No Air – No Power
Recently, my wife and I stayed at a hotel in Alabama for our 24th anniversary. Our goal was to go to a wildlife refuge, which was amazing. In front of the hotel was a golf cart which was plugged in so it could be charged. That made sense. It needs to be charged up to be ready to do what it was designed to do. Then I saw a contradiction. That plugged in cart had a flat tire. It had no air and no power. It was rendered useless and ineffective. It had power, but it was still ineffective.
When I saw this, I thought of Christians, myself included. We read our Bible, we pray, we seek God’s face, we beg for help, we cry out to God in pain, we tell God what is on our heart. These are all great things, but we are rendered ineffective if we don’t complete the process, if we don’t ask God to fill us with His spirit, so we can walk in His strength, not our own. When we try to do things in our own strength, in our own power, using our own ideas instead of God’s leading, iit just doesn’t work.
Often times, we as Christians will get all excited about what God is telling us, what He is revealing to our hearts – a fresh insight, a cool idea, or a a calling we suddenly realize. In our excitement, if we’re not careful, we will just take God’s ideas and run with them on our own. That is not helpful, not effective. It is not the way God has designed for us to operate. We are to do things with Him, using His strength, letting Him lead, and submitting to that leading.
Another way we walk in our own strength is our determination, our own self will. We are bound and determined that we are going to fix this problem, do this task, accomplish this goal. Our self will tries to take the place of being filled with God’s spirit, of walking in dependence on Him. This makes it all about us, and not about God and His power, and His glory. Guys, have we not seen this in our own liives, trying to fix things for our family?? That’s what guys tend to do, at least I do. When I’m walking in my own strength, I am not walking in His.
Finally, we try to walk in our own strength when we try to work our way to Heaven and earn God’s approval. Our works, our good deeds, cannot replace what Jesus has done on the cross for us, dying for our sins. It is His goodness, and His strength we need. That strength, that power, that filling is fully available when we submit ourselves and our needs to Him.
Phil. 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”
