I remember a time when I was young, ever-anxious to offer help to my father in order to prove to him that I was useful. One day, I remember helping him with the riding lawn-mower and it needed fuel. So I went over to the other side of the garage and grabbed a can of "fuel".
When I handed it over to my father I remember him telling me this is not "the right fuel" for this machine. He said, "it needs a special fuel" in order for the machine to run properly. Even though I was too young to understand at the time, a lesson had begun for me that day that not all machines take the same kind of fuel.
When we apply this principle to our spirit, the same truth is at work. Far too often humanity tries to live life by an improper fuel. The reason we all too often fail to thrive in our spiritual walk has much to do with trying to run on "the wrong fuel". In fact, the only proper way to live life spiritually is to allow God's Holy Spirit to indwell and have authority to properly govern our lives. Much of the problem with our inability to see or understand how to live our lives has much to do with trying to do things in our own strength and willpower. If we try to apply biblical principles and live "the Christian life" without the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we will repeatedly fail to live life as our Heavenly Creator intended it to be. In-fact, to live our lives by the insistence of our own willpower and strength is to reject God entirely and claim our own power to be greater than that of God's.
John 15:5 reads, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
If we have the desire to do and live as God has designed our lives to be, we must trust and believe that He and He alone is the proper fuel for our lives. You wouldn't put milk in your car's gas tank would you? Why try to live your life without the power of the Holy Spirit?
We often accredit the Spirit for our salvation but assume we must produce the fruit of that salvation on our own. I think it's much harder to learn this when you are a strong,healthy, able person. That's why God is ever giving us more than we can 'handle'. We must really need Him before we realize how much we really need Him.
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