2 Kings 4:2 (KJV) And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.

The widow and her sons had a great need. Here is the whole story of what happened:
“2 Kings 4:1-7 (KJV) Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. [2] And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. [3] Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. [4] And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. [5] So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. [6] And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. [7] Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.”

The question Elisha asked was, what do you have? Jesus Christ asked a similar question when there was a great need to be filled. “Mark 6:37-44 (KJV) He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? [38] He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. [39] And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. [40] And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. [41] And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. [42] And they did all eat, and were filled. [43] And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. [44] And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.”

There are two type of situations one is we have a need and the other is we see a need. In both cases Jesus Christ is asking us the same question. What do we have?

We need to know, understand and believe that GOD wants to provide for our and other peoples needs. As we see in the above scriptures that the LORD will often use what we already have and multiply it so that there is more than enough to meet the needs.

In both cases, what they had, had to be made available and the instructions given by the Word of God had to be followed.

Therefore be encouraged that if you find yourself in need or see a need to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying or asking. Is He asking you “What do you have?” Or “How much of this do you have of what is needed?” Then let us respond in faith and present it to the LORD who then will use it not only to meet the needs but glorify His name demonstrating that what is written in Psalms 118:1 (KJV) and repeated “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.”