Plug In
Our power and our strength come from the Lord. As I sit writing this, the temperature outside is -30 degrees Fahrenheit (-34 C). My little, 8 year-old car doesn’t function in this weather. The battery clicked but did not turn the engine over. Luckily, because I do live in a climate that often ranges below freezing, my engine comes with a heater to warm it up. Knowing the temperature was going to be very cold, we plugged in the car to keep the engine warm and help it start in the morning. Unfortunately, I turned the light switch off that provided electricity to the cord plugging in the car. As you can imagine, when I woke up this morning to start my car… it was completely dead.
Even the best laid out plans fail when the power to fulfill them is denied. Today’s reading shows us the importance of filling our lives up with the proper power. Jesus was known to go off into desolate and isolated places to pray. He made it a priority. Often, those times of prayer were interrupted by people who wanted and needed things from him, but Jesus showed us the importance of spending time with our God. It is like plugging in my car in the freezing weather. The more difficult and stressful times grow, the more power I need from God. The more of Him and the less of me the world needs to see. Without our connection, being plugged into the Lord if you will, we do not have the strength to do what God asks of us.
If we are to succeed and thrive, we must make prayer and reading scripture a priority. You are here, reading this, and that is a start. However, you need more. You need that time of isolation with God. You need to pour your heart out in gratitude and in need. You need to sit and listen to the Holy Spirit’s gentle whisper. Life is all about balance. I am learning that. I tend to go farther and faster than I should when God says to slow down. I can easily deplete my resources because I focus solely on what I can do and what I can give. That’s not God’s design. In fact, 2 Corinthians 8:13-15 tells us, “I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their want, so that their abundance may supply your want, that there may be equality. As it is written, ‘He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack.’” God’s design is balanced. He doesn’t want us to pour everything out and never receive anything to fill us back up again. We need to remember that. We need to remember that God doesn’t want us to run on empty but to be filled to the overflowing with His power and strength.
I praise God for scriptures like today’s reading that shows us the importance of prayer and time with the Lord in Jesus’ life. There can be no doubt that Jesus walked in God’s will. He performed what God asked of him. Everything that he did was good. Still, he needed rest. He needed time for reflection and encouragement. If the Son of God needed that time, how much more do we? Carve out time to be with your God. Remember that we need to be plugged in to charge. Nothing runs on a dead battery, not even you and I.
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
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