On her ShoutLife blog, singer-songwriter Hoi recounts how, during a trip on California's coastal highways, her car's gas tank plummeted toward E . As a friend prayed confidently that they wouldn't be stranded in the middle of nowhere, Hoi said she sensed a voice trying to convince her that all was hopeless.
It made me think.
Life is a road trip and the devil pounces on us whenever our tanks are low. (See Martin Luther's explanation of "Save us from the time of trial" in the Lord's Prayer, here. Hopelessness can be a sin. It can also be a thorn sent by Satan to rob us of life and joy.)
But, thankfully, God is bigger than the devil or our fears.
And therein lies the ministries of Christians.
There are people in our world who are running on empty all the time. They have empty bellies, empty hearts, empty spirits, empty pockets, empty emotions. They need Christ and the love of Christ shared with them in practical ways. The call of all Christians is to fill others with the mercies and the love of Christ, encouraging them with the hope that can only come from a risen Savior!
Paul writes:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)I think that God sometimes allows believers to have empty feelings so that we can empathize with those who have little...and be spurred and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fill others up.
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