Maintaining a spiritual battery
“Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in
time of need.” (Heb. 4:16).
The connection with Christ by
means of His Spirit is of utmost necessity to every newly born child of God. As
we grow in knowing Jesus, we grow in grace. We become more and more established
in Him.
“The God of all grace, who
hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have
suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (1Pet.
5:10).
We are made reliable,
dependable for God’s purpose of representing Himself and His liberating Law of
righteousness. His grace becomes a spiritual battery in us, so that our faith
is not fleeting, blown down by every temptation or wind of doctrine from the brilliant
D.D., Doctor of Deception.
Our spiritual battery is
never self-charged. It always needs to be plugged into the higher source of
power, higher than the heavens. It needs to be plugged into life, the Source of
life, Jesus the Son of God. We are only ever “a living soul” (1Cor. 15:45). He always is and has
always been the “quickening Spirit” (1Cor. 15:45). We are the clay; He is the Potter. “We all are the work of Thy hand” (Isa. 64:8), “His workmanship” (Eph.
2:10). He is the good Shepherd, and we the sheep of His pasture.
“His eyes were as a flame of
fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man
knew, but He Himself.” (Rev. 19:12).
He can give us the life from
His Father, He can sanctify us in good works, because He sunk into the lowest
hell. He took upon Himself the avalanche of God’s wrath against our detestable,
natural, self-righteous sinfulness. Jesus has a name that no one else knows but
Himself because no one else but He has passed, or will be called to pass,
through the tribulation of damnation that He passed through. He can sing a song that even
the 144,000 cannot sing. But having passed through their own ultimate human
test, they will sing their own song of victory that synchronizes and harmonizes
with His greatest, ultimate test and most glorious song.
“Though
He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and
being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them
that obey Him.” (Heb. 5:8,9).
“Thou
lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath
anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” (Ps. 45:7).
His
righteousness is solid as a rock. And therefore He rules the Earth with a rod of iron.
“And
she brought forth a man Child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:
and her Child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” (Rev. 12:5).
“And
out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations:
and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Rev. 19:15).
“And
in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people,
but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
for ever.” (Dan. 2:44).
His children are made solid by
His gift of life, in His righteousness, and in His presence. And as Christ has ruled the nations with a rod of iron, so do they.
“And He that overcometh, and
keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be
broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the
morning star.” (Rev. 2:26-28).
“And if any man will hurt
them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if
any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to
shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power
over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as
often as they will.” (Rev. 11:5,6).
“I waited patiently for the
LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and
established my goings.
And He hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall
trust in the LORD.” (Ps. 40:1-3).
“Jesus answered and said, …Are
ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the
baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto Him, We are able. And He saith
unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with.” (Matt. 20:22,23).
We must have a God-gifted faith
that doesn’t flee at the troubles of this life, a battery that He recharges
every day.
“We have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
We are troubled on every
side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken;
cast down, but not destroyed;
Always bearing about in the
body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our body.…
For which cause we faint not;
but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (2Cor.
4:7-10,16).
That battery needs a demand,
as Paul stated above. Our faith must be tested constantly. It needs to be worn
down, troubled, perplexed, and persecuted. At the end of the day, its charge
needs to be near dead, and in great need of recharging. If it is not brought
into trying situations, and put under demands for patient endurance, burdened
with work, then the safe conditions we create of cloistering up in a monastery of our own devising,
constantly receiving a charge without giving a discharge, cause it to cease to be able to be charged. Like
all batteries that are not completely discharged before recharging creates in
them a “memory”, where the amount of voltage that it can discharge for use
remains limited to only the voltage capacity not discharged before recharging, so
it is with the faculty of faith.
Let’s take the object lesson
from a website, and apply it to spiritual things:
“Memory Effect - What it is
and what you can do about it
Almost anyone who uses rechargeable
batteries has heard of the memory effect problem. For those who have not
heard of this problem it is commonly believed that when rechargeable batteries
are not fully discharged between charge cycles that they remember the shortened
cycle and are thus reduced in capacity (length of use per charge). This problem
was very common with rechargeable batteries several years ago. With
improvements in batteries and charging technology this ‘memory effect’ is
becoming a thing of the past. [Spiritually, the developments of batteries teach us that the
memory effect in our grace used to be worse than it is with the later
improvements of the gospel. “But now hath He obtained a more excellent
ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been
faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” (Heb. 8:6,7). After eons of meek and mild animal sacrifices, when the Son of God came personally, the world now had a meek and lowly God
rather than a meek and lowly beast; we saw a lamb-like Man instead of a lamb-like
animal. This picture was naturally more promising and more confirming in us because we could see
an expression of God’s love more in someone like us and we could trust our repentance
to God through a lamb-like Man more than through a lamb-like animal.]
