I was off and at home the other day when the power suddenly went out. It is a very uncomfortable feeling, I think, as the house shuts down and everything goes off. To go from some TV “noise”, lights on and the air conditioning to nothing is very unusual. Initially a helpless kind of feeling, and a quick review of my account to be sure I had not forgotten to pay! (That wasn’t the issue!). In this case, it was a city wide outage and homes and businesses were all effected. Thankfully they got the power back up and running an hour later! That hour though turned out to be interesting. When you don’t have power other things get done!
I took a good book and went out and sat on my porch for a little while. I haven’t done that in a long time, I took care of a few chores that had been waiting, and there was a sense of peace about things. My neighbor stays home with her 5 year old so I went over to make sure they were okay. You begin to wonder how long it will go because of food in the refrigerator and freezer. It gave some comfort to see power trucks go by knowing they were working on this and would the power restored quickly.
It came back on and there seemed like life again in the house! Clocks buzzed and whirled and needed reset. The TV came on, the lights and it felt safe and comfortable again! Can we make the comparison with the spiritual life? If you are like me, you probably have times when the spiritual “power” God gives in Christ seems to be “off.” And you wonder when it might come back on. Meanwhile, we plug along doing the routine of life.
Suddenly a spark ignites in us! The song comes true that has the refrain “somebody’s praying you through!” and you feel uplifted. I get that from church, I get that from my prayer time or time in God’s Word. I get this recharge from community and being in relationship! And to know someone, somewhere is praying for me! And as I pray and reach out to encourage others, my own power in Christ gets restored! Be uplifted today, friend, the God who loves has defeated darkness now and forever!!
Peace,
Pr. Doug
There will be a lot of energy and “power” at the NLS National Gathering! Still time to get on board, join us! Visit www.viadecristo.org
Eric is our current Webmaster and works on the NLS Communications Team. Raised in Judaism, he found Christ and the New Testament at age 16 in a Southern Baptist Church. He searched many denominations for the real church, only to find the Holy Spirit is present in all of them. He's worked for One for Israel, a group of native Israeli believers who are sharing the gospel in the holy land in Hebrew and is part of the only Hebrew speaking seminary in Israel.
