Power Outage
This morning I was reading on the Gautrain platform on my way home. I had plenty of time to read, because there were train delays. The reason? A power outage somewhere further up the line, in the opposite direction to where I was going.
The e-book I was reading quoted this verse from Acts 1:
Acts 1:8 (WEBBE): 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Jesus said that we will receive power when we receive the Holy Spirit. So why don’t we see this power in the lives of most Christians today?
If I want to switch my computer on, but there is no power, the cause can be any of a number of things. The same holds true for our spiritual powerlessness. So lets look at some of them.
The most scary possibility is that the power grid has collapsed, and that energy transmission has stopped altogether over a large area. It is unfortunately possible when it comes to man-made power grids, but God remains the same forever. So our source of spiritual power is the most reliable in the universe.
Hebrews 13:8 (WEBBE): 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Maybe the power is off due to a circuit breaker that tripped. In our spiritual lives, maybe there are things that are blocking the power from flowing. For example, holding more tightly to the traditions of men than to a relationship with God. We should strive to remove such blockages.
Mark 7:8 (WEBBE): 8“For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”
Or maybe the computer is just not plugged into the wall socket. This is the easiest one to solve – just plug it in! And yet this is probably the most common problem in our spiritual lives. We often don’t walk with the Holy Spirit every day, but choose to do everything on our own instead.
Romans 12:2 (WEBBE): 2Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Whatever the cause though, consider the results. I was sitting on a train station platform, waiting for the train to arrive with many other people. Power that doesn’t flow where it was supposed to, can have a large effect downstream. So if you are not experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit, it is not just affecting you. It is also affecting the lives that you were supposed to impact. Can you afford not to fix the power outage?