"The woman became a debtor because of the poverty of her husband. But she had a pot of oil. This pot of oil was the basic ingredient. It was this pot of oil that allowed her to pay her debt and that supplied her daily needs. She needed empty vessels. Elisha ordered her to prepare empty vessels, and not a few. Through Adam we have become poor. But praise the Lord, we have the Holy Spirit. What is lacking are empty spots for the Spirit to fill. The fact is not that we cannot be filled, but that we do not have the empty spots for the Holy Spirit to work into. The Holy Spirit will only fill the empty spots. For spiritual progress we must be continually empty to be continually filled. It is not to be emptied once and then remain full forever. Time after time we need further emptying and further filling...If there is unlimited emptiness, there will be unlimited filling. We should continually empty ourselves, instead of emptying ourselves just once. We should continually empty ourselves so that we can be continually filled. We are responsible for the emptying, and the Holy Spirit is responsible for the filling."

Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Vol 11
The Present Testimony (4), page 725