Our bodies need food to survive every day. If we don’t fill our bodies with fuel, we will come to a standstill and fall over at one time or another. We spend a large part of our day keeping our bodies going. We spend on average an hour eating. I’m not even counting the preparation time or the time spent shopping for food or the time we have to work to earn the money to buy food. Did you know that we eat one ton of food per year? That’s more than a truck load!

But what about spiritual food? How much time do we spend on that? Do you quickly grab a book of daily meditations, read it to the children, rattle off a prayer, and slip out into the world again? Is that enough to survive the day spiritually?

The Washington Post published a research article on what the Americans do on an average day: Sleep = 8-9h, personal care = 28-46min, travel = 29-63min, work = 6-8h, household chores = 26-45min, religious activities = 2-17min, recreation 4-6h, TV 2-3h, reading 13-29min, and thinking and relaxing 8-30min. Religious activities take up 2-17 minutes. I think we can all agree that two minutes are too short a time to fuel up spiritually for the day. I wonder if 17 minutes are sufficient to enable you to face the attacks.

Why do we succumb to temptation so often? Why do we often get spiritually exhausted and sleep through the day? Why do others succeed in simply knocking us off our spiritual feet?

2 – 17 minutes is just not enough. It’s obvious.

Paul knew this and that is why he prayed feverishly for his congregation and for us: 14My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, 15this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. 16I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in.

The Spirit is in us. We know that. The Spirit is Almighty. He is the Spirit of God and possesses Godly power. The Spirit possesses more than enough power to give to us to get through the day. The fact is we have to stand still for long enough to fill up our spiritual petrol tank, but we don’t do that.

2-17 minutes per day is far too short a time to fill up our spiritual tank.

It takes time for the Holy Spirit to fill up our tanks with knowledge and power. It’s not like the petrol pumps where we fill up our cars and where they try to fill the tank in a minute or two. The quicker the tank is filled, the more cars can be filled, and the quicker the money rolls in.

No, the Holy Spirit who is our spiritual petrol attendant is different. He takes his time, because it happens in a relationship. Significant truths are conveyed. There’s a lot of knocking and working to eventually change our being in such a way that it will fit within the will of God.

Time, which we have so little of, is very important within the relationship with the Holy Spirit. The challenge, therefore, is to make and keep an appointment with the Holy Spirit; a long enough appointment, so that He can take his time to fill our spiritual tanks, so that we can walk safely through the day.

Scripture:

Ephesians 3:14-21

Reflection

Are you spending enough time with the Holy Spirit every day?

Are you spiritually mature?

Can you remain standing against the attacks?

Prayer

Father, let’s be honest and acknowledge that we don’t spend enough time with your Spirit. Please help us to make an appointment every day. Help us to be disciplined enough to keep that appointment every day. Amen