Make Sure Your Tires Are Inflated Properly!

We had a sizable snowfall this past weekend and the season switched from fall to winter in a matter of hours. Many, I know, are happy. The skiers, snowboarders, and sledders all are having visions of glorious fun in the snow. Even I am glad for the moisture that has been so lacking over the last year.

But it's the driving that gives me grief! As I took my son to school on Monday my car at first neatly plowed through the piled up snow. However, when I turned my car around to return home, a woman, who must park as poorly as I do, had to readjust her park job and backed out right in front of me. My car managed to stop, but when I sat there waiting for her to drive back in, my foot was off the gas pedal and the car was not going forward. Oh, no, I knew that was not a good sign. Sure enough, my car didn't want to go forward, even with my application of pressure on the gas pedal. My tires just could not get any traction. I had to back up and then try going forward again. This time my car cooperated and I was on my way. That is until I got to a stop light. At first my car didn't want to stop. Thankfully, I was going slow and with the anti-lock brakes I stopped just before the intersection. Wouldn't you know, though, the car again did not want to go forward right away. Well, I made it home, but I struggled with that car later in the afternoon when I picked my son up and then again when I took him to work.

What did this intelligent woman do about her car troubles? She lamented to her husband just as soon as she saw him. But the intelligent husband knew just what to do. He checked the tires to see if they were properly inflated. I heard him using our air pump, so I knew that my tires must have been low. Later, when I picked up my son from work there were still some slippery patches, but the drive was much better. Thank you, intelligent husband!!!

Many things in life are like this. We have to get enough food in our bodies for energy, enough sleep in order to function, and enough exercise to stay healthy. Are our spiritual lives similar, too? We need to have enough prayer in our life to stay connected to God and enough Bible reading and studying to grow in our faith.. But each of these things can become pointless and dry, which can then lead us to fall away from God if we don't also have the proper filling of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 26:56 (KJV)
⁵⁶ But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.


Notice that when Yeshua was arrested His disciples became afraid and fled away from Him.

Acts 2:4 (KJV)
⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:14 (KJV)
¹⁴ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

Yet after the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit the disciples stood up and Peter began preaching. What a change!

Acts 1:8 (KJV)
⁸ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

It is the filling with the Holy Spirit that gives our spiritual life its power. It is what enables us to live our lives in obedience to God. But this filling isn't a once and for all deal. Let us seek to continually be refilled with the Holy Spirit so that our prayer, Bible study, and faith are vibrant and alive. May our spiritual lives be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit so that we are not getting stuck at every intersection and can't seem to move forward!