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
— John 12:3 (AMP)
Prayer of Pouring Out (Opening Prayer)
Father,
I come before You with my alabaster jar in hand — the sum of my life, my love, my pain, and my praise. Today, I break it open before You. I refuse to hold back the oil of my worship. I pour it out at Your feet, for You alone are worthy of it all.
Let my prayers rise before You like incense, my worship like fragrance filling heaven. Receive my offering, Lord — not because of its worth, but because of the heart behind it.
Cleanse me of pride and self-reliance. Empty me of anything that hinders the flow of Your Spirit. I long to be a vessel poured out and refilled by Your presence. Let my worship touch Your heart today. Let my adoration make heaven pause.
I give You the oil of my affection, my time, my voice, my tears. May it bless You as You have so richly blessed me.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Devotional Reflection
Oil has always carried divine significance throughout Scripture. It represents anointing, devotion, sacrifice, and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, oil was used to consecrate priests, prophets, and kings. It set them apart for sacred use — a visible mark that they belonged wholly to God.
But in John 12, we find something breathtaking — a woman named Mary breaking her alabaster jar and pouring her oil upon Jesus.
“Then Mary took a pound of very expensive perfume of pure nard, and she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
— John 12:3 (AMP)
She didn’t just offer perfume; she offered her heart. The alabaster jar represented her treasure, her identity, and even her security. Yet she chose to break it open and pour it all out on the feet of the One who was worthy of everything.
Her worship was extravagant. Costly. Undignified. But it was pure. And Jesus received it.
When Mary broke her alabaster jar and poured her oil upon Jesus, He didn’t rebuke her — He defended her. The world called it a waste. Heaven called it worship.
Jesus said in Mark 14:6-9 (AMP):
“Leave her alone; why are you bothering her and causing trouble? She has done a good and beautiful thing to Me… She has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the good news (the Gospel) is proclaimed in the entire world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”
That moment of lavish, unrestrained worship became eternal.
Heaven recorded her offering. God never forgets a heart that pours.
So it is with you. Every time you give God your best — your voice, your tears, your repentance, your time — it is written, remembered, and rejoiced over in heaven.
Zephaniah 3:17 (AMP) declares:
“The Lord your God is in your midst,
A Warrior who saves.
He will rejoice over you with joy;
He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins],
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”
Can you imagine that? The Creator of the universe — rejoicing over you, singing over you, moved by your love. Every act of devotion causes heaven to erupt in celebration.
Your worship fills the throne room with fragrance.
Your prayers perfume eternity.
Your obedience becomes incense that God Himself inhales with delight.
Heaven’s Response to Your Oil
Every time you come before God — whether through a whispered prayer, a tear-streaked worship, or a quiet surrender — heaven notices. The fragrance of your offering doesn’t dissipate into the air; it ascends before the throne of the Living God.
Your worship is not invisible. Your tears are not forgotten. Your prayers are not unheard.
Heaven receives them.
In Revelation 5:8 (TPT), Scripture gives us a glimpse of this sacred reality:
“And when the Lamb took the scroll,
the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell face down before the Lamb.
Each of them had a harp and golden bowls brimming full of sweet, fragrant incense —
which are the prayers of God’s holy lovers.”
Your prayers and worship are described as fragrant incense — something holy, something precious, something that fills the atmosphere of heaven itself. What we offer to God in faith and love doesn’t vanish; it is collected in heaven. It becomes part of the eternal worship before His throne.
When you pour your oil — your worship, your gratitude, your surrender — it doesn’t just move God’s heart; it delights Him.
He doesn’t tolerate your worship; He treasures it. He leans in to listen.
Psalm 141:2 (AMP) echoes this truth:
“Let my prayer be counted as incense before You; the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”
Every raised hand, every bowed head, every whispered “thank You” — it all becomes incense before Him.
The Exchange of Oils
There is a holy exchange that happens when we pour our oil upon God — He pours His oil upon us.
AMP Psalm 23:5
“You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”
TPT Psalm 23:5
“You anoint me with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit; You give me all I can drink of You until my heart overflows.”
