Leroy Richardson/Contributing writer
A good battery on a car maintains its charge. Why is that so when simultaneously operating the radio, headlights, air conditioner, dashboard lights, USB ports, and the electric windows and seats? It’s the alternator. Once started, the alternator generates power to run the accessories on the vehicle and maintains the charge on the vehicle’s battery. Without the alternator operating, the battery drains or discharges its energy quickly.
Jesus stated that virtue or energy left His body after the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment. As a Christian, what maintains the “charge” or “virtue” or “energy” in your life?
Your life is designed to be used for God’s glory only. Any other use decreases the “charge” in your life. The “charge” is the manifestation of God’s Holy Spirit working in you. Your anointing is the Total Energy in your body. Your Total Energy equals your Physical plus Mental plus Spiritual energy. Your Total Energy can increase or decrease if the Holy Spirit is grieved.
Several ways your Total Energy can increase. One is being in the presence of God. This supernaturally charges your body(remember Moses’ glow after being in God’s presence). Another is obeying God’s words to you. In other words, obeying the word you know. A third way is to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. It increases your mental and spiritual energy. The amount of Total Energy you maintain determines your effectiveness in the kingdom of God and the world.
As a Christian, Sin decreases your Total Energy. Obedience Increases it.
Some of our Physical Energy comes from food, drink, and bodily exercise. Apostle Paul tells us through the Holy Spirit, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”(I Timothy 4:8) Very little of total energy comes from physical exercise. Physical exercise alone does not keep our bodies healthy or well. More important than exercise is the food and drink that enters our body for physical energy. Of the three energy areas, expend the least time on bodily exercise for total energy.
Should we exercise? Sure. We need the little benefit it gives our total energy package. But it should not be the number one focus.
What about my Mental Energy? Philippians 2:5 commands Heirs Of God to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” And Romans 12:2 follows it up with, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
It’s important not to put so much junk in your mind that it crowds out the voice of God. What you believe is determined by what you let in your mind. As a man thinks so is he or so he becomes. Also, faith comes by hearing. Even constant academic, political, and entertainment downloads can keep your mind on overload. And God’s word has no place to rest in your mental-man.
To honor God is the highest calling of a Christian. A renewed mind transforms us to produce results that satisfy God.(“Without faith it is impossible to please Him”) Before we were Christians, we stored much unnecessary junk on our hard drives-which only delete by submission to the words of God. To mature or maintain the activity of the Holy Spirit operating in one’s life, it becomes necessary to experience deliverance from a lot of thought patterns, e.g., racist thoughts, sexist thoughts, immoral thoughts, poverty thoughts, prideful thoughts and just plain old mean thoughts. Heirs Of God think like Him!
Where does Spiritual Energy fit in our Total Energy? Your Spiritual Energy determines how many people you can serve without breaking down. Or whether the supernatural operates through your life. Some have the anointing or total energy to serve 10, some 50, some 100, and some 1000s. Also, your Spiritual Energy determines whether you can successfully engage in spiritual warfare without getting defeated. You can wrestle the devil and win with sufficient anointing. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
As mentioned before, Spiritual Energy can come directly from being in the presence of God. Praying is one practice that brings one into the presence of God. Praise of God brings the presence of God to you. I’ve heard, When praises go up, blessings come down.
Blessings come from God. All good things come from above(James 1:17). God promised that when we listen and obey His voice all these blessings shall come to us(Deut 28:1-2). Listening and Obedience to what you hear from God brings blessings to you. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word(rhema) that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”(Matt 4:4) “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Your Spiritual Energy is built by hearing and obeying God. Apostle James says, not hearing only, but doing the word of God.(“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”(James 1:22))
II Timothy 2:15 is an old Sunday Schoool verse that seems to garnish newness with age. It says, “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” This scripture ties in to II Peter 3:18 which says, “But grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” This increases our mental and spiritual growth. Mental and Spiritual growth increases Spiritual Energy. Spiritual Energy is what you need to operate in the spiritual realm. Prayer for others does not work without sufficient Spiritual Energy available. Then the prayer of the righteous avails much.
Now to answer bluntly the question, “What maintains the “charge” in your life as a Christian, an Heir Of God?” Again, your anointing is the Total Energy in your body which comprises your Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Energy. Sin decreases it. Obedience increases it. You determine the amount.
Every time you go against God’s words to you, you decrease your anointing. Either Physically, Mentally, or Spiritually, one or more of these areas lose energy in your body. That’s why even the most anointed people die, get sick, go crazy or go broke. Don’t let it decrease, especially as you age!
Remember these words from Jesus, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”(John 6:63)
God’s words to you as an Heir Of God, when obeyed, energizes the Holy Spirit in you. The Holy Spirit works in conjunction with your spirit-man. Your body as part of the body of Christ is edified or built up in total energy. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”(Rom 12:1) God’s word does not come back void but accomplishes what it was sent for.
What does this have to do with my daily life? Jesus was touched by a woman with an issue of blood and spiritual energy left His body to help her. God expects you to be touched in this life to glorify Him. As you’re touched, you must be recharged for every energy discharge. Or fatigue, depression, and lack of will may transpire. That’s why Jesus Christ practiced praying alone in a mountain or isolated place with His heavenly Father. It kept Him charged or filled with the Spirit to accomplish the works of His Father.
Christians need overflow to do the will of our heavenly Father on earth. Find yourself a place to consistently meet with God to “charge” your life. Obey God’s words to you. Grow in the grace and knowledge of God. An increase in Spiritual Energy actually defeats demons who bring sickness.