Empty Tanks

When we live unseen, we often run low on emotional energy. It is easy to try and get our tanks filled from places that are less than effective at best and downright dangerous at worst. If God can speak through a donkey, He can give us a lesson from a car. Read on.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Rom 15:13

     The gas gauge on my car is a little cantankerous. For the first ¾ of a tank it drops slowly and steadily. Then, it takes a nosedive. I have left town before, thinking I have plenty of gas to get where I am going. Along comes the nosedive. First the light blinks on. If I am paying attention and if I am where I can, I should fill up at this point. If not, after a few minutes, the light comes on and stays on. If I am not where I can get gas soon, my stomach starts to tighten. Then I notice I am gritting my teeth. I may start to grip the steering wheel tighter. If someone is with me, they notice I am being short with them. If I still have not heeded the warning, the car stutters. By this point, I either need to find a gas station in the next few feet or a place to pull off the road.

    Probably all but the most organized of us have been in this situation. We know how to prevent it (keep the tank filled up) and we know how to deal with it when it happens (call for help). Some of you have been on the receiving end of those calls from me. What about our spiritual tanks, though? How many times do we try to minister, or even just live, with out spiritual tanks empty?

    Just like with gas tanks, there are warning signs. Maybe temptations are harder to resist. Maybe it is harder to be joyful. Maybe is it harder to meet with the body or to read our bibles. I hear the familiar chorus from my youth. “Who cares what you do? You are not making a difference anyway?” the reactions are often very similar. My temper is shorter. My tightened stomach and gritted teeth show evidence of worry. Just like our cars can end up on the side of the road, if we ignore the warning signs we may end up in the spiritual wilderness.

    We need to learn to see the signals that show us we are running out of spiritual fuel. Just like with our vehicles we also need to know how to prevent the problem. We do this by operating in God's power and not ours. We need to be in the word regularly and we need to be in fellowship.

    In care we run out of spiritual gas we need to go to the right source to get it. A few weeks ago I pulled up to a roadside station to feed the car. It was 5:59 when I pulled up to the pump. They close at 6:00. Seeing me pull up, the owner closed the door and locked it. Fortunately I made it home. We are just as likely, though to try to meet our spiritual needs using unreliable means. We may try to fill an emptiness that is from needing God with drugs, chocolate, or people.

    Let's help each other stay filled up. Pray for each other and encourage each other. If you get a call from a friend who is stranded in the spiritual wilderness, please answer.

Lord, help us look to you for our spiritual and physical strength and not to things that cannot satisfy.

THINK ABOUT IT What are the signs for you that your spiritual gas tank is running on low?  or  What unreliable gas stations have you used to fill your tank?

Freedom

Welcome to Unseen today. This has been a week of dealing with spiritual warfare, a common thing among people who live unseen. Read on to see what I learned about freedom and victory this week.

Freedom

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph 6:12

My sister told me a story about an adventure her friend had as a little girl. She and her siblings grew up in Perryton, Texas and had sweet family dogs. One day the kids and the dogs were out  in the front yard playing. The dog catcher pulled up in the truck and whistled for the dogs. The unsuspecting dogs ran to her whistle and she locked them in the truck and took them to doggy jail.  The children were devastated, but the family did not have enough money to bail the dogs out. The pound in Perryton had a fenced run for the dogs so the family could visit and pet the dogs, but not get to them. The dad was fond of alcohol and the night before the scheduled execution for the dogs, he was fueled up. At midnight, he turned on the lights in the house and said, “Kids, let’s go get them dogs!”  He loaded the kids up in the pickup and drove to the pound. He attached a logging chain to the gate and pulled it off its hinges, setting free not only their dogs, but all the dogs in Ochiltree County.  The next morning, the dogcatcher was at their door asking if they knew anything about a break in (and break out) at the pound. They steadfastly denied any knowledge of it and said that the dogs had just showed up.           