AMP Isaiah 61:3
“To grant… the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a disheartened spirit…”
TPT Isaiah 61:3
“He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of bliss instead of tears, and the mantle of joyous praise instead of heaviness.”
His exchange transforms the weary into worshipers and ashes into beauty.
When we empty ourselves before Him, He fills us again with Himself. His oil represents His Spirit, His power, His healing, His joy, His rest.
Too many of us are still holding our alabaster jars close — afraid to pour them out, afraid to appear foolish, afraid to be vulnerable. But God can only fill what is empty. He can only pour new oil into a vessel that has first been poured out.
He’s saying to you:
“Daughter, if you’ll just linger — if you’ll stay at My feet a little longer — if you will pour out your oil before Me, I will pour Mine upon you. I will anoint your head with fresh oil. I will saturate you with My presence. I’ll anoint your head until your cup overflows. I will mark you as My own.”
When His oil flows, burdens lift. Chains break. Confusion turns to clarity. Anxiety melts into peace. His oil brings renewal where you’ve been weary, joy where you’ve been mourning, and fire where your heart has grown cold.
The King’s Delight
Psalm 149:4 (AMP) says:
“For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation.”
Psalm 149:4 (TPT)
“For the Lord delights in His people, and He adorns the humble with His salvation,
even as a king beautifies the lovers who bow before Him.”
When your heart bows low, when you offer yourself with humility, He adorns you with beauty from heaven. He clothes you with His presence.
He delights in your authenticity more than your perfection.
He delights in your nearness more than your eloquence.
He delights in your love more than your labor.
When you lift your voice in worship, heaven opens.
When you kneel in prayer, the King draws near.
When you weep in His presence, your tears become jewels in His hands.
Psalm 56:8 (AMP) tells us:
“You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not recorded in Your book?”
Not one tear is wasted. Every one is sacred. Every act of worship — every sigh, every cry, every hallelujah — becomes a fragrance that rises before the Lord of glory.
He receives it. He records it. He rejoices over it.
And then — as if that weren’t enough — He pours Himself out in return.
When the Jar Feels Empty
There are seasons when your jar feels empty — when your prayers feel dry, your worship feels weary, and your faith feels fragile.
When the same oil that once flowed freely seems to have slowed to a single drop.
There are moments when your soul whispers, “God, I have nothing left to pour.”
But here’s the truth: God specializes in using what little remains.
He does not despise the remnant. He multiplies it.
The Widow’s Oil — A Symbol of Faith That Flows
In 2 Kings 4:1–7 (AMP), we read the story of a widow who was drowning in despair. Her husband, a servant of the prophet Elisha, had died. Her creditors were threatening to take her sons as slaves. She had nothing left — except a small jar of oil.
“Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a small jar of [olive] oil.”
— 2 Kings 4:2 (AMP)
That oil didn’t look like much. It wasn’t enough to pay the debt. It wasn’t enough to change her circumstances. But it was enough to stir a miracle.
Elisha told her:
“Go, borrow containers from all your neighbors, empty containers — and not just a few. Then you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out [the oil you have] into all these containers; and you shall set aside each one when it is full.”
— 2 Kings 4:3–4 (AMP)
When she began to pour, something supernatural happened — the oil multiplied.
Every jar, every vessel she borrowed, was filled to the brim. And when there were no more vessels left, the oil stopped flowing.
The miracle didn’t begin when she prayed.
It began when she poured.
The Principle of Pouring
The widow didn’t wait until she had abundance to pour; she poured in her lack.
She didn’t wait until she felt strong; she obeyed while weak.
And that act of obedience opened the door to overflow.
Sometimes God allows our jars to run low to remind us that the oil never depended on us in the first place.
It was always His power flowing through our surrender.
Even when you feel depleted, your willingness to pour becomes the channel through which God’s Spirit moves again.
He whispers, “Just start pouring. Lift your voice again. Kneel again. Worship again. Cry again. Trust again. And as you pour, I will fill.”
