October Devotional: Change Your Power Source

Change Your Power Source


After a slammed day at work, there I was sitting on my laptop at home trying to catch up on my email and Face book and check my bank accounts before I went to bed. Suddenly quite subtly in the lower right hand corner of my screen in a rectangular box appeared the words “Change your power source”. I was stunned for a few seconds and then I started laughing out loud! Isn’t God amazing? A precise, exact and definite reminder that flashed like neon in my soul! YES! That is exactly what I needed to do. Here I was yet again, doing my life, my day, my evening my way. I was stressed, exhausted and discouraged. Why? For the most part, I was relying on myself and words from “man” to guide and direct me in the hurried and the harried of my life.

Our sweet, tender and kind Lord just popped into my spirit in a way that He knew would capture my attention. By the way, my computer usually gives me a percentage of power remaining in that little rectangular box. I haven’t seen those words before or since. They really got me thinking. So, let me ask three classic journalistic questions: Who is our power source? Where is our power source? What is our power source?

Who is our power source? Is it God or self? When self is our power source, there is no peace and absolutely no grace. There is stress and strife. We feel trapped and without hope. This happens in degrees as it begins small and grows and can end in despair and hopelessness. By contrast, when God is our power source there is freedom and we find peace and grace; there is hope and boldness and courage. When we take His yoke upon us it is light. There is no strain, no stress. God goes before us. The way is straight. Let’s let God be our power source today remembering that “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” (I Cor. 10:26)

Where is our power source? Are we “in” the world or “of” the world? Jesus said that we are to be in the world, but not of the world in. John 8:23 But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.” Jesus came into the world but he never was of the world. He as our example remained the perfect Son of God by not being tainted by the world. So what does it look like to be of the world? The way of the world, the trends of the day are what we adhere to rather than God’s way. Matthew 6:33 asks us “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self (Luke 9:25) or his soul?” (Matt. 16:26) We are reminded in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto us. We are to follow Jesus in His example to be in the world and not of it.
What is our power source? Is it the truth from God’s Word or is it information from man’s words? Do we listen to what people say through their philosophies and beliefs that are contrary to the Word? Do we know the Word of God enough to keep us from being deceived? Do we hide God’s Word in our hearts so that we do not sin against Him? His Word is a light to our feet and a lamp to our path (Ps.119:1015). Whose report will we believe about our health and our finances and our hope? We will not find the truth in New York’s Best Sellers or on a TV weekly “sit com”. We won’t find the truth in the Wall Street Journal or Time magazine. What are we putting into our minds to undergird us so we don’t fall? God’s Word is to be what we read and hide deep in our hearts so that in real time our motivations and actions line up with what His Word says.

As we go about our day this week, let’s think about our power source. Who is our power source? Is it God or self? Where is out power source? Are we “in” the world but not “of” the world? What is our power source? Is it God’s Word or man’s words? I am so grateful that God loves me so much that He is willing to communicate with me where I am even if it’s on my computer! Let’s ask Him to show us how to keep Him as our power source this week and always.