…*Overcharging cells that are
near the end of their overall life and their voltage is naturally low. No
amount of charging will fix this and the battery needs to be replaced. [It’s an
unwelcome truth that every one of us can go so far into the depths of Satan
that we can’t come back to God. “But unto you I say, and unto the rest in
Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the
depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that
which ye have already hold fast till I come.” (Rev. 2:24,25). This doctrine
referred to delving into spiritualism, which Jesus had said before this. “Notwithstanding
I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,
which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to
commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her
space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast
her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and
all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts:
and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” (Rev. 2:20-23).]
*Diminished capacity due to long storage or non-use. This can sometimes be remedied by a number of deep discharges. This has been shown to recover 70% or more of the cell’s original capacity. If the cell has been sitting for too long and the energy has been depleted it may not be possible to recover any capacity. [For all who call upon the Lord Jesus there is mercy. Even if we have been long time away from communion with Him, and then we come to need Him and we pour out our soul to Him, He hears us and saves us again. But, know that more than one deep repentance and deep prayer will be necessary to restore the original openness and freedom that we had with Him before departing from Him to go into the world. We will spend the rest of our life striving to regain what we lost. But, this is good and necessary. In the end, while we will have perfect peace with God when we return to Him with all of our hearts, all that we had in communion before indulging in sin will not be restored. Most of it will return, but not all of it. Initially, only 70% (maybe more) will be restored because our indulgence of sin damaged our conscience and weakened our soul’s yearning for perfect purity. Our fear and distrust of God’s mercy and Christ’s ability to save us to the uttermost prevent the innocent relationship we had before expending our energies on our lusts. But, persistence can close the gap of the old and new spiritual realities, as trust and continued repentance arc over the remaining communion barrier.]
So how can you maximize the use of your rechargeable batteries? Here are a few steps to take to get the most use out of your batteries: [Let’s get practical. If we are spiritually minded we love the practical steps, the actual, helpful tips that can get us to Jesus. But everyone who is carnally minded hates the practical, helpful steps that show the way to Christ, and that expose whether or not we have come to Him and are obedient to Him.]
1. Invest in a good charger. NiMH batteries should not be charged in a NiCad charger, unless the charger is specifically made for both chemistries. There are cheap chargers and there are expensive chargers. Make sure the charger you get has good reviews and is well made. Chargers with micro-controller chips are usually the best choice. [We need the word of God and prayer to recharge us. But, we need the best Bible, which in my opinion is the King James Version. We also need the glasses of the Spirit of Prophecy that help bring out of the Bible the practical points, magnified by the power of 1,000, bringing to our dull spiritual senses truth that is blinding, making us tremble before God and giving us His gift of repentance, as it should be.]
2. When charging your batteries occasionally discharge them fully before recharging them. This is especially helpful to NiCad batteries. Be careful not to discharge too deeply. (Less than 1v per cell for NiCad and NiMH. E.g., a 3.6v pack to no less than 3v.) Discharging to absolute zero will make your battery useless. It’s best if you have a charger with a conditioner that will cycle the battery for you. [We should never go into battle with our sword of the Spirit without our shield of faith and helmet of salvation. The battle is what tests us and drains us, but without the Lord with us, Generaling and guiding us in the fight, we will be ambushed and surrounded by the enemy’s forces, and taken captive. The last erg of faith will drain from us and we will come away weakened beyond repair. But, if we fight with Him, the Spirit of Christ will call us back from the foray, as needed. Even when we think we should stay to push back the enemy, when we think the battle can’t go on without us, the Spirit will refuse our lack of good judgment. He says to us, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.” (Mark 6:31).]
