[x_custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″]I had put myself and my family in a very vulnerable spot, and right smack dab in the middle of the desert, on top of it all.[/x_custom_headline]
I had been traveling to minister in another church, and had used a rental car to get to the meeting. When I arrived back home with the rental car, I still had another day and a half on the contract, so I decided it would be a great idea to drive out of town for some family fun. At this time, our three sons were very young, with the oldest being no more than ten or eleven years old.
We were pastoring a church in a very small town with very little family entertainment available. So the nearest city to us with something to offer in that regard was about ninety miles away.
So, out of town we went, with a plan for an awesome family day in store. And as I recall, we had a great time together, enjoyed some good food, and even went to a family movie. It was a ton of fun, but as they say, all good things must come to an end, and so we headed for home.
We had traveled a little more than halfway home when the gas indicator on the rental car began to ding. At first there was disbelief, and then utter shock when I realized that I had forgotten to get gas for the car that day. The truth is, I was still using the gas from when I had filled up on the way home from my trip out of town to minister. I didn’t fill up before we left for our family adventure, nor did I ever consider filling up before we started heading back home. Fueling the car never even crossed my mind.
[highlight]I had completely forgotten all about getting gas, because I was so caught up in an opportunity to enjoy my family, and have a one day escape from some hectic ministry assignments.[/highlight] The foolishness of my error was hitting me hard, because there wasn’t any place to get gas for at least thirty miles, and we were in the middle of the desert with the sun sinking fast. And there was nothing even close to thirty miles worth of fuel left in that rental car’s gas tank.
We were in a mess and it was all my fault. I wish I could tell you that I had AAA, but I did not. And there were no cell phones as we know them now, so that certainly wasn’t an option. This of course left me with the knowledge that the nearest pay phone was at the nearest gas station. And there was absolutely no chance with the remaining fuel that we had in our tank that we would ever get that far.
[highlight]Had I simply been undistracted enough to monitor the gauges of this rental car, all of this could have been avoided.[/highlight]
My story is very similar to what I see taking place in the lives of most Christians today. The biggest difference is that I am not referring to monitoring the gauges of their car, but to monitoring the gauges of their life.
For example, most people are so distracted by the everyday affairs of their life that they never bother to monitor their faith gauge. For if they did, most would soon discover that they are at or near empty in their faith tank. So moving mountains of adversity just isn’t an option for them. For that matter, moving a pebble of adversity isn’t an option, because just as I failed to get gas in my rental car, most Christians are failing to fill their faith tank and keep it filled.
The Bible tells us exactly how to get faith, but many Christians don’t seem to be taking advantage of it.
[x_blockquote cite=”Romans 10:17 KJV” type=”left”]“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”[/x_blockquote]
Just as I was so distracted by an opportunity for a fun day with my wife and kids, many believers are distracted by any number of things in their personal lives that keep them from putting themselves in position to hear the Word of God, and developing strong faith.
And because of this, they can receive nothing from the Lord, and certainly cannot please Him (see Hebrews 11:6). And many times when they need strong faith the most, is when they are the weakest in faith. So instead of having mountain moving faith, they find themselves stuck on the side of the road of life, without answers and hopeless, surrounded by a desert filled with problems as far as the eye can see.
But there are other gauges, too, that we should consider in our lives. For example, what about your joy gauge? When was the last time you checked to see where your joy level was?
And what about your peace gauge and your love gauge? And let’s not forget the gauge that shows you whether you are full of the Spirit today, or half full, or closer to empty.
[x_blockquote cite=”Ephesians 5:18-20 KJV” type=”left”]“18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”[/x_blockquote]
In the original language of verse eighteen above, we find that we are to continually be being filled with the Spirit. It is not a one-time event. But many Christians are dry spiritually all because they refuse to monitor the gauges of their life.
In fact, most Christians are more faithful to monitor the gauges of their car, than they are the gauges of their life.
Perhaps you have run out of gas spiritually and have been unaware of what it will take to revive yourself. To begin with, start doing everything you did when you were on fire for God. Things like faithful church attendance, daily prayer and Bible reading, and feeding on faith-building teaching CDs, and so on.
Begin today to faithfully monitor the gauges of your life. Because there is no reason to be stuck in the middle of the desert spiritually, when your answer is right there in easy reach.