            Have you struggled to free yourself from damaging thought patterns or habits? Do you have a loved one who is in need of deliverance from a spiritual struggle?  Maybe you have tried to use logic, threats, bribery or will power to deal with these issues. These may have been successful for a while, but more than likely, the issues crept back in before long.  These efforts are ineffective because they are not aimed at the root of the problem.  Would it have been successful if the children had tried to break one chain link at a time in the fence? How about if they had tried to burrow through the concrete in the dog run? What if they had tried to plead with the dogs to come out or threatened them if they didn’t? Even though it was technically a bad idea to tear the gate off the dog pound, it was effective because it addressed the underlying cause of the problem.

            Ephesians talks about the struggle we endure in our spiritual life. In Ephesians 6:12 we read, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Is it any wonder that our best human efforts are ineffective in this battle? Fortunately, Ephesians does not leave us there. It goes on to tell us about the armor we have to protect us, including the belt of truth and the shield of faith. It also tells us about the very powerful weapons that we have at our disposal- prayer, and the sword of the spirit. Don’t go into battle for yourself or your loved ones without your armor or your weapons. The final instruction in Ephesians 6 says, “Then having done all, stand. Let’s remember today to fight the right battle with the right weapons and the right commander.

Frog and Toad

When we live unseen, we get a warped perspective of growth, both ours and others. Today's post show's lessons that I learned from two of my favorite characters in children't literature.

Frog and Toad

I planted. Apollos watered, but God gives the increase. 1 Cor.

            In my family we love the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel. They are funny and have good lessons. In one story Frog and Toad decide to surprise each other by raking the leaves. They each secretly go to the other’s house, rake the leaves and come home unseen. On the way home, the wind whips the leaves around and each friend returns home to his own yard full of leaves, but happy in the knowledge that the other will not have to rake. Another cute episode involves the two friends making cookies. They eat several and decide it is time to quit. Then they need one last cookie, one very last cookie and one very, very last cookie. I can relate to that. Probably my favorite Frog and Toad story is about the garden.  Frog decides he wants a garden. He plants the seeds, stands back and says, “Grow, seeds. Grow.” When that doesn’t work he decides maybe the seeds can’t hear him and yells, “Come on, seeds. Grow.” Toad informs him that the seeds need water and sunlight. He waters them and makes sure they have plenty of light. He sings to them. He talks to them. He reads poems to them, and even takes the torch out at night so they won’t be afraid to grow. Finally he is worn out and falls asleep in the garden. When Toad wakes him up, there are tiny seedlings poking out of the dirt.

            I know we don’t do that to our gardens, but what about our spiritual life? Are we impatient with ourselves when we do not develop or grow as quickly as we should? One of the enemy’s favorite taunts is, “You should be further along than this by now.”  How about when we are working with others? Do we become frustrated with those we are witnessing to, or with baby Christians, when we don’t see change? Have you ever watched your children and thought, “Grow, seeds, grow!” Even worse, I have worked with people before and they either just didn’t get it or they slid back into old behaviors. Then someone else comes along and works with them, and they get it. I am tempted to wonder what the second person had that I didn’t. Did I not explain it well enough? Was I too easy or too hard on them?

            The truth is that with plants and in life things take time and development. Plants have to be planted, have water, sunshine and fertilizer. Sometimes the same gardener does not do all the work. The Corinthian Christians were having tension because some of them had been taught by Paul and some by Apollos, and felt they should follow one or the other. Paul explained to them that it was God who produced the growth, no matter who was involved in the process.  When we hear the gospel the seed is planted. As we spend time in the word, in fellowship and in prayer, we water the seed and it grows. Trials in life provide fertilizer that God can use to help us grow. We cannot measure our growth or others’ growth by someone else’s progress or by a timetable.  We measure growth by how much we look like Jesus. Also, we cannot take blame or credit for someone else’s growth or lack of growth.

 God is the master gardener. He knows the exact amount of sunshine, rain, fertilizer, songs, poems and torches we need to grow.