[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Wednesday, November 7 2012

[Paul]

Well folks, here in North America it's about time for people to retire for the night.  As for me, the undersigned is the on-call volunteer counselor for our local crisis pregnancy center, so I'll have to stay up all night to take any calls that might come into the center.  Please pray that, if I get any calls from women who are contemplating abortion, that the Lord will give me the right words to say, how to say them and when to say them.  Thanks in advance for your prayers on behalf of anyone who might call our pregnancy center.  For the rest of you I hope that your day went well, and that your Thursday morning or afternoon are going well, for those of you living in other countries.

Ruth Andrews addresses a problem that many of you have doubtless experienced.  Her article is "Low Batteries," rendered as follows:

You want to listen to some music, so you slip a CD into the player. During a storm after dark, the lights go out, and you use a flashlight to help you see. The gas gauge on your car reads almost empty, so you stop at the nearest service station.

The items named above all need a source of energy--gasoline, household electricity or batteries. Without the power source, each is virtually useless.

When we go without food, which supplies our bodies with energy, we grow weak and cannot think clearly. Our "batteries" are low. There is no substitute for food, water and adequate rest. No amount of willpower will make a difference if these things are excluded.

In the same way, willpower will not make us grow as Christians. There has to be a power source outside ourselves. Our power source is God.

If we are not walking by God's power, we are walking in the flesh. John 3:6 says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

God provides the way to cross over from living in the flesh to living in the Spirit through His Son Jesus Christ. Are you walking by God's power?

Think back a few years. How does your prayer life then compare with what it is now? How does your giving to the church and your willingness to serve compare? Are you still faithful in Bible study?

Just as we follow good habits for a healthy body, we need good habits to grow spiritually. Romans 12:12 reminds us to continue in prayer. To have a deeper prayer life, you have to pray. Reading about prayer and going to lectures about prayer will not suffice.

Next there is Bible study. James 1:25 says that we should keep on looking into God's Word and not be a forgetful hearer. Listening to a sermon a week is not enough. We need to feed ourselves daily by reading the Bible ourselves. First Peter 2:2 says we are to crave God's Word as a baby craves milk.

How is your giving? Do you put aside a certain amount for the offering, or do you give from what is left at the end of the month? We do not give for God's sake but to teach us to put Him first. (cf. Romans 14:23).

There also is fellowship. The Bible is clear on this. Hebrews 10:25 reminds us to not give up meeting together.

Let us stay connected to the Lord, our real power source. We do not have to suffer from low batteries.

I hope and pray that sister Ruth's article, in the words of every Unshackled radio broadcast, made you "face yourself and think," as it did when I read it some six years ago.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul