Michelle’s lifelong dream was to become a Registered Nurse, but because of a lack of financial resources and the need to work, she couldn’t finish nursing school. Life continued to get in the way, and at the age of 42, she has found herself unfulfilled and dissatisfied with her life. She’s thankful and blessed with the strides she had made on her job, but having been passed over for two major promotions, she feels that she’s stalled out over the past few years. Her personal life mirrors her professional life. She was involved with a man who even after six years of dating her was adamant that he didn’t want to be married. She began to feel that things were really closing in when Mother became ill. Michelle is very close to her mother, and the financial strain of helping her mom deal with medical expenses has added tremendous pressure. Feeling stuck and unhopeful, Michelle can’t see any way to make plans for a bright future. She hasn’t been able to shake deep feelings of sadness, and they seem to follow her every move.
The situations that many of us face may not be exactly like Michelle’s, but the feelings that she is experiencing about her own life parallels the emotions that many people are coping with today. Some of us feel as though we’re doing everything that we know to do to keep it going—to keep the balls in the air so that they don’t all just drop to the ground and bring us down with them. When you’re living this way, it’s easy to feel that you don’t really have time to mold a vision for yourself, or to focus on your own personal growth and well-being. You’re just too busy trying to keep it together. If you continue to go on this way, some aspect of your being is going to suffer, and suffer in a major way.
God told us in 3John 1:2 that He desires that we have good health and prosper, even as our souls prosper. From this we know definitively that our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual components should function collaboratively, so that the end result is prosperity and wholeness for our total being. In order for anything to function well, that thing must receive what it needs to do so. You can’t expect an engine to rev up and roar without fuel; it’s just not gonna happen. It stands to reason that if we’re not feeding the very core of our beings with what they need, then ultimately our engine is going to run low and eventually be depleted.
In order for us to acquire anything new in our lives, whether it is a new relationship, a new material or spiritual blessing, we must make room to receive it. Our spiritual capacity to handle new and expanded territory has to increase. This happens when we take definitive steps to increase in God’s Holy Spirit. Our knowledge of Christ must expand, so that we embody more of his example. The more you know, the more you grow. The more you grow IN CHRIST; the more faith, love, and power you’ll operate in your life.
FAITH
Hebrews 11:6(NLT) tells us, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” We can’t please God without having faith in Him. One of the mistakes we make is not discerning faith in God from the practice of trying to increase our faith to receive other things from Him. God is the One with the plan for our lives. There is nothing that you and I could ever do that will slip by Him. He doesn’t need our help to accomplish anything He wants to do.
We spend an enormous amount of time trying to muster faith to acquire the blessings we want most, and many of us become very disappointed in this process. The disappointment happens because we’re trying to acquire faith for the blessing rather than increasing our faith in God. We’re focused on the acquisition of something, when we should be focused on the magnificence of who He is. God doesn’t miss a beat. He knows how to bless us. So, the focus of our faith should always be on seeking God for who He is and seeking to grow in our relationship with Him. When this is not the focus of our faith, we will open the door for disappointment.
LOVE
God created faith so it could be expressed through His love. As our love for Him deepens through Jesus Christ, we will be compelled to let it be reflected in our actions, thoughts, conversations, and behaviors. Romans 5:5(NLT) says, “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” God sent His Holy Spirit to lead us, and we must be obedient to follow the Spirit in order to have a successful Christian life.
Sometimes, you and I have an agenda we’re pursuing because we think it is the way we ought to go, but God is the One who sets the race we ought to be running, not us. He will tell us what we should pursue, who we should let into our hearts, and where we should expend our energy in order to receive maximum results. We should not try to make these decisions and choices on our own. Jesus Christ is LORD! He sets the path for our individual lives, and we follow it by following his Spirit. Romans 5:5 tells us that the Holy Spirit will fill our hearts with God’s love, and he knows exactly how to get this done. Our job is to listen to him and follow his guidance. When we do this, God promises in Romans 5:5 that our hope will not lead to disappointment.
POWER
Jesus Christ said in Acts 1:8(NLT), “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Holy Spirit emboldens us and powerfully moves through us to accomplish God’s plan for our lives. Our completeness is in Jesus Christ. He defines us and everything we want to know about who we are meant to be can be found in him. We were once spiritually dead, with the curse of constant failure, but now through Jesus Christ, God has made us alive, and He has forgiven our trespasses. Philippians 2:13(NLT) tells us that because of this, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” This is where our power comes from; it comes from the desire and commitment to do what pleases God.
We should not keep running on fumes when all signals are pointing in the direction of utter exhaustion. Higher spiritual heights will forever and always be your destination, and through His Spirit, God will keep you continually charged. Our lives must be synchronized to the move of God’s Spirit, and we must never, ever get ahead of the Spirit. We were created to be God’s children and to partner with Him. Whenever we step outside this partnership and try to do things our way, we get into trouble. We must always seek to do God’s Will and to use our lives according to the purpose He has set for them. When this becomes our commitment and focus, we will no longer be stuck in neutral, and our lives will move according to God’s divine timing. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Running on Fumes” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Sundie Morning Sistas is dedicated to spiritual inspiration and encouragement through the Word of God.