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What Happened to the Gasoline?
04/21/2008 - By Dr. Ken Lovelace
Brought to you by Ken Lovelace Ministries
Website: http://www.kenlovelaceministries.com
Dr. Ken Lovelace of Ken Lovelace Ministries is a preacher and speaker. He's available for revivals, crusades, and conferences. Find out more at www.kenlovelaceministries.com.
F a i t h M a t t e r s
with Dr. Ken Lovelace
Emphasis: Discipline
What Happened to the Gasoline?
Spring has sprung…and with it comes all the joys and chores of the season. One of my lesser favorite chores is mowing. Though I like the great outdoors, spending my outdoors time mowing is not my idea of an enjoyable morning.
Since this period of unemployment began, life has become quite challenging. My lawnmower is in poor condition. I picked it up at the pawn shop for a decent price and it worked well for a couple of summers. But when I uncovered it and prepared to use it this year, I was in for an unexpected surprise. During the winter, something happened to the hose that connects the gas tank to the engine. When I put gas in the tank, it began dripping gas out of the hose and down onto the deck of the mower. I wanted to fix it but couldn’t isolate the problem. So, I concluded that in order to mow the yard with this particular mower, I had to mow faster than the gasoline dripped out of the tank. It was quite humorous…according to my wife.
As I thought about this unusual scenario, I realized that there are times when it seems as though our spiritual fuel drips out of us much faster than our spiritual tanks can be refilled. We’ve heard it said that people “burn out” in doing the work of the Lord. People have even said they are too tired to do ministry or to help around the church.
In my own experience, I’ve found that ministry and helping around the church are more invigorating than tiring. I get excited when a friend comes to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, memorizes a Bible verse, is being discipled, or gives me an opportunity to serve him or her.
You might say, “Well, you can’t tell me you haven’t experienced at least some of the symptoms of burn out.” And I would say, “You’re right. I have.” But for me the keys to rebounding before reaching burn out, the steps to refilling my spiritual tank before it ran dry were twofold.
First, I felt it coming and acknowledged it. I then evaluated my life and my situation and identified my weaknesses; my main concern was to discover why it was happening. I was still finding great joy in the ministries of evangelism and discipleship, so what was the problem?
Second, I asked God and He gave me two verses that pinpointed the “leak” in my life. The first was Mark 1:35: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.”
The filling of our spiritual tanks does not occur in great revivals and mountain top experiences. Those may top it off, but they can’t sustain us. The filling comes on a daily basis in our times alone with God. Because our spiritual fuel is depleted regularly through ministering to others, or from leaking out as a result of skipping this all-important time with God, we can refill them daily only be spending time in His presence.
During those low times for me, I was having my Quiet Time…sort of. My problem was that I was rushing through it, occasionally skipping it, or doing it for the wrong reasons. An empty spiritual tank puts us on a fast-track to burnout.
I did say two verses, didn’t I? Okay, here’s the second - Luke 9:23: “ Then He said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’” Putting my schedule ahead of my Lord, making excuses for sorry Quiet Times, trying to justify wrong motives were all indicators that I was not denying myself and taking up my cross. Oh, and did you catch that key word there? It was right after the word “cross.” Yes, “daily.” Yes, even on Sunday, our loving Heavenly Father wants to spend time alone with us. He doesn’t want just a quick hello during worship.
So how about you? Is there a leak in your spiritual fuel tank? Can you pinpoint the leak? Is it a Quiet Time issue? It usually is. I challenge you today to renew your commitment to the Quiet Time…and to the Lord. It really is true that the quality of our Quiet Times is synonymous with the fuel gauge of our lives. If your fuel light is on, this is an area you should address sooner rather than later. Won’t you do it today?
Copyright © 2007-08. Faith Matters by Dr. Ken Lovelace. All rights reserved.
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