Refueling Your Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzy4AMNIU20
We are now at the end of our welcome back series, “Reset Your Life.”
In our first message, “Resetting Your Life,” we looked at several steps the Bible talks about in how we go about the resetting process. But these steps were not just for those who needed to reset their lives to Jesus, but also to those who needed a reset in their relationship back with Jesus, in other words, getting back to that first love relationship.
And then last week we looked at “Reigniting Your Life,” and our need to give a booster shot to our faith, which comes through the filling, baptism, and refilling of the Holy Spirit.
But rather than looking at this as a booster shot, there’s another analogy that works better, and that is our need to turn on the ignition to our cars, which is the presence of the Holy Spirit within every believer in Jesus Christ.
Today as we end our series, I’d like to look at our need to keep ourselves refueled for the journey.
Using the analogy of a car, we could say that this reset may be looked at as either buying a new car, or getting our old car serviced. But the car doesn’t do us any good if it’s just sitting in our driveway. We have to drive it, which begins when we start the engine, that is, when the engine is ignited, which is our second step of getting our lives reignited through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so, keeping with this theme, once we start driving the car around town, if we don’t stop at the gas station and refill our gas tanks, we’ll soon find ourselves stopped and off on the side of the road.
This concept is no different with us because we often are running on empty in our spiritual lives, which also negatively affects our physical lives as well. And so, if we don’t get our spiritual tanks refueled then we’re going find ourselves both spiritually and physically on the side of the road.
So, how do we refill our spiritual lives. Well, this is what this last message in our Resetting Our Lives series is all about.
Now as we looked at the presence of the Holy Spirit as that reigniting spark, there are three basic disciplines that the Holy Spirit works through. We can think of these as a hammer, screwdriver, and wrench in a toolbox, or a spoon, fork, and knife in a silverware drawer. Now, the main three that are used by the Holy Spirit are the intake of God’s Word, the Bible, Prayer, and Worship.
Bible Intake
The intake of the Bible, or God’s Word, basically involves making God’s word a part of our daily lives.
“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV)
The fact it is God-breathed means God the Holy Spirit authored it. God’s word equips everyone with everything they need to live an effective life for God. Literally, the Bible is transformational and transformative. It is God’s answers and directions for life in a world filled with sin.
A standard statement of faith used by just about every Christian church is that the Bible is fully inspired by God and is without error in its original manuscript. It’s the infallible rule of Christian faith and practice. It is incapable of being wrong or mistaken.
The key is that it’s God’s word and not just another religious book. Therefore, it’s useful, that is, it’s practical, beneficial, and relevant.
Donald Whitney, in his book, “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” wrote, “No spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s word. Nothing can substitute for it. There is simply no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of God’s word.”
Since the word of God seems to be the number one tool used by the Holy Spirit to bring about spiritual transformation, what can we do to further the process?
The answer is to approach the Bible from every angle using our physical senses, mind, and spirit.
Hearing God’s Word
Jesus doesn’t downplay the importance of listening to God’s word being preached or taught. In the early days that’s primarily the way learning occurred. Jesus tells us when we take time to hear God’s word being taught there’s a blessing attached.
“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (Luke 11:28 NKJV)
In Romans 10:14 Paul said: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”
There’s great importance attached to hearing God’s word being spoken and taught, but it’s important to understand that we’re hearing someone else’s digested food. It’s what God has revealed to the teacher or preacher, and they regurgitate it for more general consumption.
Reading God’s Word
Jesus expects us to read and know God’s word. Several times He asked, “Have you not read?” assuming those who claim to be God’s people would at least read His word.
“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3 NKJV)
God has a blessing for us when we hear and read the whole of His word, the Bible. Therefore, we need to stop being a stranger to God’s word and start becoming close friends with it. We need to allow God’s word to be our BFF (best friend forever) and to be such a friend means we spend quality and quantity time with it.
Every day we face problems and temptations where we need God’s help, instructions, guidance, and encouragement. So, every day we need to read God’s word to get His take on how to live this life in a world gone haywire. Reading the Bible is instrumental in shaping our view of the world
Studying God’s Word
Hearing and reading God’s word can provide us with a general overview of His plans for us, however, by studying God’s word we can discover its depth for our lives.
The Bible describes Ezra, not only as a student of God’s word, but as a teacher as well.
“Ezra had determined to study and obey the law of the Lord and to teach those laws and regulations to the people of Israel.” (Ezra 7:10 NLT)
Most people are intimidated when it comes to the study of God’s word. They feel inadequate. But the study of God’s word is quite simple, and most Bible study tools are available on the Internet. All it takes is a little time and determination, along with pad of paper and a pen.
Hopefully by this point all of us have noticed a common denominator with all three disciplines. That is obedience. We must listen and obey, read and obey, and study and obey.
Reverence for God’s Word
There is one last point in this whole process that’s essential. You might say it’s what makes the other three work, and that is our reverence for God’s word.