3. Be sure to store your batteries properly. Do not leave your batteries in a hot car, or in humid conditions. The best storage conditions are a cool, dry place. The refrigerator is fine if you stick in a packet of silica gel with your batteries in a sealed bag to keep them dry. It is a good idea to charge your NiCad or NiMH batteries fully before use if they have been in storage. [Faith is precious, not to be treated casually or of the same value as earthly, bodily requirements of life. What does it profit a man if he loses his own soul? What can he give in exchange for his soul? Ellen White’s accompanying angel gave her a green cord and told her to keep it tucked neatly near her heart and to stretch it out often, or it would get all tangled and knotted like tightly curly hair. “My guide now opened the door, and we both passed out. He bade me take up again all the things I had left without. This done, he handed me a green cord coiled up closely. This he directed me to place next my heart, and when I wished to see Jesus, take from my bosom and stretch it to the utmost. He cautioned me not to let it remain coiled for any length of time, lest it should become knotted and difficult to straighten. I placed the cord near my heart and joyfully descended the narrow stairs, praising the Lord and joyfully telling all whom I met where they could find Jesus. This dream gave me hope. The green cord represented faith to my mind, and the beauty and simplicity of trusting in God began to dawn upon my benighted soul.” Early Writings, p. 81. At the end of each day’s testing of faith, and Jesus is close because we have followed in His cross-bearing, we can go to bed and sleep in a deep state. Each night, preferably 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. equivalent to a good 9 hours of sleep (each hour of sleep before midnight is as good as two hours after midnight), our heart and mind can go into a cold, dead, healthful storage, letting the brain and body repair, and allowing the soul to find thoughts and words of scripture/Spirit of Prophecy passing round and round, unobstructed from the wages of sin. The scriptures cleanse our heart and conscience at each pass of truth, and heal all that Satan did to damage them during the previous working day.]
4. Most cordless phones use NiCad batteries. To maximize your cordless phone battery life, make sure to leave your phone off the base every once in a while until it is dead. Then leave it on the base until it is fully charged. You should leave your phone on the base for at least 24 hours to charge it fully. [This again relates to the daily testing and trying of our faith and prayer life. “Praying always with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” (Eph. 6:18). Then at the end of a week of laboring with souls, we can spend the whole day with Jesus on His Sabbath, fully enjoying His presence because we laid down our lives in labor during the previous week. The weekly 24 hour Sabbath is the perfect high day of celebration after the long, difficult six days of baptisms by fire, laboring for others, and squeezing in nightly nine hour naps before waking and restarting more baptisms by fire.]
There is no need to avoid rechargeable batteries. They can save you significant amounts of money over time. Don’t be scared off by the ‘memory effect’. It is easily manageable if it ever occurs.” [There is always the potential for our faith to be overcharged with this world’s goodies. But there is no need to avoid the redemption that comes with Jesus’ love and acceptance. True, oh so true the warning is, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; while it is said, To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” (Heb. 3:12-15). But, even if a spiritual memory effect does sneak up in us, no one is beyond restoration if they will be humbled by Christ’s strong convictions and let the goodness of God lead them to repentance. Christ’s reconciliation and grace and Spirit are ready to re-infuse us if we are ready through the bowing of our proud self-will and the breaking of our rebellious heart. His yoke of humiliation is easy and His full restoration of justification is available. His mercy endureth forever; His gentleness makes us great.]
Without the struggles and demands
of life, we can’t fully use the grace that Jesus gives us for the day. By
indulging into spiritual slothfulness and indolence, building up the flesh at
the expense of the Spirit, we begin the slide into spiritual dearth. “Take heed
to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and
drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole
earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of
man.” (Luke 21:34-36).
Thus, our spiritual battery
develops a “memory” that keeps it from fully being recharged. Literally
speaking, our renewing everyday from above becomes limited by the small work
load that we allow Jesus to put us through for our emptying. Our “inward man’s”
need for Christ’s renewing grows smaller and smaller. The capacity of our
spiritual battery shrinks. The longer we refuse the baptism by fire, those
difficulties that challenge our fruits from the Spirit, where “death worketh in
us, but life in [others]” (2Cor. 4:12), the more increasingly our faith battery withers, our love capacity for the things of God shrivels up, our muscle of
faith atrophies. Dodging the opportunities to sacrifice self and to serve others
we are playing dangerously with the devil, as he celebrates with us and entertains
us and waltzes us right over to the edge of his bottomless pit.