The Miracle of an Open Vessel
What if your emptiness is not a curse but an invitation?
An invitation for God to fill you anew?
Jesus said in Luke 6:38 (AMP):
“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over [with no space left for more]. For with the standard of measurement you use [when you do good to others], it will be measured to you in return.”
Every time you give of yourself — your worship, your time, your heart — God responds with greater measure.
When you pour, He pours back — pressed down, shaken together, running over.
Your outpouring creates space for His infilling.
Heaven Never Wastes Oil
Heaven keeps record of every tear, every sacrifice, every whispered “yes.”
Psalm 56:8 (AMP) says:
“You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not recorded in Your book?”
Nothing you pour out before the Lord is ever wasted.
Even when no one sees your worship, heaven does.
Even when you feel unseen, unheard, or unnoticed — your oil is still filling bowls of incense before the throne of God (Revelation 5:8 AMP).
God never ignores a heart that pours.
He cannot resist humility.
He cannot overlook surrender.
He cannot pass by the one who chooses to give Him everything, even when everything feels small.
The Power of the Little That Remains
Remember — the widow’s miracle didn’t come through what she lacked, but through what she still had.
Your jar may feel empty, but God always leaves a remnant — a spark of hope, a drop of oil, a seed of faith.
It only takes a mustard seed to move a mountain (Matthew 17:20 AMP).
It only takes one drop of oil to start an overflow.
It only takes one “yes” to open the windows of heaven.
So when your soul feels barren and your heart feels dry, dare to pour again.
Pour your worship.
Pour your tears.
Pour your trust.
Pour your time.
Pour your faith.
Because when you start to pour, heaven starts to move.
Prophetic Insight: The Oil Never Stopped Flowing
The miracle of 2 Kings 4 ended only when there were no more vessels left.
That means the limitation wasn’t in the oil — it was in the capacity to receive.
Likewise, God’s anointing, love, and power never stop flowing; only our openness determines how much we receive.
As long as you keep presenting yourself before Him as an empty vessel, He will keep pouring.
Heaven is never short on oil.
God is never weary of filling.
And grace never runs dry for the one who remains surrendered.
Closing Reflection
You may be standing in a season that feels barren, but don’t mistake barrenness for abandonment.
Your emptiness is the canvas for His abundance.
Your lack is the doorway to overflow.
Your obedience is the trigger for His anointing.
Heaven never wastes oil, and God never ignores a heart that pours. So pour again. Pour until your jar runs over. Pour until every vessel around you is filled. Pour until the fragrance of your worship fills the atmosphere.
And when you do, you’ll discover — the oil was never gone. It was simply waiting for your obedience to begin flowing again.
Reflection Questions
What “alabaster jar” has God been asking you to break — your time, pride, reputation, comfort, or control?
What would it look like to pour your oil in secret — to worship without restraint, to pray with full abandon?
Have you been trying to be filled without first being emptied? What areas do you need to release so His oil can flow freely in your life again?
In what ways has God already poured His oil of anointing, healing, or renewal over you in the past — and how can you make room for Him to do it again?
A CALL TO POUR AGAIN - Companion Reflection Workbook Page to Print
Prayer of Anointing (Closing Prayer)
Abba Father,
Now that I have poured my oil upon You, I ask You to pour Yours upon me.
Anoint my head with fresh oil. Let the fragrance of heaven rest upon me. Saturate me with Your presence until every dry place becomes a well of living water.
Father, pour out the oil of Your healing where I have been wounded. Pour out the oil of Your peace where I have been anxious. Pour out the oil of Your joy where I have mourned. Pour out the oil of Your power where I have felt weak.
Let Your oil flow from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Mark me as Yours, Lord. Set me apart. Let me carry Your aroma into every room I enter. When people encounter me, let them sense the fragrance of the One I’ve been with.
I surrender again, completely.
I give You permission to break, fill, and overflow me.
Let my life forever be a broken alabaster jar — empty of self, full of You.
In the mighty, matchless name of Jesus — the Anointed One — I pray,
Amen and Amen.