The everlasting God…neither
faints nor is weary. —Isaiah 40:28
“Exhaustion means that our
vital energies are completely worn out and spent. Spiritual exhaustion is never
the result of sin, but of service. Whether or not you experience exhaustion
will depend on where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep,”
but He gave him nothing with which to feed them (John 21:17). […] Have you
delivered yourself over to exhaustion because of the way you have been serving
God? […] Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded on
the redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually look back to the foundation of your
love and affection and remember where your Source of power lies. […]remember
that He is your supply. “All my springs are in you” (Psalm 87:7).” CHAMBERS
Have you ever been carrying
something with another person and then, for some reason, they stopped
lifting? Suddenly you felt the full
weight of the thing you were carrying.
That is what it is like in our spiritual walk. Being a Christian is a spiritual
existence. We are able to be and do, not
by our own power but by the power of God in us.
When we try to be and do that which should be spiritual by our own strength
and effort, we will exhaust ourselves and utterly fail. The load is too heavy for us to carry on our
own. (John 4:32-34) “Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat
something.” But he said to them, “I have
food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each
other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do
the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” The disciples were focused on the physical,
but Jesus was focused on the spiritual.
That is never more evident in us, there is no clearer picture of this,
than on Sunday morning at 12:00. The
service is over .. or buddy it better be .. and the people are ready to get out
of there and get something to eat. It’s
as if they are thinking “Well the spiritual stuff is done, now I need to get on
with things and satisfy my flesh.” How
is it that we can be so spiritual at one minute and be upset because the
service ran long the next minute?
Somehow I don’t think that pleases God, but I can’t tell you how many
times I have spoken at a church in the U.S. only to be told beforehand to be
careful to not go over time.
What?!?!?
Why do I make a point of
that? Because it speaks to how divided
we are .. how focused we are on our flesh …. even on Sunday at worship … I can
tell you, that was never a problem in Haitian churches. They live a simple life and have a simple
faith. Worship is everything .. time is
nothing. Perhaps the church in the
United States could and should learn something from them. One might say, ‘Well, they don’t have
anything better to do’. And I would say
we don’t have anything ‘better’ to do than to worship our creator and be fed spiritually
either. (Philippians
3:18-20) “For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even
with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is
destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.
Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we
eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” ELGIN
Charley Elgin
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