“I am the true vine, and My
Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in Me that
beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you.…
If a man abide not in Me, He
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them
into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:1-3,6).
Accept the baptisms by fire from
others all day, and the baptism by water from Jesus every morning. Let us not
fear the demands that come with facing a world of sin. Let its waves beat upon
our feeble faith. Put your God to the test, and, yes, let Satan try to beat down your
battery like he did our Master in the wilderness and in Gethsemane.
“After the foe had departed,
Jesus fell exhausted to the earth, with the pallor of death upon His face. The
angels of heaven had watched the conflict, beholding their loved Commander as
He passed through inexpressible suffering to make a way of escape for us. He
had endured the test, greater than we shall ever be called to endure. The
angels now ministered to the Son of God as He lay like one dying. He was
strengthened with food, comforted with the message of His Father’s love and the
assurance that all heaven triumphed in His victory. Warming to life again, His
great heart goes out in sympathy for man, and He goes forth to complete the
work He has begun; to rest not until the foe is vanquished, and our fallen race
redeemed.” Desire of Ages, p. 131.
“Three times has He uttered that prayer. Three times has humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice. But now the history of the human race comes up before the world’s Redeemer. He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves, must perish. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him. He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He accepts His baptism of blood, that through Him perishing millions may gain everlasting life. He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin. His prayer now breathes only submission: ‘If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.’
Having made the decision, He fell dying to the ground from which He had partially risen. Where now were His disciples, to place their hands tenderly beneath the head of their fainting Master, and bathe that brow, marred indeed more than the sons of men? The Saviour trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him.
But God suffered with His Son. Angels beheld the Saviour’s agony. They saw their Lord enclosed by legions of satanic forces, His nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread. There was silence in heaven. No harp was touched. Could mortals have viewed the amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief they watched the Father separating His beams of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin.
The worlds unfallen and the heavenly angels had watched with intense interest as the conflict drew to its close. Satan and his confederacy of evil, the legions of apostasy, watched intently this great crisis in the work of redemption. The powers of good and evil waited to see what answer would come to Christ’s thrice-repeated prayer. Angels had longed to bring relief to the divine sufferer, but this might not be. No way of escape was found for the Son of God. In this awful crisis, when everything was at stake, when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the sufferer, the heavens opened, a light shone forth amid the stormy darkness of the crisis hour, and the mighty angel who stands in God’s presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to the side of Christ. The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it, with the assurance of the Father’s love. He came to give power to the divine-human suppliant. He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings. He assured Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High. He told Him that He would see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, for He would see a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved.” Desire of Ages, p. 690-693.
But all who evaded the previous demands, all who denied the golden opportunities provided by the imagined death-like drains by frightful baptisms of fire, will come up to this last test unprepared and unfit for eternity. Their untested faith will disappear forever like the dew before the hot morning Star.
“O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” (Hos. 6:4).
“The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” (Ps. 1:4-6).
“Great power was with these
chosen ones. Said the angel, ‘Look ye!’ My attention was turned to the wicked,
or unbelievers. They were all astir. The zeal and power with the people of God
had aroused and enraged them. Confusion, confusion, was on every side. I saw
measures taken against the company who had the light and power of God. Darkness
thickened around them; yet they stood firm, approved of God, and trusting in
Him. I saw them perplexed; next I heard them crying unto God earnestly. Day and
night their cry ceased not: ‘Thy will, O God, be done! If it can glorify Thy
name, make a way of escape for Thy people! Deliver us from the heathen around
about us. They have appointed us unto death; but Thine arm can bring
salvation.’ These are all the words which I can bring to mind. All seemed to
have a deep sense of their unworthiness and manifested entire submission to the
will of God; yet, like Jacob, every one, without an exception, was earnestly
pleading and wrestling for deliverance.
Soon after they had commenced their
earnest cry, the angels, in sympathy, desired to go to their deliverance. But a
tall, commanding angel suffered them not. He said, ‘The will of God is not yet
fulfilled. They must drink of the cup.
They must be baptized with the baptism.’” Early Writings, p. 272.
“Who shall lay any thing to
the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For Thy
sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:33-39).
“For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18).
posted by David | 4:19 AM
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