Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
Ephesians chapter 5, verses 18 and 19; from the New Living Translation (NLT)
Something happened to a good friend of mine the other day and I thought it was worth sharing. Rex is a serious follower of Jesus, and he also sells used cars. Now, some of you may think that a used car salesman and follower of Jesus is a contradiction in terms. It’s not, and Rex makes it work. Selling used cars for Rex is just a way of doing something, and hopefully making a little bit of money along the way.
Last week at an auction he bought a diesel pickup truck. Before he left the auction to bring it home, he added some fuel, thinking it would be enough. On the way home the truck quit and was putting out an error code. I asked him what it might be and Rex said it could be any of a number of things–ranging from expensive to very expensive. A couple of days later I inquired about if he had found out what was wrong. It turns out, all it needed was fuel. And for now at least, he’s driving and using that truck. It quit running for lack of fuel.
What does this story have to do with The Kingdom Life? Glad you asked. Every person is like a vehicle–we need a source of fuel. And it needs to be the right kind of fuel. You can’t fuel up a vehicle designed to run on gasoline with diesel fuel–and you can’t fuel up a vehicle designed to run on diesel fuel with gasoline. Well, you can–but the results are both disastrous and very expensive.
As human beings, created in God’s Image, there is only one source of fuel that will work in us. And that “fuel” is The Holy Spirit. Human logic or reasoning does not–will not–CANNOT–give us what we need to successfully navigate this life. Trying to live each day by the values and standards of this world is like putting gasoline in the fuel tank for a vehicle designed to run on diesel fuel.
Oh, just one more thing about The Holy Spirit. We don’t advise The Holy Spirit on what He needs to be doing. And we certainly can’t control Him. The church of 2022 has become more of an institution rather than a movement. And it’s all because people are not listening to the error code being sent out by their heart. Our work here is Spiritual Work–and for Spiritual Work we need Spiritual Fuel! And we need Spiritual Tools! There’s only one source for both of them! That’s why we need to live in The Spirit while living in the world.
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 17 and 18; (NLT)
Kingdom Pastor 