Lift

​I’m in the process of moving my family from Tigard to Newberg.  The last time I moved was fourteen years ago which more than triples the longest time I have ever lived in the same place!  Moving is a painful adventure.  The pleasure in meeting new people and making new friends is offset by the sadness of leaving old friends and familiar haunts.  The excitement of moving is tempered by the reality of transporting stuff, cleaning, repairing, putting the Tigard home on the market and trying to figure out how to use furniture that is not designed to fit in the new home.  

My friend Brian, lent me a large truck to use for moving.  The beautiful thing about this truck is that it has a lift.  So instead of having to figure out how to maneuver heavy furniture and boxes up into the back of the truck, all we have to do is push the metal switch which makes the hydraulic steel plate go up or down depending on what we are trying to do—what a back-saver!  
 
Meditation
Acts 4:31—After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.  Then they preached the word of God with boldness.  (NLT)
 
When God gets involved in our lives amazing things happen.  In the passage above, the believers prayed and asked God for courage (see vs 29).  He responded and the Holy Spirit filled them.  The result was that they went out and preached the gospel with boldness. God gave them a LIFT!  
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The danger of moving in our own strength is that it is not hard to get injured.  The same holds true in ministry.  If we try and minister out of our own wisdom, power and strength, we are set up for mediocrity and the possibility of getting hammered by Satan. We need a lift!  Infinitely greater than a steel plate that raises and lowers to help us carry loads, is the Holy Spirit, who brings God’s power to bear when and where we need it as we serve Him!  The Holy Spirit lifts us beyond our human frailty into that spiritual dimension where we are transformed to do and be what He wants for His glory. Need a lift?  Ask God for His help and you will be amazed at what follows “Then . . .”  
 
Inspiration
Only when we receive the Holy Spirit and are lifted into total readjustment to God do the words of God become “living and powerful” to us.—Oswald Chambers in Biblical Ethics 
 
©2006 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box. Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)