Flat Battery? By Mick Smith

It was my first car. I had passed my driving test (first time might I add) & this was my reward. An Austin six with the bonnet that lifted up at both sides, running board & two batteries under the passenger seat at the front. I   could go to work in it every day; at least I could if it would start up. Sometimes the starting handle would bring life to the engine but at other times there was nothing. Who cared? I didn't because it was my first car & it had air conditioning (by means of a knob on the dashboard which when turned would lift the windscreen up from the bottom & the outside air would rush in.)
 
At that time I was living with my parents in a terraced house & it was parked on the road in front of the house. Every night I would put a paraffin heater under the bonnet with the hope that it would keep the engine dry enough to start the next morning. If any health & safety person reads this please ignore that bit !!!!
 
It didn't always work & in fact the problem became so bad that I had to begin to park it at the top of a hill about a mile away to have any chance at all of it responding to a crash start as it rolled down the hill & I managed to get it into gear. It became quite a challenge.
 
There were other ways in which that car became quite a challenge. On one occasion I was driving when I noticed a funny smell immediately followed by smoke coming from under the passenger seat. The two 6 volt batteries had shorted & the car gradually rolled to a stop. I did manage to disconnect the batteries & prevent a fire. Those were the days!!
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That set me thinking. Do you ever experience that feeling that your journey with the Lord has gradually rolled to a stop. When you were first saved you were fully charged up & you were able & ready to meet any situation head on but, over a period of time, it has become harder to get started in the morning? The problems of the previous day seem to have drained your spiritual battery of of its power & gradually you realise that you have come to a halt.
 
Let me encourage you. All that's wrong is that your battery needs to be recharged. I learned, over the next two cars that I had, to keep battery leads in the boot of my
 
car so that I could attach them to another car (obviously with the car owners permission & cooperation) if ever the same thing happened. The power to start the engine from the other car was transferred to my car & hey presto I was on my way again.
 
How does that encourage us? Well, the Holy Spirit is always with us. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He has the power to recharge your battery. All you need to do is to connect your spiritual battery charger leads to Him. He will let His power flow through your leads in to your life & hey presto you will be on your way again.
 
That same power that raised Jesus from death to life is in you. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Church in Ephesus, did not stop praying that God would grant us the spirit of wisdom & revelation in knowing Him, that the eyes of our understanding might be enlightened; that we might know the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance in the, saints & the exceeding greatness of His power towards us according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead & seated Him in the Heavenly realm far above all principalities & powers (Ephesians 1:16-23).
 
So, how about it? If you are feeling good and your battery is well charged that's fine. If not all that is needed is for you to plug in to the power source; the Holy Spirit. He's always on hand because wherever you are He is there with you and, more than that, He's always so ready not only to charge you up with His power but also to keep you charged up. Now there's a thought
 
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
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