“You know,” Stan commented one morning, “lessons are where you find them.”
“What kind of lessons?”
“All kinds,” he replied,” but for me the most important ones are those that are spiritual lessons that relate to my faith walk. The other day my next-door neighbor was telling me about a road trip and he shared a valuable lesson.”
“What kind of lesson did you get from his road trip?” I asked.
“It seems that my neighbor and his wife were on a road trip kind of out in the wilderness and he wasn’t paying enough attention to the fuel gauge in the car, only to discover that service stations were few and far apart where they were driving.”
“And they ran out of gas?” I asked.
“Not quite,” Stan replied. “My neighbor said as the gauge got lower and lower he kept tapping on it to see if that would help, but, of course, the only thing that would help would be more fuel. And then, just in time, there was a service station they were able to coast into just as the engine stopped.”
“Wow,” I said, “Your neighbor must have thought he was sure lucky!”
“No, he didn’t,” Stan replied. “He gave all the credit to God for His just-in-time provision of a service station as well as His provision of a lesson for his faith walk. And it turned out to be a lesson for me as well!”
“What kind of lesson did he and you get from that, other than the importance of having enough gas in the car?”
“Being filled with the Holy Spirit,” Stan replied. “Just like putting fuel in the car is the only thing that helps when we’re running on empty, being filled with the Holy Spirit is the only thing that helps when we’re spiritually empty and about ready to coast to a stop.”
“Coast to a stop?” I said. “Do you really think people can coast to a stop in their faith walks?”
“Sure do,” Stan said. “I’ve seen it more times than I want, especially with the one person I know better than anyone else.”
“And what do you do when you sense you are coasting to a stop like that?” I asked.
“Go back to the basics of discipleship,” Stan replied. “Get me out of the way by denying self, take up what God has for me to take up, which I think involves the filling of the Holy Spirit, and follow God however, wherever, and whenever He wants to lead me.”
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Bible verses to consider:
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 15:16-17.
And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22.
And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts of the Apostles 13:52.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against these things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your provision of the Holy Spirit to help each believer live the life you intend for the rest of the time we have on this side of eternity. I confess that too often I do not call upon Him to help in every way He can and will. I do that because I seek to live this life on my own without His help and I do not seek to be filled as fully as possible with all you and He have for me. The inevitable result is that my faith walk with you is not what you intend. Please forgive that foolish approach to living the life you have for me, the foolishness of coasting to a stop in my walk with you. Please, Father, help me to follow every step of your lead in being filled continually with all the Holy Spirit has for me. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Do you have the Holy Spirit living in you as a result of having accepted God’s provision of Christ’s finished work on the cross? If no, why? What’s standing in the way? If you are a Christian, how are you doing with being filled continually with all the Holy Spirit has for you? Do you sometimes sense you are coasting to a stop in your faith walk and there’s a need for change in how you view being filled by the Holy Spirit? If so, how is that change going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 