We need to approach God’s word with both awe and reverence, along with an attentive mind and teachable heart. We need to be thankful for God’s revelation in all its fullness and for the great truths it unfolds, and the counsels it contains.
There needs to be a reverence for God’s word, and to show such reverence we need to prepare our hearts, not only to just receive it, but to consume it. There needs to be a sincere seeking after God.
To show such reverence today, we need to pray before we listen, read, or study God’s word. And since the Holy Spirit authored it, we need to ask the Him to open those things He wants us to learn, and that will help us in the transformational process.
Prayer
Years ago, there was a movie starring Jodie Foster called “Contact”. Foster’s character was listening to find some sort of signal or message from outer space. The place where she hung out in this pursuit was New Mexico’s VLA (very large array). It consists of 27 huge radio antennas and it’s one of the world’s premier astronomical radio observatories.
Isn’t it interesting the lengths to which people will go, and how much money they’re willing to spend, just to get a message from heaven? Yet God has clearly spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and through His word, the Bible. God is also interested in hearing from us.
King David said, “O You who hear prayers.” (Psalm 65:2 NIV)
Jesus promised not only would He hear us, but He will answer as well.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV)
Just as Jesus expects us to read God’s word, He also expects us to pray. He also told his disciples to always pray.
The Apostle Paul echoed this same message in Colossians 4:2, he said, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it.”
God expects us to devote ourselves to prayer, which is our communication with God. It is an open line where we speak with God and allow God to speak to us.
Nobody questions the need for prayer, in fact it has been proven scientifically that prayer is helpful in keeping us healthy and helps in the healing process. And so, we wonder why is it so difficult to pray, and then, how can we pray without ceasing?
To answer the second part of that question, to pray without ceasing means to always be aware of our need of God’s assistance and guidance. It’s to be in an attitude of prayer, paying attention to God no matter what we are doing, and not leaving Him out of life’s equation.
Prayer often is difficult because we simply don’t believe it works, and that God doesn’t hear our prayers.
If any of us find ourselves in this category, take to heart what it says in Hebrews that the way to heaven is open, and the Lord hears our prayers.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14 NKJV)
That word, “boldly” means “with all speech.” God opened the way through His Son Jesus Christ that whoever believes in Him can now have direct access to heaven’s throne.
Worship
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” (Psalm 95:6 NKJV)
Someone said, “Man worships his work, works at his play, and plays at his worship.”
This describes our worship more than many of us would like to admit. We come to a worship service, where the Lord is the one we have come together to honor, only to half-heartedly sing of His worthiness. We then leave thinking we’ve done something great for God.
Jesus said, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me.” (Matthew 15:8-9a NKJV)
The word worship comes from an Anglo-Saxon word pronounced “worthship.” It means God is worthy of our love and adoration. He is worthy of all the honor we can muster and then some. We can see this in what the angels and saints say in heaven.
“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created (Revelation 4:11) And later they sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” (Revelation 5:12)
We can worship like this by focusing on the Lord and Him only, and then by reading His word, and finding out how great and marvelous He is. Only then will we have a greater appreciation of His worth. The more we comprehend what God is like, the more we’ll worship Him.
When we gather with other believers in worship, we need to have our focus where it belongs; on the Lord God and not on others, or on the football game coming up on TV, or what’s for lunch. When we’re not fully engaged, we’re not really worshiping. This applies not only to our singing songs of praise and worship, but also when God’s word is being read and taught as we need to think about how it applies to our life.
Jesus said it this way, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24 NKJV)
Worship is our way of showing God how much we love Him by truly honoring Him both within and without the walls of the church.
Conclusion
Since our ultimate goal is to be changed more and more into the image of Jesus Christ, we should start today by giving the Holy Spirit full range in our lives. We need to allow the Holy Spirit full access to our heart, mind, and spirit, and allow Him to transform us through the various spiritual disciplines, most notably the disciplines of the intake of God’s Word, Prayer, and Worship.
I’d like to end with an illustration on just how important it is to get our lives reset, reignited, and refueled.
And for this illustration I’d like to use that of and eagle fighting a snake. And then how we are to fight our spiritual battles on a whole other plane.
What we need to understand is that the eagle doesn’t fight the snake on the ground. If it does, it gives too much power to the snake, where the snake has the potential of overwhelming the eagle.
Instead, the eagle picks the snake up into the sky and changes the battle ground. In the air, the snake has no stamina, power, or balance to fight. The snake is useless, weak, and vulnerable when it is in the sky, unlike when it is on the ground, where it is powerful, wise, and deadly.
And so, the eagle swoops down, grabs the snake and takes it into the heavenlies where it releases the snake high above the earth plummeting it to the ground where it dies and is then easy prey.
Therefore, we need to fight our battles with Satan, not in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm by being in God’s word, praying, and worshipping Him. It is here that we have the advantage because greater is He, that is in us, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, than Satan and his demonic forces in this world.
Therefore, let’s stop fighting the enemy where he is most comfortable and the deadliest, and take our battle to a whole other plane, and
