Are You Plugged In?

            I don’t know about you, but one of the things that I look forward to seeing as a new day begins  is that first cup of  coffee.  Even though I drink decaffeinated coffee most of the time, I still look forward to it.  While I usually try to prepare the coffee maker so that the coffee is ready when I wake up, I forgot to do that one morning several years ago.  After putting the water and coffee grounds into the coffee maker, I stared at the coffee maker anxiously like a child waiting to watch their favorite television program.  After about 3 minutes of staring, still there was no coffee.  The coffee maker was not even making that gurgling sound that it produces right before it begins to work.  That’s when I realized that there was a problem.  The problem was not the malfunction of the coffee maker, but the malfunction of the maker of the coffee.  The coffee maker was not plugged into the electrical outlet. 

            A coffee maker, a vacuum cleaner, or even most of the computers that you use  need power to function fully.  And you know what?  Christians need power also, the power of the Holy Spirit.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus promises his disciples:  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."     As followers of Christ Jesus,  we are given the greatest power in the world- the power of God.    Why, we are given a power that is “out of this world”.   Electrical power was there all the time for me to use with that coffee maker.  The problem was that I had not plugged the coffee maker in.   Are you and I “plugged in” to the power of God, the Holy Spirit, which is ours?   That power is as close as our next prayer, our study of the Bible, our time with Christian fellowship, or our attendance at worship.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER

            O God,  thank you for the gift of the power of your Holy Spirit.  Forgive me for the times that I try to follow you under my own power.  Help me to avail myself of the power that is found in you;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.